How much does a camper van cost in Australia?
You can buy a brand new camper van in Australia, but it’ll cost you a pretty penny. For price and convenience, a used camper van is the route travellers will usually take.
Costs for buying a used camper van in Australia vary wildly based on the van you’re buying. I’ve shared our costs to give an idea of what a mid-range camper purchase could set you back:
Initial purchase cost
The initial purchase cost of a van varies majorly based on the van’s age, mileage, fit-out and condition. We saw vans priced from as low as AU$5000, going up to $30,000+ for newer models.
We paid AU$13,500 for our 2000 Toyota Hiace, with under 300,000km on the clock. Honestly, we could have paid less – but for the mileage and condition, we were pretty happy with the purchase price. (We were also in a bit of a rush to buy before we headed down south, so if we’d had more time we’d have maybe been a little less frantic!)
Registration and insurance
Registration (rego) works a little differently depending on which state you’re in – our van was registered in New South Wales.
Three things you’ll need to pay in most states to keep your van roadworthy are a registration fee, motor vehicle tax and third party insurance. We also had to pay a fee to transfer the registration, based on the amount we purchased her for.
Our van actually came with a year’s rego already on the vehicle, which was a huge selling point for us! When it came to renew, we’d have been looking at around $1,000 for a full year’s registration fee, vehicle tax and compulsory insurance.
We also took out fully comprehensive insurance (approx $900 for a year) and roadside cover ($250) to make sure we were covered for all eventualities.
Setup and gear
If you’re buying a basic shell of a van, you might need to put some money aside for setup costs. Some things you may want to consider, if the van doesn’t have them already:
- Solar power: A basic solar setups for a camper van will set you back between $800-$2,500 including panels, controllers, and wiring. We didn’t end up doing this, as we used powered sites, but if you want to go off grid this is definitely something to consider
- Cooking and eating: Our van didn’t come with a fridge, and it was an essential for us when cooking our food, so we picked one up for around $250 from Kings. We also had to replace the camping stove that came with the van and buy a few extra pots and pans, but the previous owner included most of our kitchen bits with the purchase.
- Awning: Our van didn’t come with one and it was one of the first things we picked up, for around $200. We learnt the hard way when we had to replace it that guide ropes and sandbags were also an essential for securing it!
- Misc items: Aka the ‘little bits and pieces’ you forget until you need them! (can opener, I’m looking at you.) We bought most of our accessories including bedding from K-Mart – we didn’t need anything expensive or fancy.
Kings and Bunnings were our absolute go-to for kitting out your camper on a budget. We spent many a Sunday afternoon racing to the nearest 4WD Supacentre half an hour before closing when we realised we needed something!
Ongoing costs
- Fuel: Obviously, you gotta give your vehicle something to run on! Petrol prices can vary but we found we paid an average of $1.60 per litre when we were travelling. PetrolSpy was an absolute LIFESAVER for finding cheap fuel wherever we went!
- Servicing: It’s advisable to have your van serviced every 6 months OR 10,000km (whichever is sooner). A basic service will usually consist of a mechanical inspection, fluid top up and safety checks. Ours cost $240 for the service + additional for any work that needed doing or parts that needed replacing.
- Maintenence: If you buy well and keep your van well looked after, hopefully you won’t need any major work done. However, consider parts like tyres, belts and brakes that may need replacing, which is standard in the longer-term life of a vehicle. During our time with the van, we paid around $500 for tyre replacement, and around $550 for rear brake replacement.
When we were about to sell the van, we also needed a replacement driveshaft, which cost around $900; and had to do an emergency tyre replacement on the road after a brush with a nasty pothole. Luckily, we’d kept an emergency fund from our savings to cover this, which I’d 100% recommend!
