When planning a domestic or international trip, one component that adds extra costs is renting a car, campervan, or RV.
The costs associated with renting a vehicle can add up quickly, with fuel, insurance, and daily fees all contributing to the total. You’ll also tend to incur a one-way fee, if you don’t plan on returning to your point of origin.
Fortunately, you can significantly reduce the cost of a rental by exploring vehicle relocations at popular destinations throughout the world.
What Is a Vehicle Relocation?
Vehicle relocations are essentially heavily discounted one-way car, campervan, RV, 4×4, or even freight truck rentals. They’re generally available in popular travel destinations, where tourists might opt to do a one-way car rental and not return to where they picked the vehicle up.
For example, a popular road trip in Canada is to fly into Calgary, drive through the Rocky Mountains, and then finish on the West Coast in Vancouver.
In the busy summer months, an RV rental company may wind up with a glut of RVs in Vancouver, and they need to get them back to Calgary to service one-way bookings beginning there.
Rather than sending an employee out to drive vehicles back to Calgary, which would be costly, many rental companies will offer travellers the opportunity to book vehicle relocations – which are effectively excellent one-way car rental deals – to avoid the costs associated with sending employees to fetch vehicles.
In exchange for driving back to its place of origin, agencies will rent vehicles for between $1–150 per day (depending on the type of vehicle), which is generally a significant discount from the usual price. Occasionally, and usually with larger vehicles, you may even be offered a fuel credit to put against the cost of filling the gas tank.
With a bit of planning and flexibility, vehicle relocations can help you find excellent value and embark on great adventures both at home and abroad.
Vehicle relocations are available throughout the world; however, many deals can be found in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
The number of deals available at any given moment will also depend on the season during which you’re travelling.
Vehicle Relocation Websites
Here’s a breakdown of some popular websites you can use for vehicle relocations, as well as some examples of the opportunities and deals at hand.
Transfercar
Transfercar offers vehicle relocation services in Canada, the United States, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.
Each country has its own dedicated website, which acts as a link between rental agencies in need of drivers and travellers looking for a deal.
Transfercar’s website is easy to navigate, and very user-friendly. The maps clearly show starting and ending points for available vehicle relocations, which helps you get a sense of where you can go.
There have also been some great deals to drive the Pacific Coast Highway between Washington and California, which makes for a very scenic drive.
Imoova
Imoova is another resource that connects rental agencies with drivers, with relocations displayed in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
The website isn’t quite as user-friendly as Transfercar, since everything is displayed on a list. However, the number of available vehicles tends to be higher.
For example, you could fly into Darwin, Australia, and then pick up a campervan and make your way to Cairns.
You’d get six days at $1 (AUD) per day, and then you could add additional days for a modest fee. The drive takes roughly 30 hours, which works out to around six hours per day, plus free accommodation and self-catering in your van.
As an added bonus on this deal, you’ll get a credit of $100 (AUD) to use for gas.
Hit the Road
Hittheroad.ca is a Canadian-specific vehicle delivery service, as all routes either originate or terminate in Canada.
While you likely won’t find a motorhome or campervan here, if you are looking to do a road trip across Canada or to/from any “snowbird” destinations in the USA, you could be hooked up with a pretty nice car, as there are often Teslas, BMWs, and other luxury cars available.
Note that for Hit the Road, you’ll need to submit an application with your driver’s licence, a driver’s abstract, passport, and some other information.
However, unlike regular vehicle relocation services, you’ll get paid for this service (on top of fuel), which according to the website, is usually enough to cover the return trip from your destination (and sometimes more).
Other Websites
A few specific car rental agencies will also post relocations on their websites, so it’s always a good idea to check these out if you are looking for something specific: Jucy USA, Jucy New Zealand, Jucy Australia, FraserWay RV, and Canadream.
How Vehicle Relocation Works
Applying for a vehicle relocation is fairly straightforward, and the process is similar with both Transfercar and Imoova. The availability tends to be released several weeks out, so you may need to have some flexibility if you’re usually a person who likes to plan things out months in advance.
Once you’ve found a routing and vehicle that works for you, you’ll need to create a profile and submit your request. It’s important to read over the policies, too, as you usually have to put down a deposit (usually between $500–5,000, depending on the type of vehicle).
You’ll also see how many free or low-cost days you have, and how much it costs to add extra days. Some routes are more lenient with these days than others, so if you plan on taking your time, it’d be good to compare your options.
Once your request is submitted, the rental agencies have 24 hours to respond to the request. If it is accepted, you’ll receive a confirmation email from the company for whom you’ll be relocating a vehicle. If it is declined, you’ll have to go back to the drawing board.
A few years ago, I applied for a campervan on a very popular route (Brisbane to Sydney), and on the second day after applying, my request was accepted. The information, including where you need to pick-up and drop-off the vehicle, was sent to me shortly thereafter.
It’s worth noting that you can also choose to pay a higher daily rate in order to lower the amount of your deposit.
For example, the bond on a 4×4 relocation in Australia was $5,000 for a $1/day rental, but was reduced to $2,500 for a $25/day rental. In general, you can expect lower deposits for cars and campervans, and higher deposits for trucks and motorhomes.
Examples of Popular Vehicle Relocation Routes by Region
Let’s take a quick look at what’s out there for relocation specials in different parts of the world.
Canada
Canada is a popular destination for travellers looking to experience natural beauty in various parts of the country.
One popular route, as mentioned above, is to fly into Edmonton or Calgary, drive through the Rocky Mountains, and wind up on the West Coast before flying home.
If you’re interested in taking this scenic drive in an RV, you’d be happy to find a relocation deal on the Canadream website. For $129 (CAD) per night for up to 10 nights, you could make your way across the Rockies and down to Vancouver.
If you were to pay full price for renting the same vehicle, you’d be looking at a total cost of over $3,600 (CAD), which includes a hefty one-way rental fee of $1,550 (CAD).
In this example, vehicle relocation is giving you the same experience with a significant discount.
USA
While many of the relocation offers in the USA are for rental cars, there are also some opportunities to do some very scenic drives in motorhomes or campervans.
For example, you could fly into San Francisco, pick up an RV, and drive down the lovely Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle.
You might come across a vehicle relocation deal for $1 (USD) per day, with six nights available at that rate and a $100 (USD) credit against gas receipts.
RV rental rates for a similar size are going to be much more than $1 (USD) per day, and you won’t get a credit for gas either.
There are plenty of options for longer road trips from Denver to Orlando, or along the US East Coast. If you’re looking for a nice one-way road trip in the US, you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a relocation deal.
Australia
Fortunately, if you’re headed to Australia, there’s an abundance of vehicle relocations available across the country.
For example, you could fly into Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane, and then make your way along the coast with an excellent deal.
You could also use a vehicle relocation to get a cheap transfer from your arrival airport to your destination.
For example, if you’re flying into Brisbane, but plan on hitting up the Gold Coast, you could pick up a relocation deal for just $5 (AUD).
You could then pop by your hotel to drop off passengers and baggage, before returning the car and heading back to the hotel. It’s almost certainly going to be a much better deal than paying for a private transfer, taking the train, or paying full-price for a car rental, and in this example, you’d have 24 hours to get there.
New Zealand
New Zealand is another popular destination for travellers, and for vehicle relocations.
South Africa
Another great destination for travellers is South Africa, which also happens to be a popular place for vehicle relocations.
Europe
Lastly, if you’re headed to Europe and in search of a road trip, be sure to check out the vehicle relocation deals.
A brief glance at the Imoova website might show a few relocations between various parts of Europe, including an RV relocation between Rome and Amsterdam for just €7 per day.
Conclusion
There are so many possibilities with vehicle relocations around the world, and they’re a great way to stretch your travel budget even farther. With some flexibility in your plans, you can save a lot of money while exploring areas that are either difficult or impossible to reach without access to a vehicle.
This is of particular value to families, as you can have your accommodation covered at a very affordable rental rate and the cost of fuel. If you were to rent a motorhome, then the ability to cook your own meals and move around as you please would come as additional benefits.
If you’re planning on a road trip on your next trip, or if you’re flexible enough to plan a trip around a deal, be sure to check out vehicle relocations to save some cash.