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"This company still owes me over $2000 from January 2015"
My name is matthew Calderwood from Northern Ireland ( [email protected])...
My name is matthew Calderwood from Northern Ireland ( [email protected])...
After long time managed to make booking for 4wd, 27/12/16 - 30/01/17. Email...
UPDATE AUGUST 2017 - Drive Beyond are no longer! Gone! Kaputski! We will leave the listing here for a while for those who are still researching them from other avenues but it's Gonski.
Drive Beyond are a relatively new company specializing in 4wd (4×4) rental across Australia.
We haven’t had a chance to really dive into the nitty-gritty of this mob yet, but on the surface, they are a small operation with big goals. With depots in nearly every mainland capital city (no Canberra) as well as Cairns, Alice Springs, and Broome, you should be able to pick up one of their campers close to where you want to get off the beaten track. Having said that, there is a “remote location” fee of $700!! if you want to pick up the vehicle in Broome (WA). They are headquartered in Queensland.
4WD campers by their nature are less luxurious than things like hi-top campervans and fully kitted out motorhomes, but those vehicles won’t take you where these things can. Designed for 2 peeps or 5, the Drive Beyond campers will help you, well, drive beyond.
Given that they are keen for you to get off the bitumen, they are pretty OK with getting adventurous, however, you have to let them know what tracks you are planning on going on and get written permission. This is not unusual and it is just as much for your safety as much as the protection of their camper. They will know the right places to check to see if a track is closed or in major disrepair. You might, for instance, want to go up a 200km track that is currently rutted to all-get-out. Doing this track in that state is no good for the vehicle or your sanity, so they may say no. You certainly don’t want to vibrate your camper to pieces and break it hundreds of miles from anywhere.
They get specific in their Terms and Conditions…
A. 4WD vehicles can be driven on recognised unsealed tracks.>B. 4WD vehicles may only travel to the following areas with the written permission of BEYOND: Simpson Desert, Strzelecki Track, Gunbarrel Highway, Cape York, the Bungle Bungles, Oodnadatta Track, Birdsville Track, Tanami Track, the Plenty Highway, Gibb River Road, Burke Development Road from Chillagoe to Normanton, Savannah Way from Normanton to Borroloola, Finke Road (between Alice Springs and Oodnadatta), Central Arnhem Road and Arnhem Land in general, Canning Stock Route, the Old Gunbarrel Hwy, the Lost City in Litchfield Park, the Telegraph section of the road to Cape York, Boggy Hole (Finke Gorge National Park) and the Old South Road from Maryvale to Finke at any time. Travel to Cape York between the months of December to May. If the Customer chooses to take the vehicle to any of the above mentioned without the written consent of ‘BEYOND’, the Customer is responsible for any/all damage to the vehicle as well as all recovery costs associated with travelling on these roads.
Some of the places listed are strictly off limits with other campervan hire companies that rent out 4wd such as Britz and Apollo, so these guys are definitely trying to help out the adventurous traveler. I would also suggest that you might find you will be queried about your 4wd’ing experience for some of the listed tracks as some of them are pretty tough, whilst others could almost be done in a 2wd (almost but not recommended).
Roof tents are the accommodation of choice for Drive Beyond, so if you are not particularly nimble, they may not be the camper company for you. You will have to climb a ladder to get to bed at night, but the campers are well fitted out with a fridge, house battery, 2 spare wheels (awesome) as well as shower and toilet. The shower is a hand held shower head connected to the vehicle and you have to shower holding it standing next to the campervan so hope that you are either VERY remote or be prepared to shower with some clothes on.
Recovery gear is provided the standard which is a smart move some other hire companies don’t do (you have to pay extra) including a snatch strap, a pair of bow shackles a pair of gloves and a folding shovel. However, the best thing that REALLY sets Drive Beyond apart is the 12v air compressor and tire gauge. Fantastic!! Why? Because if you are going to be spending any length of time on a dirt track you should deflate your tires a little to help avoid tire blowout. You should deflate them even more if you are on the sand for traction, but without a compressor you can't re-inflate them when you hit bitumen, hence damaging the tires. So with this little device, you can both deflate and re-inflate your tires and the pressure gauge will let you know what level you are at. A great move by Drive Beyond, which save lots of blown tires. My favourite guide for tyre pressure has always been the simple, hand-drawn guide from the old owner of the Pink Roadhouse up the Oodnadatta track, whilst it is supposedly specific for the Oodnadatta, you can apply it anywhere really. See it here
Anyway, if you are looking to do some serious 4wding then you should definitely look these guys up. They are not represented by the booking engine on this site so you will have to contact them direct to be able to compare prices to other players.
Hopefully, sometime soon, we will get to have a look around and a play with one of their campers and give a better run down on the quality, style, and drive.
Cheers,
Tim
On the surface, these guys have an impressive offering with some well thought out vehicles, I really hope the renters show respect for the vehicles when they are out there or this company might go belly up with massive repair costs before they can really get off the ground.
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Tell the world about your experience renting from this companyMy name is matthew Calderwood from Northern Ireland ( [email protected]). I used this company in December 2014, we hired a 4x4 camper, which was really great until it started giving trouble half way through our trip( we tried to report issues with engine but didn’t get through to office) The vehicle seemed to be ok again after we let it cool down and we continued on with our journey until it totally broke down along the Lassiter high way ( central Oz) drivebeyond got us a replacement vehicles the same day, which was awesome. Our broke down vehicle actually started and was able to drive onto to the recovery vechicle. We continued on our journey of a life time and had a great time. We didn’t hear any thing from drive beyond the rest of our trip (until 3rd of January 2015 when the vechicle was given back) after this I just waited for the $5000 bond to be deposited back into my account. 15 days past then I contacted drivebeyond and I was informed we had apart filled our vechicle with the incorrect fuel, I was gobsmacked, very angry, appalled by the customer service and lack of communication. After I chased them they sent me through cost of repairs for the vechicle which came to $2681.53. I was fuming but started to question did we actually use the wrong fuel? All of my company on the journey were expriened travellers and it was highly unlikely we made a silly mistake like this. Plus if you put petrol into a desired engine it can cope with it and it’s not going to totally destroy the engine. Unfortunately this company still owes me $2318.47 to this day and I am pretty sure I will never see it. I hope Nathan Joyce does not start another company like this and screw over the customers time and time again, as most of the customers travel to other countries (or English isn’t first language) after using the vehicle it’s easy to get away with it. This was a trip of a life time tainted by these greedy company and that is something money can never replace.
After long time managed to make booking for 4wd, 27/12/16 - 30/01/17. Email reply very poor.
Once in Australia contact and service from the local guys in Perth OK! Car and equipment complete and in good condition. Delivered the car in Broome, 30/01/17 in good condition, without defects and full tank as per contract!. At the moment still struggling to get my bond back. DB does not reply any email, call. After that took steps with Department of Commerce, also they received no reply. Next step to Magistrates Court will follow.
Now undertaking
The campervan is top, but they embezzled the secure bond. They didn´t asnwer at any mails or calls if you have leave Australia.
The Camper was great, the Pick up and give back was good, but if you leave Australia you get no contact to the company and they didn´t give you back the secure bond.
There is no bill, no answers off mails, nothing.
Very bad company, a real shame!!!
DON'T USE THIS COMPANY!!! They are not paying us our 7500$ bond back, for no reason!
-> Pick up location was Darwin, employees not to trust are Dustin and Nick.
We neither damaged the car nor did we put the wrong fuel inside (I'm used to driving Diesel 4x4s)
They actually just don't reply to us, they don't even bother making up some excuse. It's pretty bad actually.
We are already waiting 8 weeks now, Dustin told us it would take two weeks. Dustin is the guy who I was in contact with before and who dropped off the car and picked it up in the end. There was a huge change in his attitude when he dropped off the car in the beginning and then when he picked it up in the end. Even he probably doesn't feel that great when he's stealing 7500$ of a student.
DON'T DON'T DON'T TRUST THEM!! THEY ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED!!!
We had a terrible experience with these guys. The car was worn and broke down due to wear&tear. It was a hassle to get it fixed and they blamed us. We're struggling to get our bond back and would expect a refund for the time we couldn't use the car. Don't use these guys!
Looking forward to our trip to Australia in july/august this year. Rented a vehicle with Drive Beyond ☺ good to read such great recommendations
They are really awaesome! We have rented a 4WD (2 rooftop tents) by Drive Beyond for 6 (!!) months and it has been great. We went off road and did not experience any problems.