Now that the ‘silly season’ has passed, the opportunity to own one of our ex-rental HiTOP campervans has arrived! There really is no better way to see Australia– especially if you are planning on travelling for longer than 6 months.

The formula is simple: Take the most trusted van in Australia, convert it into a functional campervan, and then maintain it using professional and trusted mechanics across Australia!

This is why I love my job so much, happy customers who are keen to share their travel stories and just simply looooved the pure Oz experience – and not only the shiny parts but also the unfortunate bits and pieces of a journey in an old van- and I am not talking about severe mechanical break downs but the little, almost foreseen ‘normal’ problems that can occur on such a long trip through the outback and all around Australia. Read on where Vanessa travelled and get inspired by her travel story.

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN……….

If you want to take a fatalistic approach to accidents in the belief that ; ‘Sh*t happens, so why worry, what will be will be’

then please read on

According to our stats* a staggering 87%% of serious accidents that are referred to the insurance company are due to DRIVER ERROR!!

87%% of serious accidents due to DRIVER ERROR!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE we are begging you for your own safety PLEASE TAKE IT EASY.

We desperately want you to have a safe and wonderful trip around Australia.

Please remember that when you get behind the wheel of any car you are taking on a great responsibility with respect to the safety of everyone in the car under your control and other road users.

3 people survived this roll-over with just minor scratches and bruises

CLASSIC SINGLE VEHICLE ACCIDENT – DAYLIGHT,STRAIGHT ROAD– Lucky no-one was killed!

Consider these stats

• Head on collision -14%
• Failure to Stop at Right of Way – 27%
• Lost Control – 8%
• Run up Rear – 11%
• Single Vehicle Accident – 27%

Head on Collision – commonly due to Driver’s falling asleep at the wheel

Failure to Stop at Right of Way – Or driving through a stop sign or give way sign – Commonly due to Driver not paying attention

Lost Control – Commonly due to speed, failure to negotiate a bend, wet roads, or drifting to the left and when left wheels hit the soft edge the driver over corrects and starts to fish tail resulting in a roll-over

 Run up rear – Possibly the dumbest ‘accident of all time

Single Vehicle Accident – Usually a ROLL-OVER due to Driver losing control of the vehicle. – Hitting or Swerving to miss an animal, When passing on a narrow road and driver puts left wheels on soft shoulder (verge), over-correcting, and rolling the car, speed, wet roads and going into corners just that little bit too fast

It’s not just your health and well-being at stake! Unfortunately in many of the accidents above the Renters holidays were ruined and many also incurred MAJOR FINANCIAL LOSS – Please understand that the damage liability you have with the vehicle will NOT COVER YOU in EVERY CASE (Negligence, SVA’s, Drink Driving, Breaching Rental Agreement, Breaking the law, etc)

Other Stats

Most accidents happen around 10-11am (29%) and 3-8pm (39%)

And

18-21 year olds are responsible for 39% of all accidents!!!!!

PLEASE HAVE FUN BUT CONSIDER YOUR PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL WELL BEING AND DRIVE WITHIN YOUR LIMITS AND DRIVE CAREFULLY

DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!

Just a quick reminder for the Aussie Summer.

DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS

Laura and Filippo from Italy have been so nice to provide us with a second part of their journey here in Australia. The first step was to buy a car, a Mitsubishi Pajero from our Travellers Auto Barn showroom in Kings Cross, Sydney (see blog story part 1). Now, they are having the time of their life travelling around the continent. Read on what they want to share with you:

“The weeks passed by so quickly … !

This has really been a very exciting time and non-stop adventure. First of all we resigned working in the restaurant, the desire to travel and leave the city has been too strong since we bought the car.  Hence,  on Saturday we had our last shift and on Friday we received the final pay check!

The whole week was dedicated to shopping and camping. We basically walked from shop to shop looking for everything that could be useful for our road-trip and the list goes on…. reserve tank for the car, luggage rack, gas cylinder, portable stove, tent, sleeping bags … the journey is about to kick in!