Jucy Van Rental Review

Jucy vans are available in a limited number of locations in Australia and New Zealand. They have models of different sizes but all are fully equipped. We rented a 5 seater Tarago through Jucy not too long ago. So here’s my Jucy Van rental review..

The Good

  • Jucy offers unlimited mileage, so you don’t have to worry about how far you go or to keep track of the distance.
  • Mostly positive customer service (for us, as well as in many positive reviews)
  • Jucy offers airport shuttle transfers.
  • The vans have most of the equipment that you need so you shouldn’t need to bring anything other than your clothes (and maybe an extra blanket).
  • Jucy has a relocation deal that can vastly decrease the cost of your rental.

The Bad

  • The interior of the van really is quite small (in the Crib) and has to be changed to different configurations to be able to sit, use tables, and then to sleep
  • Things can be broken, inadequate or not as clean as you would expect
  • You can’t drive your van off road or on any unsealed roads.
  • Jucy does not have many offices, so you are limited in where you can go.
  • You will have to hire a van for at least 5 days and the company may even increase that period during peak seasons.

Verdict: Decent pricing and lots of inclusions, but vans can be small and uncomfortable. Overall, I will hire through Jucy again, but I’ll rent a bigger van and take my own blanket!

Introduction

Planning a road trip? Jucy’s distinctive green and purple vans are available for rent in New Zealand and Australia. In Australia, they are available in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. They have a number of different models which can sleep either 4 or 2 people and their fully equipped vans are competitively priced. You can also rent other equipment from Jucy. You will get unlimited mileage with a Jucy van, too. Roadside assistance and insurance is included in your rental fee, but not all damage is included and there will be an excess payable.

We hired a Toyota Tarago for a week from Brisbane and all in all it was a great trip, but I’ll break down the costs as well as our experience in the van for you here..

jucy van rental review

What is a Jucy van?

Jucy is a company that rents out vans and cars in New Zealand and Australia. In Australia, Jucy has vans of different sizes. The biggest vans are the Condo, the Compass and the Champ which all sleep up to four people. All of them are fully equipped, but the Condo has the biggest fridge and stove. If you like doing your own cooking, then the Condo is definitely the way to go. Both the Champ and the Condo have child seats, so they are probably the best for families. However, Jucy also has child seats for rent if you decide on a Jucy RV that doesn’t have them or if you need an extra one. If you need a smaller van then you should look at the Crib and the Coaster. The Jucy Crib is probably best for couples since it has a double bed. It also has all the equipment you need. The Coaster, which also sleeps 2 people, has a portable toilet. Jucy state that vans come with everything you need for your trip.

We rented a five seater Tarago called The Crib. This is what Jucy said about it:

“Our Crib is a 2-berth campervan; perfect for roadies with your best bud or that special someone. Your comfy double bed appears like a magic trick; a quick 1-2-3 with the bench seats and ta-da – a double bed for your snoozing pleasure! In the rear, you’ll find a compact kitchen with everything you need (including utensils) to make a morning cuppa, sunrise breakfast, or even a midnight feast.”  

Features:

  • Seats 4
  • Convertible double bed sleeps 2
  • 2 bench seats
  • Storage space under bench seats
  • 18-litre compressor fridge
  • Portable gas cooker
  • Sink with tap and drain
  • 10-litre water tank
  • Curtains on all windows
  • Interior 12v lighting
  • Dual 12v battery system
  • CD player and FM radio
  • Power steering
  • ABS brakes
  • Air conditioning in the cabin

Included with campervan:

  • Duvet, pillows, and sheets
  • Towels and tea towel
  • All cutlery and dinnerware
  • Kitchen equipment and utensils
  • Bucket and cleaning equipment
  • Unlimited kilometres
  • 24/7 roadside assistance
  • Airport shuttle transfers

Extras

  • GPS satellite navigation
  • Camping chairs
  • Camping tables
jucy van
We hired ‘The Crib’ – we will go for a bigger one next time

Where can you rent a Jucy Van?

You can rent a Jucy Van from Adelaide Airport, Brisbane, Cairns, Gold Coast, Melbourne Airport, Melbourne City, and Sydney. The New Zealand locations are the airports in Auckland, Christchurch, and Queenstown. Jucy offers airport transfers, so if you are in one of these cities you won’t have to worry about how to pick up your camper van.

We hired it for one week from Brisbane, The pick up area was kind of out of the way and we had to get an Uber from the airport out to near the docks which was about $40. The roads made it a bit awkward to get in and out of the depot too.

jucy van rental
We were able to cook and prepare food quite easily off the back of the van

How much does Jucy Van rental cost?

It is hard to know exactly how much a Jucy van will cost in different scenarios since there are lots of variables to be considered. You will need to know which campervan you are going to rent and what kind of insurance you want. If you want a lower excess, then the rental will be higher. One good thing is that you don’t have to pay for mileage. It is important to make a booking a couple of months in advance as you will get a much better price. If you get a relocation deal where you are taking the campervan back to its original location, you can get the van really cheaply: from $1 a day. Most rental companies have similar offers. This article gives some information about relocation deals with rental companies. The price will also decrease a little for a longer trip. One way trips incur a fee of about $150. Prices start at around $60 a day for a Jucy Crib and up to $130 a day for a Compass or a Condo.

You have to pay a 20% deposit when you book and then the rest of it when you collect the van. They don’t mind if you pay in full when you book. Unlike many companies, Jucy Vans do not charge for kilometres, so you might be able to make a saving there.

Jucy also charges extra if there is more than one driver for the van. You will have to pay an extra $2 a day for each additional driver. You might decide not to mention additional drivers, but in case of an accident, you would not be covered by insurance, so $2 a day seems to be quite reasonable.

Roadside assistance is included in the rental, but you will have to pay fees for non-mechanical breakdowns which include problems with wheels and tyres, running out of petrol, lost keys, flat batteries, and damage that is caused by an accident. You can also hire a lot of extras. For example, additional furniture like camping chairs $12 and tables will cost $25. You might want extra baby seats or booster seats too.

jucy van, the crib

My experience:

The receptionist was nice but pretty slow, and we ended up rejecting the first vehicle offered to us because several of the curtains were broken and ripped, and the second van was decent at a cursory glance. It ended up costing about $100 a night, and then of course they offer you additional insurance for $45 a day that has a $0 excess. I was happy with the standard insurance ($3000 bond and a $3000 excess) but my partner wasn’t, so we ended up with the “stress free plus package” for just over $1,000 for the week. 

When you think about it, to get car rental AND accommodation for $1000 for the week is pretty good, given that car rental starts around $50 a day, and a decent Airbnb is usually around $200 a night.  

What is inside a Jucy van?

Jucy vans have beds, of course, and a table and chairs. There are bench seats with storage space under them. Some of the vans have a portable toilet.

All vans have kitchens which include a gas cooker, a sink to wash dishes, and a fridge. Only the size differs according to the type of van. The kitchen should have everything you need including cutlery and dishes. They even supply tea towels and cleaning equipment. Some of the vans have fresh water tanks installed. For a full list of inclusions and features, see my list above.

There should be curtains on all the windows so you’ll have some privacy.

jucy van interior
We had to keep changing the configurations – from tables or seats to bed

Unfortunately, once we had driven off and set up for the night, a closer look at our curtains showed mould growing on them (likely as a result of the condensation) which was really disappointing and gross. We ended up having to just live with it the first night, and then the second night we ended up getting some cleaning products from a supermarket and giving them a scrub and leaving the windows down for them to dry out. 

If you are wondering what you should take with you on your trip, see Campervan Essentials List: The ultimate outfitting & packing guide | Vansage.

Do Jucy campervans come with bedding?

Jucy vans come with everything you need including bedding. You will get pillows, sheets, duvets, and/or blankets. Everything is colour co-ordinated in the same green and purple as the Jucy vans. Of course, you can always take extra linen or a sleeping bag if you prefer.

In my opinion, you should also take your own linen as the supplied blanket was pretty thin (even for Brisbane evenings) and there is no heater in the car. 

How often are Jucy vans serviced?

There is no information on the Jucy website about how often the vans are serviced, but it is in the best interests of the company to do regular maintenance. They probably follow a normal servicing schedule. However, some reviews have suggested that the vans that were rented were not always in the best condition. For more information about servicing, see this article

How is the Jucy customer service?

Trustpilot has a lot of reviews which suggest that customer service is not good and if you run into trouble it can take a while to get help. There are also very positive reviews, so it may depend on where you rent your campervan and which campervan you get when you book.

We didn’t have any issues with the customer service ourselves.

Check out the reviews on Trust Pilot

“That was our second time dealing with Jucy, and I was again very much satisfied with the result.
As soon as the office opened (the flight arrived an hour earlier), we called there and soon got a shuttle van which brought us to the office. We got a nice car, which we drove around for 9 days without any issues. Then we returned the car back to the office and were transferred to the airport. Everything went very smoothly. Everybody was friendly and helpful.”

Victor – TrustPilot reviews

Captain Fi’s experience with Jucy Van rental

Generally, our van drove just fine but with 350,000km on the ODO it was pretty tired and as you could expect it was missing a few bits like the radio volume knob. Inside, the cabin was freaking tiny. Like, it was a pain even with two average-sized people that only took a 7kg backpack as carry-on luggage for the flights to get there. We had to move our bags to the driver and front passenger seats so we could change the inside area from chairs configuration to tables configuration to bed configuration, which meant exiting the vehicle (and getting rained on a few times). 

The bed mode was made with three main panels which were annoying because they were a bit mismatched, not level, and leaning the ‘wrong way’ caused the head panel to tilt, so it wasn’t the most comfortable sleep.

We got used to the van after a few nights (and buying an extra blanket) and enjoyed our trip very much. When we got home, we ended up buying a roof top tent for my station-wagon since it was a similar way to travel and road trip cheaply and we could customise it so it was more comfortable and practical than the van set up. We have done several road trips and camping trips in the roof top tent and it was much more comfortable than the van (but tbh a bit of a pain climbing up and down a ladder). 

jucy van the crib
Decently spacious at the front, bit small at the back

If we were going to hire a camper again, we would prefer not to go for anything modelled off a small van such as a Tarago with a folding/sliding bed arrangement, and we would be opting for the larger campervans with the larger size permanent bed set ups, ideally a heater and of course taking more bedding. Our next camper rental will probably be across in New Zealand, and we expect to get the larger campervan (such as either the Condo or Polaris star RV) – which are about 2 to 3 times the price as the entry level Crib but should be worth it for the space and comfort. 

Advantages of Jucy van rental

  • Jucy offers unlimited mileage, so you don’t have to worry about how far you go or to keep track of the distance.
  • Mostly positive customer service (for us, as well as in many positive reviews)
  • Jucy offers airport shuttle transfers. If you book a Jucy van from one of the cities that are listed on the website, you will be able to get an airport shuttle which will bring you to and from the airport, saving you money on taxis or rideshare.
  • The vans have most of the equipment that you need so you shouldn’t need to bring anything other than your clothes (and maybe an extra blanket).
  • Jucy has a relocation deal that can vastly decrease the cost of your rental. You might be able to get one of their vans for as little as $1 a day if you relocate it for them. If you don’t have a fixed itinerary, this is a great deal.

Disadvantages of Jucy van rental

  • The interior of the van really is quite small (in the Crib) and has to be changed to different configurations to be able to sit, use tables, and then to sleep
  • Things can be broken, inadequate or not as clean as you would expect (mould on curtains, missing knobs, blanket was too thin)
  • You can’t drive your van off road or on any unsealed roads. If you go off-road for some reason and your van is damaged, it could work out to be quite expensive.
  • Jucy does not have many offices, so you are limited in where you can go. Popular areas like North Queensland and Western Australia would probably be out of the question since there aren’t any offices there.
  • You will have to hire a van for at least 5 days and the company may even increase that period during peak seasons.
jucy van rental review
jucy van rental

Is Jucy van rental worth it? 

Jucy offers a range of different vans which are fully equipped and the prices seem to be competitive. You are almost certain to find a camper van to suit your needs. If you are planning trips around Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, it is worth checking out Jucy. It is always a good idea to do some comparison shopping and for more information about rental companies, see Motorhome rentals Australia: Tips, discounts and prices 2023.

“People hire from us because of our great value, custom-built campervans, our friendly service, and choice of Australian branch locations. We’ve also gained fans for all the extras that we provide to make your Australian camper trip a legendary one.”  

jucy.com/au/en/campervans

Conclusion

If you are looking for a camper van, then it is well worth checking out the Jucy website. It’s a good idea to book in advance because you might even find a cheap relocation deal for the dates that you want. Jucy is very competitively priced, but there are mixed reviews of the camper vans that they supply and if you have a problem you might find customer service a little slow. If you go with a Jucy campervan, they have a choice of vans of different sizes, but all of them are fully equipped. Just make sure you take your own blanket…

You should find a van to suit your needs at a reasonable price through Jucy.

You can also check out my podcast with the Fioneers where they discuss Financial Independence and enjoying van life to its fullest!

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2 thoughts on “Jucy Van Rental Review

  1. life-threatening, a wreck and danger on the road!

    We rented a Jucy crib plus from 26-09-2023 to 11-11-2023. We immediately saw that it was a much older car than expected. They said that it had been newly painted. The water tank could not be used because it had not been cleaned they mentioned. At the moment we got The car, we saw a very dirty dashboard and a completely worn out steering wheel. But we had no choice and had to do it with this car. It was known that we were going to drive it along the entire east coast of Australia, more than 3000km. Once on the road it turned out that the dashboard did not work at all, we had great difficulty reading it. The headlights turned out to be so damaged that we could not drive them at night and there were all kinds of things hanging loose on the car, such as the plastic covers on the A-pillar and the door panels on the inside, but also the plastic covers on the outside of the doors. which we tried to secure with tie wraps ourselves. The worst part, however, was the handling, the car had a constant tendency to break out from behind and rocked on the wheels. On a day with light rain on a winding road in the mountains, this almost killed us. The car completely broke out and we ended up in a skid on the other side of the road with oncoming traffic. Mind you, we weren’t going faster than fifty Km/h. I had to correct it three times to get it straight back on the road. It was life-threatening. I can also report that the hinge of the left rear door broke off during the trip and it cost us days because Jucy could not arrange a replacement car. A garage closed the door without giving a safety guarantee. We could no longer use the door and had to sit on the other side to avoid any risk. Jucy has come up with compensation that we are not satisfied with, but have to accept. Despite everything, they claim that this car could be used and therefore do not see that they are endangering people by doing so. This car was a wreck and should never have been rented!
    Booking number 1436854 + 1436857

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