JUCY vs Waka Campa
Seven campervans where the model decides whether you may freedom camp, against four listed as certified throughout — and two opposite ways of collecting them.
At a Glance
JUCY
Waka Campa
Founded
2001 in Auckland, by brothers Tim and Dan Alpe, with 35 cars
2019 in Auckland, French-founded and still held by the sole founding director
Headquarters
Auckland — parent group Travvia runs a dual Auckland and Brisbane head office
Auckland
Fleet size
Seven camper models in New Zealand; 3,000+ vehicles group-wide (JUCY's own figure)
Four models: three age tiers of one design, plus the Outrider (fleet vehicle count not published)
Pickup
Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown
Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown
Fleet & Vehicles
Both run Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown and no other depot, each off-airport with a free shuttle, so neither constrains a one-way run between the gateways. Neither publishes what a one-way costs, either — JUCY quotes it inside the booking, Waka Campa on request. Both contracts void cover on Skippers Road, Ninety Mile Beach and Ball Hut Road, and JUCY’s ban extends to any unsealed road. Neither is a fleet for gravel.
The fleets are opposite shapes. JUCY sells seven campervans, from a two-berth Toyota Estima to a 7.9-metre six-berth, and lists five of them as self-contained. The Crib and the Cloudbreak are not, so which model you book decides where you may legally sleep. Waka Campa sells four: one Toyota HiAce design in three age tiers, from a 2013 base vehicle up to a 2025 one, plus the newer three-berth Outrider, and lists all four as certified self-contained with a fixed toilet. Heating splits them unevenly. Only JUCY’s six-berth Big Kahuna heats the cabin at all, and the company qualifies that as working on a powered site; the heater in Waka Campa’s three Explorers needs a 230-volt hookup, but the Outrider carries a diesel heater, the only one in that fleet, and an indoor shower.
The handover is the other fork. JUCY moves campervans across a counter between 9am and 4pm and charges NZ$200 outside those hours; Waka Campa hands over through its app at any hour, with nobody on site to demonstrate the gas or the toilet. The evidence behind the two is as lopsided as the fleets. JUCY carries 2,978 Google reviews at 3.9 and 1,093 Trustpilot reviews at 2.2, written at the counter and after the invoice; Waka Campa has 139 Google reviews across three depots, all at 4.8, with no second platform to check them against.
JUCY fleet
Two people, sealed roads, a campsite every night
JUCY Crib · Chill'd Cloudbreak
Two or three people who want a toilet and a shower
JUCY Chaser · Chill'd Sundaze
Families, and the only camper with a heated cabin
JUCY Condo · Chill'd Sunseeker · Chill'd Big Kahuna
Waka Campa fleet
Budget over bodywork
Explorer Saver
A newer HiAce for four
Explorer · Explorer Neo
Up to three people, heat without mains power
Outrider
Equipment & Inclusions
Default equipment included with a standard rental. Individual vehicles may vary. How we rate equipment →
Category
JUCY
Waka Campa
Sleeping
Linen, pillows and duvet, plus a bath towel per traveller, on every model
Pillows and bed linen on every model; the three Explorers sleep four adults and a child on two double beds, the Outrider three adults on a double and a single
Cooking
Gas cooker, kitchenware, pots, pans, plates and cutlery on every model
The Crib and Cloudbreak cook on a portable cartridge burner at the tailgate, with no inside cooking position
2-burner gas hob, kitchen sink, pots, pans, cutlery, crockery, kettle, coffee plunger
Cooling
Compressor fridge on every model, 50 L and up outside the two-berths
Fridge freezer on all models
Heating
Living-area heating on the six-berth Big Kahuna only
The other six heat the driver's cab alone, and even the Big Kahuna's needs a powered site
Diesel heater on the Outrider; an electric heater on the three Explorers
The Explorers' heater needs a 230 V mains hookup and does not run on the house battery
Power
12 V house battery, USB charging while driving and a 240 V campground hookup
The Crib and Cloudbreak have no 240 V hookup at all
150W solar panel, rechargeable house battery, 240V hookup, USB charging ports
Water
Fresh and grey water tanks with a fixed toilet, certified self-contained
Shower on the Chaser, Sundaze and Big Kahuna only; the Condo and Sunseeker have a toilet and no shower
Fresh and grey water tanks and a fixed flush toilet on every model, listed as certified self-contained under the latest regulations
The three Explorers have an outdoor shower only; the Outrider has an indoor cold shower
Categories verified for only one of the two are not listed.
Customer Reviews
Cancellation & Flexibility
JUCY
No cancellation data available.
Waka Campa
No cancellation data available.
Who Should Choose Whom
Choose JUCYif…
- •You are five or six people sleeping in the van, or you want a two-berth you can park like a car — Waka Campa’s largest layout sleeps four, and it rents no car-sized two-berth.
- •You want a person to hand the van over and show you how it works. Staff helpfulness leads the topic tags at all three JUCY depots, though Christchurch is also the one carrying a wait-time tag.
- •You would rather choose the liability tier than accept one: the default excess runs from NZ$3,000 to NZ$7,500 by model, and the top tier takes windscreen, tyre, roof and rollover to nil, with a NZ$125 claims administration fee charged at every tier — figures for bookings made from 1 May 2026.
Choose Waka Campaif…
- •Freedom camping is the plan and you do not want it to depend on which model you are handed — all four models are listed as certified self-contained with a fixed toilet.
- •Your flight lands late or leaves at dawn, so collection around the clock is worth more to you than a walkthrough. Pickup friction is the clearest complaint pattern in its depot reviews, and the company answers it in those replies rather than disputing it.
- •You can leave NZ$4,500 frozen on a card as both bond and excess for the whole trip, or would rather pay NZ$45 a day for the tier that removes both.
Compare JUCY and Waka Campa prices
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