Spaceships vs Maui

Both companies collect from Auckland and Christchurch, run automatic fleets bar the manual version of Spaceships’ VW Cosmo, and name individual roads on which damage stays with the renter. Both also sit at 4.5 on Google — Spaceships from 485 reviews across two depots, Maui from 3,571 across three. Past that they are two holidays rather than one decision. Spaceships sells a vehicle you drive and park like a car and sleep in afterwards; Maui sells accommodation that happens to drive, with Queenstown as a third depot. The platforms diverge on Maui alone: its Trustpilot score of 4.1 comes from a combined Australian and New Zealand listing on which only 152 of the 381 reviews sit on New Zealand pages, while Spaceships holds 4.5 on Trustpilot as well, from 434 New Zealand reviews. The recurring complaints differ in kind too — heavy-rain water ingress around seals and roof fittings for Maui, an automated first reply before a person follows up for Spaceships.

Spaceships runs five compact models. Four sleep two, the Beta seating four and still sleeping two, and the VW Cosmo sleeps three; only the Cosmo gives standing room, with its pop-top raised. The Beta 2S, Sigma and Cosmo are listed as certified self-contained to the green-warrant standard, each with a fixed toilet and a solar panel; the Beta and the Dream Sleeper Mini are not. The equipped models include a gas cooker, cookware and two gas canisters at no charge, every model has a fridge, and the Cosmo cooks and heats off its diesel tank. Maui publishes five categories for two to six travellers, and every one lists an internal shower, a toilet, hot water, diesel living-area heating, a gas stove, a microwave and a fridge-freezer. thl’s booking system marks all five certified self-contained, though only the Ultima Plus page says so, and the company says a standard vehicle is less than two and a half years old. What the booking does not fix is the vehicle itself: you reserve a category, not a make, model, year or layout.

That split decides your nights. The Beta and the Dream Sleeper Mini send you to a holiday park or a DOC site that accepts a non-certified vehicle every night, so over a fortnight the site fees are the larger number and the honest comparison is total trip cost rather than daily rate. Maui’s diesel heating runs away from mains power, which is what changes a shoulder-season or West Coast itinerary — although the company still advises 14 to 16 hours on a powered connection about every second night to refill the house battery fully. What each company secures at pickup differs in size and in what sits behind it: Spaceships freezes a NZ$5,000 bond on your card, reducible to NZ$3,000 or to zero for NZ$35 a day (NZ$40 if added from 1 October 2026) up to 50 days, and the basic bond has write-off liability of up to NZ$18,000 behind it, whereas Maui’s Low Road option records a card authority for its NZ$7,500 per-claim liability at collection, and High Road removes that liability for NZ$65 a day through 31 March 2027 and NZ$67 from then. Windscreen and tyre damage stay with the renter on both sides at the standard tiers, and on Maui’s High Road they need a further option or the Platinum Pack. Routing settles the rest: Spaceships cannot finish in Queenstown, Maui can for a location fee of NZ$270 through 31 March 2027 and NZ$280 from 1 April 2027, and Maui’s prohibited list names Crown Range Road — the direct sealed link between Queenstown and Wanaka.