Wendekreisen vs Apollo

Both companies list their whole New Zealand range as certified self-contained: 11 Wendekreisen categories and seven Apollo models, each with a built-in toilet. Certification belongs to the vehicle rather than the brand, and since 7 June 2026 only a green warrant counts, so inspect the warrant on the vehicle handed over. Both collect from Auckland and Christchurch and include bedding, airport transfers and unlimited kilometres, though only Wendekreisen folds road-user charges into the rate. Wendekreisen then requires standard camper insurance at NZ$25 a day, for an excess of NZ$2,500 at ages 25 and over or NZ$5,000 at ages 21 to 24. Apollo includes Low Road liability instead: NZ$5,000 on the Hitop and Endeavour, NZ$7,500 on the five Euro models. Weigh the two as a total trip rather than as a daily rate.

What differs is the floor. Every Wendekreisen category carries a shower, hot water, a fixed toilet and a heater, so the lower Budget tier gives up vehicle age, heater fuel and an automatic gearbox — not the bathroom. Apollo splits its range instead: the company lists the Hitop and Endeavour with a built-in toilet but no shower, no hot water and cab heating only. Its five Euro models add a shower, hot water and diesel living-area heat. Every Apollo model is automatic, whereas Wendekreisen’s automatics begin at Koru 4.

The road contract is where the two genuinely part. Apollo keeps all seven models on sealed surfaces, with one exception: a well-maintained access road under 12 kilometres to a recognised commercial campground or major attraction. Skippers Road, Ninety Mile Beach, Ball Hut Road and Crown Range Road remain prohibited whatever the surface. Wendekreisen inverts that, naming Ninety Mile Beach, Skippers Road, Tasman Valley Road where unsealed and Mount Aspiring Road beyond Treble Cone among its prohibited routes, then permitting every other public road. Drive a listed route and the terms make the renter liable without a monetary limit. Collection geography runs the other way: Apollo sells Queenstown as a normal branch, while Wendekreisen includes one-way hire between its two depots and treats any other city as prior arrangement plus a NZ$550 relocation surcharge. So a Queenstown start points to Apollo, with Wanaka reached through the Kawarau Gorge rather than over the barred Crown Range. A route with gravel on it points to Wendekreisen, and to an Auckland or Christchurch start.