Three names. One shared parent company most people don’t know about. If you’ve spent any time comparing campervan hire quotes in Australia or New Zealand, JUCY, Britz, and Apollo are the three brands that show up on almost every search — and most comparison sites treat them as three independent competitors slugging it out on price.
That’s not quite accurate. Two of these three brands share the same corporate parent, and understanding that changes how you should actually read their prices, fleets, and reviews.
Here’s the honest, data-backed version — what each brand actually scores on Trustpilot, what their fleets really look like, what they cost right now, and where renters keep getting caught out.
The three brands, in one sentence each
| JUCY | New Zealand’s genuine independent — founded in Auckland in 2001, budget-to-mid pricing, older fleet with no formal age cap. |
| Britz | The premium tier of Tourism Holdings Limited (thl) — newest fleet on this list, widest 4WD range, highest average price. |
| Apollo | The budget tier of the same thl group as Britz — same infrastructure, older vehicles, meaningfully lower price. |
Put simply: JUCY is the independent, Britz is the premium sibling, and Apollo is the budget sibling — Britz and Apollo just happen to share a parent.
Why comparing them isn’t quite fair
Most comparison sites treat this as a three-way, independent contest. It isn’t.
⚠️ Apollo and Britz are owned by the same company. In November 2022, Tourism Holdings Limited (thl) — Britz’s parent — completed its acquisition of the Apollo Group. thl also owns Maui and Mighty Campers. So “shopping around” between Britz and Apollo is closer to choosing a price tier within one company than comparing two competitors.
JUCY is the only true independent of the three. It’s worth noting JUCY isn’t the global operation its own marketing sometimes implies — the company collapsed into receivership in 2020 during COVID border closures, and after restructuring under new ownership, it exited the US market entirely. JUCY today operates only across Australia and New Zealand.
How this plays out on Trustpilot
None of these three brands score well by normal consumer standards — campervan rental as a category structurally attracts one-star reviews, since a bad breakdown motivates a review far more reliably than a smooth trip does. Still, the gap below is wide enough that it isn’t just noise.
Based on current Trustpilot profiles: JUCY (1,000+ reviews), Apollo/apollorv.com (62 reviews), Britz/britz.com.au (900+ reviews). Companies often run separate .com, .com.au, and .co.nz profiles with different scores — figures above reflect each brand’s primary profile.
Google reviews tell a different story
JUCY’s Adelaide location, for example, sits at 4.3 out of 5 across 184 Google reviews — a world away from its 1.9 on Trustpilot. Britz shows a similar gap in the other direction on ProductReview.com.au, a Google-adjacent Australian consumer review site, at 2.3 out of 5 from 68 reviews.
This isn’t a contradiction so much as a known pattern in the review industry. Google reviews are often collected right at drop-off, when a trip has just gone smoothly — the moment people are least likely to be thinking about complaints. Trustpilot, by contrast, is a platform people actively seek out specifically to report a problem. Neither number is “more true” than the other; they’re measuring different moments and different motivations.
Takeaway: don’t rely on a single platform’s score. Check both Google and Trustpilot (and ideally read a few of the specific complaints, not just the star average) before deciding.
What renters actually complain about
JUCY: the most common complaint is vehicle age and condition. Multiple reviewers report vans with 350,000–400,000km on the odometer, faulty door sensors, and unreliable fridges. The second most common: cleaning fees charged after drop-off despite staff verbally waiving them at pickup.
Apollo: the recurring theme is rigid policy enforcement, including refund refusals in situations most travellers would consider grounds for compassion, plus mechanical issues discovered mid-trip and slow support response.
Britz: complaints skew toward pricing and wait times rather than vehicle quality — including one well-documented case of a COVID-deferred 2020 booking increasing roughly 300% in price by the time it was rebooked in 2023. On vehicle condition specifically, reviews run more positive than JUCY or Apollo.
Fleet age and vehicle condition
| Brand | Fleet age policy | Model range |
|---|---|---|
| JUCY | No formal cap — skews older, no hand-down system | 2–6 berth (Crib, Chaser, Condo + budget “Chill’d” sub-brand) |
| Britz | Capped at ~3 years / 150,000km, then passed to Mighty | 2–5 berth incl. Maverick & Warrior 4WD |
| Apollo | Often ex-Britz stock rotated down — older on average | Widest range: 8–9 models, 2–4 berth + Adventure 4WD |
Pricing: who’s actually cheapest
Bars reflect relative daily rate for a comparable 2-berth vehicle — not an absolute currency comparison across countries.
The honest takeaway: if price is your only priority, JUCY (in NZ) and Apollo (in Australia) generally undercut Britz — but that gap reflects real differences in vehicle age, not just brand markup.
Insurance and excess tiers
| Brand | Tiers | Notable detail |
|---|---|---|
| JUCY | 3 tiers (Standard, Liability Reduction, Stress Free/Plus) | Capped at 14 days of coverage per booking |
| Apollo | 4 tiers | Partial-reduction option around $38/day cuts liability to $2,500 |
| Britz | Similar tiered structure to Apollo (same parent company) | Reaches full overhead/underbody cover at top tier |
Read the fine print regardless of brand — Apollo’s terms and conditions document is reportedly around three times denser in dollar-clause language than Britz’s.
The gotcha nobody mentions
⚠️ The vehicle you’re comparing Apollo and Britz prices against might literally be the same van at two different ages. Because both brands sit under thl, a portion of the Apollo fleet is Britz stock rotated down once it passes the roughly 3-year/150,000km mark. The “budget” option isn’t a cheaper build — it’s the same build, aged.
So which one should you actually book?
- Decide whether vehicle age or price matters more to your trip length and comfort needs
- If booking Apollo or Britz, check the model year at booking — don’t assume “Apollo” always means older
- For gravel roads, alpine routes, or long trips, budget more for excess reduction regardless of brand
- Photograph the vehicle thoroughly at pickup — dents, interior wear, fluid levels
- Test every system (stove, fridge, door locks, water pump) before driving off the lot
- Get any verbal assurance about cleaning or return conditions in writing
The verdict
None of these three brands are trying to deceive you on purpose — but shared ownership between two of them, and review scores that sit well below “average” for all three, mean the marketing pages tell a much rosier story than the data does.
| ✅ Remember: Britz leads on review score and fleet age, Apollo and Britz share a parent and often a fleet, and price differences usually track vehicle age, not brand quality. | ❌ Don’t assume: a low Trustpilot score guarantees a bad trip, or that “budget” brand means a fundamentally different build — location-level experience varies a lot. |
Across all three, the single biggest predictor of a bad review wasn’t the brand — it was a dispute that better documentation at handover could have avoided.
Know who owns the brand, know the fleet age, know what you’re actually comparing — before you book.
Sources & further reading
Trustpilot scores, fleet specs, and pricing reflect data gathered in August 2026 and vary by season, region, and Trustpilot profile — always confirm exact current terms directly with each rental provider before booking.
Last updated: August 23, 2026