Campervan Breakdown
Our Campervan had a catastrophic failure
NEW ZEALAND
To explore New Zealand on a budget we decided to travel and camp around the country in a campervan. We purchased a 1999 Nissan Homy van in Auckland. The plan was to use it as transportation and our home as we explored the country, and sell it when we were done. The van had a small kitchen area with a sink and faucet, as well as a bed with storage underneath. We test drove several used vans from different dealerships and the Nissan was the most spacious and felt solid on the test drive. A few items that gave us a peace of mind was that it came with a pre-purchase mechanical inspection, as well as a mechanical warranty.
We knew we would be getting into a more remote area of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island with fewer repair facilities available. So we looped around the bottom of the South Island and stopped at Invercargill for an oil change. We had been on the road for about two months at that time and the van appeared fine on their inspection. We continued adventuring up the west coast and after a few more weeks, we reached Milford Sound.
We booked a few days at the Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park & Motels until we could figure out what was wrong with the van. The next day Mark called with the news that the cooling system had catastrophically failed causing the engine to overheat and the engine would need to be replaced, but he also needed to source an engine first. We were coming to the realization that this would be a longer process to fix and so booked into the Lakeview Holiday Park for the next week.
Mark called back several days later and let us know that there were no replacement engines available for our make and model of van anywhere in New Zealand. We asked him if the current engine could be rebuilt. We paid for several hours of labor for them to pull off the cylinder heads and they found that there was a large crack in the engine. After looking at the current state of the engine they concluded that a repair would exceed the value of the van. This meant that our journey would need to continue without our little Nissan Homy that had been our home and taken us around for the start of our epic adventure.
The van had gotten us to some amazing destinations and we enjoyed our short time with it. We felt that the van should have had a longer useful life, since it only lasted about 2.5 months and under 6000 kilometers of driving after we purchased it. We continued discussions with the auto dealership and attempted to have them find a way to repair the van. After several weeks of failed discussions we were forced to file a claim with the New Zealand motor vehicle disputes tribunal. This is an available remedy when you have purchased a vehicle from a registered trader and the vehicle is found to not be of reasonable quality based on the age, price, and distance driven since purchase.
While we were navigating the discussions with the trader and the tribunal, we coordinated a way to continue our New Zealand adventure. We decided that renting a vehicle and staying in hostels would be the most budget friendly way to continue. I found that the nearest car rental was in Queenstown.
We took a shuttle bus from Te Anua to Queenstown, where the bus ride would take 2 hours. From Queenstown, we rented the most economical vehicle we could find, which ended up being a manual Toyota Yaris. The van had a ton of storage space and it was a bit of a challenge to now go to a compact hatchback to fit all our luggage. We had that little vehicle packed to the max with all our gear taking up the entire rear of the car. We were now travelling with our little blue hatchback and staying in hostels as we continued up the west coast of the South Island.
The motor vehicle tribunal process took about a year from the time of the breakdown to the time we finally got a resolution. During the process I needed to appear before the tribunal to present our evidence.
The tribunal found in our favor but then the dealership appealed, so we had another hearing. After the second hearing we had to wait for the judgement which also went in our favor, and then I needed to use a collection agency to get the court judgement paid by the dealership. During that time we needed to pay for the tribunal fees and storage for the van. In the end we were successful and did get reimbursed from the dealership for the purchase price of the van due to New Zealand's strong consumer protections.
This vehicle breakdown was a challenging event and required a significant pivot during our travels but it was also a lesson in being flexible when things don't quite go as planned. Happy exploring!
On our way back from a beautiful day spent in Milford Sound we made our way down highway 94 in the direction of Te Anau. As we were going up a hill the campervan began making ticking sound and smoke suddenly began billowing from underneath the van. The van's engine shut off as I pulled over. We came to a stop on the side of the road as quickly as we could and jumped out of the van as we were concerned about the possibility of fire. Thankfully the van didn't erupt into flames with all our possessions, but it did appear that the engine had overheated but the dash had not shown any warning lights and the gauge had shown normal operating temperature.
Much of hwy 94 had no cell service but by some stroke of luck we were in a pocket of connectivity and we were able to contact the roadside insurance company who sent a tow truck from Te Anau to help. Awhile later Mark the mechanic showed up and tried to revive the van. He wasn't able to get anything to work, so he towed us to his mechanic shop in Te Anau. Spoiler alert, Mark loading the van onto the flatbed was the last time we would see our van move while we were in New Zealand.
