Whether you have been traveling around New Zealand for one month or twelve, selling your car or campervan is likely to be signaling the end of your trip to New Zealand. It is also time for you to recoup some of the investment you made when you purchased your vehicle.

Here are our top tips for selling your campervan in New Zealand:

1. Decide on a realistic price

If you are unsure of how to price your car, jump on Facebook Marketplace & Groups and look at what comparable cars are listed. If you are keen to sell and are willing to negotiate you can use the term ‘or near offer’ or ONO.

2. Decide where and when you want to sell

We recommend giving yourself 2 to 3 weeks to sell, this will put a lot less pressure on you. However, you may also prefer to have your campervan up until the last minute. Auckland is generally considered a good place to sell because of the high number of backpackers arriving in the city each week. However, places such as Queenstown or seasonal work hot spots like Marlborough and the Bay of Plenty may also provide good opportunities for selling your campervan to other backpackers (depending on the time of year).

Prior to the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010/2011, this city was considered to be a popular place to sell a vehicle but it is yet to attract the same number of backpackers as it did pre-earthquake.

3. Clean up the car

Wash stations are available in most large towns and cities around the country or you may have other means to access a hose, brush, and vacuum cleaner. Give the interior and exterior a thorough clean so that your campervan is in the most presentable state it can be. If that is not appealing, you could always splash out and get your car professionally cleaned at professional car washes.

4. Create a good advert

If you are creating an advert then include multiple photos of the campervan and details including:

• The asking price
• Kilometers the car has traveled (what is showing on the odometer)
• If the car is manual or automatic
• When the registration and warrant of fitness expires
• When it was last serviced (if applicable)
• If it has recently had work done to it (such as new brakes or tires).
• Remember to include your contact details (i.e mobile number and email address)

5. Get busy advertising

Pin up notices in backpacker’s hostels in the location you are trying to sell.  Try online on different websites such as Travel Cars, where you can list your campervan for sale no matter where you are, additional you should list it also for sale on our Facebook Network where we have over 80,000 members (as of the date of writing – May 2023).

♦ Links for listing your campervan:

Travel Cars – Sell Your Car

Travel Cars – Facebook Groups 

6. Write an advert for the car window

While you are driving and parked up, you never know who will be driving or walking part looking to buy a vehicle. Be sure to include your contact details.

7. Weekend car fairs

Are located in Christchurch and Auckland. Both these cities also have backpacker car markets which are specially designed for travelers to sell their cars. The Ellerslie Car Fair is held every Sunday morning in Auckland and is popular with locals. Aim to get there early as the keen buyers are likely to be first through the gates!

8. Stuck for a sale and leaving the country now?

Try websites such as Cash 4 Cars and Auto Wreckers. They will likely be happy to take your car off you but be prepared to sell it for very little money.

On Travel Cars we offer you the option of buying your car or leaving it with us until it gets sold, the difference between what we pay and what others pay is enormous but at the same time do not expect to get the same amount of money as selling it to another traveler.

♦ For more information about this: Contact Us

Complete the correct paperwork

The MR13A form otherwise known as the notice by a person selling or disposing of a motor vehicle needs to be filled in when you sell your vehicle. Do not leave the country until this has been completed.

Legally, when you sell your vehicle, you are required to independently notify the New Zealand Transport Agency of New Zealand.  If you do not do this, you are liable to receive a fine of up to $1,000, but you could also be liable for any fines and fees on the vehicle that you have sold to someone else.

You can submit the MR13A form at any post office in New Zealand. Until the car is legally in the new owner’s name, then you will be liable for any fines associated with the car. The NZTA recommends that you do not hand over the vehicle to the new owner until you have witnessed (from the buyer) ether:

• the acquisition receipt, or
• email confirmation of completed paperwork online, or
• the receipt section of the MR13B form that the buyer of the car is to complete.

Don’t want to carry cash from the sale of your campervan?

If you have closed your bank account in New Zealand, or maybe you never had one, then think about how you will deal with the financial side of the car-selling process. Will you be comfortable carrying a large amount of cash out of the country, or would you prefer to take that cash to the bank and get an international bank draft? These are bank checks that are made out to you in whichever currency you ask for. You will pay a fee, but it can provide great peace of mind as an alternative to carrying a large amount of cash.