Our Story

Wendekreisen is a family owned and operated rental business offering campervans and cars to travellers in New Zealand. We have been operating since 1990 and see ourselves as a responsible business by taking a sustainable approach in regard to our customers, staff, suppliers and the natural environment. Wendekreisen currently employs a team of 28 staff members.

Founded by our family in 1990, Wendekreisen started by offering worldwide airfare ticketing services. However, the business changed direction when our first campervan was purchased a year later. The vehicle was rented and our fleet started to grow.

In 2007 the company went through a range of carefully managed changes. As a team, the family decided to better formalise procedures to improve administrative processes, and to further develop our vision. Over time this decision created standardised maintenance procedures, significant improvements in reservation and fleet management systems, formalised social policies and defined the core values of our organisation. It was formally agreed to monitor and review these changes in regular intervals. At this point in time, our family and staff managed a total of 80 campervans and motorhomes.

The improvements and accreditations were ongoing and well received by our customers. In 2010, we welcomed our last batch of Wendekreisen built Mazda E2000 campervans and grew our fleet to 180 vehicles by 2013.

In 2012, Wendekreisen introduced private health insurance for all staff. The initiative is funding 100% of premiums for full‐time staff. Part‐time staff are funded pro‐rata. The initiative allows staff to receive specialist healthcare without delay nor cost. The scheme also covers pre‐existing conditions.

In 2014, we implemented a new environmental initiative. The Carbon Project allowed us to offset the fuel emissions of our fleet. We do this by purchasing carbon credits from approved Permanent Forrest Sink Initiative (PFSI) suppliers. The credits were solely sourced from the Native Forest Restoration Trust.

In 2014, we were also accredited with the Qualmark Enviro Gold Award which is assessed and renewed annually. The award officially recognised a range of environmental and social initiatives as well as extensive efforts to promote these initiatives to other industry affiliates and government institutions. We have successfully held this award ever since. Furthermore, Wendekreisen was accredited by ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) for meeting the secondary level requirements of ‘ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices’.

In 2015, Wendekreisen won the PATA Gold Award in the ‘Environment ‐ Eco Tourism’ category.

In 2016, we decided to set up a full-time campervan manufacturing plant close to our rental depot. The goal is to build campervan vehicles all year round, to ensure a good value supply of stock in our fleets. The manufacturing plant is part of Wendekreisen and as such, will apply all current policies in line with our mission statement. In 2016, our rental fleet consisted of approximately 200 campervan vehicles and 15 station wagons.

In 2017, Wendekreisen Manufacturing completed a selection of 3 individual rental campervan layout designs based on the LDV V80 Biggest. The modular build allows us to develop and mix individual components of different layouts. Our commitment to local suppliers was officially recognised when our LDV campervan conversions were accredited with the New Zealand Made certification.

In 2019, our engineers, technicians and development team designed three more purpose-built New Zealand Made freedom camping vehicles. The Freedom 3 and Freedom 4 campervans all offer unique selling points whilst at the same time maintaining incredible off-grid camping capabilities. This development meant that we were now able to deliver freedom camping vehicles for up to 4 individuals. Our 6-berth motorhome fleets are built in New Zealand using local manufacturing cooperations. The associated control of in-house manufacturing ensures that parts and maintenance can be carried out at extremely high standards.

Other projects in 2019 refer to our environmental projects. We decided to balance our efforts, to offset carbon credits through the New Zealand Native Reforestation Trust, with actual tree planting activities. From 1st April 2019, a new initiative was formed with Trees that Count. The organisation provides a place for all New Zealanders to fund or gift native trees. This support is matched with planters throughout the country who are restoring, and growing, precious wildlife corridors or pockets of native forest, turning small projects into mighty ones. Wendekreisen supports Trees that Count by funding the planting of trees per hire pending the length of that hire. This is integrated into our reservation systems and displayed in all quotations. Pending the length of a hire, Wendekreisen will pay to plant between one and three native trees in New Zealand.

In 2020 and throughout the Covid pandemic, Wendekreisen remained committed to improving our services. We introduced the Koru Star 3 Freedom and developed an automatic transmission version of the Koru Star 2 Freedom based on the LDV Deliver 9.