Note: This post was updated on April 9 to show actual pictures of the new Luxury 4 x 4 CamperVan. CampEasy has received the actual models and so there are photos of them available on their website. References and photos of the prototype have been removed and replaced with production model photos of the interior.
Late last week we received an offer from CampEasy to upgrade our Easy Viking model campervan to their brand-new Easy Luxury campervan. They are similar vehicles, both are VW Crafter 4×4 vehicles. In reality, these vehicles are All Wheel Drive, not just 4×4.
One of the benefits of the newer Easy Luxury Campevan is that it is only designed to sleep three instead of five in our original Easy Viking campervan. The benefit of this is that there is no overhead bunk in the rear section of the campervan, which allows for full headroom for the entire length of the portion of the van used for camping. We had always wished that the bunk would have been able to be folded up or at least been able to retract halfway to allow for more headroom, but it was fixed. We had planned on just using that for additional storage space.
In addition, there are quite a few upgrades to the interior, it had a full 5G WiFi antenna and built-in router which will allow for better WiFi coverage in remote areas instead of a portable WiFi hotspot device. There is also an entertainment system with TV, but we are not sure how practical that is, maybe it functions through the WiFi also. It also has a coffee maker.
Other upgrades include a rear backup camera, a more complex built-in GPS and Crosswind assist for better handling.
CampEasy originally only had photos of the prototype on their website, but now they have received the actual production models and so we have upgraded this post to show the actual pictures of the interior.
Here is a link to the CampEasy Website for theEasy Luxury Campervan. There is a link for a Photo Gallery at the bottom of the page under the image of the CamperVan.
The pricing for the upgrade was not the best, and we tried to get them to adjust it based on the differential pricing we were seeing for the same rental period on their website for a new reservation. However, the base price for both of the campervan models, the Easy Viking and the Easy Luxury were quite a bit higher than we are paying, so they would not budge on the price. In the end, it added about $75 per day to our rental. We firmly believe that the pricing we received for this reservation was extremely low, and we had tried to confirm it via email, and were told that was the correct price. However, we could see that we were receiving our discount for the rental because it was past the peak season in July/August. However, it was for the following August, still a peak period, but it was indeed after August 2023.
The email we received was that they were reaching out to people who had reserved campervans under that promotion, and we firmly believe this was an attempt to increase their rental fees because there was an error in their system giving us too much of a discount. We believe that is why the typical daily differential was not possible, it was based on much higher daily base rates, ours was about half or even less. In the end, both parties should be better off, we get a better rental and they get more income from it.
In our discussions about the new campervan, I realized that we had previously talked about extending the rental and not getting a hotel and rental car for two nights in Reykjavik afterward. I wished I had thought of this extension while we were discussing the upgrade initially at the end of last week, but I had not.
This morning, I went to our reservation on the CampEasy website, and there was a provision for extending the rental, so I clicked on the extension button and added in the two additional days. The only issue was that the cost of the two additional days was apparently being priced at the full rate, not our original discounted rate. The cost for the two additional days was priced out at 32% of our total 15-day rental at our new upgraded campervan price, ouch.
I sent them an email asking if they could adjust the extension price to be n more in line with our current daily rate, which was already a little higher, it also included all of the costs for the extra items we had added, and they are not priced based on a per day rate, they are just a fixed cost for the entire rental timeframe.
We are waiting to hear back on the extension, but I am not that hopeful, I think we are still at a daily price that is too low, and that will make it harder to make any additional at that pricing structure, just like it was when we tried to add in the new campervan at what we thought was the current daily differential, and we were told no. It is a shame if that is the case, but I guess the extension is potentially a lost opportunity for a rental at a higher price.
We have also been following the coverage on the Volcano that has recently been erupting in Iceland near the airport. We are not concerned at this point in time, it would be something awesome to see if it was still active when we arrive. It has impacted the operation of the Blue Lagoon Hot Springs, and that was something we had planned on doing, possibly on the first day after we arrive and get the campervan. It is close to the airport, so not far away from where we get the campervan. I am sure we will be tired from the overnight flights and from outfitting the campervan with food, so we don’t plan on going that far on the first day.
We are just now starting to get back into the planning mode for this trip after having recently returned from the Panama Canal Cruise. We will be trying to define our route, but not that is a little dependent on how long we have the campervan, so we need to figure that out first.
We also need to determine where we can find stores to outfit the campervan with food and ay other items we want to get. It is possible that we may need a cooler to have more storage for cold items.
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