What it costs to buy a car or campervan hire business in Australia

Car and campervan hire businesses are listed from $260,000 for a home-based car subscription fleet of 35 vehicles to $15 million for 180 campervans with their depots. The fleet is usually priced apart from the business: a Brisbane car and ute hire business asks $1.6m plus about 100 vehicles at valuation. Profit after fleet costs sets the goodwill.

A hire business is a fleet with a booking system attached, so the asking price mixes two different things: vehicles you can value and resell, and goodwill you cannot. That is why a home-based car subscription business with 35 vehicles worth $180,000 asks $260,000 while a North Queensland campervan operator with 180 fitted-out vans asks $15 million. This guide sets out what 11 live listings in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales ask, how fleet and goodwill are priced apart, what each vehicle has to earn, the franchise, lease and duty questions, and how the purchase is funded.

What car and campervan hire businesses sell for

IBISWorld counts 1,664 car rental businesses in Australia (revenue $1.48 billion in 2025-26) and 66 caravan and motorhome rental businesses. The table surveys live listings on Bsale, AnyBusiness, Benchmark Business Sales, CRE Brokers and No Agent Business on 22 October 2026. Figures are the vendor's, indicative market data and not Ventas offers. SAV means stock at valuation, paid on top. Plant and equipment hire is a different business, covered in our guide to buying an equipment hire business.

Price follows the fleet and the earnings, not the vehicle count: the Melbourne subscription business holds 35 cars and asks $260,000, while Brisbane car and ute hire holds about 100 vehicles and asks $1,600,000 before the fleet. Only two listings show profit, and one combines a panel shop with a rental division. The sites we checked showed no current car or campervan hire listing in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania or the territories, and the one WA campervan business we found, in Scarborough, is marked sold. Treat the table as a list of questions to ask, not a price list.

Fleet and goodwill are priced separately

Vendors state the fleet in different ways: on top of the business at valuation (Brisbane car and ute hire), included with a value (Airport West), as a separate line (the CRE campervans), or not confirmed (Cairns). Ask which one applies. The table shows fleet value per vehicle where a listing gives it. Two Benchmark listings in it are marked sold.

The spread is the vehicle: about $5,100 for a low-value car fleet, $14,300 to over $32,500 for a working car and ute fleet, and about $55,600 for fitted-out campervans. For comparison, a new campervan starts near $99,000 drive-away (Dream Drive HiAce AWD, November 2025) or $102,990 for the two-seat LDV Deliver 9 (2026), and a 2023 Winnebago Iluka motorhome was advertised at $215,990 in an Apollo RV sale in May 2025. The CRE listing says the business buys a shell van and fits it out.

Price the goodwill off profit after fleet costs. Brisbane car and ute hire shows PEBITDA of $665,000, an earnings figure before interest, tax and depreciation, so $1,600,000 is 2.4 times that before the fleet is added (our arithmetic). The sold Brisbane listing shows why it matters: EBITDA over $5.1 million but EBIT over $3.2 million, a gap of roughly $1.9 million, or 37 per cent of EBITDA (our arithmetic, the listing does not itemise it). We found no published multiple for hire businesses. Ask your accountant to restate profit after a full year of vehicle depreciation, finance cost and the cost of replacing the fleet.

What the fleet has to earn

A hire vehicle earns a daily rate on the days it is out. VroomVroomVroom's 2025 search data averages $88 a day for an economy car and $92 for a compact at city branches, the lowest rate a partner offered, before extras. Airport and off-airport rates, and the swing between months, are wide.

These are comparison-site rates, not what an independent collects, but they show the pattern: Hobart and Cairns fleets earn on a seasonal curve, and off-airport depots compete on price with the airport counters. The listings give revenue per vehicle.

Revenue per vehicle runs from about $7,400 to $41,700 (our arithmetic, GST basis not stated), and revenue is not profit. At $75 a day, a car out 250 days earns $18,750 before servicing, registration, insurance, damage and the fall in its value. Ask for utilisation by vehicle and month, not a fleet average, because an average hides the cars that sit. Ask where bookings come from too: Airport West and the Rent-A-Bomb pair sell on airport location, and a business that wins its work at one terminal depends on it.

IBISWorld expects car rental revenue to fall 1.3 per cent in 2025-26 after 8.0 per cent annualised growth over five years, and caravan and motorhome rental revenue to fall 1.4 per cent after 10.4 per cent. Tourism Holdings, the largest campervan operator, reported Australian rental revenue up 20 per cent to NZ$172 million for the year to 30 June 2026, and an independent competes with that.

Franchise, lease and the costs on top

Franchises. We found no published franchise cost for Thrifty, Budget or East Coast Car Rentals. Redspot, with 35 plus locations, says cost varies with site, territory, fleet and business model and sets fees out in its disclosure documents. An ACCC Information Statement is due within seven days of an expression of interest, and a 14-day cooling-off right generally applies to new agreements. A resale differs: the Rent-A-Bomb pair can be bought together or separately and needs a non-disclosure agreement before the information memorandum. Ask the franchisor in writing whether it will approve the transfer.

• Lease and site. Brisbane car and ute hire offers a new lease on flexible terms from a landlord entity the vendor owns, and the Rent-A-Bomb pair says leases are in place without giving terms. Ask for term, options, rent and landlord.
• Owned, financed or leased vehicles. Airport West counts about 30 contract vehicles beside 70 owned, and the sold Brisbane business offered its fleet outright or as a leasing takeover. A PPSR search on each vehicle shows what is registered against it.
• Duty on vehicles. The Victorian SRO rate from 1 July 2026 for a passenger car up to $80,809 is $8.40 per $200 or part thereof, 4.2 per cent. If each of Airport West's owned vehicles, about $1,000,000 in total, were dutiable at that rate, duty would be about $42,000 (our arithmetic). Other states have their own rates, so have your accountant confirm how a fleet sold with a business is treated.
• Registration and insurance. We found no single national rule for rental vehicles. Ask for the registration class of every vehicle, the fleet insurance policy, three years of claims and a written statement of which policies transfer.

Financing a car or campervan hire business purchase

The fleet is the part of this purchase that finances most easily. Each car, ute or van has a VIN, a registration and an active used market, so equipment finance can be secured on the vehicle itself. Goodwill is harder: the customer base, bookings and airport location do not resell, so lenders want security and your own money behind it. One Brisbane vendor says up to 100 per cent of the fleet may be financed, with the business priced on top. Ventas is a finance broker, not a lender, so we do not quote rates.

Lenders are more cautious with fitted-out campervans and motorhomes, where age and condition matter closely; older or high-kilometre cars; fleets already financed, where each vehicle's lender must be paid out or consent to the transfer; and buyers with no rental experience.

Illustrative only, subject to lender assessment. A realistic purchase of a 60-vehicle car and ute hire business:

And how it is typically funded across lender types:

Debt here is $1,450,000, 68 per cent of the cash needed. Vehicle finance is matched to how long you keep each vehicle, so a fleet that rotates every couple of years often carries a balloon at the end. A property-backed loan secured on your home or another property can fund the goodwill and the fleet gap, because the lender relies on the property, but your property is at risk if the business fails.

What makes a hire business deal fundable:

• Fleet schedule. VIN, registration, age, kilometres, owned or financed, and a valuation.
• Trading history. Two to three years of financials that reconcile to lodged BAS and bank statements.
• Utilisation. Booking data by vehicle and month, and where the work comes from.
• Lease and security. A committed lease term, and property, cash or equipment you can offer.

To get a number from Ventas, send the listing, the fleet schedule, the vendor's split between fleet and goodwill, the utilisation, two to three years of financials and BAS, the lease, your experience and your security. Start at fleet finance, see business acquisition finance, read caravan and RV finance for campervan and motorhome fleets, or see how fleet expansion finance works. Finance is subject to lender assessment and approval.

This is general information only and not financial, credit, or tax advice. Figures are indicative market data from the sources listed, not Ventas offers, and move with the market. Consider your own circumstances and speak to a professional. All finance is subject to lender assessment and approval.

This article is general information only and not financial, credit, or tax advice. Ventas Asset Lending is a finance broker, not a lender. Approvals are subject to lender assessment. Consider your own circumstances and speak to a qualified professional, including your accountant for any tax questions.