Wicked Campers Calgary - Calgary, Alberta

C H.

We had an amazing trip with our Wicked Campers van! Pick up and drop off was easy.

The van just has the basics, but it’s everything you need to cook a meal and have a good night of sleep. We both aren’t that long, so the bed was perfect for us. But if you’re considered a long person, it might be a little too small for you.

We did a 2 week trip from Calgary to Vancouver and back and had no problems whatsoever. And for a good price too! Most camper vans at other companies are ridiculously priced, especially in summer. So if you don’t need the luxury of an fully equipped RV, this is the rental company for you.

Also, you’ll get lots of compliments on ‘your’ van. People come and talk to you everywhere. Free social interaction included. Great to meet new people and have a friendly conversation.

Thanks again for this great experience, Wicked Campers!

Holly L.

I rented a camper van from Wicked Campers, Calgary in October 2021 for ten days. As a solo driver under 25, my options for renting in the area were extremely limited. I had some initial difficulties contacting the company regarding inquiries about renting but after a few tries I was able to get the information I needed by calling their Australian office.

The pick up of my van was easy to do and the guy I dealt with (I believe his name was Max) was very relaxed and kind. They allowed me to pick up my van outside of opening hours for a fee. Upon receiving the van and starting to drive I noticed that the gas tank was nearly empty (maybe 1/16th of a tank) and I ran out of gas just as I arrived at the gas station (less than 1km away from where I picked it up)

The next day I drove east and at the end of that day my van's engine stalled. The engine kept repeatedly turning off and I had to get the van boosted from some nearby (and very kind) vanlifers & locals in the parking lot. Upon contacting the company to inform them the van had died, the staff member on-call drove directly two hours from Calgary to deliver me a new van (Thank you Max :)!!) . This new van had nearly 600,000km on it but seemed to run smoothly.

The next day the back doors on my 2nd van jammed shut and I was unable to access the kitchen, cooler or any of my food. After several hours of fiddling in the dark with a swiss army knife I was able to open the doors, retrieve everything I needed and close and lock the back doors again. I did not dare to open them again for the rest of my trip as I was worried about being able to safely lock up the van at night as a solo female vanlifer.

The roof leaked at night if it rained and the heating system made a loud screeching noise for 10-15 minutes whenever you turned it on. The all-season tires the van was equipped with were not ideal for mountain driving in the winter in Banff, and I don't think an international driver who is not used to driving in Canadian winters would be comfortable. The drop off was easy to do and my deposit was fully refunded to me less than a week later.

In conclusion, if you have the ability to rent elsewhere, do so. If not? Prepare yourself for one heck of an adventure and no ability to be stealth or subtle. The vans are old but with a bit of luck and a go-with-the-flow attitude you might make it through your road trip with only a few setbacks. The staff are generally very pleasant to deal with, prices are fair, but overall with this company I'd say you get what you pay for and nothing more. Good luck lol.

Beatrice A.

Everything was ok! We had good experience with Company, our van has no troubles at all! We spent great time crossing the parks in Alberta and British Columbia, service was fast, pick up and drop off perfect! I would recommend this Company!!

Sarah T.

Save yourself the stress and don't rent from here. The vehicles are poorly maintained and a safety risk, we had mechanical issues a couple of hours into the drive which we were told to keep driving with. When we found an open mechanics a couple of days later they said they were surprised it hadn't caught on FIRE yet. In addition they said the rear brake pads were so worn that they were pretty much non-existent.

The straps on our roof tent broke on day 1, which meant on several occasions the cover came loose when driving on the highway leading to a potentially very dangerous situation for other road users.

The roof tent also leaked in the rain, which isn't particularly useful for trips in Canada.

Customer service have ignored addressing these issues for over 2 months now, so they don't really seem to care at all.

Kristian K.

Been waiting over an hour outside of the Calgary rental location. No one here. Didn’t answer the phone the first few times I called and someone in Vancouver told me that someone would be there soon to let me in. Been half an hour since then and still no sign of anyone here. Will be happy to change my review if someone shows up to give me the van I paid $1200+ for.

Update: Waited an hour and a half (10:30am- pickup was supposed to be 9). Van had a broken water jug, automatic locks didn’t work properly, engine light came on and off, and van had 716,000kms on it. Not sure how well they are maintained considering how it ran- was charged a cleaning fee despite spending close to an hour cleaning the vehicle. Must be something they do regularly regardless of the condition of the vehicle.. cause it was filthy when I picked it up.

Not sure I’d recommend this place to anyone going forward

Niall K.

Do not rent from wicked, rent an escape camper. We got 50% off with Wicked and it still wasn't worth the worst service I've ever experience from a business, let alone a car rental company.

I rented one of these a couple of weeks ago with my girlfriend. Without even leaving Calgary the exhaust was dragging along the road. Called the guy, he came and took it off - said it must have happened when we hit a curb, which didn't happen. Apparently it was just an extra pipe on the exhaust and wouldn't make the van any noisier, which it didn't.

Then in Jasper, tried to reverse, the gear broke and the van would only go forward. Called the support no for Alberta which was the guy who gave the car to us, he never apologised for the inconvenience. He went on about how he has had a long day, he was up at 6am and said he would leave us as sitting ducks in Jasper for a couple of days if we were rude as we were getting frustrated with no offered solutions. His solution was for us to drive all the way back to Lake Louise in a van which "sounds like the transmission could be going". Bear in mind, the road doesn't have any cell service. Apparently he "has a guy who goes to Lake Louise" but not further, despite cars not only breaking down within the Calgary to Lake Louise radius.

We drove half the icefields parkway, gears were getting worse, stopped at the Columbia Icefields center where there is cell service and called to say we had to stay the night there as the car was not safe to drive further and the risk was too high - no cell service with a jumpy car which wasn't shifting gears well and a lot of stress. He said he would contact his guy to see if he would come to columbia icefields but re-iterated that he only goes to Lake Louise. He would update us the following day. Find a campsite where we can drive in and out without needing to reverse and stay the night. Next day, go back to the columbia icefields center again to get cell service, have a text message - "van is ready, driver is on the way, meet at lake louise icefields center". Text back - as discussed, van is not safe to drive further down the road with no service and breaking transmission, we are stuck at columbia icefields. No response for a couple of hours until "driver is on his way, an hour or so away". Almost two hours had passed, text him again, can you check where the driver is as we are still waiting. 5 mins later, a van shows up, who's driving? same guy. This is a one man operation who just didn't want to drive to pick up his broken car. Obviously, didn't apologise. Brought a smaller van which didn't fit our bags in the compartments and had super jumpy breaks.

Also, they asked us to vacuum the van upon returning without supplying one - lol. And supplied mostly empty gas cans to cook your food with which tells you the type of company they are.

Florence T.

Huge disappointment!
We had booked an Aventus 2 car and instead got a very old campervan. I can understand that there was a mechanical issue with the car we had initially booked. However I don’t understand that this company doesn’t agree to refund us the difference between the two cars costs. Indeed we had booked a much premium car than the one they gave us finally. But worse than this, I’ve been in contact with their customer service many times for weeks now and either they ignore me or tell me they’ll come back to me which they don’t. It’s been now weeks so I understand that they have absolutly no intention to refund me. This is just innacceptable to treat people like this !

Jim W.

A month ago we rented a Wicked van in Calgary. Weather was extremely Hot in area. Local staff helpful, but shortly after departure it was obvious the Air Con system was inoperable. We reported this immediately but staff had no solutions, other than flat tire repair locations. Over the next few days we spent lots of our travel time attempting to find repair help, to no avail. We were unable, for the whole rental term, to get the Air Con or rear light systems repaired. We have no doubt these problems should have been discovered by Wicked staff Prior to our pick up. As a result our travel in the vehicle was very uncomfortable. Based on numerous communications we believed Wicked would do something to address this. But, Wicked ignored these problems and failed to take any action to attempt to make good on this. Lesson: if you rent a Wicked vehicle, be sure to arrive early and thoroughly check ALL vehicle systems.