Our story
We opened Pralavo in 2016 with nine compact cars and a single phone line on Bath Lane. Nine years on, the same workshop services every vehicle in the fleet, still on the same fourteen point inspection sheet, still handed over with the keys at the counter.
Where we came from
Marcus Eberhardt ran a mobile mechanic van before Pralavo. The business came out of a conversation with a customer who needed a small car for a week while their own was being fixed and had been quoted a rate that felt pulled from the air. The plan was basic: rent a narrow range, look after each vehicle properly between hires, price it once and stick to it.
The first depot was half of the Bath Lane address we still occupy. Nine hatchbacks, mostly second-hand Korean sedans with 90,000 km on them. Within two years the fleet had grown enough to need the second bay, and in 2020 the workshop took over the whole ground floor.
In 2012 we had started hiring 4x4s informally after a photographer wanted to take a dual cab up to Craig's Hut. That side of the business grew slowly for the first few years, then picked up properly in 2019 when we started speccing vehicles with recovery gear from the factory order rather than fitting it later.
Milestones
Nine compact cars and Marcus on the counter full time. Six months to fill the first yard.
The workshop doubled in size. Fleet hit twenty-one vehicles by the end of the year.
Sixteen dual cabs and wagons added to the fleet, each specced with recovery gear from order.
Three partner mechanics signed on across central Victoria for round-the-clock breakdown support.
The team
Nine people run Pralavo day to day. Nobody on the counter is new to the job, and everyone can quote you a rate without checking with someone in the back.
Founder and owner
Ran a mechanic van for fifteen years before opening Pralavo. Still climbs under a car on the busy weeks.
Depot manager
Handles the counter and the phone. Knows the track conditions around Bendigo better than anyone.
Head mechanic
Runs the fourteen point pre-hire inspection on every vehicle in the compact range.
4x4 fleet lead
Looks after the sixteen dual cabs and wagons, and runs the route briefing for every high country hire.
What we rent
Both ranges come through the same shop on Bath Lane. The vehicle you book is the one serviced by our own mechanics, not a subcontractor down the road.
Forty-two hatchbacks and small sedans under five years old, automatic or manual, all on a strict 10,000 km service cycle. From $54 a day.
Explore the compacts
Dual-range utes and wagons with bull bar, snorkel and recovery kit already fitted. Tyres swapped at 6 mm tread, not the legal minimum.
See the 4x4 lineupHow we work
Over the years a few things have drifted, but three principles have stayed constant since 2016. They are the reason the fleet stays narrow instead of growing into every category someone asks about.
A fourteen point check runs between every hire. If something feels off, the car stays in the bay until it is sorted, even if that means a substitute vehicle for the customer.
The rate on the website is the rate on the contract. Damage waivers and add-ons are opt-in and shown separately, never baked into the headline price.
A real person picks up during counter hours. No menu tree, no callback queue, no outsourcing. Breakdown support runs around the clock.
Successes
The office is at 22-44 Bath Lane, a couple of minutes walk from Hargreaves Street. Two kerbside spots out front are held for customers during pickup hours.
