The Helpful Guide to Renting Camper Vans

In this strange covid world hiring a camper van is a completely new experience for many people and we want everyone who does so to have an amazing experience whether the hire is through us at CamperHoliday or anyone else. 

 

We wish we had enough vans that we never had to turn away a booking, never had to disappoint a customer but fact is we don’t so we feel we should at least help those we can’t accommodate to book with ease and assurance. 

 

We hope this blog helps some of you to find and confidently search ‘camper van hire near me’ and have the road trip of a lifetime! 

 

1) Check you're not paying more in introducer fees - some camper van website act as an intermediary to introduce you to van owners, it's not wrong, but you may pay several hundred pounds more than if you were hiring from a company that owns its own vans – enough to pay for all your campsite fees! 

 

2) Ask what covid security procedures the owner has in place. Most reputable hospitality businesses have achieved the ‘Good To Go’ kitemark to demonstrate that they have made your experience as covid secure as possible. 

 

3) Check that there are Terms and Conditions in place that are at least a couple of pages long and, honestly, read them. 

 

4) Before you book ask what the handover process is like and be prepared to reject the vehicle upon collection if they cannot provide evidence of insurance, MOT, vehicle tax, details of roadside recovery, tyres being roadworthy etc. Professional owners will have a full pack of information to hand over when you collect and it’ll all feel super easy, but once you’ve signed for the vehicle it’s on you. 

 

5) Mileage -this is a biggie!! The cost of hiring a campervan does vary but be aware that a cheap hire often includes very low mileage which is perfect if you are just ambling along to a local camp site just to get out of the four walls of your home. It’s not so great if you are looking to do the NC500 because you’ll find yourself coming back to a hefty mileage bill being deducted from your Security Bond. 

 

6) Wherever you hire a campervan from you will be required to pay a Security Bond just before or at the point of collection. All perfectly normal and it is a requirement of insurance policies, no different from collecting a hire car from the airport when you go abroad. We’d go so far to say that if you are not being asked for this then it’s unlikely that the van is properly insured. But check how much the Security Bond is – they can vary from £500 to £1500 and you may have to stand that in cash depending on how the vehicle owner takes payment. 

 

7) Pay using PayPal and/or credit card – both the hire costs and the Security Bond. If the owners are personal friends then a bank transfer will be fine but otherwise you should use the extra protection that you get from using PayPal or a credit card. 

 

8) Talk to the van owners before you book, give them a call and talk to them and see how you gel with them. Are you comfortable asking them the ‘daft questions’; and do they volunteer helpful information in a supportive way? Do they have videos and information online that you can use to familiarise yourself with the van before you depart? 

 

9) If at all possible, insure more than one driver on the vehicle, even if only to cover emergencies such as being poorly, a broken leg or just plain tired, especially whilst we are still dealing with covid. There is absolutely no reason for this to be cost prohibitive. 

 

10) If at all possible, try and travel outside of school holidays. Part of the beauty of a hiring a campervan is being able to stay somewhere beautiful a day longer; being able to change direction to get to better weather. During school holidays, camp sites have been super busy, more so during the pandemic so you will need to book in advance and stick to your plan. Outside of school holidays you probably only need to plan a day or two in advance. 

 

Here at CamperHoliday it is really important to Ian and I that the customer experience we offer is second to none. 

 

We regularly update our Covid Security Procedures to maintain our Good To Go Kitemark which means we can confidently report that neither our customers nor our staff have been put at risk when hiring our vans. 

 

We will greet you on site and give you a full tour of the van, including ‘The Bible’ which includes copies of all legal documents as well as printed copies of our user guides. 

 

We include 200 miles per day in our hire costs and we use Stripe to take payment through our online booking portal and PayPal to take the Security Deposit so you can make the payments using your credit card. We charge a one off £10 admin fee for any additional drivers, that’s it, it is not a per day charge. 

 

We also host The CamperHoliday Clubhouse in Facebook where you can join in the fun, access our Driving Playlists and listen to guest speakers from campsites and locations around the UK before you even depart. We host route planning competitions with prizes and build a real rapport with our guests so that they all feel comfortable approaching us with any questions that they may have.  

 

Our customers feel more like family and we will always go above and beyond to help them out before they depart, whilst they are away and keep them buoyed up during lockdowns. 

 

Come meet us in The CamperHoliday Clubhouse, check out our pre-planned routes or check out our availabiilty using the online booking calendar.