The Ultimate Guide To Hiring A Campervan

Last Updated on 7th March 2023

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The Ultimate Guide To Hiring A Campervan – Campervan Hire Tips

If you’ve been keeping up-to-date with my recent blog posts and Instagram posts, you’ll know that Matt and I recently bought and converted our very own campervan.

Converting a campervan was a dream of ours for numerous years and the fact that we’ve now done it and made it come true still feels a little bit surreal to me and almost like it’s not actually mine.

The dream to own our own campervan one day arose from our experience of hiring three campervans across New Zealand and Australia as part of our backpacking trip in 2019. Hiring a campervan in New Zealand and Australia was undoubtedly one of the best adventures I’ve ever had, which made us want our very own campervan so we could live out that dreamy #vanlife whenever we wanted.

After our experience of hiring a campervan on three separate occasions, I thought now would be a good time to share my top campervan hire tips in case you wanted to try out #vanlife before you commit to purchasing one of your own. While you certainly don’t have to ‘try before you buy’ when it comes to getting a campervan, it is something that I’d definitely recommend.

If you’re thinking of hiring a campervan for your next trip, check out my top tips below for everything you need to know about motorhome hire in the UK for the first time!

1. The cost of hiring a campervan in the UK

The cost of hiring a campervan is something that many people will take into consideration when it comes to hiring one for the first time.

How much it costs to hire a campervan depends on so many different factors, including the season, weather, demand and even global pandemics… With many people in the UK opting to remain closer to home for their trips and travels this year, the demand for campervan hire has absolutely skyrocketed over the last few months and a week’s hire of a campervan in the UK could cost you anywhere between £300 and £1300, depending on when you want to hire it, how long for and the type of campervan or motorhome you want!

The cost to hire a campervan or motorhome certainly isn’t cheap and in many cases, it’s actually much more expensive than going abroad, but if it’s an experience that you really want to do, you’ll just have to spend time researching different campervan providers and getting quotes from them.

Below, I’ve put together a little list of the best and most popular campervan and motorhome hire companies in the UK to help you out!

Best motorhome hire companies in the UK:

Quirky Campers
Bunk Campers
Camptoo
Camplify
Indie Campers
Spaceships Rentals
Budget Campervans

2. Pick-up and drop-off locations – what to look for when hiring a campervan

Another factor to consider when hiring a campervan is the terms and conditions with regard to pick-up and drop-off locations.

Some campervan companies require you to pick the van up and drop it off in the same place, whereas some are much more flexible and enable you to pick them up from one place (a London airport, for example) and drop them off in a completely different location ( Edinburgh , for example).

How flexible you need the pick-up and drop-off locations depends on the type of trip you have in mind and how long you want to go for. Before hiring a campervan, be sure to check their terms and conditions and what they expect from you when it comes to picking up a van and dropping it off again.

3. The minimum age you have to be to hire a campervan in Scotland and England

Just because you have a full UK driving licence and you passed your test when you were 17, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be able to hire a campervan with no problems.

It depends on the campervan rental company, but you usually have to be at least 21 years old to rent a campervan in some cases, and some companies have a minimum age requirement of 25 years old.

However, there will also be rental companies that have a much more lenient policy, so when researching campervan hire companies in the UK, make sure to check the minimum age requirements for hiring a van.

4. The length of the rental period – hiring a campervan

In many cases, you should be able to hire a campervan for the length of time that you want, so whether you just want to take it on a weekend trip, or hire it for a full month, most van rental companies are usually quite accommodating.

However, if you’re looking to rent a campervan in the peak summer months and especially if you do it last minute, you might find that there’s not a lot of availability for long trips. Therefore, it’s usually best to try and book your campervan rental as far in advance as possible, although if you’re anything like us, spontaneous trips are usually your go-to!

You might also find that you get a better choice of campervan rentals if you’re a bit more flexible with your dates, but if not, you’ll just have to be prepared to shop around a lot when looking for specific campervan hire dates.

5. Check whether insurance is included in the hire price

More often than not, when you hire a campervan or motorhome, you will be required to also purchase insurance for it as well. Some rental companies include the cost of insurance within the hire price, whereas others will let you choose an insurance policy to add to your hire cost.

Ensuring that you have a suitable insurance policy when hiring a campervan is imperative and while it might seem like a crazy expensive additional cost, it’s always worth having.

In New Zealand, we had fully comprehensive cover on both our van rentals and we didn’t have to make a claim once, but in Australia, we had to claim three times in just one month on our campervan insurance, so it’s definitely worth having!

6. The size of the van

The size of the van that you want to hire is another consideration you’ll have to take into account.

There are literally dozens of models to choose from, so whether you want a relatively humble van like ours or the beloved VW Transporter, or you want something much more spacious to accommodate the whole family such as a 4 or 5-berth motorhome, the size and style of van you want will affect other factors such as cost, storage facilities and the facilities it has included within the van.

7. Check how much storage the van has

a guide to renting a campervan in the UK

Storage, or lack thereof, is often something that many people struggle to get their heads around when it comes to going on a campervan trip.

It’s safe to say that you don’t get an awful lot of storage when travelling in a campervan and even the roomiest of motorhomes aren’t quite as well-equipped with storage facilities as you’d want.

However, the freedom that comes with travelling in a campervan is something that makes the lack of storage space more than worth it. You’ll also find that more often than not, you can make it work incredibly well even if you don’t have a tonne of room to bring absolutely everything that you want.

For me, I love that I have to be a minimalist in our campervan and I enjoy that I’m only able to pack the absolute essentials. If storage space is important to you when hiring a campervan, however, make sure to research the vans with the most space for accommodating all your belongings.

8. Do you want toilet and shower facilities?

While the pictures of #vanlife that you see on Instagram and Pinterest might look incredibly idyllic all the time, it’s important to be aware that it’s not always perfect when you’re travelling in a campervan.

When building our van, we decided not to put any toilet or shower facilities in as we simply don’t really have space. Since being out in the van on our first few trips, we have discussed the possibility of adding a detachable hose into the sink to act as a shower, but we don’t want any toilet facilities in for now.

Many campervan hire companies will give you the option to add a porta potty as part of your van rental which can be used even in the smallest of campervans. However, the three van rentals we had in New Zealand and Australia came with these and we didn’t use them once, so we decided against having one in our van.

When you’re staying in paid campsites, you’ll nearly always have access to toilets (and usually shower facilities), whereas if you freedom camp, you’re very unlikely to be parked somewhere that has nearby toilets. It’s up to you, therefore, whether you want the ability to easily go to the toilet while camping, or whether you’re happy squatting in a bush!

9. Is it petrol or diesel? – hiring a campervan top tips

The choice between a petrol or diesel vehicle might not be something that’s a big deal to you, so if you’re happy with either, just ignore this point.

However, in places like New Zealand, if you hire a diesel campervan, while the cost of diesel itself is much cheaper, you also have to pay a fee at the end of your hire period which is calculated based on how much diesel you used.

In the UK, however, (as far as I’m aware), this isn’t something you have to worry about, so the choice between a petrol or diesel vehicle is usually just more of a personal preference.

10. What’s included in the cost (equipment, bedding etc) + any extra costs associated with the hire

When hiring a campervan, some companies include absolutely everything you need within the rental cost, including bedding, towels, cooking equipment, camping chairs and table and more.

However, some campervan rental companies will only charge you for the price of hiring the campervan and then you might be expected to pay for additional extras separately. If you’re happy to bring your own bedding, pillows, towels and even camping chairs, then it might be best to opt out of adding any extras to the cost of hiring a campervan.

However, if you’d prefer to opt for the easier and more convenient option, then it might be better to ask the rental company to include the cost of absolutely everything in the quote they give you for hiring the van.

While I’m pretty sure that I’ve included all the important considerations that you should take into account when hiring a campervan above, I have added a few bonus points below that you might want to think about when renting a campervan for the first time.

Bonus things to consider when hiring a campervan:

Does it have an external electrical hook-up or does it run off a leisure battery? Or both?
Is the van easy to drive? Will you be able to park it in multi-storey car parks?
Do you have to pay to add an additional driver to the campervan hire (you will nearly always have to)?
Do you have to pay a security deposit? How much is it?
Do you need to return the van with a full tank of petrol/diesel? Most rental companies will expect you to do this.

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the ultimate guide to hiring a campervan in the UK

Have you ever thought about hiring a campervan? Is it something you think you’d like to do one day? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram at @imjustagirl_16.