Hiring a Motorhome before buying (1 Viewer)

[Hoplo]

I hope this is the right area to post a question like this?

I don’t own a motorhome yet but like many others am thinking of buying one. The van will be just for me. No family members, friends, pets or canoes need be carried But because I intend to use it for trips lasting several weeks at times and maybe to carry an e-bike I think I need something more spacious than a camper van.

So I have decided to hire a motorhome first. For a few days or a week sometime this December. To see if I like it and to answer some of the questions like am I happy driving it? Can I sleep in it when it’s raining or windy? How do I get on with the Cassette toilet - using and emptying?Those sorts of things.

Are there any tips people can give me? Both on how to go about hiring a motorhome and what to do with it to try it out? Are there hire companies and will they lend a van to a single none Motorhome user? The places I have seen all seem to be sites which facilitate renting from an individual MH owner rather than places that own several MHs and then rent them out? Is this the usual practice? Or are there rental companies with fleets of vans? Assuming I can hire one I intend to pre book a couple of campsites so I get a little experience both driving and setting up / packing up the MH. Anything else I really need to check on my trial run?

I will be looking to rent close to either Romford (in Essex) or Cheltenham (in Gloucestershire) if anyone has any recommendations. Can you usually leave your car with the rental place and if so is this advisable?

Thanks!

 

[Jev88]

Go and visit dealers with new and old stock. Crawl over every design. Narrow down the most important feature for you, the Layout.

Then try and hire that layout.

 

[Figaro]

I think your plan to hire before buying is a good one and if you can enjoy it in December when the weather likely to be quite wet and cold, you will certainly enjoy it in Summer when motorhome life is much easier.
I hired from Justgo before I bought but there are lots of other companies doing it and hire rates should be reasonable in December.
Do haggle as they are sure to have plenty of vans sitting doing nothing in early / mid December.
It's worth becoming a full member and paying the subs, it'll be the best investment you make in motorhoming as there are lots of knowledgable people on here to give advice on buying

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[mikebeaches]

I hope this is the right area to post a question like this?

I don’t own a motorhome yet but like many others am thinking of buying one. The van will be just for me. No family members, friends, pets or canoes need be carried But because I intend to use it for trips lasting several weeks at times and maybe to carry an e-bike I think I need something more spacious than a camper van.

So I have decided to hire a motorhome first. For a few days or a week sometime this December. To see if I like it and to answer some of the questions like am I happy driving it? Can I sleep in it when it’s raining or windy? How do I get on with the Cassette toilet - using and emptying?Those sorts of things.

Are there any tips people can give me? Both on how to go about hiring a motorhome and what to do with it to try it out? Are there hire companies and will they lend a van to a single none Motorhome user? The places I have seen all seem to be sites which facilitate renting from an individual MH owner rather than places that own several MHs and then rent them out? Is this the usual practice? Or are there rental companies with fleets of vans? Assuming I can hire one I intend to pre book a couple of campsites so I get a little experience both driving and setting up / packing up the MH. Anything else I really need to check on my trial run?

I will be looking to rent close to either Romford (in Essex) or Cheltenham (in Gloucestershire) if anyone has any recommendations. Can you usually leave your car with the rental place and if so is this advisable?

Thanks!

All sounds good.

The Motorhome Holiday Company is good for rentals and located on the A370 near Junction 21 of the M5, not far from Weston-super-Mare.

Matt, the boss is helpful and they have all different types of van to hire.

Looking for a Motorhome or Campervan to hire?

Motorhome Hire ...Made Simple - Simple daily hire rates and great customer service - we are here to help you get started on your very own motorhome adventure.

www.motorhomeholidaycompany.com

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Two things matter. Layout and payload

 

[Lenny HB]

Yep, well worth hiri g we did it twice before buying it taught us what we couldn't live with.
At the time we hired in Germany as it was half the price of hiring in the UK.

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[ManTheVan]

Or you could try a new area altogether and contact Coast2Glen in Inverness. They are a small, family operation and will hire you a very recent MH with full support. Jim, the owner, is a good man and will be well worth contacting. Have a week in the highlands in December and you’ll know whether it’s for you or not. Bet it will be!

 

[dash300]

Yes, hire before you buy. As a short term caravanner to compliment our family boating relays we bought a caravan and it was fine but not quite the right fit, though enjoyable. Hired a Coachbuilt motorhome which was fine as a self propelled caravan but just a little too big and cumbersome for our partcular needs.
We have now plumped for a Rapido made Dreamer Living Van which combines 4 berths, rear lounge and drop down front bed which maximises space within the more compact dimensions of a 6.3m PVC. We think it will work for us as an extended family, but will not know for certain untill we have all used it. So again yes hire first to give you at least a steer.

 

[Hoplo]

Go and visit dealers with new and old stock. Crawl over every design. Narrow down the most important feature for you, the Layout.

Then try and hire that layout.

Thank you Jev88

I already have some ideas on what I think I want. For example a drop down bed. They seem to maximise living area in the van while not requiring me to multi-use the Living/sitting space. But I definitely want to hire one with this feature first (if possible) to check that I can cope with the enclosed space while sleeping and negotiating the steps if I need the loo at night!

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[Hoplo]

Yes, hire before you buy. As a short term caravanner to compliment our family boating relays we bought a caravan and it was fine but not quite the right fit, though enjoyable. Hired a Coachbuilt motorhome which was fine as a self propelled caravan but just a little too big and cumbersome for our partcular needs.
We have now plumped for a Rapido made Dreamer Living Van which combines 4 berths, rear lounge and drop down front bed which maximises space within the more compact dimensions of a 6.3m PVC. We think it will work for us as an extended family, but will not know for certain untill we have all used it. So again yes hire first to give you at least a steer.

I have considered a camper van / PVC but definitely want to hire a full coach build. If I can handle driving and parking one of those then a camper should be no problem. But not so much the other way around.

As it’s just me I suppose I should be able to fit into a camper but I would rather do my test in something larger and then see if I really need or use the space.

But I hope your Dreamer Living Van turns out to be what you and your family need

 

[ByronMH]

We also hired before buying with JustGo - they have a place near Luton.

Consider either hiring abroad (thinking France is your best bet) or being fully aware in the UK of how to go about getting rid of waste. We hired the van and went straight over to Europe, so filling and emptying just wasn't a thing that we worried about. But, as a novice user, I could imagine it may be ever so slightly more stressful this side of the water, only because emptying and finding parkups can be slightly more difficult.

Do let us know how you get on and happy travels!

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Try Swift go they have a place at Heathrow. Their branch near us in Stockport must have 70 for hire of all types. Not cheap though so maybe have a look at their stock then find a smaller operator with a similar model you want to try out.

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[Solwaybuggier]

We did “hire before buy” before buying our first van, and would thoroughly recommend it. Hired from a couple in N Yorks, handover was cursory tbh, but it at least meant we had to work a lot of things out for ourselves! We hired in February, on the basis (like OP) that if we could cope with it then, summer should be a doddle. We actually bought our first van in the course of our hire week.

At one time there were a number of places (dealers) where you could hire and if you then bought from them within a certain period you got your hire fee back. That seems to have faded away, although I think I saw somewhere else doing it recently, but I can’t recall where, I’m afraid.

Be aware that there are fewer sites open at this time of year, reducing your choice of where to stay, so maybe a bit more advance planning may be needed over where you’re going? And don’t do what we did - we’d joined the Caravan & Motorhome Club (because we were pretty sure we’d get some sort of motorhome) and stopped on a Certificated Location (very small site). We merrily drove onto the site, which was grass, and found we were stuck in soft ground! Look for somewhere with hard standing, ideally.

 

[Langloan]

I hope this is the right area to post a question like this?

I don’t own a motorhome yet but like many others am thinking of buying one. The van will be just for me. No family members, friends, pets or canoes need be carried But because I intend to use it for trips lasting several weeks at times and maybe to carry an e-bike I think I need something more spacious than a camper van.

So I have decided to hire a motorhome first. For a few days or a week sometime this December. To see if I like it and to answer some of the questions like am I happy driving it? Can I sleep in it when it’s raining or windy? How do I get on with the Cassette toilet - using and emptying?Those sorts of things.

Are there any tips people can give me? Both on how to go about hiring a motorhome and what to do with it to try it out? Are there hire companies and will they lend a van to a single none Motorhome user? The places I have seen all seem to be sites which facilitate renting from an individual MH owner rather than places that own several MHs and then rent them out? Is this the usual practice? Or are there rental companies with fleets of vans? Assuming I can hire one I intend to pre book a couple of campsites so I get a little experience both driving and setting up / packing up the MH. Anything else I really need to check on my trial run?

I will be looking to rent close to either Romford (in Essex) or Cheltenham (in Gloucestershire) if anyone has any recommendations. Can you usually leave your car with the rental place and if so is this advisable?

Thanks!

 

[Langloan]

We went to a warners show in a rental and then looked at all the options and bought one

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[Carolina]

I would say that if you intend buying a newish motorhome then hire from a hire company that will hire out new or nearly new. However if you intend to buy older secondhand then hire an older motorhome too. No point in falling in love with new motorhome if you can't afford to buy one like it.
We hired from Camptoo, a company that hires out motorhomes owned by individuals. We wanted to travel around lake district so chose a motorhome we could pick up from there so we would nt waste time travelling up motorway in van.

 

[Guffy60]

We hired PVC and the boss felt it cramped, could have been due to lack of rear windows. The MoHo we know has had a bike rack, now removed as can fit two e-bikes and other bits and bobs in the rear garage space. More secure being out of site. Weight is always the issue, as easy to say let’s take x, w & z! Good luck and enjoy

 

[Brains]

Best thing to do, Hire before you buy
We hired 3 different ones before we bought, the last one we hired was from McRent

As others have said, two most important things are internal layout and payload.
When you find a model that matches your requirements, go and find out where you can hire that model, or at last one similar.
It does not matter if it's in Germany, it will be worth the trip.

None of our rentals were within 250 miles of where we live.
A lot of the rental companies seem to be located around Nottingham, England or around Dusseldorf, Germany.

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[dridgeyboy]

Try Escape Hire in Tiptree near Colchester , just down the A12 from Romford, nice people to deal with.

 

[Burgo]

Brilliant idea. We got them to agree that if we went ahead and bought one we'd get the hire charge off as a discount - which they honoured. We learned a lot in a long weekend - especially as it pelted down all the time!

 

[bigwood]

We hired before we bought our first van. The Pilot we hired looked like it was nearly what we wanted with its fixed bed and continental style lounge behind the passenger seat.
After a week touring France it showed it just wasn’t right for us and we bought a PVC instead .

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[DerryW]

Go and visit dealers with new and old stock. Crawl over every design. Narrow down the most important feature for you, the Layout.

Then try and hire that layout.

Excellent peice of advice and all relevant to anyone thinking of embarking into the world of motorhoming.

 

[DerryW]

We did just that before buying our first MH. Whilst it wasn’t cheap c£1k it could turn out to be the best £1k you spend. By the way my advice would always be the take out the insurance waiver, it may cost an extra fee £ but will give you piece of mind.
Good Luck with your adventure.

 

[Stumbleweed]

Definitely hire first.
We did two hires before buying,
A 2 berth Corado coachbuilt with french bed from Munich for a week touring Austria/Bavaria
An 8.5m tag axle A-class from Montpellier for 10 days touring Provence/Switzerland
Concluded that for us, the extra space/comfort of the larger van more than made up for the challenges of manoevering a bigger vehicle
Both hire vans were new or nearly so, but felt very flimsy/rattly
Very pleased with our older Concorde which is much better put together.

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[Hoplo]

Try Escape Hire in Tiptree near Colchester , just down the A12 from Romford, nice people to deal with.

Thank you to dridgeyboy and everyone else who gave me advice.

It was February before work and other commitments let me finally hire the Motorhome. Of course I picked the week of storms for my first trip

I went with Escape Hire. They were great to deal with and made it all sound really easy. And that is largely what I found. Driving the van was the hardest thing to get used to as it seems so wide and well big. But having driven from Essex to Salisbury and then back to Hertford I eventually got used to it. Driving back around the M25 and on the A12 on the Friday of Storm Eunice was quite interesting!