A Damon Ultrasport

It’s a beautiful image isn’t it – driving into the sunset. In reality it’s not quite like that, most campervan journeys begin in the morning. And with a campervan you can do just that You can forget about trying to find hotels and making reservations How much freedom do you need? You can have as much as you want. It’s your own personal transport and accommodation.The cost of owning a campervan is prohibitive. Even people who own campervans, don’t use them that often, so you may as well just hire one when you need it. Although my own personal experience of campervanning is restricted to the UK and Europe, many friends of mine have assured me that if you are visiting New Zealand or Australia, hiring a campervan is the only way to see even a tiny bit of these vast countries. But before you go rushing off to the other side of the planet, take a look at what you could see and do here. Campervan hire is now a popular option at music festivals such as Glastonbury. A campervan gives you added security, comfortable beds and somewhere dry and warm should the weather go bad. Campervans are much more fun than tents when the weather is bad, being warm and dry with a cup of tea suddenly becomes an absolute luxury.Many campervan owners put their own vehicles into a self hire scheme operated by campervan hire companies. This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it is easy to build up a huge fleet without the expense of actual buying the campervans. The downside that it is hard to maintain the quality of the vehicles with out continuous access to the vehicles.

Private campervan hire might not always be the best idea. It might be a means to an end to get cheap campervan hire, but it is unlikely that the business will have been set up properly. This is mainly because of the inadequate insurance provided. The owner may even demand that the hirer sorts his own insurance out. This might be OK on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean somewhere, but is it really want to be doing here in the Britain – is that what you need?. My advice is to go for a reputable UK campervan hire company. It could easily cost you less in the long run.

This is a story about some one who lives in the UK, but loves taking a campervan out to The Alps. A very good friend of ours, John Strain, has been snowboarding for years. For his first few times, he stopped in an apartment, which is what most people do. He would have a great day snowboarding and along the way he would meet people who talked about other ski resorts and how great they were. So how could he expand on his holiday and take in a few more resorts? The answer was of course to hire a campervan. His preferred campervan is the Chausson Flash 04 which he loves because of the excellent diesel heating system it has. He won’t be staying in an apartment or hotel for a long time now!

Modern efficient insulating materials are used in the construction of campervans, which makes it easy to maintain a nice ambient temperature. Keep cool when driving with the ice cold air conditioning in the campervan’s cab. Once you are parked up, the double glazed windows will keep you warm in the winter and keep the intense sun out in the summer too.

Hiring a campervan gives you complete freedom to please yourself wherever you want to go. As you have just read all this, I think you may now be ready for your first campervan holiday. I would go for one of the biggest hire companies in the UK. The larger ones do tend to have the best prices. They will also have a good course of action if anything goes wrong. Just in case you need help with something, it’s good to know there is a good team you can contact, if you need help.

The cost of owning a campervan is prohibitive. A campervan isn’t generally something you are going to use every day, so hiring is a good idea. Friends of mine who have been to New Zealand have often said that they wish they had hired a campervan when they were on their visit. But back here in the northern hemisphere there is still plenty of things happening. Music festivals like Glastonbury have proved a real hit with the younger crowd who are looking to have the best weekend of their life in the comfort of a campervan. At festivals, the campervan adds an enormous layer of security to yourself and your posessions, something that just doesn’t exist in a tent. Campervans are much more fun than tents when the weather is bad, being warm and dry with a cup of tea suddenly becomes an absolute luxury. 

Quite a few campervan owners, make money from their vehicles by allowing campervan hire firms to rent them out for them. There are good and bad points about this The advantage is that it is easy to build up a huge fleet without the expense of actual buying the campervans. The disadvantage is that it is very difficult to look after the fleet properly if you only have access to the vehicles when the owner says so. 

Don’t be tempted by any Tom, Dick or Harry offering the lowest price for campervan hire. Quite often this will be people who have bought their own campervan and realised that it is draining their money as they are not using it most of the time. To try and make some money they have decided to try and rent out their campervan, sometimes illegally. This is because most of the time they do not have adequate insurance to allow them to hire the vehicle for a fee. All will be well, just don’t have an accident or attract the attention of the police. Does this sound like a good way to spend your holiday? Not really we would recommend you look at the MotorhomeBusiness.com web site and make a better decision about motorhome hire! 

Even if you are heading to northern Scandinavia in the winter should you ever feel worried about being cold, well certainly not in your campervan anyway! Practically every campervan on the market has some form of heating, usually gas, but sometimes diesel. In the case of the Chausson Flash 02 campervan, the heating system is powered by diesel fuel. You just need to set the temperature on the thermostat and the heating will do the rest. It doesn’t matter if you are in the coldest of climates, you will always be warm. 

The newest modern campervans are made of very high tech materials which are strong and offer amazing insulative properties. Inspiration from caravan designers has been used in campervan design, especially in the habitation section of the vehicle. All windows are double glazed which offers excellent protection against the cold as well as the intense heat of a european summer.Modern campervans do not leak, so forget any stories you might have heard about caravans in the 1980s. Heating systems can be used when camped up, making them ideal for ski trips.

I do hope that reading this has made you think about hiring a campervan or even owning your own. I would suggest that you try out a campervan first by hiring one. Different campervans have different layouts, so have a look around and see what would work for your family. If you have a pal or neighbour that has a campervan, ask them for a look inside and get some ideas! Not everbody is going to appreciate a campervan holiday – that’s their loss. They will be staring at the same view each day of their holiday, but you can change yours everyday if you wish.