Thought I would report back about our family weekend with a rented campervan. We spent Friday to Tuesday at a festival. We went to the same festival last year and camped, but that was really hard work as the campsite is a good walk away from the car park. Plus the facilities (showers and loos) weren't great. So this year we thought it would be easier to rent a camper.
And it was easier. No setting up a tent and carrying everything to set it up. A nice comfy, roomy bed (surprisingly as I'm 6 feet 2 inches) and a good base from which to enjoy the festival. It was good to have a loo and shower, although filling it with water was a pain (although that's partly our fault for not having a decent water carrier).
And it was fun! Driving the thing was a lot more straightforward than i had anticipated. It was a 6 berth converted transit, so seemed huge, and it didn't help that I decided it was a good idea to drive it back from the depot across Birmingham! After that, 50 miles on the M6 was easy.
But it was expensive, so next year we might be back to a tent and the money saved spent on a posh camp bed.
(In other news, my MX5 today failed its MOT. It needs some welding on the front of the chassis, rear callipers and suspension ball joint- a few hundred quids worth, but it could have been worse)
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Always fancied a camper but they do seem expensive to hire. We've often though of it for Silverstone on our normal pilgrimage but yet to try it out so thanks for the review rev.
Glad to see the MX-5 is still alive and generating a smile or two. My old Mk II is still in one piece too with a family nearby using it as daily transport all year despite all the Mazda eating salt on our roads in winter up here.
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Always fancied a camper but they do seem expensive to hire. We've often though of it for Silverstone on our normal pilgrimage but yet to try it out so thanks for the review rev. Glad to see the MX-5 is still alive and generating a smile or two. My old Mk II is still in one piece too with a family nearby using it as daily transport all year despite all the Mazda eating salt on our roads in winter up here.
Campervans and motorhomes are expensive to buy - with ludicrously low depreciation so still silly prices at 5-10 years old
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Guide for motorhomes is 50% depreciation over ten years. Quite a few companies buy a new fleet every year, rent them for 6-8 months then sell them for 10-20% off list.
I agree they are expensive, we have considered it for touring Scotland, but at £2k+ for a decent model for a couple of weeks, plus fuel, plus overnight fees, higher ferry charges, it is cheaper to go pod camping and move on every 3-4 nights.
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Always fancied a camper but they do seem expensive to hire. We've often though of it for Silverstone on our normal pilgrimage but yet to try it out so thanks for the review rev. Glad to see the MX-5 is still alive and generating a smile or two. My old Mk II is still in one piece too with a family nearby using it as daily transport all year despite all the Mazda eating salt on our roads in winter up here.
Campervans and motorhomes are expensive to buy - with ludicrously low depreciation so still silly prices at 5-10 years old
You are having a laugh RT aren't you?!, prices for campers are stupidly high way older than 5-10 years. Even ignoring VW's, you can easily pay £6-7k for a late 80's talbot express based one. Something which, usually will have a wheezing 2.0 single carb(!) engine pushing out about 80BHP, and quite possibly no power steering!. I went with my dad to view one a few years ago, i thought he was going to have a heart attack trying to do a u-turn!.
I do fancy a camper van, but it would definately be made by myself. Probably based on a SWB renault master or similar.
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Yeh...I always said I would do the coast of Britain in a camper-van when I retired. Now I have retired Icant get the sums to work as campervans are sooo expensive.... I reckon it would be cheaper option to hire one for a couple of months.
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Yeh...I always said I would do the coast of Britain in a camper-van when I retired. Now I have retired Icant get the sums to work as campervans are sooo expensive.... I reckon it would be cheaper option to hire one for a couple of months.
It's a small house on wheels, so it's expensive. Hang on, it doesn't sit on the expensive part, the land. That's no excuse. Woe betide anyone who wants to live cheaply :-)
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It's a small house on wheels, so it's expensive. Hang on, it doesn't sit on the expensive part, the land. That's no excuse. Woe betide anyone who wants to live cheaply :-)
Live cheaply....Don't get me started....Cheapest option.... have a couple a kids (preferably by different fathers or mothers.... have no Job... then just get a nice new 2/3 bed town house in a lovely part of Cheshire next to other houses on the development costing upward of 300k ....., cost to you = nothing....cost to this / next generation...we will see.
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Always fancied a camper but they do seem expensive to hire. We've often though of it for Silverstone on our normal pilgrimage but yet to try it out so thanks for the review rev. Glad to see the MX-5 is still alive and generating a smile or two. My old Mk II is still in one piece too with a family nearby using it as daily transport all year despite all the Mazda eating salt on our roads in winter up here.
Campervans and motorhomes are expensive to buy - with ludicrously low depreciation so still silly prices at 5-10 years old
You are having a laugh RT aren't you?!, prices for campers are stupidly high way older than 5-10 years. Even ignoring VW's, you can easily pay £6-7k for a late 80's talbot express based one. Something which, usually will have a wheezing 2.0 single carb(!) engine pushing out about 80BHP, and quite possibly no power steering!. I went with my dad to view one a few years ago, i thought he was going to have a heart attack trying to do a u-turn!.
I do fancy a camper van, but it would definately be made by myself. Probably based on a SWB renault master or similar.
I'm a caravanner which has very different economics to motorhomes - my car will depreciate 50% in 3 years, possibly quicker - my caravan will depreciate at about half that rate so 50% in 6-7 years - but a motorhome will depreciate even slower despite being built as a motor vehicle with a caravan body on.
I just don't understand it.
If prices were more sensible, I'd buy a small 10-year old motorhome, bigger than a camper, to use on trips to the Highlands and Islands as they're more practical for touring and half the price on ferries.
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Always fancied a camper but they do seem expensive to hire. We've often though of it for Silverstone on our normal pilgrimage but yet to try it out so thanks for the review rev. Glad to see the MX-5 is still alive and generating a smile or two. My old Mk II is still in one piece too with a family nearby using it as daily transport all year despite all the Mazda eating salt on our roads in winter up here.
Campervans and motorhomes are expensive to buy - with ludicrously low depreciation so still silly prices at 5-10 years old
You are having a laugh RT aren't you?!, prices for campers are stupidly high way older than 5-10 years. Even ignoring VW's, you can easily pay £6-7k for a late 80's talbot express based one. Something which, usually will have a wheezing 2.0 single carb(!) engine pushing out about 80BHP, and quite possibly no power steering!. I went with my dad to view one a few years ago, i thought he was going to have a heart attack trying to do a u-turn!.
I do fancy a camper van, but it would definately be made by myself. Probably based on a SWB renault master or similar.
I'm a caravanner which has very different economics to motorhomes - my car will depreciate 50% in 3 years, possibly quicker - my caravan will depreciate at about half that rate so 50% in 6-7 years - but a motorhome will depreciate even slower despite being built as a motor vehicle with a caravan body on.
I just don't understand it.
If prices were more sensible, I'd buy a small 10-year old motorhome, bigger than a camper, to use on trips to the Highlands and Islands as they're more practical for touring and half the price on ferries.
Isnt one of the big advantages of a campervan v caravan is you can legally park just about anywhere in a campervan overnight but are very restricted legally in a caravan.
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Isnt one of the big advantages of a campervan v caravan is you can legally park just about anywhere in a campervan overnight but are very restricted legally in a caravan.
Not as far as I know - the same rules apply to each but they're different in Scotland to the rest of the UK - and much of the Highlands & Islands actively ecourages "wild camping" - but that in itself is more difficult in a caravan.
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I thought it was something to do with new legislation to " discourage" travelers in caravans from setting up camp by the roadside.
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I thought it was something to do with new legislation to " discourage" travelers in caravans from setting up camp by the roadside.
I'm not aware of any new legislation - although it did change in Scotland a few years back.
As I understand it, any "camping" on the highway, which does include verges can be dealt with by the police as Obstruction - if it's not on the highway a court order is needed in England & Wales unless a permanent injunction is in place - in Scotland, the landowner or their official can instruct "campers" to move on and failure to do so is an offence.
In Scotland, the signs stating "No Camping or Overnight parking" in laybys have been declared unenforceable and are being removed in many areas.
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Think I got confused with the new powers local councils have to move on unsavories.
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