Author: Own The Outdoors

Item: Gear Review: Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set
Rating: 4.2

Campervan Kitchen Essentials: The Best Cooking Gadgets for Your Van

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 11th November 2020

In this article, we look at what we consider to be our campervan’s kitchen essentials. The campervan kitchen gadgets and cooking equipment that we always pack or live permanently in our van.

One of the absolute best things to do as campervan or motorhome owner is to have the freedom and flexibility to make a cup of tea or even a full-blown meal out in the wild should you want to.

For camping trips or day trips, having access to a couple of gas rings and a fridge is a game-changer.

But what are the kitchen essentials you need in your campervan to really own the outdoors?

We’ve listed below from our own experience and research, exactly what are must-haves in your campervan kitchen cupboards.

Contents

Campervan cooking equipment – what to carry?

Space is at a premium in a campervan or motorhome.

On the other hand, you’ve chosen this style or camping because – let’s face it – camping on wheels is way more comfortable and easy than camping in tents.

So there is always that trade-off between having options to make your travel comfortable and easy, against having to store and carry yet more gear.

What exactly should you be packing? Let’s take a look at the six main types of campervan kitchen equipment that we recommend every van owner considers as essential gear.

Kitchen essential #1 – pots and pans

Ideally the pots and pans you choose for your campervan or motorhome should be stackable and not too big or heavy.

We recommend a set of three, four, of five pans, depending how much cooking you’re likely to do.

We have these Tefal Ingenio pans, a set of three saucepans and one frying pan with one removable handle for everything. They tick all the boxes for us:

Affordable price.
Made from stainless steel.
Contain a durable non-stick coating.
Stackable for easy campervan storage.
Oven safe.
Can be used on all hob types excluding induction.
Dishwasher safe (if you want to put them in the dishwasher for a thorough washing when you get home).

Note that this pan set doesn’t come with any lids, however, Tefal does sell one specific to this set. We haven’t found this to be a big problem as we use a melamine plate as a lid and this works very well.

RidgeMonkey XL

Not exactly a pot or pan, but can act as a quasi frying pan, omelette maker, or sandwich toaster. It’s our favourite campervan kitchen gadget.

The RidgeMonkey XL comprises two hinged square pans of diecast aluminium with two magnetic handles. They come apart and can be used separately. Very clever and versatile.

Can be used on all hob types except for induction.

Kitchen essential #2 – Kettle

According to the UK Tea and Infusions Association, we Brits drink approximately 100 million cups of tea each day between us. Wow, we sure do like a hot beverage!

No surprise then that having a kettle in some form or another is an essential item in our campervan kitchen.

The choice of kettles to supply your campervan with comes down to the following:

A whistling kettle – used on the hob or camping stove.

A travel electric kettle – either with a 12V plug or UK power plug and used via an inverter or when connected to EHU.

Deciding which of these you choose hangs on whether speed is an issue. For a speedy cup of tea, you’ll be hard pressed to outperform a standard travel electric kettle. A 12V electric kettle will keep you waiting the longest with a reported 20 minutes time length to reach boiling point.

Whistling kettle

We have opted for a whistling kettle to stock our campervan, as we didn’t want to risk draining the leisure batteries too much if not on EHU and the wait time for a cup of tea is a shorter 6-8 minutes.

We can also use the kettle on our separate camping stove or a campfire.

Camping electric kettle

A standard travel electric kettle whilst smaller than a regular kettle is still quite chunky and we felt it seemed a bit cheaty for camping. We like to keep the experience a bit more camping-like in feel.

That said, I can see why people use a travel kettle and we might well make the change one day. The key benefits we can see for a travel kettle over a whistling kettle are:

Having hot water available for a hand wash, washing up or to be used as an ingredient in something you’re cooking is very handy.

Using up a whole gas ring to get that hot water isn’t always convenient and then you need a clear surface to move the hot kettle onto.

Electricity is easier to source and replenish than gas.

Best whistling kettles for campervans

We have this Kampa Billy Whistling Kettle. We love it because it is:

Small.
Lightweight.
1l capacity.
Takes 6-8 minutes to boil from cold on our campervan gas stove.

We are big fans of Kampa Dometic as a brand and highly rate the Kampa products we use. Brilliant design and innovation at an affordable price.

If the Kampa whistling kettle is a bit chunky for your campervan or motorhome kitchen cupboard, then this Outwell collapsible kettle is a fantastic alternative.

The Outwell collapsible kettle features:

Silicone and stainless steel body.
14.5 x 16.5cm in size.
Tiny pack size when collapsed – 4.5 x 16.5cm.
1.5L volume capacity.
Collapsible (obviously).
Can be used on any hob (except induction).
BPA free.
Dishwasher safe.

Outwell is another camping brand we love, again brilliant design and manufacture. It is a little more expensive than the Kampa Billy Whistling Kettle but does have the benefits of larger volume capacity and small pack size.

Best travel electric kettle

If speed is your game, we recommend the Kampa Squash Collapsible Electric Kettle. It’s a travel kettle and runs on a lean 1000W.

Features:

Silicon body (food grade, high temperature resistant).
17 x 13 x 17.5cm when in use.
17 x 13 x 13 when folded.
800ml capacity.
1000W.
3-4 minute boil time.

Tips:

Boil this kettle four or five times before you plan to make a cup of tea with it, to remove the silicon taste.
Rinse with cold water once finished with it before collapsing. Should be cool enough to pack away after five minutes.

Kitchen essential #3 – cooking utensils

I don’t know about you, but there is a fine line between saving space and not having the tools you need to make the job easy and efficiently.

I’d rather come well armed than be left floundering.

Our inventory could no doubt be slimmed down but we do use everything in this list:

This Sabatier knife set makes easy work of any food prep task. We personally make decent knives a must-have, it makes life so much easier.
It’s not safe to leave sharp knives un-sheathed in a drawer. We got these knife guards to protect us from nasty knife/drawer related accidents.
A good old fashioned three wooden spoon set.
Oxo Good Grips Silicone Utensil Set – Great to keep your pans looking their best.
Oxo Good Grips swivel peeler and can opener – we love the OXO Good Grips products, can’t get enough of them.
Heavy-duty kitchen scissors with a guard.
Joseph Joseph ‘Chop2Pot’ folding chopping board.
Corkscrew – vital!
Joseph Joseph space-saving grater – could they BE any cleverer?
Wine stoppers. Keep that wine fresh and safe from spilling.

Kitchen essential #4 – crockery

Best crockery to use in a campervan

There are a few types of material to consider in selecting crockery for campervan use.

These are:

Ceramic/Earthenware/Bone China.
Melamine – Plastic composite.
Corelle – Glass composite.
Enamel.
Bamboo.

We have chosen melamine to furnish our campervan with crockery. Our set has dinner and side plates, and small and large bowls so we have plenty to go round and not constantly washing up!

We selected melamine because it is:

Lightweight.
Durable and virtually unbreakable.
Easy to clean and dishwasher safe.

I should specify and say we don’t use melamine for our mugs. We stick with ceramic as tea always tastes better out of a proper ceramic or china mug.

This melamine dinner set mimics our kitchen dinner set and adds a touch of class to the campervan kitchen.

Corelle dinner wear

Corelle is made of vitrelle tempered glass. This is created by bonding three glass layers.

Corelle, like Melamine, is very suitable for campervans due to its durability.

The main benefits of Corelle are:

Won’t fade, stain, or chip.
Lightweight.
Slimline.
Microwave, oven and dishwasher safe.
BPA free.
Feels like bone china.

Corelle ticks all the boxes. You get the durability of plastic, without the BPA and without the breakage. Brilliant.

It’s a little more expensive than melamine but worth investing the extra cost given all the benefits.

We’re adding this funky set to our wish list.

Enamel crockery

I have to admit, enamel plates are not my first choice, they do feel very basic. That said, they are extremely durable, practical and affordable so should not be overlooked as an option.

These ones from Falcon are a good buy.

Ceramic/bone china crockery

Not the most practical choice as a crockery solution for a campervan but still an option.

Ceramic or bone china is heavy and very likely to chip or break completely. Unless you have your crockery firmly wedged, there is a chance it could fall out when opening the door if there has been movement during transit. For the feel of bone china, consider using Corelle instead.

Bamboo crockery

Bamboo is another lightweight durable option which has the added benefit of being sustainable and eco friendly too. Also BPA free, dishwasher safe and affordable, bamboo crockery is a definite consideration for a kitchen cupboard.

This set from Vango adds a nice splash of colour to the kitchen cupboards.

Kitchen essential #5 – cutlery set

There’s no magic in selecting a cutlery set. We like to have one that is suitably dissimilar to the set we keep in the house so it is easily identifiable.

We don’t go cheap on cutlery as we want our alfresco dining experience to be as enjoyable as possible. We’re not fans of easily bendable forks and sharp edged spoons.

We would recommend a 24 piece set at least (6x 4-piece) otherwise you’re constantly washing up.

We’ve also added a few extra teaspoons as they are constantly used for cups of tea!

Kitchen essential #6 – glassware

Much like drinking tea out of plastic, we’re really also not keen on drinking wine or any other drink out of plastic.

We keep a few short glass tumblers for cold drinks. We don’t bother keeping actual wine glasses in the van, they take up too much room and are liable to break.

Stubby Holders

This is the Aussie influence in us. We love a good stubby holder – keeps the beer cold and your hand warm. We keep a ready supply of stubby holders in our campervan.

Our glass tumblers also fit inside the stubby holder meaning we can have a hot toddy without our hands getting scalded.

Other handy bits to keep in your campervan kitchen

Cork or silicone mats. Have a stash. They are lightweight and easily transportable. If you’ve got hot pans needing to put down, have a couple within reach
Tea towels. Pack ideally four. It can be hard to get wet linens dry again and you are washing up probably three times a day.
Pot holders. A must-have to handle boiling pots and pans from the camping stove.
Non-slip matting – I can’t stress how much of this stuff we use around the campervan. It’s brilliant. Stops the contents of the cupboards moving and great for when the campervan is in motion too, means you can leave things out on the kitchen top and they won’t slide. We also layer it between plates/glassware to stop rattling and movement.

Even more kitchen essentials?

We’ve enjoyed digging through our campervan kitchen to find the equipment that we’ve found to be indispensable. We hope this list is useful for you too.

If you have any other gear that you consider to be essential in your campervan kitchen then do let us know – we’d love to hear from you.

Tags Campervans, Motorhomes, Planning

Camping

Campervan and Motorhome Insurance: Best Providers for 2020/21

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 10th November 2020

Insurance for your campervan or motorhome is not as straightforward as car insurance. We compare the UK’s leading specialist leisure vehicle insurers, and what makes each of them different.

One of the key questions we had to consider when deciding whether we would invest in a campervan was how much it would cost to insure.

How much more expensive would it be to insure a campervan compared to our standard family car?

As it turned out, we were paying more for our standard family car insurance than we have ended up paying per year for our more valuable VW campervan.

Why is this? Our campervan was considerably more expensive to buy than our previous family car and it has loads of really cool kit built in to it. Wouldn’t that lend it to being more expensive to insure?

Apparently not. The reason seems to be that because a campervan or motorhome is used as a leisure vehicle it falls into a lower risk category.

I can’t speak for all campervan and motorhome owners, but our campervan is like another member of the family and we are extremely careful with it. These vehicles aren’t built for speed, but for practicality and comfort.

Not many boy racers are going to invest the tens of thousands it costs to buy one.

This is all good news for insurance companies, and van owners too.

Contents

Campervan insurance: best price or best cover?

Every campervan owner’s particular requirements for insurance is going to differ.

For us, it isn’t just about the best price. Price comes into it but really we are looking for the best overall cover.

How much risk a person is prepared to leave themselves open to is a purely personal choice. We are fairly risk averse and would rather be well covered rather than skimp on the details.

For the previous 12 months we have been insured with Comfort Insurance. We chose them as the cover seemed quite robust and it came in at a palatable £314.71. They were recommended by other campervan owners too which was reassuring.

Rats, squirrels, and other vermin

We did have a reason to claim on the insurance during this last 12 months which it turned out fell under an exclusion clause. That was a very unhappy and expensive discovery.

Our lovely VW California Ocean suffered damage to the wiring due to rats or squirrels having a good chew on some vital components. That damage cost us a lot unfortunately and it has left us mindful of policy exclusions so we don’t fall foul of coverage again.

Our vermin experience might never happen again, especially after we took extra measures to protect us, but it has left us with an appetite to shop around and find the best campervan insurance we can get in the UK.

We called the UK’s most popular campervan insurance providers to drill down and learn what their campervan insurance cover includes and what it will cost us to buy. Read on to see what we found out.

How much is campervan insurance?

The table below compares eight of the most popular campervan insurance providers in the UK.

We asked for quotes based on a 2018 VW California Ocean.

Insurance Company	Premium Cost	Accidental Damage Excess	Underwriter
Comfort Insurance	£297.09	£200	Aviva
LV	£320.55	£400	LV
Lifesure	£305.01	£300	AXA
Saga	£328.99	£300	Acromas
Adrian Flux	£386.81	£550	Markerstudy
AIB	£352.10	£200	Aviva
Caravan & Motorhome Club	£303.93	£250	AXA
NFU	£442.48	£250	NFU

The criteria we provided for these quotes was:

VW California Ocean 2018 (199cc diesel engine)
Vehicle value – £55,000
2 drivers, each with 20+ years driving experience
One low-value claim in the last 5 years (not related to this vehicle)
9+ years no claims bonus
Social, Domestic and Pleasure use only (no commuting or business use)
8,000 miles per year mileage
No tracker
Thatcham category 1 alarm
Includes no claims protection, where offered

These prices are specific to our quotation criteria but give you a guide of what you can expect to pay.

Campervan insurers in detail

So which insurer offers the best campervan insurance in the UK?

The answer will vary, depending on your own requirements.

Here we look in further detail at what each of the eight top campervan insurers offers in their campervan insurance policy wording.

Comfort Insurance

Excess: £200.

Internal accidental damage: Yes, as long as not caused by an electrical fault.

Personal belongings: £5,000 maximum. £400 per single item (no excess).

European travel: Nine months, max 180 days of consecutive travel.

Courtesy car: Seven days included as long as vehicle in for repairs. No replacement in the event of a total loss.

Death/Serious Injury: £15,000.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Yes, up to £100,000 included.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

LV Campervan Insurance

Excess: £400

Internal accidental damage: Yes, but only up to £1,000 to include personal belongings.

Personal belongings: Up to £1,000. Cutlery and clothing are included. Very restrictive on what they will cover. No camping equipment cover or effects that could be covered under home insurance.

European travel: 180 days.

Courtesy car: No, can add this feature for £19.90 or £29.90 extra depending on vehicle size.

Death/Serious Injury: £10,000.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Not included. £100,000 of cover costs £25.99 extra.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

Lifesure Campervan Insurance

Excess: £300.

Internal accidental damage: Yes.

Personal belongings: £3,500 maximum. £25 excess to claim for tents and awnings – no maximum value set. Single item claims £500 max aside from this.

European travel: 270 days per year.

Courtesy car: Yes, subject to availability.

Death/Serious Injury: £15,000 / £10,000.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Not included. Can be added for £28.00 extra.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

Note that Lifesure are an insurance broker and add a £27.50 brokers fee to the price.

Saga Motorhome Insurance

Excess: £300 accidental damage / £100 fire and theft.

Internal accidental damage: Yes.

Personal belongings: £1,500 maximum. £1,500 tents and awnings. Camping equipment £500 maximum, £100 per single item.

European travel: 12 months.

Courtesy car: Yes, if in for repair.

Death/Serious Injury: £5,000 or increase to £50,000 for £13 extra.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Not included. £100,000 cover £27.99 extra.

Vermin exclusion: No.

Adrian Flux Campervan Insurance

Excess: £550. Excess reimbursement to £1,000 per annum for £52 extra.

Internal accidental damage: Yes.

Personal belongings: £2,000, with no single item maximum. £1,000 awning and gas bottle cover.

European travel: 180 days total.

Courtesy car: After an accident, but not theft or write-off.

Death/Serious Injury: £2,000 death/serious injury, or increase to £22,000 for £17 extra.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Includes up to £100,000.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

All vehicles over £45,000 value must have a tracker fitted.

AIB Campervan Insurance

Excess: £200.

Internal accidental damage: Yes, up to the value of the personal belongings cover.

Personal belongings: Up to a maximum of £5,000. £400-£500 per one item.

European travel: 270 days total but maximum 180 days consecutive.

Courtesy car: No, but can add on for £35 extra.

Death/Serious Injury: £5,000.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Yes, cover for up to £100,000 included.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

The premium quoted in the above table has been discounted by 12%, for membership to various camping clubs. These include the VW California Club, Wild Camping, Camping & Caravan Club, and Caravan and Motorhome Club.

Caravan and Motorhome Club Insurance

Excess: £250

Internal accidental damage: No.

Personal belongings: £5,000 contents cover, £1,500 awning and toilet tent (£25 excess) and £500 per single item after that.

European travel: 12 months.

Courtesy car: Yes.

Death/Serious Injury: £15,000 / £10,000

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Up to £10,000 included, or can extend this to £100,000 for £29.99 extra.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

Membership of the Caravan and Motorhome Club carries a 5% extra discount (not applied in the example above).

The Caravan and Motorhome Club state that they will offer new customers a quote £25 cheaper than any renewal policy – excluding additional legal cover.

NFU Campervan Insurance

Excess: £250 damage / £150 theft.

Internal accidental damage: Covered up to a maximum of the personal belongings cover.

Personal belongings: £250 included, can extend this to £1,000 for an extra £10.

European travel: Unlimited.

Courtesy car: Yes.

Death/Serious Injury: £15,000 / £5,000.

Third party property, injury or death: Maximum of £20,000,000.

Legal cover: Up to £100,000 included.

Vermin exclusion: Yes.

NFU offers Mutual Assist RAC Cover as standard with this policy. This can be upgraded to a higher level of cover for an additional fee should it be needed.

The included Mutual Assist cover gives you roadside assistance a quarter of a mile or more from your home, one hour of roadside assistance and recovery to a garage within 20 miles if the campervan is not repairable.

Exclusions – when campervan insurance might leave you out of pocket

With any insurance policy it is always prudent to read the small print. Looking at the price and your excess payment is not enough.

Be aware of what the maximum cover is for personal belongings and injury and when you are not covered, even though you thought you might be.

Typical campervan insurance exclusions

You are responsible for the first part of the claim (the excess).
Loss or damage of your motorhome if it has been left unattended with the keys in the ignition.
Loss or damage resulting from any window, roof opening or removable roof panel being left open or unlocked.
Any loss or damage to your motorhome if it is being used for a purpose not described on your Certificate of Motor Insurance.
Loss or damage arising from your motorhome being driven by someone other than the named driver(s) on the Certificate of Motor Insurance.
Damage arising from wear and tear.
Any consequence as a result of war or terrorism – except where cover must be provided under the Road Traffic Act.
Loss of vehicle value following a repair
Loss or damage to the motorhome caused by an Earthquake, riot or civil commotion outside of Great Britain, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
Damage due to radioactive contamination, pollution, or contamination.
Loss or damage deliberately caused to your car by anyone insured under your policy.
Loss or damage to the motorhome caused by insects, pets, or vermin. Vermin and insects are defined as rats, mice, squirrels, owls, pigeons, foxes, bees, wasps, and hornets.

Related article: Campervan Security – The Ultimate Guide

Extra charges made by campervan insurance providers

Be aware that some insurers charge for amendments. For example you could expect to pay:

Policy cancellation – £40 (although there is usually a 14 day cooling-off period from date of purchase).
Change vehicle or driver – £15.
Incorrect information amendment – £15.

Car insurance legal cover, is it worth it?

Typically the extra legal cover will set you back between £25-30 on top of your annual policy cost. Is this extra cost worth paying for?

What is car insurance legal cover?

In a nutshell, car insurance legal cover will pay for legal expenses you may incur in the event of an accident that wasn’t your fault.

This cover pays out for legal costs involved in for claiming compensation for losses you have suffered that aren’t covered by your insurance. These are referred to as uninsured losses.

Uninsured losses can include personal injury (to yourself or passengers), damage to your vehicle or possessions if you don’t have a comprehensive insurance policy, loss of earnings, and any insurance excess you’ve had to pay out.

It is important to understand that legal cover only covers solicitors fees and costs, typically up to £100,000, not the compensation payments for the losses.

Just as a side note, some insurers will only allow a claim to be made under their motor legal protection policy if there is a 50% chance or better likelihood of success of the recovery of those losses, so once again do read the small print and be aware of what you’re actually entitled to.

A nice perk is many of the legal cover policies offer access to a helpline which you can call for any legal issue, not necessarily motor-related. Check with your insurer if this is included.

Alternative protection from uninsured losses

What if you decide to pocket the £25-£30 extra fee for legal cover? Are you completely without protection?

This needs consideration, especially as it has been estimated that there are over on e million uninsured drivers on our roads in the UK.

The good news is that in the UK there exists an organisation called the MIB. They are a non-profit organisation set up by motor insurers to protect motorists in the UK from financial losses resulting from an accident with an uninsured or untraced driver.

The Road Traffic Act 1988 requires that every insurer that underwrites compulsory motor Insurance must be a member of the MIB and must contribute to their funding. Every car insurance premium, therefore, contains a contribution to MIB.

Claiming under MIB

If you are hit by an uninsured driver, or an untraced driver you can claim through the MIB. There is no guarantee that they will refund your losses but they have a claims process any victim is entitled to apply to.

Without legal cover, however, you’ll be doing the MIB paperwork and follow-ups yourself unless you pay for a solicitor yourself.

The process they follow is:

establishing the facts
confirming the identity of those involved
obtaining independent reports from motor engineers or witnesses
obtaining a police report
contacting other bodies such as the DVLA, your insurer or a foreign bureau.

If there is a claim for personal injury they will need to see any copies of medical records from your GP and any hospital you attended after the accident or any other independent medical report.

They undertake to resolve claims within a three month time period.

If you would like to have more certainty about your protection, it’s best to fork out the £25-30 and take out the legal cover that campervan insurers offer. Belts and braces.

Campervan and motorhome insurance FAQ

What are the different types of campervan insurance?

Campervan or motorhome insurance is similar in nature to car insurance but you do legally need specific campervan or motorhome insurance to cover your motorhome.

There are three types of cover you can buy – fully comprehensive, third-party fire and theft, and third-party only.

Fully comprehensive

A fully comprehensive policy covers you against accidental damage. These policies always cover for external damage and depending on the policy, internal damage. Also included is damage from fire (though not always from using your cooker), theft, and malicious damage (vandalism). It also covers you for damage or injury you cause to a third party.

Third-party fire and theft

With this type of policy, you lose the accidental damage cover and the malicious damage cover. You are still covered for fire and theft of your own vehicle and damage or injury to another person.

Third-party only

A third-party only insurance policy offers cover for damage or injury to a third party only. Not all insurers will offer this lesser level of insurance.

Given that motorhomes are usually high-value vehicles it makes the most sense to stick with fully comprehensive insurance. Repairs are often expensive and there is always a risk of accidents.

Will campervan insurance cover all models of campervan?

Yes, most insurers will cover all types of campervan. Factory-built camper vans tend to come in cheaper than conversions.

There has also been an increase in the theft of Ford campervans meaning some insurers will not offer insurance for those makes or may charge a higher premium.

Campervan insurance – are your belongings covered?

The main differences between car and campervan or motorhome insurance is all the gear you have on board. Some of it removable, some of it fixed.

As this is motorhome and camping equipment and awnings are usually packed in the van for a trip you would want to find cover that will protect you for the loss or damage of all that kit.

Check your home contents insurance: portable items such as mobile phones, iPads, documents, jewellery and wallets are often included in that policy.

For this reason, campervan insurance will often not cover these items and will instead focus on the personal belongings which make this a campervan or motorhome.

Some insurers do not include tools and equipment and you may find that camping equipment falls under this category, so you have no cover for your kit at all.

It is definitely worth asking all the questions and understanding what exactly is covered.

Is your campervan insured inside and out?

It’s a yes and no answer to this question.

If you have fully comprehensive insurance, which you most likely will, then external damage to your vehicle or a third party is always covered.

What is murkier though is whether internal damage is also covered. This comes down to the individual insurance policy and what they offer. We have explored the pros and cons cover of each of the eight insurers contacted by us in more detail above.

Internal damage, even if covered, often has exclusions or limitations. Always check the policy details carefully.

Can you travel to Europe on your campervan insurance?

Nearly all insurers extend their cover to Europe for several months of the year and in some cases, the whole 12 months of the policy period.

There is often a maximum consecutive number of days requirement, for example 180 days.

How do campervan insurers decide how much to pay out for a total loss?

The loss adjusters appointed by the campervan insurers will refer to the Glass’s Guide – which is a real-time guide of vehicle values used throughout the motor industry.

If your policy is for a new motorhome or campervan, many insurers will offer a new motorhome replacement clause to their policy for the first 24 months from the vehicle’s registration date.

This means you receive a brand new motorhome in the event of a total loss.

Conclusion – which campervan insurance will we buy?

I started this article feeling a bit anti-Comfort Insurance based on our rat/squirrel damage and Comfort’s vermin exclusion clause.

Having spoken to so many other insurers, however, I’ve come round to favouring them again. As I said at the start, our decision is not based on price alone – the overall cover has got to be good.

Comfort Insurance and AIB are both underwritten by Aviva yet the cover offered differs slightly and there is a big difference in the price of each policy.

Both Lifesure and the Caravan and Motorhome Club insurance are underwritten by AXA but their cover differs slightly with Lifesure offering internal damage cover but no legal cover and the CAMC offering the opposite. Both are similarly priced but Lifesure has an additional broker’s fee to pay.

In an ideal scenario, we would like:

Low policy premium price
Excess £300 or lower
Internal and external damage included
European travel included
Vermin/Pet/Insect damage included
Legal cover included

This is asking a lot, I appreciate. If you look through the details of what the various insurers offer though you can see Comfort Insurance ticks the boxes on five out of six of these points.

We can concede the 6th point as we have taken measures to prevent us from being attacked again.

Coming in second would be Saga. They do have a requirement that one of the named drivers has to be over 50, but we meet that criteria.

They also offer five out of the six ideal scenario points, they don’t include legal cover which is what has swung it for us. Adding the extra amount the Saga policy costs on top of the extra legal cover, in total we are looking at an additional £59.89 over going with Comfort Insurance.

Conclusion – It’ll be a renewal with Comfort Insurance for us!

Related article: Excess Insurance for Campervan Hire

Tags Campervans, Insurance, Money, Motorhomes

Camping

Where to Hire a VW California Campervan in the UK

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 9th November 2020

Thinking about hiring a VW California for the ultimate staycation holiday? Our VW California hire directory is what you need.

Whether you’re considering buying one of these brilliant campervans or just want to enjoy a camping holiday in comfort and style, you’re in the right place.

We’ve put together this handy directory of VW California rental companies by UK region, and listed which vehicle models they hire. We hope you find it useful.

Contents

VW California Hire – Scotland

Hire Company	Locations	Postcode Area	California Models
California Scotland	Leadburn nr Edinburgh	EH46	VW California Ocean
Cheeky CooCampervans	Hamilton	ML3	VW California Ocean
Clarkies Campers	Edinburgh, Aberdeen	EH25 9SL AB21 7GQ	VW California Ocean
Cool Campervan Hire Scotland	Cumbernauld (other collection options)	G67 2XX	VW California Ocean
Easi Campervan Hire	Edinburgh	EH28 8PJ	VW California Ocean
Four Seasons Campers	Loch Lomond	G83 9LX	VW California Ocean, VW California Coast
Kombi Campers	Paisley	PA3 1QT	VW California Ocean
Mountain Campers	Inverness	IV2 6YP	VW California Ocean
Stoney Campers	Aberdeen	AB39	VW California Ocean
VW Camperhire Scotland	Edinburgh		VW California Ocean

VW California Hire – Yorkshire and North-West UK

Hire Company	Locations	Postcode Area	California Models
Easi Campervan Hire	Manchester, Liverpool, Wigan, Preston, Blackburn		VW California Ocean
EV Motorhome Hire	Penrith		VW California Ocean
Hiders Seekers	Doncaster		VW California Ocean
Leighton Camper Hire	Rotherham nr Sheffield	S60 1BX	VW California Ocean
Liberty Campers	Ilkley nr Leeds/Bradford		VW California Coast

VW California Hire – East and West Midlands, UK

Hire Company	Locations	Postcode Areas	California Models
Easi Campervan Hire	Wolverhampton, Birmingham		VW California Ocean
Fernwhe Campervan Hire	Woodhouse Eaves, Loughborough	LE12	VW California Ocean
My California	Leicester, Kettering	LE1 3EA NN15 6XY	VW California SE, VW California Beach
VanGlorious	Redmile, Leicestershire	NG13	VW California Ocean

VW California Hire – South East UK

Hire Company	Locations	Postcode Area	California Models
Aktive Kampers	Wilmington	BN26	VW California Ocean
BMVS	Bognor Regis, Chichester	PO22 9RT, PO19 7TF	VW California Ocean
Campervantastic	Forest Hill, London	SE23 1BX	VW California Ocean, VW California Beach, VW Grand California
Explore Campervans	Tingewick, Buckingham	MK18 4BD	VW California Ocean
Kamperhire	Bishops Waltham (other collection options)	SO32 1FB	VW California Ocean, VW California Coast
LandCruise	Chichester	PO20 2BX	VW California Ocean
Loko Campers	Guildford	GU2 7RZ	VW California Ocean, VW California Beach
Ocean Mist Campers	Liss	GU33 6HA	VW California Ocean
Southampton Campers	Southampton	SO16 8LS	VW California Ocean, VW Grand California
Turtle Vans	Milton Keynes	MK1 1DB	VW California Ocean
VW California 4 Hire	Brighton, Bexley Heath		VW California Ocean

VW California Hire – South West UK & Wales

Hire Company	Locations	Postcode Area	California Models
Bathwick Car and Van Hire	Chippenham	SN14 0AB	VW California Ocean
California Camper	Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol	BS9 3JT	VW California Ocean
Chief Motorhome Hire	Paignton	TQ4 5EF	VW California Ocean
Call Campervan Hire	Ringwood	BH24 3SB	VW California Ocean
Crawford Motorhome Hire	Maidenhead	SL6 3TE	VW California Ocean
Go Mushroom	Ardudwy, Gwynedd	LL44 2EA	VW California Ocean
Heritage Automotive	Salisbury	SP2 7QD	VW California Ocean
North Devon Camper Hire	East Budleigh	EX9 7DT	VW California Ocean
O’Connors Campers	Okehampton	EX20 1SP	VW California Ocean
Sunkissed Campervan Hire	Bristol	BS31 2ED	VW California Ocean
VW Kamperhire	Sidmouth	EX10 0NJ	VW California Ocean

Why hire a VW California?

The VW California campervan is Volkswagen’s answer to a factory-built motorhome.

Actually, VW have made the California (affectionately known as the Cali) in various forms for over 30 years.

VW California models – comparison

The VW California is produced in four models to suit needs and budget. This table outlines their key differences:

Model	Berths	Seats	Built in Kitchen	Toilet & Shower
Ocean	4	4	Y	N
Beach	4	4 or 5	N*	N
Coast	4	4	Y	N
Grand California **	2	4	Y	Y

* The 4-seater California Beach T6.1 model has a pop-out kitchen.

** The Grand California 600 has two adult-sized berths and above cab sleeping for two small children. The rear seats for two extra people are narrow but suitable for children.

VW California benefits

Hiring a genuine VW California will give you luxury and attention to detail you won’t find in a campervan conversion.

The key benefits are:

Not too big, not too small. The VW California is similar in size to a standard large family car. No restrictions when parking. Big enough to carry gear for four people for a trip away.
Innovative design. The VW California delivers the very best ways to maximise space, comfort and practicality.
Highest safety standards.
A campervan that drives like a car. You’ll notice little difference between the handling of a VW California and a standard car. It’s effortless to drive.
Latest Bluemotion technology for great fuel economy.
Leisure batteries to keep you powered for several days off electric hook up.
240V sockets for electric hook up.
On-board heating, so the VW California can be used year-round.
Cleverly built-in outdoor table and chairs.

VW California Ocean v Coast v Beach

VW California Ocean kitchen hob and sink

Aside from the berths and seatbelted positions, what are the main differences between the VW California Ocean, Coast and Beach?

As you might imagine, they are the Gold, Silver, and Bronze offering of the Volkswagen California campervan fleet. Actually, make that Platinum, Gold, and Silver – they are all great vehicles.

The VW California Ocean has the most to offer, followed by the Coast and then the Beach.

Outside of seats, storage and kitchen detailed above, these are the main differences:

California Model	Elevating Roof Mechanism	Wheel Size	Engine Size	Discover Media Package
Ocean	Electronic	17”	150 or 204bhp	Included
Coast	Manual	16”	150bhp	Extra
Beach	Manual	17”	148bhp	Extra

The VW California Ocean and the Coast have the same kitchen and wardrobe storage options. The Beach has no kitchen or rear storage options, although the T6.1 Beach four-seat option does have a pop-out kitchen in the living area.

It should be noted that the VW California Beach has a fixed built-in shelf in the tailgate of the campervan, which comprises part of the rock n roll bed. This can be removed in the other VW California models to have a large boot space. This makes the rear boot space of the Beach slightly more restrictive.

This same shelf in the VW California Coast can tilt upwards to provide you with a reclined seated position. Great if you want to sit up in bed and have a coffee with your legs extended. The VW California Ocean and Beach do not have this feature.

The VW California Beach has the widest bed of the range – 150cm wide by 200cm long. It is the same size as a UK King bed (although the VW Grand California 680 model has an even wider 167cm lower bed).

Campervan hire companies who supply a VW California Beach model without the pop-out kitchen, may well offer a portable kitchen unit as part of the hire, to be used outside of the van.

VW Grand California

The VW Grand California is the true motorhome of the fleet. That is to say, it has all the facilities on board for you to be self-sufficient.

The VW Grand California 600 model officially berths four but is limited. The over-cab bed is short and can’t take a lot of weight so is only suitable for small children.

The same is true of the rear two seatbelted seats. They are narrow and would be uncomfortable on a long journey for two adults.

Like the Ocean and the Coast, the Grand California has a built-in kitchen, comprising two gas rings, a fridge and a sink. It is the only vehicle in the VW California fleet to have a wet room on board with a shower and toilet inside.

As can be seen in our VW California hire directory, there are only two hiring companies that currently offer Grand California hire, both in the South East UK region.

Try before you buy

If you are thinking about purchasing a VW California, it is a great idea to try before you buy.

Spending a few nights in a campervan might help you decide exactly what model you need, potentially saving you thousands of pounds or regrets in the long run. Or it may convince you that a VW California is the way to go, as it did for us.

Other VW California rental firms?

We’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible but may have overlooked some companies that rent out VW California campervans.

If you know any other VW California hirers we should showcase in our directory, please do contact us with the details.

Tags Campervans, Hire

Camping

VW California Ocean: Why This Campervan is Truly Awesome

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 6th November 2020

The popular California campervan has been produced by Volkswagen for over 30 years. Its ultimate form is the VW California Ocean with inbuilt fridge, gas stove, and generous storage. Is it right for you?

We didn’t decide to become campervan owners lightly. It took years and numerous hired campervans to cement our choice – a VW California Ocean.

It’s an expensive purchase, probably second to buying your home, so needs to be looked at from all angles.

We found we had all sorts of questions before we purchased our campervan. So if you’re in that decision-making moment now, read on to learn more in detail about the VW California Ocean campervan.

Contents

How much is a VW California Ocean?

The price of a VW California Ocean depends on whether you want to buy new or used.

Buying a new California means that you can make it exactly yours. You can select the engine size, transmission, colour, wheels and tyres, entertainment system, and so on.

The down side is you will (usually) have to wait for the vehicle to be made at VW’s factory in Germany, and you will pay full price on a not-inexpensive vehicle.

Selecting a used California may be the way to go if you want to pay less than new price. You may not quite get the combination of optional extras you would ideally like, but you’ll get it immediately.

The demand for Californias has been very high over the last few years, so as a buyer it is worth seriously considering both routes to ownership.

Buying a new VW California Ocean

The cost of a new California depends on the base model specifications and any optional extras. There will also be on-road costs such as delivery and registration.

Although the VW California is a passenger car, it is built on a VW commercial van body. Because of this you need to visit a commercial van dealer to order one. Many VW dealers are both regular car and commercial van dealers, but check before you go van shopping.

California Ocean T6.1 base prices

At time of writing, these are the base guide prices you can expect to pay for a new VW California Ocean T6.1

150PS 2.0TDI 7-speed DSG Diesel – £62,724
199pS 2.0TDI 7-speed DSG Diesel – £65,550
199PS 2.0TDI 4MOTION 7-speed DSG Diesel £68,796

On-road costs

In addition to the base price you can expect to pay the following on-road costs:

Delivery to Van Centre £620
Number plates £20
VAT £128
First registration fee £55
Vehicle excise duty (VED) 1st year £270

Total on-the-road price is therefore in the neighbourhood of £1,093.

Optional extras for the VW California Ocean

Not to be forgotten are the optional extras. Here is a selection of the main options available for a new VW T6.1 California Ocean.

Optional Extra	Description	Guide Price*
Paint	Candy White	£300
Paint – metallics	Indium Grey, Mojave Beige, Reflex Silver, Starlight Blue, Fortana Red,Copper Bronze, Bay Leaf Green and Pearl Effect Deep Black.	£762
Paint – Two Tone	Candy White/Ascot Grey, Candy White/Copper Bronze metallic, Candy White/Bay Leaf Green metallic.	£2880
Kitchen Trim	Kitchen cupboard in Graphite Grey slate-effect with outdoor shower connection.	£348
Bellows Canvas Sides Glacier Blue	Available with Candy White/Copper Bronze metallic, Candy White/Ascot Grey, Reflex Silver,Indium Grey, Starlight Blue, Mojave Beige, Copper Bronze, Ascot Grey, Candy and Deep Black.	£312
Bellows Canvas Sides Strawberry Red	Available with Candy White/Ascot Grey, Reflex Silver, Indium Grey, Fortana Red,Candy White, Ascot Grey, Cherry Red and Deep Black.	£312
Wheels	18″ ‘Teresina’ Black, diamond-turned surface alloy wheels. 8J x 18.	£936
	18″ ‘Palmerston’ Black, diamond-turned surface alloy wheels. 8J x 18.	£1254
Tyres	All-weather tyres	£162
	Alloy spare wheel with original equipment tyre.	£276
Audio and Communications	Discover Pro navigation system including ‘Streaming & Internet’. Only in combination with We Connect Plus, 3 years Z23 at no additional cost.	£678
Safe	Lockable storage compartment. Located in the wardrobe.	£132
Comfort Mattress	Comfort sleeping mat, for the “downstairs” bed in the living area.	£318
Additional Storage	Storage compartment package. Includes net pocket in roof and additional drawer in two-seater rear bench seat.	£210
Flooring	Wood effect floor covering.	£498
Driver Assistance	High Beam Assist.	£162
Trailer Assist	Including Park Assist, front and rear parking sensors, rear-view camera and Side protection. Only in combination with 1D2 tow bar; removable/lockable (including trailer stabilisation) or tow bar preparation 1D7 (including trailer stabilisation) at an additional cost.	£576
Traffic Sign Recognition	Only in combination with Discover Media navigation system ZIE or Discover Pro navigation system ZI8 at an additional cost.	£282
Hill Descent Control	4MOTION base vehicles only.	£120
Active Lane Assist with Side Assist	Includes Rear Traffic Alert.	£474
Magnetic flashlight	Plugs into 12V cigarette lighter socket.	£84
Chrome package	Includes additional chrome strips on the lower air intake, sides and rear tailgate.	£462
Sports package	Includes 18″ ‘Springfield’ Black, diamond-turned surface alloy wheels, LED rear tail lights, front and rear underbody guard, privacy glass and front fog lights with cornering function.	£2640
Style package	Includes 17″ Devonport alloy wheels, Silver, darkened rear LED tail lights, stainless steel front and rearunderbody guard with contrast finish on the front and rear bumper in ‘Black Frost’ metallic paint.	£960
Driver Assistance package plus	Includes Discover Media navigation system including ‘Streaming & Internet’, Traffic Sign Recognition, Active Lane Assist with Side Assist and High Beam Assist.	£780
Fuel	Fuel tank with a volume of 80 litres.	£78
Towbar	Removable and lockable. Includes trailer stabilisation.	£768
	Towbar preparation. Includes trailer stabilisation.	£264
Mechanical rear differential lock	4MOTION base vehicles only.	£750
Electric Sliding Door	On the right in the passenger compartment.	£378
Mudflaps	Front and rear.	£162
Awning Rail Housing and Rail	In silver colour.	£228
Driving profile selection	‘Drive Select’ and Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) with dynamic chassis.	£1458
First aid kit	With warning triangle and safety vest.	£60
Tyre pressure monitoring system	Showing individual tyre pressures.	£174
Four remote control folding keys	Base vehicles comes with just two keys.	£120
Windows	Heated front windscreen.	£498
Stronger AGM battery	Includes increased alternator capacity.	£258

* All prices inclusive of VAT

Note that these guide prices are correct at the time of publishing. These RRPs are subject to change so check with an authorised van centre for up-to-date pricing.

Experience the joys of a VW California by hiring one first:
Where to Hire a VW California Campervan in the UK

Buying a used VW California Ocean

This is the route we took. There is no right answer as to whether buying new or used it better, it comes down to individual preference and budget.

If you buy new, you can spec the campervan exactly as you want it and you have the added benefit of being the first owner of the vehicle, so there is no wear and tear.

You will often pay a premium for buying a new car with a percentage given up to depreciation as soon as you leave the car dealer’s forecourt.

The VW California Ocean is renowned for retaining its value, so this is less of an issue with buying a new California Ocean than with typical car models.

Used VW California Oceans can be purchased privately or through a dealer. We found our ideal vehicle on the Volkswagen used vans website, and bought it from a VW dealer about 90 minutes from where we live.

We were happy to buy used but we had exact specifications of what vehicle we would like.

Our specifications in a used VW California Ocean

We had a list of ideal options when we were buying a California.

12 months old or less
Less than 10,000 miles on the clock
204bhp diesel engine
Discover Pro navigation system
Ideally the Comfort Mattress

We did compromise on the mileage and our chosen van didn’t have the Discover Pro system but managed to tick the rest of the boxes. As we were buying through a van centre, they offered a decent part exchange rate on our existing car.

We paid about £8,000 less than buying a new VW California Ocean, before the part exchange.

As we have children, nothing stays pristine for long, so we were happy to buy used and pocket the difference. Well, pocket some of it and spend a fair bit on van gear.

Used California Ocean websites

Should you wish to buy a used VW California Ocean privately there are many websites with used VW California Oceans for sale. Here are a few places to try.

Website	URL
VW Approved Used Vans	https://used.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/vw/california
Autotrader	https://www.autotrader.co.uk/vans/used-vans/volkswagen/california#
The AA	https://www.theaa.com/used-vans/used-volkswagen-california
VW California Club	https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/classifieds/
TheVWCalifornia.com	https://thevwcalifornia.com/classifieds/

How many seats are there in a VW California Ocean?

There are four seatbelted positions in the VW California Ocean. This was one of the major stumbling points for us in deciding to buy the campervan.

We have always had cars which will carry five seatbelted passengers and had to think hard whether having only four seatbelted positions would be problematic.

On balance, it has rarely been an issue. We have a second car so if the occasion arises that we need to carry more passengers then we take a second vehicle. It happens so infrequently that it’s not a major bugbear.

Volkswagen manufactures a removable fifth seat to get around this problem.

VW California fifth seat

The main living area of the VW California Ocean has rails installed to allow the rear bench seat to move backwards and forwards to allow more boot space/more living space or to put the bed down.

The fifth seat is cleverly designed to attach to the rear rails for easy installation and removal.

In practice though, the campervan is not geared up for five berths. Your passenger would need alternative sleeping accommodation. Not an issue if the van is being used for transportation purposes only.

Another practical consideration with the VW California Ocean fifth seat is legroom. The rear bench seats will need to be slid back quite a bit to allow space for everyone’s legs.

This impacts how much boot space you have available. Again, not a problem if there is minimal equipment being transported but something to consider.

Lastly, the seat is quite large and unwieldy. When not installed in the California Ocean, it will need to live somewhere clean and dry at home. Ask yourself if you really need one as it could be just another bit of (heavy) kit cluttering up your garage.

What are the dimensions of T6/T6.1 California Ocean?

You think “campervan” and you think “big vehicle”. Actually, the size of the VW California Ocean doesn’t differ much to other luxury family cars on the market. In fact, it’s less wide and not as long than the models featured below:

Car	Length cm	Width cm	Height cm
VW California Ocean	4904	1904	1990
Audi Q7	5052	1968	1740
Volvo XC90	4953	2008	1776
Landrover Discovery	4956	2000	1888

It makes the VW California a viable option for tight driveways, narrow lanes and less than generous parking spaces.

Another bonus with parking the VW California is the side sliding door. If you find yourself parked up in a tight spot, you can always exit out of the sliding door rather than having to open the front doors which require more space to swing outwards.

Interior dimensions of a VW California Ocean

VW states that the living space in the VW California Ocean is 4 square metres.

We have always found the space to feel airy and generous, especially if you can put the roof up and push the rear seats back.

For day-to-day use, this spacious living area is very comfortable and useful. If time is spent in the Cali – for example in our case with school pickups – having usable living space is a huge bonus.

Layout of the VW California Ocean

The VW California Ocean has a familiar campervan layout, which has been tweaked and perfected over 30 years.

Kitchen/living area

The VW California Ocean kitchen has a two-ring gas stove, sink with cold tap, and top-loading fridge. These features sit below a hinged glass worktop with two sliding-door storage cupboards below and next to a wardrobe cupboard.

As this is a European-made vehicle the whole camping unit is on the UK passenger (left) side, as the side sliding door is located on the UK drivers’ (right) side.

The driver and passenger seats can be turned around, and together with the clever slide-out table, create a cosy and surprisingly spacious living area with plenty of room for four people.

Storage

The VW California Ocean has plenty of storage. As well as the kitchen cupboards and wardrobe cupboard, there is a large storage drawer under the rear seat, an overhead locker above the passenger seat, and a useful cupboard with shelves in the boot area.

Pop-top roof bed

The Cali Ocean has an electrically-operated pop-top which gives additional headroom for the living space, and at night turns into a comfortable “upstairs” bed.

The upstairs bed has a mattress on top of a sprung base and is quite comfortable. There is LED lighting provided and a 12V socket for charging appliances.

Downstairs bed

The downstairs bed is created by sliding the rear seat forwards and pushing the seat backrest flat using a release catch. A sleeping mat, or comfort mattress, then unfolds from the boot area creating a 2-metre long narrow double bed.

With the motorhomes we’ve hired in the past, one of the things we have loved the most is turning the entire back end of the vehicle into a giant bed and being surrounded by windows.

You get this benefit with the VW California Beach. We considered buying a Beach rather than the Ocean because of the sleeping area sizes but the Ocean won out in the end.

For us, one downside of buying the VW California Ocean was the downstairs bed width.

What are the bed sizes in the VW California Ocean?

The bed sizes in the VW California Ocean T6 and T6.1 models are as follows:

VW California Bed	Width cm	Length cm
Downstairs bed	115	200
Pop-top roof bed	120	200

Compare this to standard domestic bed sizes:

Bed Type (UK)	Width cm	Length cm
Single	90	200
Double	135	200
King	150	200

Considering two people sleep on each bed, they are quite tight for width space, especially the downstairs bed.

Depending who sleeps where on a particular night, it is possible for the two people sleeping downstairs to top-and-tail to get more head and breathing space.

It should be noted that VW suggests 300kgs as the maximum load for the pop-top roof bed.

What size is the VW California fridge?

The fridge built into the VW California Ocean is a 42-litre compressor top-loading fridge.

We have found a chest fridge is far better than a front-loading fridge. Items can move about when you’re driving and can fall out when you open the fridge door on a traditional camper fridge with a side door.

A chest fridge can be packed more efficiently than a front-loader, giving more usable space as you can load it right to the top.

To make the most of the space, we bring multiples of one-pint milks rather than have one large four-pint container as this offers more flexibility with the space available.

Fresh water tank

The VW California has a 25-litre capacity fresh water tank for drinking and washing.

It feeds the tap in the kitchen sink, and also the rear shower if you have this optional extra fitted.

The fresh water tank can be filled via the external water filling point. This has a key-locked cap. It is emptied for cleaning and/or refilling by turning a lever in the boot area cupboard.

Waste water tank

The VW California has approximately a 30-litre capacity waste water tank. This can be emptied by rotating the lever in the kitchen cupboard below the gas stove.

If the waste tank is quite full, it may take a few minutes to empty. This “grey water” is best emptied on grass or somewhere it can soak or drain away easily.

Does the VW California have a toilet or a shower?

No, the VW California Ocean does not have a toilet built in.

Unlike motorhomes, campervans generally do not have toilets built-in. The exception in the Volkswagen fleet is the Grand California, which is their answer to a coach built motorhome. This has a full wet room installed.

As a family of four with young children, we find it wholly necessary to have a toilet on board. We own two portable toilets, which we have to suit longer or shorter trips away.

VW California shower option

The optional extra shower is cold water only and is fed from the on-board 25-litre capacity fresh water tank.

The pump and motor to power the shower are installed just inside the boot of the VW California Ocean on the left-hand side, below the storage cupboard.

Although it’s cold water only, it is a handy option to clean the sand off if you’ve been on the beach, rinse off your bike, or de-mud the dog.

Tags Campervans

Camping

What to Pack for a Campervan Trip: Complete Packing List

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 3rd November 2020

Are you about to embark on your first great adventure in your new campervan and wondering what you need to pack for your trip? Read on and see what we recommend in our campervan essentials packing list.

First up, we are a family of four, two adults and two kids, so our list is based on those needs. Even if your passenger numbers look different to ours, you might still find a couple of good tips on essentials to pack.

Our campervan is a VW California, so the space and facilities we have available in our vehicle may well differ from yours. Most of the gear is equally applicable to any campervan or motorhome.

These are the essential items we always include on our campervan trip packing list.

Complete Campervan Packing List

Sleeping

Let’s start with the basics. Nothing is more miserable than a bad night’s sleep. If we are going away, then we want to be sure we get a decent amount of rest.

Bedding

Sleeping comfort is paramount to us.

After much research, we decided to purchase some Duvalay sleeping bags. We purchased four separate bags so we could have flexibility on who would sleep where.

In addition to this, we also bring a decent pillow each; full-sized comfy pillows from home.

The sleeping bags mean we do away with the need for any other bedding such as sheets or duvets.

Mattress/topper

Our VW California Ocean came with the comfort mattress installed which was excellent. Although for yours truly, it was still a bit hard.

Our Duvalay sleeping bags have a built-in mattress so give us the extra mattress comfort that we need.

If we used regular sleeping bags or sheets and a duvet, we would certainly consider purchasing a mattress topper to get that extra bit of softness.

Cooking and eating

With two hungry children on board, we need to be able to whip up a meal at short notice. We keep it fairly simple but always tasty and filling.

Food

This is a very important consideration in our family, we all love to eat. I will usually have planned a few meals in advance of the trip, each of which is easy and quick to make.

I will always bring dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, pasta, dry noodles, tins of soup, beans, stock cubes, etc.

We have a drawer below the rear seats. This is always filled with snacks, crisps, biscuits, sweets, cakes, and bread products. All the goodies can be found there!

The “snacks drawer” (as our kids refer to it) is handily located for access when on the road. Accessing one side of the kitchen cupboards proves tricky if the bench seat is rolled forwards to allow maximum space in the boot.

The VW California has a decent sized 42-litre fridge which is more than enough space to fit all the essentials we need for our first couple of days.

Campervan cooking utensils

The VW California Ocean kitchen cupboards are really spacious and well thought out.

The design even comprises a built-in cutlery drawer. We have found there is space above the cutlery drawer to store a chopping board and tea towels.

In the cupboard below the cutlery drawer, we keep a plastic tub with all our kitchen utensils in. It’s handy to grab the lot as a whole if we are cooking outside in the annexe.

Our Campervan cooking utensils include:

Tongs
Collapsible cheese grater – we have a Joseph Joseph one that collapses flat. Sadly these aren’t made any more.
3 knives with blade guards – The knives we bought didn’t have guards, so we purchased a set of Nosh knife guards separately. It is very important to keep knives sheathed if kept loose in a drawer or box to avoid nasty accidents.
3 x wooden spoons
Fish slice/turner
Potato peeler
Teabag squeezer
Chopping board – we have a foldable Joseph Joseph Chop2Pot chopping board which fits nicely in the drawer.

Campervan pots and pans

We have a set of Russell Hobbs 5 piece clip and cook stackable pans to use in our campervan. As they are stackable they take up minimum space. We also have a whistling kettle, a Ridge Monkey Connect XL cooking set, and a small non-electric folding toaster.

We always keep cork mats handy to leave on the campervan kitchen top to provide protection against hot pans.

Camping plates and bowls

We’ve found the best camping plates and bowls are melamine plasticware. We have a set of 4 x dinner plates, 4 x side plates and 4 x bowls which suit us perfectly. Having two sizes of plates gives us a bit more time before we’re forced to wash up!

We also keep little coloured plastic bowls from IKEA, which are handy to pass around the campervan when on the road. These are perfect for biscuits or crackers and help to keep the campervan tidy. They are also a good size for a small portion of cereal in the morning.

I really detest drinking from plastic, so we keep four porcelain mugs in the campervan for tea and coffee, together with four small IKEA drinking glasses.

We have a set of three collapsible bowls for when we are sharing food. Outwell do a brilliant range of collapsible products. We have the set of three bowls, washing up bowl, and collapsible bucket. They are great space-savers and are very robust.

Cleaning

As well as the collapsible washing up bowl and bucket mentioned above, we take a dustpan and brush to quickly sweep the out the van. Also a small range of cleaning products including washing up liquid, sponges/cloths, washing up gloves, and liquid soap.

Portable stove and camping kitchen

If we are away for more than a couple of nights then we will bring the extra kitchen equipment – a Cadac two ring burner and Kampa Colonel foldable kitchen stand.

You might ask why we bring an additional two ring stove and kitchen stand if we already have cooking facilities in the campervan?

With the children in and out of the van, I feel much safer cooking outside than inside. If it’s just a cup of tea then that’s OK but a full meal is a lengthier prospect. I also prefer all the bedding and clothes don’t smell of cooking.

We always add the outside kitchen to our campervan packing list for longer trips, subject to space requirements.

For this reason, we had considered buying a VW California Beach instead but after much deliberation, we decided the VW California Ocean was the best choice for our family overall.

Extra table and chairs

When we travel, we are always a minimum of four people. The VW California Ocean comes with two external chairs and table as standard. All very clever. Not enough for four of you to sit around together though.

We purchased an Outwell Pemberton Table and Bench Set to bring with us on day trips and longer trips away. The extra table space always comes in useful and the benches can be used as coffee tables or a step if extra reach is needed as well as seating for four more people.

Yes, they take up valuable space but they are never surplus.

Clothing & bathroom

When packing personal gear the likely weather conditions have a big say. We try to cover every eventuality but not overdo it; it’s a balancing act.

Clothes, shoes, and coats

This stuff always takes up more room than we’d like but that is because we are four people, everything is x4. It’s not like we can take only one pair of shoes each; usually, we need at least two, with one pair being something to wear in the shower or on the beach.

I can’t remember how many times we’ve had to set up in the rain, so having shoes that can get wet and will dry quickly, and full waterproofs are always a must.

To minimise the space used we will use soft bags, like the blue IKEA bags to hold coats and shoes and they are squishy to fit in any spaces but nice and open to grab what you need in a hurry.

For clothing, we use Amazon packing cubes. These are fabric and mesh square pouches which come in various sizes. One person’s clothing items are all contained in the pouch and again they are squishy to fit into tight spaces.

We will usually store the clothing cubes and bag of coats in the wardrobe cupboard of our VW California Ocean.

Quite often, campsites we stay at have washing machines on-site, so if we are staying for a week, we will most likely take enough for four days and do a wash. I take a couple of pre-measured laundry detergent doses in small resealable plastic bags.

Towels and toiletries

We take one bath towel each and a couple of swimming towels too.

A little bulky, but they can be shoved in anywhere there is space or used to stop gear from rattling en route.

All of our toiletries are in soft wash bags, stored in the overhead locker cupboard above the rear seats in our California.

Clothes line for drying clothes

This is always a bone of contention for us. I like to bring our camping rotary line with us for a longer stay, but we often don’t have enough space for it.

As a family of four, we do need a facility to dry towels, coats, and maybe wetsuits after a day at the beach.

We compromise with a roll of washing line cord which we’ll attach to a tree and the awning rail or we’ll bring a small clothes horse. Pegs are a must of course.

We purchased some radiator airers to hang on the sliding door of the van. These weren’t very successful though and mostly got in the way. We use those in the house now instead.

Toilet

We have two types of toilets. One for short trips and day trips and a second one for longer trips away.

Our short trip and day trip toilet is a popup Bivvy Loo. This lives permanently in the van as it comes in handy in an emergency when out and about or if we are away for just a couple of nights.

We will nearly always stay on a proper campsite as we have children with us and so will use the campsite facilities most of the time.

For longer trips away we have a Porta Potti 335 Portable Toilet which comes in useful in the middle of the night when we don’t want to stumble up to the amenities block in the dark.

Campsite setup

The camping gear we pack for trips away varies depending on how long we’ll be away and if we plan to stay at more than one site.

Pop-Top Cover and Windscreen Cover

We opted for a Comfortz “Cali-Topper” pop-top cover and matching windscreen cover for our VW California Ocean.

Although the VW California Ocean has internal windscreen blinds, they do allow plenty of light in around the edges. The pop top lets plenty of light in too, so the cover helps to keep things dark during those summer mornings when the sun rises early.

In addition to keeping the pop-top dark, the roof cover also adds a layer of insulation for warmth.

An early-spring stay in a hired campervan a few years ago demonstrated to us the need to have insulation in the pop-top. We woke each morning to find all the bedding in the pop-top damp from condensation and freezing cold. Not very nice to wake up to and hard to get bedding dry during the day.

We have also been lashed with rain and high winds whilst sleeping in the roof bed and the cover has done its job to keep the rain and wind out.

As well as keeping warm and dry, the pop-top cover helps to keep the beating sun out on hot days. It’s a must-have if we are away overnight in the van.

Drive away awning or Comfortz awning kit

If we are away for a long stay or might need to have the facility to sleep more than 4 people then we always bring our drive-away awning. If we are away for just a couple of nights and not touring in the van we might be able to make do with the Comfortz Awning kit.

We find as a family of four we need some extra covered space outside the van to house items which are in the way at night-time, like car seats or bags of shoes or coats.

Always essential and sometimes forgotten is a mallet for driving in tent pegs. We also carry a set of rock pegs in case of very hard ground, and a tent peg extractor to make it easy to pull them out again.

Campervan electric hook up kit

We’ll bring the full electric hook up kit if we are staying for more than two days on a campsite.

For up to three days, we find we can manage well enough with the leisure battery supplying our electricity. We use power for lighting, charging devices, the fridge and if very cold, running a camping heater in the drive-away awning.

Our electric hook up kit comprises:

Caravan site extension lead 25m (230V).
3-way mains hook up lead Y splitter (a 2-way is actually enough).
Mobile mains roller power unit – used for powering the awning only.
Worldwide Travel Adapter with 2 USB ports (for use inside the campervan as the VW California has a 2 pin socket behind the passenger door).

Occasional electric hook up kit:

UK Mains hook up adapter – we only bring this if we are near a domestic outlet we might want to use – i.e. a friend’s house.
European mains hook up adapter – obviously only bring for European travel.

Heating and lighting

Yes, you read that heading correctly. We’re comfy campers!

We take a small heater for our annexe (both the large or small versions) to take the edge off chilly mornings and cold evenings. It’s a Kampa Cuboid low wattage fan heater designed for camping, and runs off the campsite mains power supply.

For lighting, we have a Kampa SabreLink Flex lighting system. This LED light strip is also low wattage and can be plugged into the mains or the van’s 12V supply. It sticks to the annexe ceiling with velcro but can be mounted elsewhere with some string and a little imagination.

Ramps/chocks

We do have ramps and chocks as part of our kit but rarely need to use them. It does make a real difference to sleeping in the pop-top in particular if you have the campervan nice and level. We have slept on a slope before without them and one of us ends up rolling on top of the person next to them.

Entertainment

Games to play in the campervan

We always have a healthy supply of table games in our campervan. We keep a range to suit all ages and abilities.

Ball games and sports equipment, wetsuits

Permanently resident in the boot are a couple of tennis balls and frisbees for a bit of throw and catch fun.

Depending on the destination, we might take a plastic cricket set, football, beach toys, and wetsuits for swimming in cooler water.

Portable speaker

Noisy campsites with music blaring into the night are a pet hate.

We do enjoy listening to our own music sometimes, just not sharing it with our neighbours. So we always pack our JBL Flip 5 Bluetooth speaker (and keep the volume sensible).

Tablet/laptop

We like to get away from the tech and encourage our kids to enjoy the outdoor environment with us. They do, but the British weather can mean we spend a few hours back at our little camp while the rain passes (or doesn’t).

Carrying a tablet or laptop means we can enjoy watching a film together. It also gives us more comfortable access than phone screens to more mundane things we may have to deal with.

Just-in-case items

This category is really for things we would prefer not to use, but better to be prepared than not.

Campervan First Aid Kit

We are never too far away from a pharmacy or a doctors surgery should we need help but we keep a small box of essential first aid kit supplies with us at all times in the van.

Our campervan first aid kit comprises:

Nurofen tablets and Nurofen for Children
Savlon
Plasters
Antiseptic wipes
Micropore tape
Gauze
Roll of bandage
Hand sanitiser gel
Insect repellent
Insect bite/sting cream
Rennie
Earplugs (for noisy campsites)
Piriton tablets for allergies, bites, and stings

Campervan tools and extras kit

You never know when you might have to get creative on the road, so we keep a box of kit which might just come in handy if things don’t go to plan or you need to fashion a solution on the fly.

Bungee cords
Old towels
Clothes pegs
WD40
Tools – pliers, screwdrivers, bike multi-tool
Work gloves
Spare fuses and lightbulbs
Tie-down straps
LED torches including a head torch
Mobile phone charging cables
Strong utility cord
Ball bungees – very handy for attaching together almost anything.
Large S hooks for hanging gear in the annexe.
Matches
Milton tablets for cleaning the water tank
Boot buddy – great for cleaning up muddy boots and wellies before putting them in the van.
Gorilla glue
Gorilla tape
Carabiners

Documents

Finally, we make sure to take the documents (or copies) that we may need.

Passports, when travelling to Europe.
Vehicle registration papers.
Proof of insurance.
Campsite booking print-outs.
Ferry and train tickets.
Membership cards – roadside assistance, camping clubs, etc.

We also take photos of all of these documents with our phones and make sure to record contact numbers for our insurance company and roadside assistance.

So that’s our campervan packing list

That covers most things we consider packing for trips away in our campervan, as well as the items which have a permanent home there.

I hope you find this list useful for when you are deciding what essentials to pack for your next campervan trip. Happy travels!

Tags Campervans, Gear, Planning

Camping

Electric Hook Up: How to Use a Campsite Power Supply

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 31st October 2020

Using the electric hook up supplied on powered campsites lets you charge up your leisure battery and run higher-wattage devices such as kettles, toasters, and hairdryers. Or does it?

Most campervans and motorhomes have a 12V leisure battery onboard which will offer enough power to run a small fridge, mobile phones and LED lights for a couple of days.

Going away for a longer period means you’ll most likely want to hook up to a campsite’s electrical supply.

Read on to learn what equipment you’ll need, best practices when using electricity in your motorhome or campervan and to understand how much power you use when you’re on-site

Contents

How does electric hook up work?

Campsites in the UK and Europe commonly offer both powered and unpowered pitches.

To juice or not to juice

Campers may choose to be close to nature and not use electrical power at all, be smugly self-sufficient with the 12V leisure battery in their caravan or motorhome, or take advantage of the 230V mains power supply provided by the campsite.

This article is about the latter type – campers who want to plug into the campsite electric hook up supply.

If you plug into the mains power supply it will provide power at 240V like household electricity (230V/220V in Europe). This will power appliances and will also recharge most camping vehicle leisure batteries.

Powered pitches

The parts of the campsite with powered pitches (electric hook up) will have power supply bollards dotted around the area for campers to plug into.

Each power bollard (or EHU post) usually has one to four power connection points, although sometimes up to eight. One connection for each pitch.

Your designated power supply point may be on or next to your pitch, or it could be one or two pitches away from yours, requiring a long cable to reach it.

How much power is supplied?

Electric current capacity is measured in Amps (A). It is fairly typical for most campsites in the UK to offer either 16A or 10A on electric hook up pitches.

In Europe, this figure can be much less in some locations, offering only 5A or 6A connections.

In practical terms, this means that the power supply at the bollard produces an electrical current that can power at any one time to a maximum of 16A (or 10A or 5/6A). As the power supply user, you need to make sure your total usage does not exceed this amount.

The campsite won’t be geared up for every electric hook up pitch to use the maximum supply all at once. How much power each camper uses, especially at busy times, will potentially affect all other campers on the site.

Too many appliances drawing power at once can cause the power to trip, either locally on the bollard (cutting power to your neighbours) or potentially the whole campsite!

Electric hook up kit – what do you need?

The electric hook up gear you will need will depend on what your power usage requirements are.

To plug in your motorhome or campervan to use power in the vehicle at a UK campsite may only require a single cable. There are a few other possibilities to consider, however.

These are the main types of camping electric hook up kit.

Campsite mains hook up cable

The hook up cable (or extension lead) is the main cable you’ll need to get power to your vehicle or camping unit. You must have one of these to use a campsite’s power supply.

The mains cable will have a 3-pin electric hookup male end socket to plug into the power bollard. The other end depends on whether you are camping in a tent or a vehicle.

The cables are usually brightly coloured for visibility, to stop them being trip hazards or accidentally damaged by campsite lawnmowers.

Tent vs vehicle camping

For tent camping, the mains cable will have one or more UK plug sockets and perhaps USB points at the “tent end”.

Mains cables for campervans, motorhomes, and caravans have a 3-pin campsite female end socket to plug into the van’s external electric point.

Cable dimensions

Power supply bollards can be spaced far apart, but a cable length of 25 metres will give you enough reach between your unit and the power supply at most UK and European campsites. For this reason, we would recommend going for a full 20-25m cable if you have the carrying capacity.

Your supply cable will need to conform to standard BS EN 60309-2. This specifies a PVC/PVC flexible cable with three cores, each core ideally being 2.5mm. Hook up cables are therefore fatter than your standard domestic power cords.

Cable care and storage

Your mains cable should ideally be kept in a bag or on a reel when stored and transported to protect it from damage. Make sure your cable is uncoiled before connecting the power as a coiled cable can overheat.

2 way splitter Y connector

A powered pitch at a campsite will usually come with a single power supply access point. Should you wish to run more than one power cable, you will need a 2 way (or 3 way) mains hook up lead splitter.

This is an adapter which plugs directly into the power supply bollard and turns one power access point into two (or three).

We use a Y splitter if we are using our mobile mains roller power unit as well as our 25m campsite extension lead. We will only do this if we are running power to our drive-away awning in addition to our campervan.

Mobile mains roller power unit

Vango Voltaic Roll Away power cable reel

This secondary power unit is only brought along on our trip if we have the drive-away awning with us.

We use it to power lights, mobile phone charging and in cold weather a camping heater inside the awning. It has two handy USB points for charging phones, three covered three-pin sockets and a light.

This type of unit is suitable for use in a tent or awning where power will be used separately from a vehicle power supply.

UK mains electric hook up adapter

These adapters enable a campervan or motorhome user to connect their vehicle to a UK domestic 13A three-pin socket.

This is useful for testing equipment before leaving for a journey or charging the leisure battery.

It is also handy when staying at a friend or family member’s home and gives you a way of powering your internal lights, fridge, and phones without draining your leisure battery. You can also use other 230/240V electrical appliances.

The adapter connects to your extension cable cable, creating a cable with a three-pin plug, ready to plug into a domestic socket.

Definitely worth always carrying an adapter with your power extension cable so that you have the option to use a regular plug socket.

European mains lead hook up adapter

If you are travelling in Europe it would be wise to carry a two-pin European mains adaptor lead.

Electric hook up on the continent can be a mixed bag. Many sites have the three-pin camping power system as we have in the UK, some sites offer only a two-pin power supply. If this is the case you will need to use your European mains adapter to plug your extension cable into the campsite power.

The adapter will also let you plug in to a European domestic power point if this is an option.

Reverse Polarity Tester and Polarity Reverse Adapter

Martindale CP501 Classic Check Plug 240V Socket Tester

On European sites, there is a risk that some electric hook up posts have reverse polarity wiring.

A Reverse Polarity Tester will tell you if this is the case, and a Polarity Reverse Adapter will correct it.

When camping in Europe it seems a no-brainer to carry an RP tester and adapter. For a small outlay, it will give you extra peace of mind.

Worldwide Travel Adapter with 2 USB ports

We drive a VW California Ocean. As it is a German-made vehicle, one of the plug sockets built into the campervan is a two-pin European socket which connects to the leisure battery.

The travel adapter is similar to the type you would take away on holiday. It has four international plug options which cover over 150 countries, including the UK. It gives us the facility to charge mobile phones or tablets whilst either on the road or camped up.

We move the travel adapter when we are on-site to our single three-pin UK plug socket in the kitchen area. This gives us greater use of the socket because the travel adapter also has two USB points for charging phones or other electronic devices.

There is a blue light on the top of the adapter which is illuminated when the adapter is receiving power. This usefully acts as a nightlight, and tucked around the side of the kitchen it is not too intrusive.

Using electric hook up – best practice

Doing anything involving electricity is potentially dangerous. It is important to use campsite power carefully and treat it with respect. Not only for safety but to protect your camping vehicle and equipment.

Ideally your van should have a switched Residual Current Device (RCD) to protect you from a potential electric shock or fire by switching off the power in the event of a fault.

Connecting to electric hook up

Check your RCD/isolator switch is in the OFF position in your campervan/motorhome.
Uncoil your mains extension cable fully to prevent it from overheating.
Connect the mains cable to your van.
Connect the mains cable to the campsite power supply bollard. This may be a push and click mechanism or a push, rotate, and click mechanism.
Switch the van RCD/isolator to the ON position.
If camping in mainland Europe, check for reverse polarity before using any appliances.

Disconnecting from electric hook up

Switch the van RCD/isolator switch to the OFF position.
Disconnect the cable from the power supply bollard. Depending on the connection type, there may be a release button.
Carefully disconnect the cable from your campervan or motorhome.
Store all cables carefully, on a reel or coiled in unkinked loops. Ideally, keep your extension cable in a cable bag.

What is Reverse Polarity?

Reverse polarity exists when the live and neutral wiring has been reversed in a plug socket. This can and does happen on some European campsites.

For UK-wired vehicles, this can cause a safety issue. Power is travelling down the neutral wire rather than the live wire. This means that an appliance will work, but live power will continue to flow to it even when it is switched off.

A polarity tester (readily available for under £10) will tell you how the electric hook up is wired. Plug the tester into your van plug socket, or directly into the EHU bollard if you have the right cables. It will indicate the polarity setup with lights.

If the polarity is reversed, you should attach a Polarity Reverse Adapter to your hook up cable so that the power flowing to the van is the correct way round.

Note that you should only use the Polarity Reverse Adapter if it is definitely needed. Otherwise, you will have inadvertently created reverse polarity in your van!

How many Amps are you using?

In our house, we give power usage some thought but definitely aren’t perfect. We try not to leave lights on, don’t re-boil the kettle when it’s still hot, and remember (sometimes) to shut down computers overnight.

Until researching this topic in detail, I wasn’t really aware of just how much power is used by our day to day appliances.

Power usage by domestic appliances

Home appliances can be power-hungry, and many are definitely not suitable for use on a campsite or a leisure battery.

Home Appliance	Watts	Amps
Kettle	2,500	10.8
Dishwasher	1,500	6.5
Oven	2,150	9.3
Toaster	2,200	9.6
Microwave	1,000-1,500	4.3 – 6.5
Hair dryer	1,500	6.5
Flat screen TV	100	0.4
Iron	2,000	8.7

Typical power consumption shown. Varies for different appliance models.

Due to the high wattage used by these domestic appliances, it is not advisable to bring them onto a campsite. Instead, a low-wattage, camping friendly, version should be used.

Converting Amps and Watts

Appliances in Amps

To convert an appliance’s Watts to Amps, divide the Watts by the Voltage:

Current (A) = Power (W) / Voltage (V)

For example, an electric kettle rated as 2,500 Watts: 2,500W / 230V = 10.8A

Campsite power in Watts

It may be useful to think of your total campsite power in Watts, as this is the power unit which will be shown on your appliances.

Simply multiply the Amps by the Voltage:

Power (W) = Voltage (V) x Current (A)

16A site: 230V x 16A = 3,680W or 3.68Kw

10A campsite: 230V x 10A = 2,300W or 2.3Kw

6A campsite: 230V x 6A = 1,380W or 1.38Kw

As you can see, an average household electric kettle will draw more power than a 10A campsite supply! Leave it at home, and instead get an electric kettle designed for camping.

Power usage by camping-specific appliances

Low-wattage appliances designed specifically for camping are readily available from outdoors suppliers.

Camping appliances draw far less power than their domestic counterparts.

Camping Appliance	Watts	Amps
Kettle	1,000	4.34
Toaster	750	3.26
Microwave	800	3.7
Iron	1,000	4.34
Hairdryer	1,000	4.34
Fan heater	750	3.3
Mobile phone charger	6	0.03
Camping fridge	72	0.31

Typical power consumption shown. Varies for different appliance models.

Electric hook up top 5 safety tips

Remember electricity and water DO NOT mix, even when camping. Keep your plugs dry and sockets covered.
Do not keep your cables wrapped in polythene. It is likely condensation will appear which should be avoided.
Be mindful of how much power you are drawing at any one time. If you exceed the Amperage allowance for your pitch, you could trip the MCB switch and the power will go off. Some sites charge for reconnection.
Keep your cables in good order and stored safely. Make sure the PVC cord is not split or showing any other signs of damage. Any doubts, discontinue use and seek advice from an electrician.
Get the electrics in your camping unit tested regularly to ensure everything is in good working order.

Tags Campervans, Motorhomes

Camping

Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set Review: Camping Table & Benches

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 28th October 2020

Sitting at a table to eat can make camping mealtimes more enjoyable, dinner prep more practical, and card games more fun. We review a popular folding camping table and bench set, the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set.

Contents

Laying our cards on the table

Well-known outdoors brand Outwell designs and manufactures well thought through camping and outdoors gear. One of our favourite bits of kit is the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set.

Why take a table and chairs camping?

Sitting on a blanket to eat a picnic in the sunshine is a glorious way to spend a couple of hours. Over the course of a week’s camping, sitting on the ground can become a bit tiresome.

We are a family of four and our beloved motorhome is a VW California Ocean. The VW California comes ready-loaded with two outdoor chairs and a table cleverly stored in the boot lid and sliding door respectively.

A brilliant concept and so well designed, but not enough seats to accommodate us all when we want to sit outside or in our drive-away awning.

We first realised we needed this product in our lives whilst watching our children trying to eat a meal sitting in a standard camping chair. They ideally needed a surface to lean on and a standard camping chair was too low for them to reach a table.

After several hours spent at a huge camping store and testing every camping table and chair combination (I kid you not!), we decided on the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set.

What is the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set?

Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set ready for use

The oddly-named “picnic set” is is not a wicker basket with plastic plates and cups, but instead a good-sized folding table and two bench seats.

The legs fold down and the benches clip on to the underside of the table so the whole kit can be carried with a webbing strap handle.

Pros

We liked this camping table and benches set for a number of reasons.

The table is a good size for four people.
The bench seats are strong and sturdy, no problem for two adults per bench.
It has a flexible design; the table and benches are separate.
The table does not have a finger-pinching fold in the middle like some models.
Easy to assemble and disassemble.

Cons

There are just a couple of annoyances.

One bench has developed a slight “creak” when sat upon by adults.
The bench seats can topple over if they are on unstable ground or accidentally pushed back when standing up.
Carrying the set any distance with the one-handed carry strap is a little awkward. A shoulder strap would have been better for this.

Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set folded for transport

Assembly

The set does not need any post-purchase assembly to use it.

Setting up the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set is easy. This involves detaching the benches from the underside of the table, unfolding each pair of legs on the table and benches until they “click” into position, and placing the furniture where it’s needed.

Packing up is the opposite – turn each piece upside-down, fold down each leg pair by pressing an unlock button, fold the legs flat against the underside of each bench and table, then line up and press the two benches into their locking clips on the table frame.

Setting up and packing up takes under 30 seconds.

Using the set

We use our table and bench set inside our annexe and outside in the sun/weather.

A small tablecloth over the table adds a bit of colour. Everything (including the tablecloth) is easily wipeable so cleaning up after mealtimes is simple.

The benches are lightweight and so are extremely portable. Each bench will comfortably seat two big people or three little people, very handy to bring to a gathering if people have arrived without chairs.

We take our Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set with us camping and often on day trips and picnics too.

Are we happy with it?

It has been excellent. It is where we gather as a family for all our meals, play card games after dinner or just generally sit and chat.

It’s a perfect height for us all to sit at to eat or play games. It provides another surface when in our awning for prepping food.

The benches are strong enough to stand on, which we find handy when moving our bikes on and off our campervan bike rack. We use the bench seats for all kinds of purposes. Coffee tables, a step to reach something, and for draping towels over to dry during the day.

We recommend the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set as a robust and well-made piece of camping equipment that we’ve found very useful.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set cost?

We have seen the set priced from £99 to £115.00, available from numerous outdoors retailers.

What does it include?

The Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set comes with:

Table (dark grey) with four fold-out steel legs (black).
Bench seats x2 (dark grey) each with four fold-out steel legs (black).
Webbing carry handle attached to the table.

The table and benches are connected together as one unit for transport but are separated when used.

Is it durable?

Yes. The frame and legs of the table and benches are made from steel tubing and are very sturdy. The table surface and bench seats are made from durable and waterproof plastic.

What are the dimensions?

The dimensions of the Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set are as follows:

Pack size (when folded): 102cm x 61cm x 8cm
Weight: 12.8kg
Max Load: Table – 80kg, Benches – 200kg each
Table size (when open): W102cm x D61cm x H70cm
Bench size: W102cm x D28cm x H44cm
Seat height: 44cm

How much weight can it cope with?

This set is very strong and much more robust than some of the folding camping table/bench sets on the market. The weight limit for the table is 80kg, and each bench can support up to 200kg.

Is it stable?

The table is stable although can get “bumped” with careless legs. It will not easily overbalance though.

The benches are sturdy but can tip over backwards if placed on an unstable surface or someone seated pushes too hard with their feet, so some care needs to be taken.

Is it waterproof?

Yes, the plastic and steel construction means that all surfaces are waterproof and can be wiped down if wet from rain or spilled drinks.

Is the table height adjustable?

No, the table and bench seats are not adjustable. Their heights are fixed at 70cm and 44cm, respectively.

Gear Review: Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set

Quality

Ease of use

Ease of assembly

Features

Value for money

Summary

The Outwell Pemberton Picnic Set is a robust, durable, and practical camping table and bench seats. It cleverly connects together for transport, but the folded-down size may be an issue for some.

4.2

Tags Gear

Camping

Rent Out Your Campervan: How to Make Money From Van Hire

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 28th October 2020

A campervan is a significant financial investment. To rent out your campervan when you aren’t using it is a way of recouping some of the costs. But is it a good idea?

An oft-quoted statistic says that on average campervan and motorhome owners only use their leisure vehicles four times a year.

How accurate this figure is, is anyone’s guess. I know in our case, we use our campervan as our daily ride so it doesn’t sit there idle on the drive when not on overnight trips away.

Until recently I hadn’t thought about renting out our campervan when we aren’t using it and benefitting from a useful additional income stream. It’s a topic which has been coming up more and more lately, most likely due to the increase in staycationing over going on holiday overseas.

We have a second car, so are we missing a trick here? Should we be thinking about arranging to rent out our campervan and recouping some of the costs it brings?

What are the benefits? What are the pitfalls?

Read on to find out whether renting out your motorhome or campervan is for you.

Contents

How do I rent out my motorhome or campervan?

There are a couple of ways to do this.

DIY approach

Put on your marketing hat and promote your van yourself. For example:

Take some pictures and share them on your social media profiles, letting people you know that your campervan or motorhome is for hire.
Create a website around the hire. It’s quite a lot of work and expense though. How will you get eyes on it?
Pay for advertising in a local publication or website.

The self-managed approach to rent out your campervan is labour intensive but could be relatively cheap.

Peer-to-peer rental platform

An easier approach to rent out your campervan is to use a specialist peer-to-peer website.

The new breed of peer-to-peer sharing platforms such as example Airbnb and FatLlama allow owners to share their assets for a rental fee. Both these sites have spotted a huge gap in the market for owners and hirers to find each other.

Not a surprise then that this private asset renting concept has come to the world of leisure vehicles. Yes, there are now a number of rental platform for campervans, caravans and motorhomes serving the UK.

Campervan and motorhome peer-to-peer rental platforms

There are a few strong players in the private campervan hire space right now so we’ve checked out each one to discover what money we could potentially make and how much risk we carry as campervan owners.

The case for using one of these platforms is strong. They are well established, have a presence in several countries and have large audiences to market your vehicle to.

The process is quick and easy allowing the campervan or motorhome owner to list their van and any additional hire equipment either for a nominal fee or a revenue share. Each platform treats this process slightly differently.

It’s a comfort too to have someone act as a mediator between vehicle owner and the hirer and they will usually take care of the payment process and hold the security deposit.

Here are the most established and trusted providers on the market right now. This table demonstrates what you can expect to pay for and earn using these services:

Private campervan rental websites

Platform	Costs to Vehicle Owner
Yescapa	Service fee: 15% of hire charge. Yescapa adds 15% to the price you set for your vehicle so you come away with what you feel your van is worth per night. The additional 15% is taken as a service fee.
Camplify	Service fee: 8% (+VAT) of hire charge. This is a straight revenue share. You get 92% (less VAT) of the booking revenue.
Camptoo	Service fee: 15% of hire charge. Camptoo adds 15% to the price you set for your vehicle so you come away with what you feel your van is worth per night. The additional 15% is taken as a service fee.
Goboony	Service fee: 15% of hire charge. Goboony adds 15% to the price you set for your vehicle so you come away with what you feel your van is worth per night. The additional 15% is taken as a service fee.
Quirky Campers	Service fee: 18% (+VAT) of hire charge. This is a straight revenue share. You get 82% (less VAT) of the booking revenue.

Details are a guide only. Figures correct at the date of publication.

Other websites

There are a few other campervan and motorhome private hire websites available for UK audiences, but we have included only sites we would consider using ourselves.

During our research, we discovered some sites that obscure their service fees or do not supply clear contact details. These have not been included.

Private hire platform fees

Publishing, marketing, customer service, and insurance does not come for free. It is a fair deal, therefore, that these private hire platforms add on service fees or take a percentage of the per-night rental fee to cover their running costs.

The benefits of using one of these services outweighs the costs in our opinion.

Listing your van

As a campervan owner, each platform will require you to provide a range of documentation to be allowed to list. This can include:

V5 Certificate to prove ownership of the campervan or motorhome.
Proof of insurance – even if you are using day insurance through the website.
Latest MOT certificate.
Insurance and MOT expiry dates – the platform keeps these stored and makes sure you keep the info updated.
Personal identification documents.
Bank details for receipt of payment of hire revenue.

It would also be prudent to have a gas and electricity safety inspection and a habitation check.

You’ll also need some cracking photos to showcase all the selling points of why someone would want to hire your campervan or motorhome.

The various hire platforms all have a similar process for vetting hirers. For the recommended platforms, all checks are made in advance of the hire and the hirers have provided all the necessary documentation to adhere to the insurance specifications.

How much money could I make renting out my campervan or motorhome?

There is no clear answer to how much money you can earn because it depends on a range of factors:

The age of the vehicle.
The spec of the vehicle.
How many seatbelted positions it has.
How many sleeping berths it has.
Time of year, you can ask for more during peak seasons.
Where it is located – are you based near to airports/train stations, major road networks?
How many weeks per year you can rent it out.

For example, a VW conversion campervan, 5 years old, four-berths.
A typical listing suggests a range of £95 to £120 per night.
Multiply that by 7 for a one-week hire = £665 to £840 per week.

Nice. Just a one week hire would cover a lot of annual costs. That said, we’ve yet to cover what could be the biggest stumbling block – insurance. Just what risks am I taking to hire out my campervan?

Campervan and motorhome hire insurance – the options

If you rent out your vehicle commercially (as in you receive money in exchange for loaning the vehicle) it is a legal requirement that you have adequate insurance to cover both parties in the event of injury or damage.

Most domestic insurance policies do not cover commercial rentals or even non-commercial loans to a third party. To be properly covered you’ll need one of two types of insurance:

Either

A specific annual policy which allows for commercial hirers called “Self Drive Hire” insurance, or

Short term motorhome insurance which is known as “Day Insurance”, which is a pay per trip, per day insurance policy.

Self Drive Hire insurance

This annual policy will cost you considerably more than your standard motorhome or campervan insurance policy but does allow for unlimited commercial hires over the year.

If, as the van owner, you have an annual Self Drive Hire policy, you could easily build in an additional few pounds per night into your nightly hire rate to absorb some of the extra cost you have incurred.

Self Drive Hire policies are not very common but there are a small number of specialist brokers who deal with it. Two firms we have spoken with are Alan Boswell Independent Insurance Brokers and Gallagher.

Some brokers will require you to have 12 months hiring experience before they will offer you an annual policy, so you may have to go the Day Insurance route for the first year before you can pursue this option.

If you plan to hire your vehicle out for many weeks of a year, having a Self Drive Hire policy to insure your campervan or motorhome, may work out to be the most cost-effective way to get covered.

What is the average cost of self drive hire insurance?

This wholly depends on the value of your vehicle. Alan Boswell advise for example:

Value of Vehicle	Annual Cost	Excess
Up to £35,000	£1,400	£500
£35,000 – £45,000	£1,650	£750
£45,000+	£1,900	£1,250

Details are a guide only. Figures correct at the date of publication.

Self drive hire insurance – policy wording

Typical terms you can find in your Self Drive Hire policy can include:

Fully comprehensive cover.
Includes drivers aged 25-79.
No Hidden Costs – Unlimited hires, Unlimited mileage.
Cover included for theft by hirer and cooking and heating risks (subject to 25% owner co-insurance).
Free comprehensive cover for own use of vehicles.
EU cover included.

Policy requirements include:

Category S5 Tracker may be required for vehicles over £50,000 in value.
£1000 excess (although this rises according to the value of the vehicle).

Exclusions – read the small print!

The above example has several exclusions which may be a cause for concern:

A 25% co-insurance clause for theft or damage resulting in the use of the cooker. In other words, you will not be covered for a quarter of the loss if the hirer’s Full English fry-up gets out of control and destroys your van.
You are liable for 100% of the theft if the keys have been left in the ignition.
If a hirer pays you in cash for the hire, this invalidates the insurance. You must have a traceable payment by card or electronic transfer.

As the van owner, the liability for any damage or theft falls entirely on you.

Campervan and Motorhome Day Insurance

Day Insurance is the type of insurance you’ll most commonly see used on the private campervan rental websites.

It is insurance which covers the hirer per day for the length of a trip.

People use Day Insurance for all kinds of reasons, including teaching someone to drive in their car, borrowing a van to move something big, or loaning a vehicle to friends or family visiting from overseas.

You purchase extra cover through Day Insurance to insure your vehicle for each specified day you are allowing someone else to drive it.

How to take out Day Insurance

Unlike Self Drive Hire insurance, Day Insurance can be purchased directly by anyone.

For ease, many of the campervan rental websites have negotiated a Day Insurance arrangement directly with Allianz (the only insurer that seems to deal directly with the platforms) or they guide you to providers such as Dayinsure, Tempcover, or Sky Insurance.

One benefit of buying through a platform is they have more control over the claims process if they have a bespoke arrangement with a day insurer. Less hassle for you should a claim arise.

Day Insurance driver conditions

Like with any insurance, there are criteria a hirer must adhere to, to qualify.

These requirements are typically:

The driver must be between 25-69 years old
Have at least 2 years of driving experience
No more than 6 points on their license

A booking using Day Insurance can need a 5-day booking window to ensure all the necessary documents are in place before the hire. A Self Drive Hire policy has a little more flexibility.

If a hirer does not meet these requirements, cover may still be offered but the per price per day would increase.

What does Day Insurance cost for campervan hire?

Platform	Guide cost	Who pays?
Yescapa	£24/day	The hirer
Camptoo	£21.28	Vehicle owner
Camplify	£7/£11/£17/day + 12% IPT (depends on vehicle value)	Vehicle owner
Goboony	£20	The hirer

Prices are a guide only and are subject to change

Security Deposit

Typically the security deposit is set at £1,000 and the campervan rental platform will take an imprint of this amount on the hirer’s credit card and the start of the hire.

£1,000 is a hefty liability to carry so the hirer can also take out an excess reduction policy to bring this liability down to £500.

Match deposit to excess

It is advisable for the vehicle owner to set the security deposit to the excess amount stated by the insurer to ensure they are not personally out of pocket in the event of an accident.

The majority of the hire platforms look after the security deposit and give the campervan or motorhome owner the opportunity to block the return of the money to the hirer in the event of discovering damage.

Dispute resolution

If you do decide to list your campervan for hire with one of these platforms, make sure you ask the question to understand what role they will play in resolving disputes and what your claim window will be.

Who pays the hire insurance?

Who pays the insurance is an interesting topic. There is some argument that if the hirer pays for the insurance then they take more care of the vehicle.

On the other hand, if the hirer pays it could mean you have to charge less per night for your vehicle to make the cost to the hirer viable. Perhaps it doesn’t matter who pays as it all evens itself out in the end.

As well as insurance, there are other considerations to take into account when you decide whether to rent out your campervan such as what you include in the van hire price.

Breakdown cover

Hiring out your van comes with responsibilities to your hirer. You do need to have breakdown cover with the RAC or similar to protect your vehicle and the campervan renters.

Imagine your van conks out in the middle of nowhere, far from your address, you are going to need to think about how to get it home again and back on the road.

What about the people who have hired your vehicle? With their transport and accommodation out of commission, they are truly stuck.

Breakdown cover features

Breakdown cover will allow for a broken-down vehicle to be towed to a garage of your choice or the nearest one to where the breakdown has occurred.

It will outline exactly how they will assist if a breakdown happens for example how they look after the renters. This may involve a per night amount paid out to look after the renters of the vehicle to ensure they can arrive at another destination and or accommodation paid for for a few nights until matters are resolved.

The majority of the platforms will include breakdown cover with any Day Insurance they sell you. Be sure to ask what the process is in the event of a breakdown.

Often, only one tow is included, so think carefully about where you would like the vehicle to be taken to. Some policies may charge one or other party for the cost of the tow depending on why the breakdown has occurred.

This could be as much as £200 paid for either by the campervan owner if it is deemed the vehicle hasn’t been properly maintained or by the hirer if it is deemed the breakdown has happened through misuse.

It may be worth supplying your own breakdown cover if it offers more protection overall than the one supplied by the rental platform. Definitely worth checking what is and isn’t included and if any extra costs are likely in the event of a breakdown.

What should you supply with your campervan?

Most campervan and motorhome owners have a large collection of additional equipment they use alongside their vehicle.

It is entirely up to you whether you would want to loan these items out to hirers. The positives are that you can charge extra for additional equipment and they may enjoy your van better with all the right kit.

These can be charged for on a per night or a whole trip basis per item.

Chargeable equipment examples

Drive away awning/tent/annex
Bike rack
Bikes
Scooters
Projector or other tech
Table and chairs
Bedding/Towels
Inflatable beds/furniture

Other services

Other services you may wish to charge extra for are:

Collection/Delivery to train station or airport
Per hour charge on top of agreed rental
Mileage over an agreed amount

Non-chargeable equipment

Most hirers would expect kitchen equipment such as pots, pans, plates, utensils and cutlery and a full gas bottle to be included with the campervan or motorhome hire.

For a belts-and-braces approach, a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, and a carbon monoxide alarm should also be supplied.

European vehicle requirements

If you are allowing your vehicle to be driven to mainland Europe, it is a legal requirement that the vehicle should contain items such as a fluorescent jacket, a warning triangle and 2 breathalyser kits.

Consumables

Some van owners like to go the extra mile and leave the hirers a small number of consumables like tea, coffee, sugar, milk and a few cleaning supplies.

Parking

Hirers will probably arrive at the rental location in their own vehicle so it would be desirable for them to leave their vehicle parked at the collection point.

If this is not something you can offer, it is definitely worth pointing this out up-front so they can make other arrangements.

Campervan hire demand

Right now in 2020, campervan and motorhome hire has never been more in demand. One platform informed me their business has increased 250-300% on the same period from the previous year.

Another platform told me they don’t have enough vehicles to meet the current demand, and it’s well past high summer.

Campervans and motorhomes have already been booked for next summer in readiness for the expected summer uplift.

Thanks to the Covid-19 crisis, staycations have become the top choice for holidaymakers with thousands cancelling their overseas trips in favour of staying closer to home.

Camping, campervanning, or caravanning is a more affordable holiday than a self-catering property or a hotel, adding to its popularity. This is true particularly in times of recession making it an appealing option to those who just want to get away for a few nights.

If you have read this article and would like to explore the idea further, the common message from all the platforms is there is high demand and not enough campervan supply so if you are looking to make money from your campervan or motorhome, there has never been a better time.

To hire or not to hire? Are we going to do it?

We’ve done all the research into Self Drive Hire insurance policies, what the platforms cost to market our vehicle, and what our earnings could be and our decision is – drumroll please – no, we are not going to rent out our campervan.

Our VW California Ocean falls into the top pricing bracket for insurance so it will be an expensive endeavour for us to get the necessary cover.

The idea of a potential £750 week in hire revenue is definitely appealing. But when assessing the risk and hassle of accidental damage or theft, how upset and inconvenienced we would be, and how much the insurance would cost, the answer for us at this time with the campervan we own is a definite no. It simply doesn’t add up for us.

Perhaps if we owned a less valuable campervan or motorhome and we didn’t have such an emotional attachment to it, this could be a good side business to earn a secondary income.

If that is your situation then go for it. There has never been more demand and there is money out there to be made.

Tags Campervans, Hire, Money, Motorhomes

Camping

Excess Insurance for Campervan Hire: The Complete Guide

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 27th October 2020

About to rent a campervan or motorhome? Taking out an excess insurance policy for your campervan hire may just save you a nasty financial shock.

You’re dreaming of getting away from it all, hitting the road, getting out in the countryside. Who can blame you? There is something really invigorating about being out in the fresh air, surrounded by green space and wildlife.

As much as it is preferable to focus on the itinerary of your upcoming trip, other necessities must also be considered before you hit the road.

Let’s face it, the topic of campervan rental excess insurance is likely to be met with a groan. Granted, it’s not exciting but neither is a damage bill in your name for £1,000 or more. That’s likely to be met with an even bigger groan.

All campervan and motorhome hire must come with a level of insurance, but what that cover includes will vary.

What you can do as a campervan hirer is make sure you are fully covered, belts and braces, before you sign your rental agreement.

Contents

What is campervan rental excess insurance?

Excess insurance is an insurance policy that you can take out on top of the insurance policy that is part of your campervan hire. It pays for some or all of the insurance excess in the event of a claim.

Excess insurance on a campervan or motorhome hire reduces your personal financial liability from whatever the agreed security deposit amount is (often £1,000) to as little as £150, depending on the provider

Jargon note: excess insurance can be known by different names, including Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and liability insurance.

Standard motorhome hire insurance

It would be nice to have one policy that takes care of all the risk, but sadly that’s not how it works.

Whether you are hiring a campervan or motorhome from a commercial hire firm or renting from a private owner, having adequate insurance in place is essential.

Insurers gauge the risks of hire and clearly outline what they are and aren’t prepared to cover, based on the perceived risk profile.

The risk of damage to a hire vehicle is greater than one you own. Accidental damage can occur as a result of a lack of familiarity with the dimensions and handling of a vehicle on and off the road.

Outside of driver-caused damage are vandalism, theft, and lack of care from other drivers. Unfortunately, these are circumstances largely out of your control.

Campervan hire insurance exclusions

Certain kinds of damage or expense are often excluded from standard vehicle hire insurance policies. This is because they are particularly vulnerable to damage or loss. These can include:

Windscreen
Tyres
Roof
Underbody
Internal damage
Misfuelling
Loss of keys

Excess insurance will cover you up to the agreed security deposit amount on your rental agreement. The campervan hire insurance policy provided with the hire will cover any additional cost over that amount, subject to any exclusions.

Why buy campervan rental excess insurance?

The main benefit in choosing to purchase campervan rental insurance is to reduce your personal financial risk should the worst happen.

As previously mentioned, it might not be as a result of you the hirer that damage occurs. Just as often, vehicle damage occurs via a third party.

From a liability perspective, the buck stops with you, the hirer.

Insurance excess amounts are commonly set at £1,000 to £2,000 for hiring a campervan or motorhome; they are expensive and luxury vehicles.

Damage repairs to these specialist vehicles can be very costly. Suddenly, the cost of your holiday just doubled.

By factoring in a small extra ‘security’ amount to your hire, you can reduce this liability to as little as £150 depending on the provider. £150 is much easier to swallow than £1,000 for sure.

You’ll need to buy an excess reduction policy specifically tailored to campervans or motorhomes. This is because motorhome hire carries a different risk profile than standard car hire.

Campervan rental excess insurance providers

The following table lists the leading providers of campervan excess reduction insurance policies in the UK.

We’ve included guide prices are and the reduced excess amounts. The criteria we selected for the premium quotations were:

Drivers – 2
Region – UK/Europe
Vehicle – Motorhome/campervan
Length of trip – 7 days

Motorhome hire excess insurance premiums

Excess Insurer	Premium Cost	Policy Excess
iCarHireInsurance*	£72.98	£0
RAC*	£72.98	£0
Questor Insurance	£56.92	£350
RentalCover	£106.56 (motorhome) £91.33 (campervan)	£0
WorldWide Insurance	£63.00	£350
InsureCarHire	£11.64	£500

* iCarHireInsurance and RAC motorhome and campervan excess cover is provided by Halo Insurance. Campervan and Motorhome cover is offered as an upgrade to the annual policy for car hire excess. For close to the cost of a one-off hire policy you can get annual multi-trip and standard car hire within Europe included, making these policies great value.

Some of the private campervan rental websites or motorhome hire companies will have excess reduction policies as an added option to purchase when you sign your rental agreement.

Ask for the details of their policy and compare with one of the market leaders in the above table. How does the cover compare? Is the pricing competitive?

What is covered under a campervan rental excess insurance policy?

The following points are common in these types of policies. Always familiarise yourself with the small print to know exactly what you are and are not covered for.

Typical coverage features

Cover up to £2,500 to cover the security deposit amount on the rental agreement
Includes cover for windscreens, tyres, roof and underbody damage.
Loss of use
Towing fees
Vehicles up to £75,000 in value
Hire agreements up to 45 days in length
Loss of keys
Misfuelling
Covers vehicles with a maximum of 9 seats

Common exclusions

Not valid if a hire has already commenced
The first £350 of a claim (the excess on this policy – although £0 excess policies are available)
Interior damage
Third party death, injury or property damage
Off road trails or safari
Breaches of the rental agreement

Eligibility

To be eligible to take out campervan rental excess insurance cover in the UK, you typically have to meet the following criteria:

Between 21-84 years of age.
Hold a valid driving licence for the country in which you are travelling.
A resident of the UK or an EEA country at the time of policy purchase.

Should you take out excess insurance for campervan hire?

At the end of the day, campervan hire excess insurance offers you, as a hirer, peace of mind. If something unexpected and costly happens, you’re covered.

It is yet another expense to add to your trip budget but it is often worth having for your trip so the unforeseen doesn’t spoil what should be a fantastic holiday.

Further reading:
Private Campervan Hire (How to Rent Someone Else’s Campervan)

Tags Campervans, Insurance, Money, Motorhomes

Camping

Private Campervan Hire: How to Hire Someone Else’s Campervan

Post author By Own The Outdoors
Post date 26th October 2020

More people than ever before are looking to private campervan hire over renting from more conventional motorhome rental companies. A number of peer-to-peer campervan and motorhome hire websites have sprung up to meet this demand.

Perhaps you’re considering hiring because you want to try before you buy, or maybe you’re just adventurous and fancy a nomadic get away and enjoy the freedom of the open road.

Either way, hiring a van directly from the campervan owner has many benefits, which we’ll consider along with the potential pitfalls in our guide to private campervan hire in the UK.

If you’re open to the idea of hiring from someone else, read on to learn more.

Contents

Why rent a privately owned campervan or motorhome?

There are a number of advantages in hiring a campervan or motorhome from a private owner.

Affordability

You will typically pay less money per night for a private campervan hire than you would hiring through a campervan hire company. Many van owners offer discounts for longer rentals periods.

Equipment

Whilst a campervan hire company won’t leave you short on the essentials, they can’t provide you with all the kit you’re likely to need. Campervan and motorhome owners have a mountain of gear they use with their vehicle and they are likely to offer it up for hire too.

Flexibility

Private campervan and motorhome owners want to work with you to get your hire underway. They will be as flexible as they can be with the timings to make the hire work.

Personal service

You will be hiring someone’s pride and joy. There will be a thorough handover and inventory done. Need a lift to and from the station? No doubt your campervan owner will aim to help. There will be little finishing touches you just wont get with hiring through a campervan hire company.

Variety

No commercial campervan hire company will cover so many different types of vans. Private hire gives you access to a wide variety of vans.

Looking for something in particular, a classic VW campervan, or something unusual to add a bit of fun? The private hire campervan websites will have you covered.

Best UK private campervan hire websites

The best way to hire a privately owned campervan is to use a peer-to-peer van rental website.

There are a number of well-established and easy to use peer-to-peer campervan hire websites serving UK holidaymakers. They allow you to filter vans by your travel dates, berth requirements, special features, and more.

The table below sets out our recommended private campervan and motorhome hire websites in the UK, their fees, and possible additional costs, that renters will pay for hiring through their platform.

UK Private Campervan Rental Websites

Website	Website Fees	Extra Costs
Yescapa	Service fee: 4% of rental charge	– Day Insurance: £24/day – Extra equipment – Pick up/drop off – Pets (some hires include)
Camplify	Booking fee: 12% (+5% VAT) of rental. Service fee: to owner for gas top-up and consumables (amount set by owner).	– Extra equipment – Pick up/drop off – Pets
Camptoo	£25 service fee	– Extra equipment – Pick up/drop off – Pets
Goboony	£35 admin fee	– Day Insurance: £20/day (some hires include insurance)
Quirky Campers	Free	– Extra equipment – Pick up/drop off – Pets

Details are a guide only and correct at the date of publication

Note that these fees and extra costs set out above are on top of the actual rental charge. Most peer-to-peer sites also charge the campervan owner a fee per rental based on a percentage of the rental charge.

How to rent a campervan through a private hire platform

Define your requirements

Firstly, consider how many passengers you have in your party and how many berths you need the van to have.

Will you all be sleeping in the campervan or might a couple of you be sleeping in a tent or annexe?

Could you get away with a two-berth campervan and additional annexe hire perhaps?

If you have a particular campervan or motorhome type you would like to try out but it’s neither near you nor close to where you want to tour, don’t rule it out completely. Find out how much the owner would charge to bring it to you and collect again.

It could save you thousands in the long run as you’ll have had a test run of an exact type of van you’re considering buying. You may learn a whole heap about the motorhome you thought you were sold on, but maybe, in reality, it reveals issues you hadn’t anticipated.

Consider hiring near where you want to explore, not necessarily close to home. Quite often campervan and motorhome owners will be flexible in collecting you from a train station or letting you park your own car on their property for the duration of the campervan hire.

Selection and booking process

In terms of usability, the platforms are intuitive and easy to use. Think Airbnb for campervans and you’ve got the idea.

Select the campervan or motorhome you like the look of, add your travel dates and hit request/book. It’s all non-binding at that point. The platform will send a message to the vehicle owner to let them know you’re interested in hiring for those dates.

Pricing

The price you’re quoted will include all the main items you are being charged for. These are usually:

The total booking price (the vehicle x the number of nights).
Service fee for using the website.
Insurance cost. Sometimes you won’t see a charge for insurance and that will be because the campervan or motorhome owner is carrying the cost and they will be passing some or all of that fee onto you through the nightly fee.

If the campervan or motorhome owner is happy with the dates they will accept the request and process moves on to the next stage.

Rental charges

Expect to pay anything from £60 to over £200 per day to hire a privately owned campervan or motorhome.

The cost of hiring a van will vary depending on factors including the vehicle type, number of berths, its age, gear provided, and special features. The owner sets the rental charges, and these will also vary according to season.

Extras

There will be other expenses that arise throughout the booking process, depending on the platform and your requirements. These include:

Additional equipment hire
Cleaning fee
Pet fees
Collection and drop off service
Consumables
Excess Insurance

All of these expenses are optional and some will be included in the hire price. It really depends on the individual listing.

Campervan rental requirements

Renter ID checks are made to make sure that, as the driver of the campervan or motorhome, you meet the insurance requirements. It also provides maximum security for the vehicle owner against theft or damage costs.

Documentation

You will need to provide information to the campervan hire website about yourself as the driver. They will usually want to see:

Your drivers’ licence. You’ll need to send copies of both the front and back of the licence to prove it is category B.
Identification – an official form of ID is required such as a passport or birth certificate.
Proof of address – correspondence from your address in your name from a supplier such as a council tax bill or utility bill.
A DVLA licence check.
A credit card from which to take an imprint for the security deposit.

You will need to provide the same information for a second driver to be covered as well, should you need one.

Driver requirements

You’ll typically need to satisfy the following criteria to be accepted as a campervan hirer:

2 years minimum driving experience.
Between 25-79 years old.
No more than 6 points on your licence.

If you fall outside of this criteria, it is possible you could still hire a campervan. The platform or the campervan owner would need to approach the insurance company and see if they would be willing to insure you. This is likely to incur extra costs.

Payment

Camper selection on the Goboony platform

Deposits

How much you will be expected to pay at time of booking varies according to the provider. You can expect this to be anywhere from 30%-50% of the total booking price. This is usually non refundable.

The balance is usually due within 30 days of the commencement of the trip, although some platforms may ask for the balance to be paid within 8 weeks of the start date.

When you leave for your trip, the private campervan hire platform will take an (electronic) imprint of your credit card for the agreed security deposit amount.

This figure is usually in line with the excess set on the hire insurance policy. It will be returned to you within an agreed timeframe assuming no damage or expenses, such as fines or tolls, have been incurred.

Cancellation

Cancellation charges also vary. Usually the closer to the start date you cancel, the less of the booking fee you can expect to be returned. This is commonly zero within 14 days of travel.

New cancellation terms are being employed by these platforms to cope with changing pandemic circumstances. Ask at time of booking.

Motorhome Hire Excess Insurance

Excess insurance cover will cover the often high insurance excess that applies to hire policies.

Whether to take out hire excess insurance is a personal choice. If the hire price is already building up, it’s understandable that adding another ‘per day’ cost is not that appealing.

It is definitely worth considering though as the standard security deposit on motorhome and campervan rental is set from £1,000 – £2,000 depending on the rental and insurance conditions.

What this means for you is, if there is any change to the bodywork, tyres or glass of the campervan or motorhome whilst under your rental period, then it will cost you to restore it to how it was at the time of checkout.

Parking in car parks or anywhere you leave your vehicle unoccupied can lead to unforeseen damage occurring to vehicles. If someone else backs into you and doesn’t leave a note then, unfortunately, the liability of that damage falls to you.

The £1,000 or £2,000 excess amount is also per incident. If you reverse into a pole and then immediately drive forward into a tree, that’s considered two incidents.

That is a lot of money to fork out when maybe the damage wasn’t even done by you.

That per-day extra cost starts to look a lot more appealing when you look it at like that.

Further reading: Excess Insurance for Campervan Hire (a Guide for Hirers)

Private Campervan Hire – Top Tips

There is liability and risk on both sides of the campervan hire agreement so the best thing you can do as a hirer is make sure you have identified what the stumbling blocks are and add adequate protection where you can.

The following list are some top tips to make your campervan rental hassle free:

Breakdown cover

Breaking down whilst on the road would be an absolute nightmare but it happens. What you need to think about is if the worst happens to you, what protection do you have in place?

All rental agreements will include breakdown cover, but the level of cover varies. This is because some of the platforms provide cover, some of the campervan owners will provide their own and in some cases, as the hirer, if you take out an excess policy with the campervan rental platform it can include access to premium breakdown services.

Check what breakdown cover is included before you sign your hire agreement. Make sure to ask the right questions, such as:

Will I be liable for any costs?
Where will the vehicle be towed?
What reimbursement can I expect to receive?
What help do I receive to get home?

Do you have your own breakdown insurance that insures you and not the vehicle? Will it protect you in a hire situation?

If you break down, it will be a major inconvenience. It’s both your transport and your accommodation that’s affected.

Travel Insurance

Do you have your own travel insurance in place? It is likely theft or loss of personal belongings are not included in the campervan hire insurance so it’s worth making sure you are covered.

Some hire policies don’t cover third parties outside of vehicle damage. Travel insurance could therefore give you an extra layer of protection.

In the event of your holiday coming to an unexpectedly abrupt end, travel insurance will make sure you are not out of pocket if a refund can’t be sought from the campervan owner.

Electric, gas, and habitation check

It is unclear whether these checks are officially required from the campervan or motorhome owner. When we spoke to the various platforms, this was not something that was listed as obligatory.

As a hirer, ask for a recent report on the electrics and gas provided in the habitation space. Ask for a carbon monoxide detector to be provided also. If this is refused, make sure to pack your own. Carbon monoxide is odourless and deadly.

Read the small print

Forewarned is forearmed. Know exactly what you are agreeing to. What are those exclusions in the insurance policy? Don’t be afraid to ask questions – it could save you a lot of grief and expense later on.

Asking questions shows you are a careful and thoughtful hirer which builds trust with the campervan or motorhome owner.

Length of hire

The length of your hire is not necessarily the length of your trip. Do you need extra time for packing and unpacking?

What are your obligations as the hirer? Are you to return the van sparking clean, inside and out? This could take a few hours to achieve.

Don’t forget to leave time to refuel near to the drop off location. Refuelling costs will often be taken out of your security deposit, plus an admin fee for the hassle.

One of the benefits of hiring a van through a private campervan hire company is flexibility. This could mean that, unless a van is booked to leave on another hire on the same day as a return, a vehicle owner might just be accommodating on the exact timings.

Mileage

Make sure you understand the rules around mileage. Every hire will be different. Do ask the question upfront, before you leave of what mileage is considered acceptable. This could be a per-day or total hire amount.

Outside of that mileage might attract a ‘per mile’ extra fee. The over-mileage fee might be only 20p a mile, but if you’ve gone well over, it could be an expensive additional extra you hadn’t planned on.

When things go wrong. What to do if there’s damage or an accident

Being in an accident is a horrible prospect. What obligations you have as a renter of a campervan will depend on the hire platform you have used and the individual hire agreement.

Bear in mind if the damage is internal, it may not be included in the insurance conditions. Often the insurance covers exterior bodywork, the undercarriage, tyres, and glass. Again, check the small print as there are policies which do not over undercarriage, glass, or tyres either.

Internal damage can be costly to fix. For example, something small like the window blind on the sliding door on a VW California Ocean will cost around £350 to repair. It requires very specialist parts, and installation is labour intensive.

If you’re involved in an accident you should report it to the hiring platform and the vehicle owner right away.

Some rental agreements ask that you contact the police and get an incident number as this is needed for insurance purposes.

Make sure you also get a statement from the other party, their insurance details, registration, and their contact details.

Choose your route carefully

If you are not experienced driving a campervan or motorhome, it would be sensible to choose easy to navigate roads to start with.

If you aren’t familiar with the dimensions of the vehicle it would be easy to cause damage by scratching it on low hanging branches or a stone wall on a tight Corish lane. Go for the wider, more main and generous routes.

Any damage you cause to the van could cost you dearly.

Spend some time getting to know the vehicle

Take an hour or so before you head off for your trip, look for a quiet car park somewhere and get to know how the campervan or motorhome drives.

Have a go at reversing it, switch the wipers and lights on, and adjust the mirrors. Take it for a lap around the block to get a feel for the steering, acceleration, braking, and gear changes.

Best you know where all the controls are and how the vehicle handles before you are in a position of having to make a sudden manoeuvre.

Plan a few nights stay in advance

Whilst one of the joys of campervan hire is enjoying the freedom of the road, you can’t stay overnight just anywhere.

Britstops is an organisation of pubs and restaurants who have a car park you are free to park in exchange for buying a meal at their establishment.

Most motorway services around the UK will permit you to stay overnight for an extra charge.

Best of all is to arrange a campsite for a couple of nights as they’ll have the amenities you’ll need to give you a good start to your trip and then maybe wing it from there.

Conclusion – private van hire can be a great experience

There are definite advantages in private campervan and motorhome hire over hiring from a commercial hire company’s fleet.

Renting privately can provide a more personal experience, more interesting vans, and maybe save you some money too.

Tags Campervans, Hire