Hiring a campervan in the UK: costs, tips and what to check first

There's a strong case that nobody should buy a campervan before they've hired one. It's the cheapest way to find out whether the reality matches the daydream, whether you actually enjoy the routine of levelling the van, filling the water, emptying the loo and cooking in a small space, or whether the romance wears off somewhere around the second rainy morning. And even if you never intend to buy, hiring is simply a lovely way to have a holiday: the freedom of a campervan trip without the cost, the storage and the depreciation of owning one that sits on the drive for fifty weeks a year.

The trouble is that campervan hire is less straightforward than hiring a car, and the details, the minimum periods, the mileage limits, the insurance excess, what's actually included, can catch first-timers out and turn a great-value trip into an expensive one. So this is the honest, practical guide: why hiring makes sense, how it actually works in the UK, what it really costs once you add everything up, where to book and the difference between the options, and the specific things to check before you part with a deposit. Get the details right and a hire is one of the best holidays going. Get them wrong and you'll feel it in the final bill.

Why hire a campervan

The most common reason is the simplest: a holiday. A campervan trip is a wonderful thing, and hiring lets you have one without owning the van, which for most people makes complete financial sense. A campervan that you'd use for a couple of weeks and the odd weekend spends the vast majority of its life parked, losing value and costing money in insurance, tax, servicing and storage. Hiring puts all of that onto someone else and lets you pay only for the days you actually use, which, for occasional trips, is far cheaper than ownership however you do the sums. We dig into exactly where that line falls in our guide to renting versus buying a campervan, but for anyone who travels a handful of weeks a year, hiring usually wins comfortably.

The second great reason is to try before you buy, and it might be the most valuable few hundred pounds you ever spend. A campervan is a big purchase, often a very big one, and the gap between imagining van life and living it is real. Hiring the kind of van you think you want, for a proper trip rather than a test drive, teaches you things no amount of research can: whether the bed is comfortable, whether the layout works for your family, whether you actually like the lifestyle, and which features you'd insist on or avoid next time. The third reason follows from that: hiring lets you try different types, a pop-top one trip, a bigger coachbuilt the next, so that if you do buy, you buy the right thing. It's the cheapest possible education in what suits you, and our guide to the types of campervan conversion is a good companion to it.

How campervan hire works

Campervan hire runs on a few conventions that are worth knowing before you start, because they shape both the price and the practicality. Hire is priced by the night or the day, with weekly rates usually working out cheaper per night than short stays, and prices swing enormously with the season, which we'll come to. Most hirers set a minimum hire period, often three or four nights, rising to a full week in peak summer, so the spontaneous single night away isn't always possible, especially in August.

Mileage is the next thing to understand. Some hires come with unlimited mileage, while others include a daily or weekly allowance, say 100 or 150 miles a day, and charge for miles beyond it, which matters a great deal if you're planning a big touring trip rather than a base-camp holiday. Then there's the deposit or security hold: expect the hirer to place a refundable hold on your card, often several hundred to a couple of thousand pounds, against damage or the insurance excess, which is released after the van comes back in good order. Insurance is usually included in the hire price, but with an excess, the amount you'd pay towards any claim, that can run to four figures, and most hirers offer an excess-reduction product to bring it down for a daily fee. Finally, there are the practical eligibility rules: you'll generally need to be over a minimum age, often 25, sometimes 21, with an upper limit too, to have held a full licence for a year or two, and to have a reasonably clean record. A standard car licence covers vans and campers up to 3.5 tonnes, which is the great majority of hire stock.

What it costs

Prices vary by van, by hirer and, above all, by season, so treat these as broad ranges rather than quotes, but the shape is consistent and worth knowing so you can spot a fair deal.

The single biggest factor is when you go. A van that's £90 a night in spring or autumn can be double that in the school summer holidays, when demand peaks and minimum hire periods lengthen. If your dates are flexible, going outside the school holidays can roughly halve the cost and is one of the best money-saving moves available, with the bonus of quieter sites and roads. On top of the nightly rate, watch for the extras that add up: bedding and kitchen packs (sometimes included, sometimes a chargeable add-on), additional named drivers, a bike rack, the excess-reduction insurance, a pet-friendly supplement, and a surcharge or restriction if you want to take the van abroad. A week's hire that looked like £900 can quietly become £1,200 once the packs, the excess reduction and the second driver are added, so always price the whole thing, not just the headline nightly rate.

Where to hire: peer-to-peer versus professional fleets

There are broadly two worlds of campervan hire, and they offer different things. The first is peer-to-peer, platforms that connect you with individual owners renting out their own campervans, much as you'd book a holiday flat through a home-sharing site. The appeal is variety and character: you can hire everything from a lovingly restored classic to a quirky hand-built conversion, often at a slightly lower price, and you get an owner who genuinely cares about the van and knows it inside out. The trade-offs are consistency and backup, you're dealing with one person and one vehicle, so if something goes wrong the support may be less slick than a professional operation, and standards vary from van to van.

The second world is the professional rental fleet, companies that own a fleet of broadly similar campers and rent them out as a business. Here you get consistency, a known standard, proper handover procedures, roadside backup and a replacement if a van fails, which buys peace of mind, especially for a first hire. The trade-off is less character and sometimes a higher price, and the vans tend to be more uniform and modern rather than charming and individual. Neither is better in the abstract; for a first-time hirer wanting reassurance, a professional fleet is the safer start, while for someone after a particular kind of van or a bit of soul, peer-to-peer opens up far more interesting options. Whichever you choose, read the reviews carefully, they tell you more than any listing.

What's included, and what to check before you book

This is where first-timers get caught out, so it pays to be methodical before you book. The headline price often isn't the whole story, and two hires at the same nightly rate can differ a lot once you read the detail. Before you commit, get clear answers on the following.

First, the insurance and the excess: what's the excess if you have a bump, and how much does reducing it cost? A low headline price with a £2,000 excess and no reduction option is a different proposition from a slightly dearer one with the excess already low. Second, the mileage: is it unlimited, and if not, what's the allowance and the per-mile charge beyond it? For a touring trip this can be the difference between a good deal and a bad one. Third, what's actually included in the van: bedding, towels, a kitchen kit with pots and crockery, gas for the hob, the electric hook-up lead, a levelling kit, an awning? Some hirers include all of it, others charge for packs. Fourth, the cancellation policy and what happens if your plans change or you're ill. Fifth, breakdown cover and what happens if the van fails mid-trip, who you call and whether you get a replacement. And sixth, the return rules: the expected cleanliness, whether you must empty the toilet and waste and return it with a full tank, and the penalties if you don't. None of these is hard to check, but checking all six is the difference between a hire with no surprises and a nasty line on the final invoice.

The handover: don't rush it

When you collect the van, you'll get a handover, a walkthrough of how everything works, and the single best piece of advice for a first hire is to slow this down and pay proper attention, even when you're itching to get going. A campervan has systems a car doesn't, and being shown them once, calmly, saves a great deal of grief later. Make sure you understand the fresh water (filling it and the pump), the waste water (where it drains), the leisure battery and 12-volt electrics, the mains hook-up (how to connect at a site), the gas (turning it on and off, and safety), the fridge, the heating, and, crucially, the toilet, how to use it and how to empty it, which is nobody's favourite topic but is much better learned in the yard than in a panic on a campsite.

Take your time, ask every question that occurs to you, and don't be embarrassed; a good hirer would far rather spend an extra twenty minutes at handover than get a distressed phone call on day two. Take photos or a quick video of the walkthrough so you can remind yourself later, and photograph the van's existing condition, inside and out, so there's no dispute about pre-existing marks when you return it. The handover is also where you confirm the practical bits: where the spare wheel and tools are, what to do in a breakdown, and how the bed actually makes up, which is always fiddlier than it looks the first time.

Tips for a first-time hire

A few hard-won pointers to make a first campervan holiday a joy rather than a baptism. Go off-peak if you possibly can, for the lower price, the quieter sites and the gentler introduction. Start with a long weekend or a short trip rather than a fortnight, so that if van life turns out not to be quite for you, you've not committed to two weeks of it. Book campsites with electric hook-up for your first trip, rather than going off-grid straight away, because mains power removes a whole layer of things to worry about while you find your feet. Don't over-plan the driving; a relaxed trip with short hops and time to enjoy each place beats a frantic dash, and big mileage in an unfamiliar van is tiring. And resist the urge to cram every gadget and bit of kit in; you need far less than you think, and a cluttered small van is a stressful one.

It's also worth being realistic about the rhythm of campervan life, because it's part of the charm but it's work. There's a daily routine of setting up and packing down, of water and waste and levelling, that a hotel doesn't have, and the joy of waking up somewhere beautiful is balanced by the small chores of doing it. Most people find that rhythm soothing once they're into it, but going in expecting it, rather than expecting a hotel that moves, is the key to enjoying the first trip. If you can, learn the toilet and waste routine early and without squeamishness; making peace with it quickly is genuinely the thing that separates people who love van life from people who don't.

Taking a hire campervan abroad

Plenty of people dream of taking a campervan across the Channel and touring France, Spain or beyond, and many hirers do allow it, but it needs checking and planning rather than assuming. Not every hire van can go abroad, and those that can usually carry a surcharge and stricter terms, so confirm it's allowed before you book if a European trip is the plan. The things to nail down are the insurance territory, that you're genuinely covered to drive in the countries you're visiting, and to what excess, breakdown cover that works abroad and not just in the UK, and any paperwork the hirer needs to provide, such as a letter authorising you to take the vehicle out of the country.

There are practical extras too. Many European cities have low-emission zones that require a sticker or registration to enter, and the rules differ by country, so check what your route needs. You'll want to understand the ferry or tunnel booking, whether the height and length of the van affect the fare, and the driving-abroad basics that some countries require you to carry. None of it is difficult, but a European hire has more moving parts than a domestic one, and a first-time hirer is usually better served by a UK trip to learn the van before adding foreign roads, unfamiliar campsites and driving on the right to the mix. Walk before you run, then go and enjoy the continent once the van holds no surprises.

Returning the van

Bringing the van back is simple if you've understood the rules at booking. Generally you'll be expected to return it reasonably clean inside, with the toilet cassette and waste water emptied, the rubbish removed, and the fuel tank filled to wherever it started, often full. Allow time for this rather than leaving it to a frantic last hour, particularly emptying the toilet, which needs doing at a proper disposal point on a campsite, not in a hurry in a layby. Return on time, because late-return fees can be steep and the van may be booked out to someone else straight after you.

The deposit or security hold is released after the van is checked back in and confirmed undamaged, which is where those condition photos you took at the start earn their keep. If you've looked after the van, emptied what needed emptying, refuelled and returned it on time, getting your deposit back is a formality. Most of the disputes that do arise come down to one of those return rules being missed, so a calm, unhurried return is the final piece of a good hire.

Hiring as try-before-you-buy

It's worth coming back to this, because it's the smartest possible use of a hire and the one most people skip. If you're seriously considering buying a campervan, hiring first is the best money you can spend, and set against the price of buying the wrong van, it's almost free. Hire the type you think you want, ideally for a real trip in conditions like the ones you'd actually use it in, and treat it as research. Does the layout work when there are four of you and it's raining? Is the bed actually comfortable for two adults? Do you love the lifestyle, or do the chores grind you down? Is the van the right size, or did you spend the week wishing it were smaller and easier to park, or larger and easier to live in?

People who hire before they buy make far better buying decisions, because they're choosing from experience rather than imagination. Many discover that a smaller, cheaper van suits them better than the big one they were drawn to, or that they want a fixed bed they don't have to make up, or that they prefer the simplicity of a pop-top to the bulk of a coachbuilt. Some discover they don't want to buy at all, and that hiring two or three times a year is exactly enough, which is itself a valuable and money-saving conclusion. Whatever you learn, you learn it for the price of a holiday rather than the price of a mistake.

The honest downsides

Hiring isn't perfect, and it's worth being straight about its limits. In peak season it's genuinely expensive, a week in a decent van in the school holidays can run well over £1,000 once everything's added, which is a lot for a week's holiday, even if it's a fraction of owning. The minimum hire periods can be inconvenient if you only want a night or two, and the deposits, while refundable, mean having a meaningful sum tied up for the trip. There's a faff to it, the packing, the handover, the unfamiliarity of someone else's systems, that owners don't have. And of course you build no equity and have nothing to show at the end; the money is gone, in exchange for the trip.

For all that, the maths still favours hiring for anyone who travels only occasionally, and the flexibility, never servicing it, never storing it, never watching it depreciate, is worth a great deal. The downsides are real but they're the downsides of a holiday, not of a liability that sits on your drive all year. For most people, most of the time, that's a trade well worth making, and it's why hiring, not buying, is the right first step for almost everyone curious about van life.