Hiring a motorhome: size, mileage package and the questions for the hire company

Most people do it in the wrong order: book a vehicle first, then plan the trip. The smarter way round is the other one, because two of the most expensive decisions in a hire agreement can only be answered once the route roughly stands: What size do you need, and how many kilometres will it be? You know both after an hour of planning, and both protect you from the classic beginner costs.

Route first, then the vehicle

A hire quote consists of a vehicle class, a period and a mileage package. Whether they fit together is decided by your trip: four people to the Adriatic is a different requirement from two people to the Baltic. So first plan roughly where you are going and how long you will be away. You need to know nothing you don’t already know: the planner calculates with the reference values of a vehicle class, no registration document required.

What size do you need?

Hire offers sort themselves into a handful of classes, and they are called roughly the same everywhere:

• Camper van: VW-bus format, fits in a parking space. Usually two berths.
• Panel van: a converted van, the most common hire class for couples. Usually two to four berths.
• Low-profile: living area behind the cab, no bed above the windscreen. Usually two to four berths.
• Overcab (alcove): the bed above the cab, the family classic. Usually four to six berths.
• A-class: living area and cab in one, with a full-width windscreen. Usually two to four berths.

Berths are a property of the individual model, not a promise of the class: there are panel vans with pop-up roofs for four, and low-profiles in which only two sleep well. So always check the number against the specific offer. As a rule of thumb: for four, the overcab is the safe choice, for two the panel van. Hiring bigger than necessary costs you twice: in the hire price, in fuel, in manoeuvring and in every search for a parking space. Hiring smaller than necessary takes its revenge on the first rainy day.

Almost everything stops at 3.5 tonnes, and that is no accident

Hire fleets stay almost entirely below 3.5 tonnes maximum permitted weight, because that is exactly where licence category B ends: most customers could not legally drive anything heavier. For you that means, conversely, that your ordinary car licence is enough.

But the limit has a second side: in the large classes, the difference between empty weight and 3.5 tonnes is tight. Water, luggage, bikes and supplies all count towards it, and overloading is no trivial offence. Ask the hire company about the payload of the specific vehicle; for a big overcab carrying the whole family, this is one of the most important numbers in the quote.

The mileage package: the underrated item

Many offers include a mileage package: a number of kilometres included, every further one costs extra. Whether the package is enough is not a question of feeling but of arithmetic, and you can solve it before booking: plan the route, read off the distance, add a buffer for day trips and detours. Remember the distance from the hire station to your first destination and back — it counts too.

In the planner you later enter the terms directly in the costs tab: it shows you your route’s mileage need before you book, and sets it against the package as soon as you have one. That way you see in black and white whether the offer with the small package really is the cheaper one.

One-way or round trip?

The normal case for a hire is the round trip: collection and return at the same station. One-way hires — picking up here and returning elsewhere — many companies do not offer at all, or only at a surcharge. When in doubt, plan a loop; the planner counts the return to your starting point as soon as you switch it on, and spreads it over realistic stages.

The questions for the hire company

Before you sign, a few points belong clarified. They are often in the small print, but asking is faster:

• Collection and return times: collection is often only in the afternoon, return in the morning. The first and last hire days are then not full travel days, and the vehicle briefing takes time too. Plan the first stage short.
• Deposit and excess: how much, deposited how, and what does it cost to reduce the excess?
• What is on board? Bedding, kitchen equipment, camping furniture, a filled gas bottle, a hook-up cable with adapter, levelling ramps. What is missing can often be booked on, and that is usually easier than buying it yourself. More in the article on what to organise before the first drive.
• Cross-border travel: which countries may the vehicle enter? The list is in the contract, and it is not always as long as you would think.
• The number plate: ask for it as soon as the booking is fixed. Digital vignettes are tied to the plate, and with the number you buy them comfortably before departure instead of on collection day.

This article deliberately names no hire prices: they vary so much by season, station and booking time that any number here would be wrong by the time you read it. The structure behind them stays, and with it the order: plan first, then compare, then book.