Hello everyone. I've looked through past posts to see if this has been raised before - doesn't look like it.
I have this idea that has been hanging about my head for a number of years but I really want to explore further. I'm considering the idea of buying a MH after retirement and touring Europe for a year with the wife. After that I would like to rent it out and use the rental income as a boost to pension.
I'd be looking to spend upwards of £150k on the MH (maybe new) and will be going to the MH Exhibition in Glasgow early year. Has anyone done something like before and able to tell me what to look out for?
From my research, the top 5 things to consider seem to be:
Depreciation & resale value
Premium motorhomes (Carthago, Hymer, etc.) hold their value better, but still lose money each year. Did you find rental income helped cover depreciation?
Insurance & rental cover
You need a specialist policy if you’re going to let others hire your van. Some peer-to-peer platforms (like Goboony or Camplify) provide insurance, but others don’t. What have you used?
Wear & tear vs. income
High-end interiors are great for touring, but renters may not treat them the same way you would. Did rental income outweigh the extra maintenance/repairs?
Practical layout & rental appeal
Fixed beds, decent storage, and user-friendly heating/water systems seem to matter most for renters. Has anyone found certain layouts (couple vs family) rent more easily?
Storage, servicing & compliance
When you’re not using it, you’ll need secure storage. And annual habitation checks/servicing can eat into income. How did you manage this side of things?
My question: For those who’ve tried this model (tour first, then rent), was it worth it? Would you do it again and what do you wish you’d known at the start?
Not tried your idea, but there’s far far less choice at Glasgow than NEC Birmingham (from experience). But offset by the advice to buy from a dealer near where you live because there will be problems to sort. We chose our favourite model at NEC & bought it locally ex-demo.
New - as soon as you drive off the forecourt, you’ve depreciated.
BC Motorhomes (Prestwick) rents new MHs and renters can buy at a discount afterwards. Other dealers will too.
There are (or were) adverts in the Club magazines for firms that will rent out your MH for you: and there are threads here about that topic (aka renting your pride & joy to a family that might trash it).
Long question, only part answer. Others will follow.
I went to a few big shows and stepped into many MHs before I concluded none of the layouts and specifications suited my own needs and wants, and decided to go down the custom conversion route.
I have not considered rented it out as I intended to go out and about in the van as often as I can, at least once a month between Easter and October.
Besides, I really do not like the idea of someone else using my toilet (I am a solo camper), sorry, even though I can buy a refresher kit (cassette, seat and cover) for it.
I would advise going to the bigger shows such as the one in NEC in October.
I believe 4-berth would be good for renting out to a couple as well as families of 4. However, make sure the number of legal seat belts match the number of berths.
I find Practical Motorhome has many free to read excellent articles via their FB page.
Good luck with your search.
DK
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Couple of points that you don't seem to have considered specifically, but maybe a nod to with your thoughts.
I organise an annual camping rally for rescued dog owners, last year we had a couple of middle aged women friends attend in a hired privately owned MH - they all but wrecked it!
Firstly they pranged it on the journey to the campsite, quite serious rear bumper, tail light and panel damage, we had to gaffer tape it all back together in a crude manner to make it drivable. Then they went out for the day and pranged it again - less damage, but damage all the same to the side. Then they broke a window, we had to gaffer tape it up to make the vehicle suitable to drive again otherwise the slip stream would have ripped the window clean off! Following that they broke the water system drain valve. Who knows what else they did that we didn't get to know about, or they may not of even realised they'd done it themselves!
They weren't malicious, just careless and pretty feckless people. First time in a MH, so not a clue, and CLEARLY didn't listen to the owners intro to all the ins and outs - we guided them as best we could on an unfamiliar MH with just about everything, but sometimes the damage had been done!
They had taken out damage waiver insurance, but the owner was after them to pay for the damage themselves as there was so much of it and not from a single cause (we never did find out how that resolved!). The point being, that MH was out of action as unfit to hire to anyone else, that may have impacted already agreed bookings after them, or it may simply have put the MH out of action for some considerable time whilst it was repaired. Some provision for loss of income needs to be in place to cover such eventualities, as well as sufficient accident insurance cover to ensure it is repaired to a high enough standard. Damage repair costs to MHs can be very high, and being written off as un-economic to repair is a possibility, even if the repairs are achievable. Can you cover your investment in the vehicle, and reimbursement for customers you cannot supply? … and you are left without your source on income!
A couple of times over the years, we've looked at hiring a MH for our regular 'lads' (we're all over 50!) trip to Le Mans 24 hour motor race in France. There has never been a problem in the principle of us successfully hiring one, we tick all the boxes on correct licences, no insurance black marks etc. Where we have struggled is we aren't a family or in relationships with each other, and as a bunch of straight blokes we DON'T want to be sharing cosy double beds! We can find the berths in numbers OK, what we can't so easily find is a layout of unshared beds! - Not everyone who wants to hire a MH wants to share a bed, so the layout needs some thought if not to exclude some potential customers! Buying for your own use and matching hire customer needs can be very different things.
Forget Glasgow, Birmingham is the only one to go to for top end motorhomes.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
I started a camper hire business last year as I thought I had too little to do. The learning curve is quite steep and the things that catch you out are surprising.
The cost of proper insurance is eyewatering. The damage that people bring back is annoying. Pets hair gets everywhere !
I must say I am really enjoying running the business but I think my advice would be to treat it as such - keep your own van separated from the hire fleet. If you want anymore pointers drop me a message.
Not something I'd want to get into, but then I'm not much of a risk-taker. There was a small company hiring motorhome many years ago near where I live and I went to see them one year with a view to hiring one. They quickly informed me that they had stopped doing it as they'd had two stolen and never recovered. They suspected they had been taken out of the country very soon after being picked up. No trace of the hirers was ever found either, they had probably given false names and addresses as well as used false driving licences.
The criminals had obviously had the whole of the hire period to dispose of them as the company didn't even realise there was a problem until they didn't come back and the next lot of hirers turned up to collect them.
Collin21 raised a consideration albeit in a roundabout way - the next hire pick up.
When I've looked at hiring, there seems very little time between drop off and next hirer pick up! T&Cs make the hirer responsible for returning it in 'pristine' condition, but I think we all know that hired things often come back in far from good condition!
You've got to be in a position to do the 'turn around service' PDQ to be ready for the next client pick up if offering continuous hire, or build in a loss making day to ensure no cross client impacts. Now that could be anything from cleaning up stains on upholstery to replacing missing cutlery, crockery, cooking utensils etc., as well as base vehicle checks. The rights and wrongs of 'how bad' a previous hirer returned it, are neither here nor there when it comes to being fit for purpose for the next hirer! You may have a justified beef and financial penalties with previous hirer, but that CANNOT be past on in any way to the next hirer, it has to be ready at agreed time in as advertised and usable condition.
Precisely Monty15. If I had hired a motorhome, I would expect it to be available at the agreed time and in excellent condition, especially as I would have probably already paid the hire fee. What if the previous hirer had brought it back with serious damage, internally, externally, or both? Large firms would probably have an alternative vehicle they could let me have that was either just as good or better. They could then get the damaged vehicle repaired in time for another hirer in a week or so's time. If the "hire company" only had one vehicle and that had come back seriously damaged, or not at all, what would they do? Put the next hirer up in a hotel at the "company's" expense until the vehicle was ready? That is the least I would expect. I would also expect a refund and/or compensation for the ruined part of my holiday. The whole point of hiring a motorhome is that it would provide living accommodation AND transport, so even if I was put up in a hotel that would only meet my accommodation needs. What if I had planned to be at a certain place at a certain time?
Well Collin21, on the times I've looked to hire a motor home, it's not been for a routine holiday with a degree of flexibility, it's been to attend an event with no real latitude for much variation, and there have been a LOT of quite large expenses that were totally dependant upon the MH, such as cross channel ferry, camp sites and event tickets. 'Putting us up in a hotel until ready' REALLY would not cover it! For one, our ferry crossings are booked as far forward as they can be booked 'cos the crossings become FULLY booked for the time we travel due to very high demand, and delayed travel may not even be a possibility to utilise our camping and event tickets, not sure normal travel insurance would cover that consequential loss! - the hire company would get hit for EVERY expense AND compensation for the 'distress'! Considering there is usually 4 or 5 of us, that adds up to some compensation bill! I'd sue the hell out of them for any uninsured losses!
It gets worse, sometimes we arrange to pick up other people from airports, train stations, even foot passengers on different ferry crossings etc. when on the other side of the channel, a failure of the MH on time is a disaster! They are dependent upon us entirely for transport, camping and event tickets which we block book!
When we've gone on these trips by car, there has always been a contingency plan that could be implemented at short notice, but a failure of a MH pickup would stop us in our tracks!
Thanks for all of the replies - lovely to see so many people responding and sharing their views. Two things that have struck me is the insurance costs and likely damage.
It wasn't my intention to have back to back rentals however in peak season I can see how this would be attractive.
I'm going to try and schedule a visit to Birmingham - would seem that this is the place to be!
Again, many thanks for taking the time to respond.
Quote: Originally posted by ScotFox on 03/9/2025
I have this idea that has been hanging about my head for a number of years but I really want to explore further. I'm considering the idea of buying a MH after retirement and touring Europe for a year with the wife.
This is an idea that my wife and I are actively pursuing, although not the follow-on of renting out the MH; we plan to sell it on at the end of the trip.
My suggestion to you is to think about 3 things: Layout, Layout, Layout. You are going to spending a year living in this confined space together, it absolutely has to be right for you, for the way in which you are going to travel. (Assuming that you wish to remain married )
There is no perfect layout for everyone, only the ideal layout for you. If there was one optimal solution to the compromises of fitting the number of facilities into a confined space, all MH would have the same layout. Your visit to Birmingham will only confirm that isn't the case . Equally, when/if it comes to renting it out, there is no perfect layout for everyone. Each potential hirer will have their own preferences, although they will more likely compromise for a 2-week holiday than for a 12 month odyssey.
We hired 3 different vans for 7 - 10 days at a time, before we landed on what we consider to be the perfect layout for us.
Good luck, hopefully see you on the road somewhere in Europe next year!
Unless you have passports from an EU country you are not going to be spending a year touring Europe unless you are including UK & Ireland for 6 months of that year. If you only have UK passports then you can tour mainland Europe for 90 days at a time with 90days outside EU in between.
Quote: Originally posted by Swifty560 on 29/9/2025
Unless you have passports from an EU country you are not going to be spending a year touring Europe ...
You make a very important point, although not all European countries are in the EU. Whereas you might happily spend 3 months in Norway, before crossing back into the EU, you might not wish to do the same in Moldova, Ukraine or Belarus!!!
I spoke recently with a dealer who told me of a couple who exactly the same dream as the OP and me, and had come to buy a suitable MH. He burst their bubble by asking the question "so, do you have a European passport?". By his account they had no awareness of this consequence of Brexit and went away visibly upset.
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Topic: Buying and touring then rental
via mobile 03/9/2025 at 4:01pm
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