If you’re thinking of buying a motorhome but are put off by the perceived high cost of entry, or you’re an existing owner looking to camp on the cheap, then this is for you. There are lots of ways you can enjoy the freedom of the outdoors without spending a fortune, and here, I’ll share my tips to help you enjoy campervanning or motorhoming on a budget.
New or used?
Most people’s budget will dictate this one, but with some great finance deals around, as well as lots of hire vehicles available, there are plenty of options.
Hiring a vehicle for a weekend away is the place to start for all newbies, but it can also be a good option if you don’t have driveway space or access to a convenient facility for storing a motorhome. While hiring can be expensive – typically costing around £200 per day – it can still work out cheaper if you only ever go away for a couple of weeks a year when you account for tax, insurance and servicing costs.
The cheapest form of camping is to simply throw a mattress into a van and there are lots of self-built campervans that start in this way for just a few thousand pounds. Tesla even offers an inflatable mattress for some of its car models.
However, we’d always recommend going down the route of a proper conversion. They will be much more likely to have crash-tested seats and gas and electrical safety testing; they work better and also have cheaper insurance and better resale potential.
If you like the idea of a VW camper van such as a smaller VW Transporter-style option, you will find they can start from as little as £10,000 for older models. A Ducato-sized conversion realistically starts at around £20,000 for something that is useable and won’t need lots of welding or mechanical work.
Discounts
In my experience, there are often deals to be done when it comes to motorhomes. Having originally trained in car sales, having a good haggle is something I relish. Even if you don’t, it’s definitely worth a go – the worse that they can say is no.
There are a few basics to note. First, a difference between buying a new or used motorhome. Used vehicles usually have a larger margin on them than new vehicles (but not always – new vehicles often attract dealer bonuses from manufacturers).
Don’t be embarrassed about asking: it’s your money and you need to keep hold of as much of it as possible.
Always ask a starter question such as ‘is this the best price you can do?’ or ‘I am very tempted but it’s a bit expensive, can you help me out?’ Sales people always want to wrap up a deal quickly on first meeting, so phrases such as ‘if we can agree a price, I’ll leave a deposit today’ are music to their ears.
The golden rule of haggling is to let the sales people give a number first. This isn’t always easy – they’re trained professionals after all, and will likely resist – but whoever gives out a number first has generally lost the upper hand.
For example, if the motorhome is priced at £30,000 and you start with ‘would you take £29,000?’ you have immediately shot yourself in the foot by limiting the available discount. The sales person may have gone as low as £28,500 but you’ll never know that – you’ve effectively capped your own bottom price (and will probably end up settling in the middle at £29,500).
If in this example, you hold back and the sales person drops to £29,500, you can then offer £28,500. Even if you meet in the middle you’ve saved £1000. And all for two minutes’ work. Haggling is the most cost-effective money saving that you will ever do.
Lastly, after you’ve haggled hard and chosen your new or new-to-you vehicle, don’t forget to also haggle over any accessories. Often people sit back and relax after the main haggle, but forget that everything in a dealership has a profit margin. It’s the same for warranties, paint treatments and upholstery protection.
Part exchange
So what about if you’re selling a motorhome and have a part-exchange vehicle? In this case, the price you get offered will vary from dealer to dealer. So shop around.
Equally, ask firms such as the Motorhome Depot and We Buy Any Motorhome to give you a price to buy your old motorhome. The price will be lower than a dealer part-exchange price (which increases the value of your vehicle by adding in some of the new vehicle’s discount) but the cost to change may still be cheaper.
Ditch the car
If you’re investing in a campervan that’s under 5.4m long, why keep a family car with its insurance, tax and servicing costs? You’ll also remove one of the biggest hidden costs from your driveway – new-car depreciation.
All new cars depreciate like a stone compared to a motorhome or campervan, so removing that expense can be a huge cost saving. And do you really need an extra vehicle if you have a compact and easy to park campervan?
Take a look at our pick of the best campervans for everyday use if you’d like some ideas.
Consider Electric
Some readers have already skipped on to the next paragraph, but for the more open-minded people, there are great savings to be made with electric campervans.
EVs work best with compact and lightweight vehicles, so if you have a family of six and tour Europe in a luxury motorhome, they’re probably not for you.
But with vehicles such as the Kia PV5 entering the market at around £30,000 as a base vehicle, and around £60,000 fully converted, things are changing. I’ve driven this particular vehicle and what makes it different is that it’s not a diesel vehicle converted to electric. It was designed from the ground up to be electric, and is superior to anything European (so far) thanks to its 250-mile range, smooth driving and – crucially for campervan conversion – its boxy shape and flat floor.
At 4.7m longer it’s slightly smaller than a Volkswagen Transporter, but its boxy shape means that it can fit an adult-sized pop-top giving it four berths and four travel seats.
But why go electric? In two words: fuel costs. Even many of the best camper vans will only be used for shorter weekend trips and that means they don’t always stray that far from home. If you can charge your vehicle at home (a 7kW home charger should cost from around £500 to £1000 to install) then you will likely save a fortune.
For example, my wife used to run a diesel BMW that cost her around £300 a month to fuel (it would be more now due to the recent fuel price hikes) and switching to an EV saw this drop to £30 a month. We’ve only recharged it three times on public chargers (which is dead easy – just tap your card on a machine and grab a coffee) in the past year. The savings really have been huge.
Be disloyal with insurance
One of the biggest and easiest savings can be found by switching your insurer – many will reward your loyalty with a price hike if you simply auto-renew with them each year.
There are lots of good online price comparison sites and websites for motorhomes, campervans and even self-builds these days, so it’s never been easier to switch. Gone are the days when you have to spend hours on hold on the phone and then need to repeat your personal details over and over again.
I forgot to switch my own vehicle insurance last year and let it auto-renew and was horrified to realise that I spent £200 too much. So if you auto-renewed last year, don’t be a mug this year!
The same also applies to vehicle breakdown cover – we flick between a provider each year depending on who offers the best price. Again, loyalty doesn’t always pay.
Fuel savings
If an EV doesn’t work for you, then you need to think about ways to save fuel. Generally speaking the motorhome fuel economy of any given ‘van is dictated by the body shape and frontal area, far more than the engine capacity.
Bulbous overcabs and A-class motorhomes tend to be the worst and pop-top campervans the best.
But all vehicles are greatly affected by driving style and speed. Accelerate hard everywhere and you will invariably use more fuel, while gentle acceleration is generally best. If your vehicle has an ECO button, switch it on.
However, speed is probably one of the biggest factors. A vehicle will consume around 5 to 10 per cent more fuel at 70mph compared to 65mph, and save as much as 17 per cent at 55mph. Driving at 65mph rather than 70 over 100 miles will add six minutes to your journey time. On a 500-mile trip a 10 percent fuel saving equates to around £11. So do you really need to rush when you’re on holiday?
Tyre pressures
When did you last check your motorhome tyre pressure? If you haven’t done it this year you’ve been throwing your money away (and reducing safety).
All air-filled motorhome tyres naturally lose pressure over time due to the heat cycles and slight compound permeability – it’s typically around 2psi a month. The lower the pressure the more they drag on the road leading to reduction in your economy; as high as a 10 percent reduction. So your 45mpg vehicle now only does 40.5mpg.
Over a 500-mile trip that equates to an extra cost of around £11. Do 5000 miles a year and that could be £110 that you’re simply throwing down the drain! All for the sake of two minutes’ work with a tyre pressure gauge and pump.
Servicing work
Don’t skip the service schedule of your vehicle (especially if it’s still under manufacturer warranty) because fresh oil and filters help vehicles perform at their most economic. Pay particular attention to the air filters, too – a slight blockage caused by dirt build-up over time can greatly affect the vehicle’s ability to suck in fresh air and can reduce economy.
Regular servicing also helps prevent the risk of a breakdown, which can be far more costly than you imagine – it will invariably have a big impact on your holiday plans and time. A case in point was when my campervan broke down in France.
Reduce your weight
Knowing what you can do to reduce the weight of your motorhome can also come in very handy.
A top tip is to make sure all your water tanks are empty before you travel. A litre of water weighs around 1kg, so a full 100-litre water tank is like lugging around an extra 100kg of weight. Fill with water on-site to save the fuel and remember to use it all (it’s greener than dumping fresh water) and drain the waste water tank prior to your return trip. The same goes for emptying the cassette toilet – that should always be done prior to leaving any campsite.
Equally, go through your touring kit with a fine-tooth comb. If an item hasn’t been used for a year, leave it at home or sell it. Garage-equipped motorhomers are the most guilty of lugging around lots of extra kit that rarely gets used, so have a good sort out at the start of the season.
Stay out of season
Speaking of seasons, if you’re lucky enough to have had the shackles of school holidays removed, then it’s well worth staying out of season in what campsites often call the shoulder seasons of spring and autumn. There are bargains to be had at these times of year, so it pays to shop around and see what deals can be done.
Also, try picking areas that are less obviously touristy (for example, the South-West is never going to be that cheap due to demand) and try to pick midweek stays rather than weekends.
Use CL and CS sites
Both the Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club offer a range of small five-pitch sites (CLs and CSs respectively) that offer more basic facilities but at a reduced cost. These are often in more scenic or remote locations and can yield some real gems as well as being more wallet friendly.
Winter camping?
If you pay storage fees over winter or simply lay up your motorhome, why not consider motorhoming in winter? All-year sites tend to offer a more laid-back and quieter experience over the colder months and the costs will be much lower.
For those that enjoy walking breaks in the countryside or woods it can lend a real beauty to the landscape and offers a unique experience.
Always get a hook-up
Even if there’s a small fee, always book an electric hook-up if you can and make good use of it. Ensure that your charging system is set to charge your leisure battery (it’s easy to catch the on/off switch on older models) and also recharge your battery banks, laptops and e-bikes.
Equally, rather than spending money on using your inbuilt gas or diesel heater, invest in a small low-powered fan heater (best sourced from a camping shop, because domestic ones are too powerful and can trip the campsite circuit breakers).
If you have an electric kettle (low-powered from a camping shop, not a domestic one) then use that for making a cuppa and also use the electric ring on your hob if you have one. If you don’t have an electric hob then it’s well worth investing in a campervan induction hob, but check that you have compatible cookware.
With high-power devices such as kettles, toasters, coffee machines, electric hobs, hairdryers and heaters, make sure you only use one of them at a time. Using several together will overload the available power from a campsite hook-up and may well cause it to trip out – a motorhoming mistake to avoid!
Try France instead of the South West
In peak season, especially the summer holidays, the prices of campsites can skyrocket – we’ve seen fees top £100 per night at some of the poshest Cornwall campsites!
Even taking into account the cost of the ferry crossing and fuel, the price of pitch fees in France can be far less. But the real savings can be made by staying on aires (which are basic parking areas on the edge of many French towns – you should avoid staying on motorway aires). Why spend £80 to stay on a fancy campsite in Cornwall, when you can spend less than a tenner in France? Over a two-week break that can equate to a saving of £1260!
Yes, there are a lot more family friendly activities on a modern British family campsite, but most families would be more than happy to mess about on the beach (and beaches are free!). Fuel and food costs in France are pretty similar to those in the UK, but it’s the accommodation costs that save you the most – it’s also easy to find free places to stay if your vehicle is equipped for wild camping.
After ideas for where to pitch up? Then take a look at our pick of the best campervan sites in France.
Cook in your motorhome
This one involves some planning, of course, but if you do a meal plan and shop at discount stores such as Lidl and Aldi before your holiday you can make pretty substantial savings on eating out costs.
Due to minimum wage raises, fuel and electricity costs, eating out is far more expensive than it used to be, so cooking in your motorhome is an obvious thing to do, whether it’s by using your motorhome’s cooker, or gadgets such as the best air fryer for a motorhome. But make sure you do use the on-site facilities at least once when you’re on site. Use it or lose it!
Equally, if you are staying at something like one of our Nightstops or using a France Passion location then it is courteous to have at least one meal with your hosts.
Pick accessories with care
If you go to a motorhome show, try and resist the urge to buy every gadget you see. You always see showgoers walking around with armfuls of new toys. Many will simply get dumped in a cupboard and forgotten about. That’s a waste of the purchase price and extra weight to fuel around the country.
Always look at purchases like this: how many campsite stays would that get me, and would I have more fun spending the money on other things such as fuel and site fees?
Verdict
Hopefully at least one or more of these tips will strike a chord with you and help you reduce the cost of your next holiday. If you only ever go to the same campsites each year and holiday in the same way, why not consider a change to see how the cost might vary? You might be surprised and delighted.
For those who like getting around on tour on two wheels, don’t miss what I had to say about motorhome bike racks, too.
Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Motorhome, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. Double check any warranty is not affected before proceeding.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not get the latest news, reviews and features delivered direct to your door or inbox every month. Take advantage of our brilliant Practical Motorhome magazine SUBSCRIBERS’ OFFER and SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER for regular weekly updates on all things motorhome related.
Leave a Reply