Buying your first (or next) Motorhome or Campervan

There is no strict definition of the differences between a Motorhome and a Campervan (but see the Terminology page for a discussion about what the differences can be), so I shall use the terms (plus "van" and "MoHo") interchangeably here, as the differences are largely irrelevant to the information below.

This information is UK-based, although much of the advice may be similar worldwide.

Aren't they all roughly the same?

The question about how to choose a Motorhome or Campervan is a common one in various online forums and social media groups, and there's no simple answer. This article was written because I kept passing on the same information to people in various places, so decided to tidy it up and gather it together in a more easily digestible form.

First, the bad news:

There is no such thing as the perfect Motorhome. It would be great to have a TARDIS-like compact vehicle with all round visibility that drives like a car and can be parked in any normal parking space, but which is much bigger on the inside to provide all the accommodation space and storage that you need, all within a total weight limit of 3500kg so that anyone can drive it. Or some kind of Transformer. And all within your budget. Sadly, such a thing is not possible. So you need to work out what type of vehicle will suit you best.

Bear in mind that some people may have passionate views on the "best" brand / size / layout, but they are what's best for them, not necessarily what's best for you. Their insights and opinions are valuable in shaping your own views, but should not be taken as gospel. I have my own preferences too, of course, but the information here is intended to help you find your own.

You WILL have to compromise. The trick is to find the right compromises for you.

Avoiding an expensive mistake

For many, buying a Campervan or Motorhome can be one of the most expensive purchases they make (other than buying a home). There are sadly many tales of people who regret an expensive mistake, or simply get something unsuitable that they have to then sell, because they didn't do a bit of research before buying. So if you're considering buying your first motorhome, or just considering a change of layout, here are some tips to help you to avoid making a mistake.

What do you want it for?

It sounds like a crazy question, but many people get caught up in some romantic idea of the freedom that a Campervan or Motorhome can give them, but don't stop to think about what they will actually do with it once they have one. However, to get the best from yours, it's worth thinking through what's important to you. After all, you're going to be using a relatively small space for travelling and living - maybe on your own, maybe with one other, maybe with a family and / or pets.

To refine your ideas, think carefully about how you will use your MoHo. Many people do not choose the best layout and vehicle size for their first one, so my advice is not to spend a lot of money (whatever your budget) until you have some experience of what's important to you.

By the way, in some online forums and social media groups, you may find people being judgemental about using a MoHo to stay on campsites when you have a vehicle that's perfectly capable of being self-sufficient - but it’s your choice, nobody else’s. We do both: we like having access to all the amenities of a good site for holidays and the convenience of being able to camp off-grid in our MoHo when we use it as a home-from-home for weekend or longer events that we go to. We've even driven it daily to a non-camping local music festival less than 2 miles from home, just to be able to have somewhere comfortable to sit quietly for a while or make a cup of tea, or access the tools and camping equipment that we keep in it.

What's your budget?

You will almost certainly be able to find something to suit you whatever your budget. We paid £2900 for our first ever Campervan, which was a high top Panel Van Conversion. It was 16 years old at the time, and pretty basic, but it worked really well for our needs, and in the three years that we owned it, it served as a valuable learning tool for our next one.

A brand new motorhome can cost many tens of thousands of pounds (or even hundreds of thousands for something really flash). And, of course, there is a huge range of prices and ages in between the extremes.

Running costs

Don't forget that you'll have the ongoing costs of using and maintaining your Motorhome once you have it.

Apart from annual Road Tax, MOT and Insurance, you also need to buy fuel to run it on. Motorhomes are typically heavy, and not well streamlined, so you'll get a lot less mpg from it than from a car.

Consider your lifestyle and priorities

Think very carefully about how you plan to use it. This will have a big impact on what size, layout and type of conversion will suit you. Take others' suggestions into account, but ultimately, recognise that they're probably recommending what suits them.

If you plan to spend the days outdoors in all weathers (walking, surfing, cycling, etc.) you're likely to have different priorities from somebody who wants to spend at least some of the time enjoying the immediate surroundings from the comfort of a sofa by a nice big window with a good book, and different again from somebody with a family to keep entertained.

Do you need space for your pets? Where do you plan to use it? What you need in terms of on board facilities depends to some extent on how much time you plan to spend at campsites with full amenities, vs a space in a field at a festival, or one of the many overnight stops, or the smaller (CL - Certified Location) sites. A CL could be anything from literally just a field or space to park in, to a miniature full site including electric hook-up, fresh water supply, grey water disposal, black (toilet) waste disposal, shower blocks, etc. - or a whole range in between.

Do you want an on-board toilet (even if only to save having to go outside on a cold dark night)? And if yes, will you be able to use it at night, with the beds made up? What about a shower?

What cooking and food preparation facilities will you need? Most vans will have a gas hob, a sink, and some form of fridge or powered coolbox, but not all will have an oven or even a grill. More modern ones may have a microwave, but you'll normally only be able to use it when on hookup. There are ways to supplement the onboard facilities, especially on a site with EHU (Electical Hook Up), but even then you'll still have to find somewhere to store, carry and power them.

Be prepared to reassess your "must haves" as you do more research and discover more about what is and isn't possible within your budget.

Left or Right hand drive?

If you plan to use your MoHo primarily in the UK, then you'll probably want a Right Hand Drive vehicle (although the high driving position can make a LHD less of an issue than it might be for a car). It will still affect the layout of the vehicle though, which may have an impact on general visibility from the driver's seat.

If you primarily want to use it abroad, then you might prefer to have a Left Hand Drive vehicle. Note that many European manufacturers tend to offer less in the way of kitchen equipment. It's much rarer to find an oven or a large fridge in a European Motorhome than in a British built one. A Left Hand Drive vehicle will also usually record distances in km rather than miles (on the "clock"), and have a speedo in kph rather than mph - although usually a digital speedo will have a way to switch modes, and you can get overlays for speedo dials if they don't already have both units.

How many people will use it regularly?

Many people are surprised to find that the number of berths that a Motorhome has does not necessarily correspond to the number of seat belts that it has - in fact, it very often doesn't. And it is the number of seat belts which determines how many people can travel in it. (There are some very specific exceptions to the requirement to use seat belts for older vehicles, but let's face it: do you want to put lives at risk in an accident?)

Make sure you have enough forward facing seats and 3-point seat belts, or at least lap belts, for the number of people who will travel in it regularly. But also think about where those belted seats are. If they're not close to the cab seats, you'll have trouble communicating with the other passengers when you're driving, which is especially problematic if your passengers are children.

Please don't ever buy a Motorhome assuming that you'll be able to retrofit seat belts. While it won't necessarily be completely impossible, any seat belts must pass an MOT. To do that, they have to be attached to structural pillars in the vehicle chassis, and there's a very good chance that if a vehicle doesn't already have belts fitted to a seat, it's probably because there is nothing structural there to fix them to. Adding the necessary structural rigidity is unlikely to be a small job, and it will certainly have an impact on your payload. Many older (and therefore cheaper) Motorhomes only have lapbelts in the rear seats. Again, do not assume that these can be upgraded to 3 point seat belts. For the reasons given above, they probably can't.

Buy for your regular use. If you mostly travel solo or as a couple, but may occasionally take guests with you (e.g. friends or grandchildren), the thing that matters most is the number of seat belts you have - you can add an awning or trailer or tent for infrequently needed extra space.

However, don't forget that for those occasional trips, another way to add extra belted seats is by taking a car too (and you get the bonus of an easier way to get around locally once you arrive at your destination). Motorhomes are typically not the most fuel-efficient of vehicles, and the larger they get, the lower the mpg is likely to be. It may actually be cheaper to also take a car occasionally than to drive a large Motorhome that uses more fuel all the time. And a smaller Motorhome will be able to get to more places than something that's larger than you really need most of the time.

What else might you want to use it for?

Might you sometimes (or always) want to use your Motorhome for carrying or towing hobby equipment (canoes, bicycles, motorbikes, etc.)? If so, a roof rack, rear rack or towbar may be a useful thing to have

Does it need to be an everyday vehicle with enough seats to use regularly for your daily commute, or to do a school run with your own children and their friends? if so, you probably need to consider a "Day van" with more belted seats and less space dedicated to habitation equipment.

Might you sometimes want to use it to collect large items of flat packed furniture, or other large items from a DIY store? If so, something with a rear door that you can use to access the interior space without having to negotiate tight corners inside will make it possible to load large items; that will be much more useful than something that only has a small habitation door in the side that will restrict the side of things that you can get into it (even though the interior might be plenty big enough to carry them if you could only get them inside).

Weight matters - who can drive it?

Many people don't consider the legal implications of who can drive their Motorhome. This applies most to the larger vehicles, which may either require a C1 driving licence category that not everybody has, or may have their total weight allowance artificially lowered to 3500kg so that everybody can drive it, but which means that the weight of Motorhome and its fixtures and fittings leave very little spare weight (payload) for the amount of people and their belongings that you can legally carry in it.

The living accommodation built into all but the most minimal of day vans makes them heavy, even before you add people and their belongings. Most people's driving licences allows them to drive vehicles up to 3500kg fully laden. The DVLA has a licence checker (you'll need your licence number, post code and NI number) where you can see what you're legally allowed to drive.

Unless your licence was issued before 1997, you won't have the necessary C1 entitlement on your driving licence that allows you to drive a heavier vehicle, so even if the vehicle is inherently capable of carrying more weight, many are plated (licenced) at a maximum of 3500kg to allow anyone to drive them. Your insurance will be invalid (except for 3rd party cover) if a MoHo plated at 3500kg weighs over 3500kg when you're driving it. For many larger vehicles, that will severely restrict how many people and how much stuff you can carry. It may mean that you could only have 500-600kg spare for you, your passengers and everything you want to take away with you, which may not be enough for your needs.

See also: Terminology - MAM / MPTLM / GTW for more details about the law regarding the weight of your fully loaded vehicle and who can drive it.

It goes without saying that you must comply with the law when driving any vehicle.

Size and layout matters

Size

For maximum versatility, I recommend that you keep it as small as you can be comfortable in. It's tempting to go for a huge all-singing, all-dancing beast of a vehicle, and some people will tell you that they've always had a large Motorhome and think nothing of it. However, the smaller it is, the more places you'll be able to take it. It'll also weigh less, which means you probably won't need to worry about exceeding its legal weight. And don't forget that if you plan to keep it at home, it must fit in the space you have available! Our current one couldn't be 5cm longer, or it wouldn't fit on the drive. It took me 2 years to find the layout I wanted in a chassis that would fit at a price we could afford (but we already had our previous MoHo to use while we were looking).

Layout

There are a number of different basic layouts, often described in shorthand by what's at the rear of the vehicle, e.g. End Kitchen, End Lounge, End Washroom, End Bedroom. And with fixed bed layouts, you can get twin beds, bunk beds, island beds, French beds (in a corner, with the opposite corner at the foot end missing), and the bed(s) may be orientated along either the length or the width of the vehicle: with a transverse bed, you'll sleep with your head at one side of the vehicle, and your feet at the other, rather than at the rear or front.

There are many variations within those basic styles too. Each has their own pros and cons, and you need to decide what's important to you ... remembering that there will always be compromises to be made.

Fixed bed

Some people wouldn't be without the simplicity at night of a fixed bed - double or twin - which is usually at the rear of the vehicle and has storage space beneath accessible from the outside (a "garage"). However, a fixed bed is mostly dead space during the day, which means that the vehicle must be large enough to house a bed (or several), plus separate lounging and dining space and washroom. And if you don't have a lot of outdoor / activity gear, having a garage may not be particularly useful to you. On the other hand, if your MoHo is simply a place to sleep after a day's cycling, kayaking or rock climbing, it can be perfect.

Convertible bed / lounge / dining area

You may want something small enough to take anywhere - and of course, this is especially important if you plan to use it for daily commuting or even just occasionally as a second car (which we did with our first two, until my family circumstances changed and made that impractical). So you may be happy to live with the relative inconvenience of changing the layout from day to night, and with more limited facilities in exchange for ease of driving and parking. There are many Campervans (particularly pop-top designs) which are based on people carriers or vehicles like a Citroen Berlingo van which can go anywhere a car could go, but they will typically have less in the way of storage space and facilities such as a shower.

Drop down bed

One way to have a "proper" bed that doesn't permanently take up room is to raise it above head height during the day, and can typically be put away during the day with all the bedding in place. Drop down beds are usually above the cab area but I have seen vehicles with a drop down bed over a rear lounge. Designs vary, but it's unusual for them to drop low enough to be able to get in and out of without using a ladder, so you need to be sure that you're happy doing that in the middle of the night when you're half asleep, and that the ladder is safe and comfortable to use in bare feet.

You also need to be confident that the mechanism for raising and lowering the bed (whether manual or electric) is robust. You don't want to be stuck unable to get access to the bed to sleep at night, or to be unable to put it away so that you can get into the driving seat if it's at the cab end.

Habitation and other door(s)

The sliding side door of a panel van conversion may be something you love or loathe. It will certainly affect what's possible in terms of layout - and they're usually quite noisy to open and close, so sneaking in or out in the night without disturbing anyone inside may be a challenge. They also restrict the amount of overhead lockers you can have, because they take up a sizeable portion of the side of the van.

You may want a split habitation door (a.k.a. stable door) so that you can keep the bottom half closed, but open up the top half, particularly if you want to keep a dog or small child from going outside. Note that these are more common in older coachbuilt and A-class designs, but their popularity in newer models is declining.

Do you need to be able to use it for other things such as transporting large items)? If so, a panel van conversion with opening rear doors and a central rear corridor will make it easy to load large items into it. Or will it be your only vehicle, or act as a second "car"? If so, you'll probably need something small-ish, and the number of belted seats may need to be higher for day to day use than it would be just for the number of people who would go away in it.

Washroom / loo

Do you want a washroom where you can get clean (with or without a shower) and / or use the loo in privacy?

Kitchen area

Will you be happy with just a small hob? A hob and a grill? Or do you want a hob, grill and oven?

Do you want a large fridge and/or freezer? Or an under-counter fridge with a small freezer compartment? Or a battery operated cool box style fridge?

In more modern Motorhomes, microwaves are more common, but they're heavy, and (unless you beef up your leisure battery capacity, and probably also add solar panels and an inverter) you'll only be able to use them on sites with electric hookup.

Size (again!)

A relatively small change in size and/or a change in layout can make a surprisingly big difference. Our first 3 were all variations of a rear kitchen layout (often - but not always - seen as EK (End Kitchen) in model names or descriptions) and less than 5.5m long. Despite having a washroom (toilet, washbasin and shower) in the rear corner on the driver's side, they had large windows, so all round visibility for driving was remarkably car-like, with few blind spots. For reference, large estate cars and people carriers are usually less than 5m long.

Our last change of Motorhome was from a rear kitchen Autosleeper Talisman 5.45m long to a rear lounge Autosleeper Legend 6.3m long.

The rear lounge layout suits us very well internally. It's much easier to switch from day mode to night mode, and in general, the internal layout of the Legend is great for our use. But two things are very noticeable compared with the Talisman:

1. That extra 0.85m makes a BIG difference to where we can park. The Talisman could just about squeeze into most car parking spaces as long as we picked spaces where we had enough width to open the doors. At 6.3m, the Legend usually needs two.

2. The layout makes a surprisingly big difference to visibility for driving and manoeuvring. Unexpectedly, despite the large rear lounge windows which you might expect to give good visibility, it's not the washroom immediately behind the driver's seat that makes the biggest difference; it's the height of the kitchen units on the passenger side that impedes visibility most over the driver's left shoulder, as the window over them is too high to be able to see traffic or obstacles on the nearside through it.

Of course, many people who have only ever owned a 7m+ Motorhome with reversing cameras don't think they're big. It's all a matter of what you're used to, and what you need. Another consideration if you're planning to go abroad regularly in yours is that it's not unusual for 6m to be the cutoff point for higher ferry prices.

Practicalities - how to home in on what's right for you

Once you've listed your ideas about what you're looking for, go to as many shows and dealerships as you can. Have a good look around lots of MoHos - including ones that you would never consider buying, whatever the price. (A tip, especially for those on a modest budget is that if you look at ones you can't possibly afford, it's easy to use that as a way to deflect pushy salesman. "This is out of my price range, but I'm just looking at different ideas at the moment".) Look at everything they have. Bear in mind that even those with layouts you know you don't want may spark ideas - and at least you'll be able to eliminate the ones to avoid as you narrow down your choices.

Take pictures and make notes about what you see as you go. It's easy to forget what you liked and what you didn't. You'll start to get a feel for which brands are solidly made, and which are flimsy. (I can't tell you the number of brand new Motorhomes we've viewed at shows where the cabinet doors are misaligned, or something is broken, which doesn't bode well for the quality of their construction and their long term prospects, or for what you can expect from an older second-hand Motorhome of the same brand.)

Imagine using it during the day with everybody who will normally be in it. Can you use the kitchen and washroom (if it has one) at the same time? If not, does it matter? Can you both/all sit comfortably to eat? To relax? (Or will you be always be outdoors in all weathers so it doesn't matter?)

Take the time to convert it to sleeping mode. Is it easy to do? If not, is the trade-off between everything else and a bit of a faff (that you'll get used to as you get more proficient) worth its other advantages? If it has a drop-down bed, can you get in and out of it easily, half-asleep, when you need to get up to answer nature's call in the night? And can you do it without disturbing anyone sleeping below? Are the beds comfortable? (Replacing the mattress or using a memory foam or inflatable mattress topper can make all the difference, so if not, that's not insurmountable, as long as they're big enough for you.) Do you want to / can you use the loo at night without disturbing anyone else?

Think about where you would keep your cooking equipment and crockery. Food and drink. Bedding. Clothing. Boots (clean or dirty). Sports / recreational equipment, bikes/scooters, if you want to use them.

Where would you dry / store wet gear after a day out? (Hint, it doesn't have to be inside; we have an incredibly lightweight pop-up toilet tent, AKA "the shed" that we use to store anything we don't want to take with us on a day out, or anything wet or muddy. And for quick drying off, a rail in the washroom can be a good space ... at least until you need to use the loo or shower.)

Sit in the driving seat. Look at the visibility as you imagine reversing it into tight spaces, or just changing lanes on the Motorway.

Try before you buy

Now that you've narrowed down a price range and what size and/or layout(s) would work for you, what next?

Whatever your budget, I would strongly advise against buying a new one before you've ever used a Motorhome. However much you think it through, and whatever the size of your budget, try before you buy to avoid an expensive mistake. If you buy new, at the very least, you will lose the VAT charged on new vehicles, and the cost of the depreciation that every vehicle suffers the minute you drive it off the forecourt. And even a vehicle that's only a year or two old will still depreciate faster than an older one.

There are two ways to try before you buy:

1. Buy something cheap and cheerful (i.e. old), embrace being retro, and use it as a learning exercise.

2. Hire something in a similar layout to the one you think will suit you. And maybe hire more than one in different sizes and layouts for comparison.

You may have done your research well, and this hire or cheap purchase will confirm your choice of size and layout, but equally, you may realise that some things you thought were important to you aren't, but others that you didn't expect to matter turn out to be much more important than you thought.

If you buy something old and get it wrong, you'll be able to sell it on, perhaps after a year or so, for around the same as you paid for it, and make a wiser, more informed choice next time around - and you'll still have had fun using it in the meantime. We actually sold our second one for MORE than we paid for it, and our third one depreciated a mere £200 per year over 9 years. You won't get that with a new(ish) one.

If you buy something old and get it right, you can either keep it and continue to enjoy using it, accepting that the upkeep and repairs to it will probably cost more than for a newer one, or trade up to a newer, shinier similar model. However, another thing to bear in mind is that an older Motorhome is likely to have less complicated equipment, which may be potentially easier to repair yourself. But don't ever mess with the gas supply unless you're qualified to do so.

Obviously, if you hire, all you've lost is the price of the hire, and you've gained a lot of valuable information in the process, although not some of the experience of longer term ownership and ongoing maintenance.

Finding "the one"

Whether you buy privately or from a dealer will depend to some extent on your budget, and your personal preference. The higher the price and the newer the MoHo, the more a dealer can reasonably add to the price to cover the cost of any warranty issues. There comes a point in the lower end of the budget where the amount they would need to add is too high in proportion to the value of the vehicle to make it viable to sell with a warranty.

If you buy privately, you're taking a bigger risk, but can get better value for money as long as you use some common sense and/or get it independently checked (both mechanically, and the habitation equipment). There are a few dealers who specialise in the budget end of the market, but most mainstream dealers won't stock anything worth below about £20,000.

When you've narrowed your choices down and start looking at MoHos that you're actually considering buying, do all the above again. Open and close ALL the windows, vents and doors. Buy and take a damp meter and use it (especially in older coachbuilt models with seams at the corners). Ask to see everything working, from all the taps, shower and loo to the hob/grill/oven, lights and heating.

If you're looking at older vans, check for damp. Walk away from anything that smells musty or feels spongy unless you have the time, skills and resources for the worst case possibility of a potential total strip down and rebuild. Panel vans are less likely to have damp problems (but there's still potential for problems due to rust, leaks around windows, holes drilled into the bodywork to attach things that weren't sealed properly, etc.) The older style Autosleeper fibreglass monocoques are also less prone to damp problems than many Coachbuilt models which have joins at the weak spots (i.e. the corners) because the fibreglass monocoque is all one piece.

It's also a vehicle, so make all the same checks that you would if you were buying a car. Ask to see the service history, and check underneath for obvious signs of rust and other problems.

And drive it. Don't even think about buying something you've never driven. (If a private seller is worried about insurance, there are companies now who will do short term insurance.) Ask to drive it on a dual carriageway and change lanes both ways. If you're going to share the driving with your partner or anyone else, make sure you both/all drive it. Ask to go to a car park (preferably a relatively quiet one), and manoeuvre it in and out of parking spaces to see how easily you can see all around you.

There are some really useful websites and apps which allow you to easily check details about any British second-hand vehicle just from their registration number, including a 10 year MOT history, which will detail failure reasons and advisories. Two that I've used are

• Know your car: https://know-yourcar.co.uk

• Vehicle Smart: https://www.vehiclesmart.com

These retrieve information from freely available published sources, but they make it easier to access by gathering it together in one place. And if you install the app on your phone and save your vehicle details in it, they will also remind you when your Tax, MOT & insurance are due.

Beware of Scams

Never part with any money, not even a deposit, without seeing the vehicle first. Sadly, there have always been scams, and with lockdown restrictions in 2020 and beyond making motorhomes more popular, no doubt these will increase. Don't fall for "I've had a lot of interest, but I can secure it for you for a small deposit". It is sadly too common for people to travel long distances to view a vehicle that never actually existed in the first place (or at least was never in the possession of the supposed seller).

If you're buying privately, check that the address where you view it is the address on the registration document. Don't fall for "my dad died, and my mum asked me to sell if for her" - it may be true, but it may also be a story to cover the fact that the seller doesn't really know anything about it.

If you're buying from a dealer, check their online reviews. And if a "dealer" is somebody who has a single Campervan or Motorhome in a yard full of other vehicles, or is housed in a dodgy looking barn on a farm, don't expect them to know anything much about the habitation part of the vehicle and be especially wary.

Do everything you can to protect yourself against buying a stolen vehicle. Be suspicious if the seller doesn't appear to know how things work, or anything about the vehicle's history. Remember that con artists are very good at what they do.

If you're in any doubt, or anything just doesn't feel quite right, walk away.

Have fun!

Above all, have fun deciding what's right for you, and using it once you do!

Related articles

• Getting to know your Motorhome and your needs

• What else do I need?

• Adjustments for living with limited resources

• Terminology

• Motorhomes we have owned