If you are planning a campervan holiday by renting a campervan you need to be aware of the additional costs. Some costs are obvious if you are also hiring additional camping gear, road bikes or child seats for example these will normally be at an additional price. If you are renting off a campervan hire company, they will have self drive van hire insurance fleet policy. This self hire insurance provides insurance cover to those that they rent their motorhomes out to.

If you are renting from an individual, it is unlikely that they will have self drive hire insurance, so you need to check and proceed with caution before proceeding with any rental agreement. It may be the case that you will need to take out your own temporary motorhome insurance to cover the rental vehicle.

Assuming that the rental agent has the correct insurance, they will still hold you responsible for an excess amount. Similar to car hire excess, this is the amount that you would be held liable for in the event of a claim that was deemed to be your fault. This amount is high, ins some cases over £3,000.  This is an alarming amount, and the idea is that you feel forced to take out the additional daily insurance to reduce or waiver this large excess amount.  This will quickly add more to your rental than you first thought.  

The solution for many savvy campers is to prepurchase an excess insurance policy that will cover the excess amount prior to picking up your campervan rental. The downside if any is that you would still be billed for any damage, but you could then claim it back through your own excess policy. Solution.  

What to expect in a typical excess campervan insurance policy

Typical Exclusion with an excess campervan insurance policy