Decided to hire a camper via an agency that has campers ‘on it’s books’.
Contact hirer by email via agency site – ask lots of questions (all logged) – cost is ok, security deposit £500, both insured to drive it.
Pay non-refundable booking fee to agency – £53.
At this point get T&Cs from hirer direct – costs as agreed but buried within these is the fact that if there’s any damage then we cough up £1,000. I naively thought this is what the security deposit was. Nope.
Suddenly gone very cold on the idea – eg if some twunt whacks his car door into the side of the van and buggers off I potentially stand to lose £1,500 for a 4 day hire of a van. Awaiting a response regarding what will happen to our money in such a scenario.

Bit miffed this insurance was not alluded to and kept quiet until after we’d handed over money.
I’m sure it’s all legal and above board etc but feels sneaky and a bit underhand. Miffed and quite prepared to walk away from the booking fee as could be a very expensive hire 😥

look for separate collision/damage waiver insurance ?

You can get extra insurance to cover the excess ( or most of it) – sometimes from the hire co sometimes you have to get it yourself of the interwebbythingy

Absolutely standard with all vehicle hire to have a large excess that you need an excess damage waiver insurance for

Thats what puts me off renting one.
It would be cheaper to buy something and sell it on later in the year.

It would be cheaper to buy something and sell it on later in the year.

Only if you have enough in the spare change pot.
Excess insurance is available for exactly this reason and the terms are standard on most if not all hire vehicles.

look for separate collision/damage waiver insurance ?

Always a good idea to get separate excess insurance as a large excess is standard on almost every hire. Problem is most excess insurance doesn’t cover camper vans so you’ll have to search carefully

With car hire this seems to be standard “con”. But as you say all legally done

So at Inverness airport they suddenly sprung on me that I might want more insurance to cover the large excess. They started with a £35 a day package. In the end I bought something for a few quid online to cover the excess

But as Nick says it will be harder with a camper….

Its not a “con”. Its standard practice with vehicle hire.

https://www.worldwideinsure.com/motorhome-hire-excess-insurance.php?gclid=CLays5eU4tICFY0A0wodJFgFpw

http://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/compare-cheap-motorhome-hire-insurance

https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/motor-home-hire-insurance.aspx

It’s shady pricing tactics, but sadly is now so standard practice that I don’t even care anymore. I’m sure the hire companies make a massive % of profit on after sales of excess waiver insurance. They certainly bury the excess in the T&Cs when booking online, bug then make a massive song and dance about it when you pick up the keys.

I have independent excess waiver insurance for rental cars, but doubt it covers a camper. Look on moneysavingexpert.com for a list of providers and then check individually if they cover camper vans.

The £18,000 excess on the rental I just collected was quite a surprise.

Not sure why you didn’t go direct to the rental company, what’s to be gained by ‘choosing’ (as you phrased it) to go via an agency?

Not sure why you didn’t go direct to the rental company, what’s to be gained by ‘choosing’ (as you phrased it) to go via an agency?

I assumed the campers were owned by individuals. Am i wrong?

check mileage allowance and also charge for cleaning, and last vehicle i hired any damage however caused hire co would take 1000 quids off credit card until damage was paid for by whoever caused it, even if it wasnt my fault as a driver.

and last vehicle i hired any damage however caused hire co would take 1000 quids off credit card until damage was paid for by whoever caused it, even if it wasnt my fault as a driver.

another standard term and condition. If you have your 3rd party excess they will still bill your CC until the insurance pays up etc (you can avoid this to a point with a very low limit card that will over the rental + deposit only)

My brother worked for Hertz (or Avis, or similar) during his Uni summer hols and yes, they’re all on targets for selling their lower excess insurance as well as upgrades at the desk.

These massive excesses are the norm. We pay a 3rd party a little under £50 a year for my wife and I to hire:

any vehicle up to £100,000
for any 60 day period
for as many periods per year as we wish
anywhere in the EU (needed as her parents are in NI and we fly into Dublin)

It covers everything from road rage, locking yourself out, windscreens and even wrong fuel fills. It’s through wordwideinsure.com. We’re ex-pats. She’s Irish, I’m English. We both drive on Thai licences when in the UK.

I can’t see that campers (>£100k) would be excluded.

We would be responsible for the payment and then reimbursed by our insurance, but that’s why I only ever use a credit card with hire companies.

Just go Campers if you’re Midlands based!

I can’t see that campers (>£100k) would be excluded.

I’d have a read of your policy if you are considering renting a camper. They sell a separate policy just for campers at £12 a day so I’d be surprised if that was included in a £50 annual policy.

I would but having had great holidays with my parents in their lovely (triple-axle) camper as a mid-teen, the idea of a holiday with my boys aged 4 and 2 in the size I could afford fills me with fear!

A qucik skim of the policy explicitly includes commercial vehicles. I can’t see anything about campers.

Camperbug has private owners plus rental outfits on its site. The UK is split into counties so you click on the map on the ones you’d potentially like to hire from. At this point you don’t know if the van belongs to a family and hired out to bring in a few more readies when not being used, or it’s part of a hire business. It’s a handy way of seeing lots of vans easily – then you contact the ones you like and have email dialogue to discuss rates, availability, pick up/drop off times etc as they’ll all be different. Only when you’ve paid your booking fee to Camperbug do you then have direct contact with the hirer (not through Camperbug site). Only when you’ve been relieved of your booking fee to Camperbug are you made aware of this £1k which is in the specific T&Cs from the hirer.
Like I said, this may well be standard practice and not a ‘con’ as was referred to a few posts back, but annoying that it only came to light when I’d committed financially.
Obviously not very clued-up on these things but what is this excess waiver thingy a few of you have mentioned? Is it basically pay £X amount per day for insurance for the hire period (4 nights) so that the hirer claims off that insurer rather than pulling your pants down for a grand should the worst happen? Feel free to explain to a thickie 😳
TBH me and the wife are very apprehensive about hiring it now and are thinking ‘**** it’ and might B&B it somewhere instead! Bloody annoying as this is an ideal opportunity to ‘try before you buy’ as thinking of getting a T5 to make into a bed/bike van.

If you do decide to hire one when you pick it up , go over it with a fine tooth comb and make iany problems known by the hire company as they will go over it with a fine tooth comb when you bring it back (more so than rental car companies).

Take pictures and high definition video if you can of any defects, then you’ve got some evidence of condition, think of it like doing an inventory for a flat rental.

Yes it is the excess the thousand pounds

You can get additional insurance. This is the excess damage waiver. Which is either daily from the hire company or you can arrange your own via a company like I linked to above

If you do arrange your own and make a claim then you have to pay the excess and claim it back from your insurance

If the hire company arrange the extra insurance they claim direct but it’s usually much more expensive

I just hired a new posh Merc E-class (great car by the way, loved it) for 5 days away and the excess was also £1000 plus, but got talked into paying another £50 at the desk to reduce this to £100. Don’t hire stuff regularly but if I did I’d probably arrange my own like others have said.