Hiring a camper van to do Europe- anyone done it or got advice?

[topbannana]

Hi all,
Not too sure if this is in the right section but here goes anyway :)

Has anyone had any experience of the above? DH and I were talking over it a couple days ago and looked up a couple online, then in the Sunday Times travel section today I came across a bit about a company that hires VW campers in Southern France- a spooky coincidence :o

We would normally camp but my old car, while still very reliable is too old for conventional breakdown cover and the odds against us doing such a journey and returning back in one piece seem quite slim We fancy a jaunt into Italy after France (want to take DS to Rome) and then, depending on time possibly even further afield (I have no idea how long to plan for)

So is this do-able? We would of course have to fly out to an airport close to the pick-up point of the company we choose but apart from that we are completely open to suggestions and quite excited already

[andubelievedthat]

yup ,that is deffo do -able , lots do and lots of specific companies exist to cater for same , suggest > if hiring a Voltswagen camper , ensure its a modern one as the older air cooled ones are lets say !quirky"(my bloke has one ,air cooled)if you log onto a site called "the late bay" and put up a post re your requirements you will be swamped withadvice >its a camper owners website ,dudes from all over world chat on it and as i remember a guy in France is on site and has a couple for hire, costs nil to join and is very friendly,and sooooo very much experience for u to learn from,and if they cannot help(unlikely) i expect they will tell u who can,best wishes.and remember ,most european countries have diffo driving/vehicle laws to here ,best to bone up on same !>>>cos its your cash ,brothers and sisters !

[zumo]

If you ask here loads of people have done it
www.vwt4forum.co.uk/

[Wishihadabs]

Yes we have done this loads (in our own camper tho). The first trip we took was France, Spain and Morocco (took 6 weeks) for this it was actually cheaper to buy our own. No idea of your time scale but you might find the same. Also think about a Toyota Regis instead of a VW (horribly unreliable)

[topbannana]

We have toyed with the idea of buying one then selling it when we get back rather than hiring one. The thing that made me think twice was that I have seen places where I can hire one from £375 a week (this is obviously off-season) It costs us around the £300 mark in fuel to get to Southern France in our car plus the cost of the crossing.
Thanks for the websites, will do some ferretting :o