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Should we get a camper van (as a family with one 7 year old)?

18 replies

DelphineDuck · 14/11/2025 19:26

We are 2 adults one DC age 7

Very outdoorsy.

Thinking of getting a campervan.

Please talk to me about the pros and cons I may not have thought of.

Thanks

OP posts:
ohtowinthelottery · 14/11/2025 19:28

My best advice would be to hire one first and see how you get on.

tanstaafl · 14/11/2025 19:30

Do you mean campervan or motorhome?
( I know you said campervan but just wanted to clarify )

DelphineDuck · 14/11/2025 19:31

Yes definitely mean a camper van not a motor home

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

GooseyGandalf · 14/11/2025 19:34

Hire one first. You’ll learn a lot more by taking it away first a weekend than you can learn on a thread like this. And it’s very much a love or hate thing.

Thegreatbigzebraintheroom · 14/11/2025 19:35

We hired one first a top of the range one and we went to Lyme Regis and got great sites with hook on electricity and we went in September. We gave ourselves the best possible chance to love it. And we did.

Things we did - flip flops for loos in morning, decent campsite with a decent pub not too fair, lots of towels, hot water bottles, fluffy socks and chocolate.

lots of tea and long life milk and hot chocolate

stir in hot water pasta meals for evenings when you can’t be arsed to go any where

decent lunch out in a pub eg fish and chips and then snacks and light evening meal

fluffy blankets

good shades for windows so you can get changed lots of battery packs although we turned phones off
a decent dry robe 🤣

zip bags inside more zip bags - everyone has a different colour

uno
snake and ladders
board games
torches (head) and a decent lamp for the van
jumpers and sunnies

always have emergency cake

the most important thing is remember you can come home, for me I’ve got a 6 ft gentle giant hot water bottle and a kid that loves sleeping up like a bat 🦇 hanging over in the morning

is you can get decent pillows, sheets and duvet and get a mattress topper ….. if you sleep well 😴 you will have a good day

we planned day trips. Works up did tea and porridge and wee and shower and then on the road. For your first time do two nights in each place.

We at the age of 50 loved it and won’t go back to hotel now!!

StruggleFlourish · 14/11/2025 19:35

We got a (used, 15 yrs old at the time) campervan 25 yrs ago. Kids in the family in their mid teens to mid 20s.
We customized it quite a bit over the years (taking out some things, adding others that fit our needs better) and it's been used WAY more than ever expected!!

Insurance cost is low, but repairs can be tricky (larger vehicle and old now so not all garages can accommodate on hoist/find parts).

It's brought us more joy and freedom than I could have ever imagined.
We are fortunate to be able to park it our own driveway (buying parking/storage space year round would not be ideal).

I should say that we rented a similarly sized camper van for a week, twice, before making the decision to purchase. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of "let's get one of these" and then forget that there's a good chance it's going to be unused 50 weeks of the year.

Dragonsfrontooth · 14/11/2025 19:37

Does your dc plan to play a team sport - so like football or rugby. It means at least one day every weekend get booked so limits what you can do. We have 10+ years of this.

tanstaafl · 14/11/2025 19:44

ohtowinthelottery · 14/11/2025 19:28

My best advice would be to hire one first and see how you get on.

This.

if you’re interested , in February, I think around the 20th, there’s a big campervan , motorhome show at the NEC ( and a bigger one in October )

DelphineDuck · 14/11/2025 19:48

We have private parking so no issue there

We do a lot of outdoors stuff each weekend eg mountain biking, trail running, lake or sea swimming so anticipating using it for those activities as well as weekends away

OP posts:
Somersetbaker · 14/11/2025 19:50

No! boiling hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, uncomfortable, Crap conversions that leak, massively overpriced for what they are. Plus you need a car as well unless you fancy driving it everyday.

welshweasel · 14/11/2025 19:50

100% yes. They are amazing. Both for trips away but also for the rugby sideline, day trips to the beach etc.

ViciousCurrentBun · 14/11/2025 19:55

Depends if you agree with how much comfort you both want. We have a motorhome, been away 7 weeks so far. It rained very heavily for around 5 of those days. Fine as big enough, now imagine being in that van as a 3 in that weather.

StruggleFlourish · 14/11/2025 20:15

DelphineDuck · 14/11/2025 19:48

We have private parking so no issue there

We do a lot of outdoors stuff each weekend eg mountain biking, trail running, lake or sea swimming so anticipating using it for those activities as well as weekends away

I will warn you that most people who buy a camper van (or recreational vehicle / RV... We call ours "the RV") definitely anticipate using it more than most people do especially if you take into consideration a 5 or 10-year period (in our case it's literally been 25 years which is probably unusual to not only have it for that amount of time and maintain it and insure it and drive it but to drive it and use it a lot!)

I can't speak to the quality of the newer ones or give any advice as to brand or anything like that but I have heard that newer ones are exceptionally expensive and not always the best quality, but then again you can run into a 'lemon' no matter what you're buying.

And it also depends on the size, some of them are ridiculously large and difficult to park and difficult to drive and maneuver, and other ones like ours, fits into a regular sized parking space (but sleeps four).

Some of them come with all different types of amenities. Ours originally came with a hot water heater but we took that out for the extra closet space. Ours came with a shower as well, integrated into the bathroom, but we didn't need that. So we took it out. Ours originally came with a microwave but you have to be attached to electrical for that, which more times than not we were not. So we took that out too. Ours has a four burner gas / propane stove top which is extremely handy. It also came with an oven which to be honest, we didn't use. I mean, we're not exactly cooking a turkey or baking a cake are we? We use the oven for storage.

We felt that in these modern days we needed more usb/electrical plugins, so they were added. But we also added an extra battery (under the bench seats) as well as solar panels to the roof. Modern LED lighting takes exceptionally a small amount of power and makes very little heat so it does a fantastic job as opposed to regular incandescent bulbs (that this came with originally).

Our model did not come with an air conditioner, although others do. Yes it can get bloody hot and humid in the summertime, we've camped in temperatures that had a real feel of more than 40° Celsius. I have to admit, I do not love that. Even with all the windows open, with screens so you don't get the bugs, too hot is extremely unpleasant.

I've never had a problem with winter camping even though we've been out in temperatures lower than -20, we do have a heater and we find it to be most sufficient, but even a small electrical plug in one should be fine (it's easier to stay warm than it is to stay cool, you can always put on more clothes but you can't take off more)

We are fortunate that some of our bicycles can be carefully brought inside the side door, the rest can be mounted on a bike rack over the spare tire at the rear.
We have found that we have saved so much money in the accessibility of being able to stop and stay where we like (dedicated camper parks are wonderful, but even parking lots will do although there is a learning curve to this...) and bring our own food (our model has a small fridge with a tiny freezer). Yes, you will pay more for petrol compared to any other vehicle you've ever driven before, but, taking in mind that you're not paying for hotels or restaurants or snacks, there's spending money and they're saving money....

Hope this helps!

ohtowinthelottery · 14/11/2025 20:35

Somersetbaker · 14/11/2025 19:50

No! boiling hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, uncomfortable, Crap conversions that leak, massively overpriced for what they are. Plus you need a car as well unless you fancy driving it everyday.

@SomersetbakerWhat's wrong with driving it every day? The dimensions of a VW T6 aren't much different to some of the larger family cars.

DelphineDuck · 14/11/2025 20:57

We won’t necessarily need a second car.

Neither DH or I drive to work (I WFH, DH cycles/takes train).

We walk the school run.

So often our current car is only used at weekends, and even then often not very much.

OP posts:
vincettenoir · 14/11/2025 21:02

I know young families who have one and love it. If you are a confident driver and you can afford it I think you should go for it.

Inspiremeaholiday · 14/11/2025 21:04

I can’t recommend it enough.
We use ours year round, you just need to know how your van needs to be insulated and get a heater. We get loads of use out of it. But it’s not our first van, and anything in the van has earned its place so we don’t have excess stuff around.

museumum · 14/11/2025 21:04

We love ours. I think I if you tent camp or did pre kids then you’ll be fine with the comfort level (it’s more comfortable easier and warmer than a tent). You probably need to use it for your main summer holiday to make it worth the cost. Plus some weekends. And ours is used a lot as a day van for mountain biking and paddle boarding (mobile changing room, hot drinks etc). we got ours in 2013, they’ve gone up a LOT since then. We probably wouldn’t buy one now. Ds (12) has grown up in ours and will literally be heartbroken when it reaches the end of life.

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