A motorhome is expensive fun – both to buy and to maintain. Not everyone can afford it and so for many camping enthusiasts, owning their own vehicle remains a distant prospect. But there are ways and means of making your dream come true and recouping the expenses incurred – “driving a motorhome for free”, so to speak. In this article, I explain how this can be done.
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How can you drive a motorhome “for free”?
The answer is actually quite simple: whenever you don’t use your motorhome yourself, you rent it out and refinance the running costs and/or the purchase price. “Actually”, because we know that there are a lot of questions and reservations about this topic.
You don’t rent out a woman, a Harley and a motorhome!
These and similar pithy sayings are often heard and read in this context. They arise from the often deep attachment campers have to their vehicles and their concern for their beloved second home. No one can understand this better than me – because as you probably know, I live with my wife and our dog entirely in the motorhome and just the thought that something could happen to our “George Clounie” makes my forehead sweat.
But if you look at the whole thing with a little distance, renting out is an excellent idea – especially for those of us who don’t have enough time to be constantly on the road with their motorhome and perhaps can’t afford or don’t want the luxury of a second or third vehicle standing around unused.
So if you can imagine “sharing” your camper with others, I’ll explain below how this can work and what you should bear in mind.
Renting out a motorhome – how it works
Unlike lending a motorhome to friends or family for free, you get paid for renting it out. So you first need to make a small calculation to work out your potential income and determine how much of your expenses you can cover and over what period of time.
Step 1: Count unused days
Most mobile homes spend the majority of the year unused in the garage or on the parking lot. Therefore, the first step is to check how many days or weeks a year the mobile home stands around and how much you would have to charge per day so that your mobile home is virtually self-financing.
Can I even use my motorhome myself if I also rent it out?
Of course you can. You alone decide how often you can and want to rent out your camper. In our calculation example below, you can see that just a few weeks of rental per year are enough to cover the running costs in full.
Step 2: Determine costs and calculate rental prices
In addition to the purchase price, you must also record and add up the running costs such as tax and insurance, as well as maintenance, repairs, tire changes and other expenses incurred in a table.
If you are thinking about renting out your vehicle, you should plan for higher running costs, as the more frequent use also means more wear and tear (tires, brakes, etc.) and, of course, damage can also occur during rental.
However, you don’t need to plan any further costs for insurance at this point, as there are now solutions that have no effect on your current contract (more on this below).
Calculation example: Campervan rental
Let’s do a little math to see what your costs are. I’ll take a camper van as an example:
- Insurance: 500 Euro
- Taxes: 400 Euro
- Maintenance and repairs: 3,000 euros
This adds up to around 4,000 euros per year. On top of this, there is the commission from the rental platform (often between 15 and 25% of the rental price) – as well as the costs for the insurance. With a commission of 15% and an insurance premium of 500 euros, you therefore have to earn a total of around 5,000 euros .
At a price of 75 euros per day, the bus would have to be rented out for 67 days, i.e. around 9.5 weeks out of 52 a year. In my opinion, this is quite feasible and still leaves you plenty of scope for your own vacations.
If you have bought a new vehicle, you will of course also have to add the purchase price you paid in advance or a monthly installment. Depending on the purchase price, you would then have to rent out the camper for another 9 to 10 weeks a year in order to recoup the entire costs in the long term and drive your camper “for free”.
Step 3: Do I have to register a business or pay tax on my income?
All forms of income must be reported to the tax office. Whether you also need a trade license is sometimes handled differently from region to region. Your tax office can give you a binding statement on this, the employees are obliged to provide information.
§ Section 15 (2) of the Income Tax Act provides the following definition:
An independent, sustainable activity that is undertaken with the intention of making a profit and constitutes participation in general economic transactions is a commercial enterprise if the activity is neither to be regarded as the exercise of agriculture and forestry nor as the exercise of a liberal profession nor as other independent work.
So if you intend to earn more money from renting out your mobile home than it costs you, then you cannot avoid having a business. However, with a business or self-employed activity, even as a sideline, you not only have to pay tax on profits, but can also deduct costs.
If you regularly rent out your motorhome, you can also claim the purchase against tax. This will reduce your taxes. I strongly advise you to speak to a tax advisor here, as there are many possibilities in this regard, but also stumbling blocks.
If you don’t want to make a profit from it, but just want to do it as a hobby to refinance your motorhome, it is usually considered a hobby. In this case, you might only have to declare the income for tax purposes. As I am not a tax consultant, I cannot and do not wish to provide any binding information here. This is merely my view of things, which should serve as an argumentation aid for you to talk to the tax authorities and tax advisors.
Step 4: Find a tenant
You could advertise your motorhome in camping magazines, post it on eBay classifieds or place an ad in a newspaper or the local “cheese paper”. This may all work somehow, but it’s not really recommended. On the one hand, you have to take care of everything yourself, on the other hand, the issue of insurance is highly problematic with this option and, thirdly, tenants do not have an overview of possible booking periods.
Another option is to create your own homepage with a calendar function and process the requests directly there. But can you program or build websites yourself? And who will take care of advertising your offer beyond your circle of acquaintances?
It certainly makes more sense to use an existing platform such as Yescapa, Campanda or PaulCamper , which brings renters and landlords together. Here you can easily post your vehicle and present it to your future renters. The platform operators take care of the entire implementation, booking processing, marketing and, above all, insurance, so that you only have to take care of the booking requests and calendar maintenance in advance. You also receive support during the rest of the rental process, e.g. with sample contracts, handover protocols, checklists and a hotline for your questions. There are even regular meetings for landlords to exchange ideas and get to know each other.
Step 5: Insure your motorhome for rental
Your normal insurance does not normally cover the rental of the vehicle. You therefore have no insurance cover if you rent it out privately. You therefore need additional insurance to protect you in the event of damage.
The rental platforms mentioned above offer additional insurance for the rental periods when booking via the platform. This usually includes services such as fully comprehensive insurance, partially comprehensive insurance, motor vehicle liability, a Europe-wide breakdown cover and in some cases even interior insurance. However, these additional insurances are usually only valid up to 3.5 tons. In individual cases (e.g. with PaulCamper), however, vehicles up to 7.5 tons can be insured. Also pay attention to the maximum sums insured. For heavier vehicles, it is best to talk to the providers. The costs are based on a percentage of the rental price and only have to be paid if you are also renting.
Classic cars are no problem for PaulCamper. They are insured for a replacement value of 10,000 euros as standard. If you can present a valuation report, the value will be insured according to this report.
You can also take out optional self-drive rental insurance with your provider. However, most insurance companies do not offer this or only offer it at a very high price, which – unlike supplementary insurance – must then be paid for the whole year.
Another tip: embezzlement insurance can also be useful. This is because standard insurance policies cover theft by third parties, but not by the tenant themselves.
Who pays for my damages?
Almost all damage is covered by the insurance policies mentioned. However, I recommend that you check the insurance conditions carefully and read the small print to find out what is included and what is not – including, for example, the amount of the excess. There are considerable differences in prices and benefits between the various providers, so it’s always worth comparing!
What about defective brakes, tires, etc.?
Wear and tear is not normally insured. After all, these things would also break through use. Bear in mind that these parts also break more quickly due to increased use and factor this into your prices.
Step 6: Furniture, crockery & co. – equipping the vehicle for rental
To make your camper attractive to as many renters as possible, it should have an “all-round carefree package” on board. After all, it is much more important than the year of manufacture or vehicle type that your tenants can start their vacation straight away and don’t have to buy camping furniture or think about their own washing-up liquid.
This means you should have all the camping equipment you need: Chairs, table, crockery, cutlery, stove, cleaning utensils and a few nice touches such as games or decorations. The more equipment you have, the better your vehicle will be rented out – because this also sets you apart from many commercial rental companies, where renters have to pay extra for every fork.
Tenants usually bring their own bedding and towels.
Expert interview Private rental
In our podcast, we took a closer look at the topic of private rentals and brought a professional on board to help us. Sophia Hartley works in landlord acquisition at the campervan sharing platform PaulCamper and explains what is important:
Further questions (and answers) about renting a motorhome
Which vehicles can be rented out?
There is a lid for every pot. Age, condition, model – you will find interested parties for almost any vehicle. All vehicles up to 30 years old that are registered as motorhomes, cars or caravans can usually be rented out easily if they are reasonably well maintained and serviced. Classic cars (older than 30 years) can also be rented out. However, you must check the exact value of the vehicle and, if necessary, provide an appraisal. More on this in the section on insurance.
Your vehicle must not have any technical defects, which you can prove with a valid general inspection (TÜV).
Which vehicle types are best for renting?
Camper van, panel van, alcove, semi-integrated, fully integrated, converted car, truck, caravan and much more. In principle, any camping vehicle can be rented out. After all, every renter has different interests.
Can I choose my tenants?
As a rule, yes. As soon as a booking request comes in, personal contact is established via the platform. You can then decide whether you have a good gut feeling about the renter or not and whether you want to rent out your vehicle for the planned tour.
What else do I need to consider?
Even if you decide to use a rental platform, you still need time to get in touch with your potential tenants. You will want to answer questions in advance and perhaps get to know the people to whom you are entrusting your camper beforehand. Afterwards, there will be vehicle handover, return and regular cleaning work. You will also need to maintain the rental calendar and, if necessary, the profile or homepage so that potential renters get a good impression of your offer. You should plan for this and factor the time required into your prices up to a certain point.
Conclusion
As you can see, driving a motorhome for free is possible and not just a slogan. Of course, there is work behind it, it won’t work without doing something. I hope I’ve been able to show you what’s important with this guide.
Cover picture: (c) amoklv / Depositphotos.com
Photo in text: (c) CamperStyle
