FAQ

What are the advantages of renting out my van on Camperbug?

Camperbug is tailor-made for van owners by a fellow campervan enthusiast and renter.

The site creates a flexible platform focused entirely on touring vehicles. We boast a wide selection of vans ranging from classic VW campers to luxurious modern motorhomes.

Owners can register at absolutely no cost at all. List more than one van at no extra charge, and enjoy access to all features.

A confirmed booking ensures direct contact between the van owner and the hirer.

Camperbug provides a nifty self-drive hire insurance policy that makes it easy to insure your booking with a click. Insurance prices are visible on each inquiry, and owners are welcome to use our cover for hires made outside the Camperbug website.

All hirers must fill out a Drive Details form that lists all the essential details about the driver(s), including license information.

Owners are not obligated to accept any bookings. Feel free to decline a request if it does not meet your booking criteria.

The Camperbug team is at hand to assist through every step of the process.


How much can I earn by renting out on Camperbug?

You will expect to be fully booked for July and August wherever you are. Typically our owners earn between £600 and £800 per week during the summer months. If you have some excellent photos, you will be busy from Easter through to late September (depending on the weather), and the season extends further if you allow European travel. Owners make good profits renting out their vehicles, which is why so many people do it, but renting them out requires a certain amount of flexibility and acceptance that your campers are hired vehicles.

Booking gets underway in earnest just after Christmas for the summer months, with people booking further and further ahead. October, November and December are generally very quiet, with few people looking for campervans in these months, and your prices would reflect that.

Remember, you're in complete control of the process, and a van is only booked once the customer has paid you a deposit directly.


How much will it cost to register on Camperbug?

We do not charge private owners to use the Camperbug website. All services are provided free of charge, and there is no cost to use the platform.

Private owners control what they charge for the seasons. You can amend the prices on each inquiry up until the confirmation of the booking.

The van owner receives the whole sum charged for the booking. Camperbug charges the traveller a small rental cost (no more than 10-15 per cent), and this applied rate is what the customer receives.

The only cost will be if a renter uses our bespoke insurance policy instead of an external provider. A rate of £15-£20 per day will be the fixed rate of our self-drive hire insurance policy, and this cost can be included and covered in the overall fee charged for the booking.


How do I create a profile on Camperbug?

Click here to create your free listing, or drop us an email on info@camperbug.co.uk, and we’ll be happy to create a profile for you.


What information is required to create a listing on the website?

We will require a few details from you to ensure effortless communication with the traveller.

Name: Your name puts a face behind the messages and helps the renter know who they are booking from.

Address and Contact Information: This information is passed on to the hirer once a booking has been paid for and the reservation has been confirmed on the system. These details also help us communicate with you and offer support when required.

Identification Documents for Verification: For security reasons, we verify all our owners so our customers have a safe space to hire campervans and motorhomes. We also required these details to activate the insurance section on Camperbug. We will need a photo of the following:

1. Passport/driving licence as proof of ID
2. Utility bill with address and name clearly shown


How much should I charge per day when renting out my campervan or motorhome?

In the summer months you want to charge £80 per day to start, this will be competitive and give you a chance to win a few quotes and get your feet under the table.

Once you have a couple of trips booked in, of course feel free to re-visit your prices and charge more if you feel that the market in your area warrants it. Conversely you may also want to lower prices if you feel that you are not winning enough quotes.

Remember to always include insurance in the costs you charge to a customer. This is normally about £20 per day and you may by this from any provider not just Camperbug. If you don't quote insurance you will be competing against owners that make it easier for customers by offering an all in one fee and complexity can turn off potential customers.


How do I collect the payment and security deposit for a booking?

Barring our rental cost, all monies are paid directly to you, the private van owner. Camperbug does not retain the reservation fee or security deposit, and they are the responsibility of the owner to collect.

Once the booking has been confirmed, the system will release the contact details of both parties. Now the owner can communicate directly with the traveller to discuss a preferred method to receive the payment, be it Paypal, bank transfer, or via a credit or debit card.

Typically people hold the value of the insurance excess on their policy. The best way to collect it is with a card machine, which is easier to get and make available for your business payments.

If the customer pays by credit card, it gives them the added protection factor when they make the payment, and you can refund the money back to the card when they have returned the vehicle.

Some owners prefer to use PayPal. You can refund the security deposit within 30 days and recover any fees you might pay using the digital wallet service. You should always do a careful check of the vehicle before and after the hire takes place.


How will I know when a hirer has inquired about my van?

The system will notify you when you receive a new hire request or follow-up message.

Each email will contain a link that will take you directly to the message thread to chat with the traveller, check their license information, and confirm the booking.

Owners can view messages on their laptops, desktops, and phones.


Can I change the rates and dates on a booking?

Absolutely! As a van owner, you have complete freedom to amend the charges for a booking.

The pink panel on the right-hand side of each message thread will show the following details:

Start (date of hire)
End (date of hire)
Nights
Reservation
Cleaning cost
Service cost
Total
Per night Cost
Security Deposit

Click on Offer New Dates (found between Nights and Reservation) to add or decrease the number of nights per hire.

Press Send New Price (right under Security Deposit) to update the charge for the booking.

Camperbug will only secure a hire with your confirmation. You are in complete charge of your calendar and the reservation charge. The go-ahead to pay must come from the owner of the campervan. Once you have seen the hirer's information and are comfortable with them, you authorise the payment from the hirer's end and proceed to the payments stage of the booking.

We will only take a payment from a hirer with the explicit confirmation of the owner.


Does Camperbug provide insurance?

Not only do we offer a competitive daily insurance scheme, but our policy is exclusively for Camperbug members and not available elsewhere.

You would pay around £15-£20 per day for trips from 2 days up to 2 weeks (14 days) at most.

When a customer books a van, the policy is in the owner's name, and the customer is like a named driver. If a claim arises, you can pursue the claim directly with the insurer, as the policy is in your name.

The general criteria are as follows:

Daily Self-Hire Insurance Scheme Criteria
• Two people are covered on every policy for the same price
• Between 25 and 70 years of age
• Max of £50k value (£25k+ requiring cat1)
• Full UK licence for a minimum of 3 years
• Maximum of 6 points on all driver's licences
• 1 claim (fault/no fault) in the last three years
• SD&P use only
• 25% Co-Insurance clause on theft

3rd Driver
Two drivers are covered as standard. If a 3rd driver is wanted, please complete the form, and this will be referred.

European Cover for daily insurance
We currently cannot offer European cover for any campervan hires, and this position will likely stay the same this year. Ours is a new scheme, and the policy and insurance provision is being monitored and tested. If the situation changes and we can insure European hires, we will contact all the Camperbug owners to update you.

Non-UK Licences for daily insurance
We can insure some customers from outside the UK to drive your van. If they are eligible to be insured, this will add £250 excess to the excess already weighted on your vehicle value.

Eligible country licences with an additional £250 excess are:
EU (all European Union licences)
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa

Unfortunately, the Camperbug scheme cannot insure USA and Canadian licence holders for our daily policy.

Insurance Excess and Security Deposit
The security deposit asked for is often the exact cost as the insurance excess. It is collected in advance from the customer, typically on the day of the hire or with cleared funds a couple of days before. We recommend that customers use PayPal or a credit card to pay so that they have security in relation to the transfer of this large amount.

A large insurance excess can be off-putting for customers on top of the price of the camper hire itself. It is possible within your contract to state that the hirer is due for the value of the total insurance excess in the event of a claim larger than that of the security deposit collected.
Conversely, you may also ask for the total value of the excess in advance from the customer.

Often the customer will have insurance excess protection insurance. There are firms online which offer such cover and are easily found. Typically you would prefer that the customer is personally responsible for the excess rather than takes out the insurance as they will tend to be even more careful when driving the vehicle.

Depending on the value of your campervan, these are the excesses applicable to the Camperbug insurance policy.
Value £0-£15k / £500 excess
Value £25k / £750 excess
Value £35k / £1000 excess
Value £50k / £1250 excess

To activate the insurance section on Camperbug, we will require some documents relating to you.

1. Passport/driving licence as proof of ID
2. Utility bill with address and name clearly shown


Can I delete my data if I want to deactivate the listing?

Your identity documents and other personal details are safe with Camperbug. All sensitive information, including IDs and card details, is protected and handled safely by select members entrusted with the verification process.

Camperbug never has nor will ever share your details.

All your data is immediately and permanently removed from our database upon deletion of a profile (owner and hirer).

Feel free to email the support team to ensure your details are permanently deleted from the system.


What happens if I forget the password?

To find your Camperbug password, please click here

You can also reset your password by following these steps:
• Press Login at the top of the homepage
• Click Forgotten Password under the green LOGIN button

Alternatively, whizz over a mail to the support team, and we’ll get in touch.


How much does Camperbug charge as commission?

To run Camperbug, we have a service cost which is applied when the booking is confirmed and deducted from the total.

You may charge whatever daily rate you wish to the customer. The customer will receive a cost which is your price, with an extra percentage applied (our commission is no more than 10-15%). This depends on many factors, such as hire duration, time of year, van type, VAT and advance notice. The applied rate is what the customer receives.

Ask for whatever you need to feel comfortable with the booking, and then the system will take care of the rest.

How do I know if the traveller is trustworthy?

The hirer will fill out a Driver Details form before confirming the hire. This provides an extensive range of information about the driver(s), including:
• License information (number, points etc.)
• Occupation
• Physical and mental conditions that may affect driving ability
• Motoring accidents in the last three years
• Any motoring convictions or pending prosecutions
• If the hirer has ever been refused motor insurance
• A space to add further comments or information

The hirer will also need to supply the following:
• Destination of travel
• Details of up to four passengers
• Number of adults and children

In our experience, 99% of all customers are truthful in the details they write on the booking form. As soon as a hirer confirms, ask them to email you a photo of their documents to verify what they have told you on the booking form. Additionally, check the originals when they come to pick up the van. Always ask them to bring the original papers.

We also encourage our owners to check the renters driving licenses through the DVLA check code, which will highlight any points on their license. Upon confirmation of the booking, the hirer's address is provided, making it easy to compare the documentation with the details provided through the DVLA check code.

Van owners using a third-party insurance policy are advised to collect the mandatory credentials directly from the traveller.