What’s happening at Brit Stops?

Keith Gooden

In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast…

Matt Sims

We’re diving into the recent exciting changes at Brit Stops.

Keith Gooden

In the news – could your travels invalidate your home insurance?

Matt Sims

And we answer your questions on insurance when in Europe, insurance renewals and keeping your batteries topped up when not in use.

Keith Gooden

Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans – and it’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com.

Matt Sims

Now, we always say it, but please do remember to follow on your favourite podcast app, and make sure you hit subscribe on YouTube – brought to you by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.

Could travelling long-term invalidate your home insurance?

Keith Gooden

Now, in the news – could travelling long term, leaving your ‘ouse…

Matt Sims

Pardon?

Keith Gooden

Your ‘ouse invalidate your home insurance?

Matt Sims

House! House!

Keith Gooden

Could travelling long term invalidate your home insurance. Well, could it?

Matt Sims

People were going travelling for months at a time and then discovering that their homes were not insured because they were empty for more than 30 days. So we wanted to flag this. If you’re thinking of doing your 90 days on mainland Europe or just going on an extended trip around the UK, make sure you check with your home insurance provider and see what their caveat is on the house being empty and how long they will insure it for if it’s left unattended.

Keith Gooden

That’s the thing, unattended. Can you get somebody to house sit for you?

Matt Sims

This is it. So some insurers will say maximum 30 days. Others will say longer – 60 or even 90 days. But if you’re organising someone to come in, and some insurers will insure it as long as somebody is going in once a week or once a fortnight and inspecting it.

And it’s obvious things like piling up post under the letterbox in the hallway. That is a surefire sign there’s nobody home, which of course makes the home vulnerable. So yes, they want somebody going and clearing the post.

And the other big issue that insurers are worried about are water leaks. So if you left the house unattended for a month with a burst water main, that’s going to do untold damage. I’ll be honest, that will happen in a day, nevermind a month. But someone going in regularly, particularly through the colder months, is going to give them some assurity.

Keith Gooden

And I suppose you could turn the water off at the mains, but that might affect the things like the central heating.

Matt Sims

Absolutely. So there are lots of reasons they want someone to go in and just check nothing untoward is happening in the property.

Who are Brit Stops?

Keith Gooden

It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

It’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. Now, who are Brit Stops, Matt?

Matt Sims

That’s very good question. They’ve been around for years. I don’t know how long! But Brit Stops was always traditionally a book of places that you could stop in your motorhome or campervan that weren’t campsites.

So they were traditionally pubs, farm shops, places where you could park in their car park, maybe pay £10 or maybe just go and spend money in the establishment and then park for night for free as an alternative to a campsite.

Normally, you’re not getting your awning out, you’re not getting all your chairs and tables out and so on. But it was somewhere just to stop over for a night. Really handy if you want to have a meal, few drinks, then go back to the motorhome and have somewhere to stop.

Keith Gooden

So what’s ‘appening?

Matt Sims

Very clever. Well, the big news is that Brit Stops was sold I think last year. And Steve who ran it for years retired. And it’s become an American owned business, which I find fascinating. Harvest Hosts in the USA bought it, which I find really exciting. Harvest Hosts are massive. They bought into Brit Stops. Steve retired and his son Tom has become UK general manager. And the big change is it’s no longer a book, it’s become an app!

Keith Gooden

On your phone or on your mobile device or even on your home computer. A lot of people are very resistant to going electronic.

Matt Sims

That’s very true. There’s something to be said about having a book in the glove box, particularly if you haven’t got internet access. It’s a great question. We invited Tom, so Steve’s son, who’s now the big boss in the UK of Brit Stops, to come down to the studio. And he agreed to tell us more about this massive change. Because Brit Stops is a very established brand in the UK. And I wanted to find out more – what’s changed and what’s going to be the impact?

Brit Stops’ new app

Tom Clark

We’ve gone digital. So previously, we were a printed publication. We had a new book every year, which would have new hosts and loads and loads of changes and everything. And it was a huge job, to be honest, keeping that up every year and having to phone all the hosts, check everything, add new places, take things out, move all the map numbers around.

It was a really physical job, a labour of love. Yeah, so we’ve gone fully digital. Now we have an app. And we also have it on the website as well if you log in on the website. And we did have an app before, but that was quite a bare bones app. It was me and my dad and one developer who made the app. We kind of did what we could with it.

But you know, now we have a full engineering team, which has been way, way better. It’s got a lot more functionality. You can search, you can favourite stuff. There’s route planning, there are photos, there are reviews, we’ve added so much to it. So it’s a much, much better product. And the feedback we’ve got on the app has just been amazing. So it’s been really good.

Matt Sims

Fantastic. Well, it is really good, I have to say. As a firsthand user, I think it’s great. And I love the fact it’s being updated all the time, isn’t it? It’s not an annual update anymore.

Tom Clark

That’s a big change for us, just being able to have live updates. You know, if a host calls me and says, “We’re changing phone number, we’re changing hands, we have a new landlord,” I can just instantly change it. And that’s been so, so useful. Before, we’d have to put a newsletter out every month with all those changes.

People would have to copy them all down in the book and do everything. So that’s been really good. And on the other side of things in terms of adding new hosts, it’s just been really revolutionary for us as well, because the speed at which we can add new hosts is so much easier now.

And we have a bigger team now. And we’re adding more hosts at faster rates. It’s getting to the point where if we were doing a new book every year, there’d be such a huge turnover. And that book would be massive. We were getting to the point where the book already had the thinnest paper we could use because there were just too many hosts!

Also, being able to add photos is such a huge thing. I think we didn’t realise what we were missing out on not having the photos. And the moment they were all in there I was like, wow, this is a huge step.

Matt Sims

And the photos are really important because they form part of the decision, don’t they, on where you’re going to go.

Tom Clark

Some of the hosts have, you know, 10, 15, 20 photos on there. We couldn’t have that in the book. You know, that’s just not doable. Yeah, a lot more functionality. And I think just a better product overall. As I say, the feedback we’ve got has been so good on it. And it’s really been great.

Matt Sims

We’ve already used some Brit Stops. And we’ve taken photos ourselves, and we can add them onto your listing in the review, which is brilliant.

Tom Clark

Exactly. Yeah. So it’s similar to TripAdvisor or something in that you can add your own photos on there. And like you said, we have reviews as well. And the reviews are now slowly building up. We’re getting more on there.

I always review anywhere I go with my girlfriend just to try and build them up. But I think that’s a useful feature too, just being able to see what other people’s experiences are there and getting a better sense of what it’s like before you turn up.

The History of Brit Stops

Matt Sims

So Tom, let’s just wind back in time. Was it 2011 when Brit Stops started?

Tom Clark

I’m pretty sure it was 2011. Yeah.

Matt Sims

And it was your dad. Steve started it.

Tom Clark

And my mum. Don’t forget Mandy.

Matt Sims

Mandy, I know many hours you stood at shows with Steve trying to sell the book – and carrying the books into the halls every show. Boxes and boxes of them, which of course doesn’t happen anymore. So in 2011 it started and it grew and grew. Every year a new book was launched. I tried to find one of the first books. It was green. It was like a Panther!

Tom Clark

It had 75 hosts in it. And I remember talking to my parents. At that time, I was studying in Dundee in Scotland. So I wasn’t involved in the business at that time. And they always said that book was the hardest one to make.

Out of all of them that was the most difficult because you’re phoning somewhere and they have no idea who you are. You have no evidence this will work at all. And you’re really just trying to get them to give you a chance. So yes, that was the most difficult one for them.

Matt Sims

I remember seeing it and thinking it was a brilliant idea. And I bought one and I still have it somewhere. I wanted to bring it today, but I couldn’t find it. And it’s grown and grown. It became about an inch or so thick.

Tom Clark

So it used to be that big. We decided to double it, because it just was getting too big. And there was one year where it was so heavy, that we had to trim the paper size down, the thickness of the paper. It was getting ridiculous.

Matt Sims

It was like the Bible. So when did you get involved? When did you join?

Tom Clark

I joined about seven years ago at this point. So even from the beginning, right at the beginning of the business in the summer holidays from university, I was helping packing books. My brother and I would be stamping things, taking bags down to the post office. So we’ve been involved since the beginning.

But about six, seven years ago, I got involved full time. So I was working in content marketing at the time, just for some different companies. And my parents said, “The business is getting to the point where we can’t do it with just us two anymore. So would you be happy to come in and just help and see how it goes?”

And you know, I love business. I think it’s so cool and exciting. And it being a family business, you know, makes you really invested in it. So for me it was a real passion project as well that I wanted to grow.

Matt Sims

So roll forward 12 years and dad and mum sell the business.

Tom Clark

So that happened in January last year.

Matt Sims

And Harvest Hosts bought it, an American company. Just tell us a little bit about Harvest Hosts. Who are they?

Tom Clark

They were originally similar to us, a small family business in the States. And they sold the company a little later when it was actually really, really small. It was a lot smaller than Brit Stops when they sold it. And they’ve boomed.

I think they’ve got 8,000 hosts or something now. They’re huge in the States. And they’ve got quarter of a million members – they are big. They’re just using that to try and expand into other places and grow their own business. They’ve got a Canadian one called Boondockers Welcome.

Matt Sims

Just explain – boondocking is what we would call here wild camping or off grid camping, which is what Brit Stops is, essentially.

Tom Clark

Yeah, pretty much. Somewhere between wild camping and a campsite.

Matt Sims

So Harvest Hosts bought it in January 2023. And you’re now the general manager in the UK.

Tom Clark

Yes. So my parents and I had lot conversations when we knew they were getting close to their retirement about what we want to do with the business. And I was really interested in getting involved in it more and taking over. So we’d already had that plan.

And over the last two years before we sold the business, that was in process. That was transitioning slowly over towards me. So my parents were working less and I was taking on more and learning how to do it all.

And then yeah, Harvest Hosts approached us and we had a genuine conversation with them and talked it all through. And it just sounded honestly like such a good opportunity. The difference between me running it by myself with a small team and having a team of 50 people in the States on it is huge. We’ve got a full engineering team. I would never have been able to make an app like this by myself. And they’ve got so much more funding.

Matt Sims

And quickly as well.

Tom Clark

And quickly, yep, just to pump a load of budget into it and make it grow and expand. And the other great thing is that they actually really understand it because they do the exact same business in the States. It is literally exactly the same. So they genuinely understand it.

And the CEO, Joel, I’ve met him a handful of times. Now, he’s a motorhomer himself, he loves motorhoming. They came over to the UK, a few of them. And we toured around all the pubs together, showed them how it works and everything. It was awesome. And yes, they’re just really genuine people and actually really excited about it. So it’s been great to work with them.

Matt Sims

Fantastic.

Matt Sims

Now, I want to take a look in the app, so I want you to talk me through the app. But just before, that the elephant in the room, Tom – I would rather have this as a book still in my glove box. Can I still get a Brit Stops book?

Tom Clark

No, you cannot get a Brit Stops book anymore. No more books, we’re just app and website. There’s a few things for me personally, and I always say, for me, even if I’d taken over the business and we hadn’t sold it, I would have gone in this direction.

And I stand by this direction for the business just in terms of future proofing it specifically. I think if we don’t have like the best app in the market, we’re doing something wrong. You know, we want to be the leaders in the industry.

But on top of that, in terms of flexibility, recruiting hosts and making the product better, if we want photos, if we want reviews, we want interactible things, route planning, favoriting and searching – all these are things that people have asked us for over and over again. And it’s just not feasible to do that with a book. That’s not possible for us to do.

Matt Sims

But it’s fair to say, though, that one of the restrictions of the app is if you haven’t got internet access, it doesn’t work. Is that right?

Tom Clark

Yeah. So at the moment, it’s online only. One of the reasons for that is really security with the data. That’s been the biggest piece of feedback I’ve gotten. I mean, I do loads of shows all year round, I talk to customers face to face all year round. People are always saying they want an offline version. So I do hear that.

And that’s going to be our next big plan, to try and get that sorted out and figure out how we can do that. Like before with the old app, we had it, so you can only use it on one device at a time. And the reason we did that was because I was worried about security, and people just sharing it with everyone.

And so many people complained to me about it that now we don’t do that anymore. Now you can just log in on your phone. So you know, we do listen to people’s feedback. And I genuinely appreciate it. Because I need to know, what do people want? What direction do people want it to go in?

Matt Sims

You can also have two of you on two phones or two devices, and you can be logged in at the same time.

Tom Clark

Yes, exactly.

Matt Sims

So Jude and I, in the motorhome, at one point we didn’t have internet access, which is why I know this is true! To be fair, we were in the Outer Hebrides, where there aren’t very many Brit Stops. In fact, there are no pubs that we found!

Tom Clark

There’s nothing there!

Matt Sims

So there aren’t really any Brit stops. But we were trying to find somewhere for coming home. And trying to plan it with no internet access – we couldn’t do it. So we had to wait. And then both of us, though, were logged in on my subscription. And it worked perfectly.

So we could both be moving stuff around trying to find somewhere to stop. But I’m going to take a look in the app now, if we can. And I want you to talk me through it. Okay, so I’ve opened the app. There’s a lot of orange. These dots are all the locations. This is mainland UK.

Tom Clark

And in Ireland too.

Matt Sims

And Ireland as well.

Tom Clark

So one of the best things about it, in my opinion, is being able to filter things. So for example, these little tractors, that’s a farm shop. The blue, that’s an attraction, so they’re often just different things. And the P – this is an aire. So if people don’t know what an aire is, they’re really popular in Europe, and they’re starting to get more popular in the UK now.

They’re kind of like council-owned car parks for motorhomes with some facilities. So there’s no farm shop or anything there, but they’re useful to know about and often they ask for a small donation, £5 or something just to keep it running.

But I just really like how you can filter things and that’s so, so useful. And also, you can see exactly what type of host it is just by scrolling around which is also really, really handy. If we open this, Cross Lanes Organic Farm, you’ve got a nice big photo at the top.

Matt Sims

County Durham is where we’re going.

Tom Clark

Yeah, why not? The other really handy thing is you can favourite stuff. So if we tap the love heart, we can add it to our favourites, and we can easily access that later. So if you’re looking at somewhere and you think, “Actually, I really like this place but I’m not quite ready to go right now,” you can save it.

Matt Sims

And come back to it. To those listening – there are some photos – it tells us there are five parking spaces, which is really important. The postcode is there. And it says it’s a restaurant with a farm shop supporting local producers with a butchers and a deli. There’s a bit more explanation about the place. And it’s got its opening hours, when it’s actually open.

Tom Clark

That’s really handy. It’s got opening hours for everywhere now, and that was a big job calling all of them and getting that, especially the photos! Oh, my God. Trying to get them to send us photos…

Matt Sims

Pets welcome.

Tom Clark

Yep. So you can see what they have – you know, do they have a restaurant? Do they have good hiking there? Do they have fishing? So we list everything there that you can do or things in the area. You can easily see their website or Facebook, you can see kind of where it is. And you can also just easily copy the address. If you tap Get Directions, it opens it directly in Google Maps so you can get there easily.

Matt Sims

But if you tap the coordinates, you literally just tap it and it copies it straight away to your phone. And then you can paste that into… we were using Waze to get to the one we stayed in in Cumbria, because I wanted traffic updates that were more accurate than Google. And it just pasted it straight in literally to the square foot. Right to the front door.

Tom Clark

Yeah, that was a painstaking job of me sitting on Google Maps and making sure it’s accurate!

Matt Sims

Is that what you had to do? Oh, my goodness.

Tom Clark

Yeah. Yeah, we put a lot of work into it. A lot of thought goes into it. And you get the parking surface as well, which is nice to know.

Matt Sims

Yes, gravel!

Tom Clark

So if it’s a wet day, and it’s grass, you know, you might want to see, call ahead and see what it’s like. Photos – and they’ve added their own reviews there, which is really nice. And if you go down to the bottom, it also shows you the nearby host.

Matt Sims

So pretty much everything you need to know is there.

Tom Clark

Yes. And if we also if we just go back, you can look at all your saved things, too. So for example, you could have a trip to Scotland, and you could add them all to your Scotland trip.

Matt Sims

There you go, there’s my home.

Tom Clark

Yes, we can see where you’ve been going! Yeah, I think that’s so useful. And that’s something that people really wanted, just a favourites folder to organise themselves better. Bookmarking something in a book, you know. And that’s really, really handy. You know, it does work really well.

Matt Sims

And there’s a route planner as well, though, you were telling me, which I haven’t used. So you can plan a route.

Tom Clark

So if you’re going from one end of the country to the other, it will show you what’s along that route. And you can favourite all those places, and then get an idea of what’s along. So that’s really useful to do too.

Matt Sims

And how many hosts are there on here now?

Tom Clark

I believe there are 1,169.

Matt Sims

1,169?

Tom Clark

Yes, that’s my guess!

Matt Sims

So if you’re going to play Brit Stop bingo…

Tom Clark

Let’s find out if I’m right.

Matt Sims

And what percentage of that number are pubs, Tom?

Tom Clark

About 65, 70 percent!

Matt Sims

I love that you know that! I was actually joking.

Tom Clark

Oh, no, I know it all. Yeah!

Matt Sims

1,154. Pretty good. So 15 more, and you’ve hit your target. You’ll reach that by the end of the week.

How can you host on Brit Stops?

Matt Sims

So let’s talk about hosts. I know for a fact there are people listening to this podcast who own pubs and farm shops who might be interested in listing their place on Brit Stops. Do they have to pay to do that?

Tom Clark

No. So it’s totally free for the hosts to join. It’s actually a really, really great scheme for the host, to be honest. I mean, I’ve talked so many local councils over the last few years since I’ve been more in charge of Brit Stops. And they’re just so on our side. They really, really love Brit Stops, and they really help us get set up, and they help us even get in touch with some places.

I know there are certain pubs that have joined Brit Stops, and we’ve literally turned them around where they were struggling and getting behind financially. In the summer, they’re getting 10 motorhomes a week. That’s 10 paying customers a week. That’s just keeping them afloat. So yeah, I’m really proud of it, and it really helps support local businesses in the UK. So it’s a really great system to be a part of as a host.

Matt Sims

So can I ask you, how does the Brit Stop business model work? There’s a subscription. How much is that, by the way, for us to buy?

Tom Clark

So it’s £44 currently a year. We try to keep it somewhere in line with a night on a campsite. So I think that’s a good rough estimate for what you should be paying.

Matt Sims

So basically, one night and you’ve paid for it.

Tom Clark

Pretty much. Two nights if it’s a cheaper campsite!

Matt Sims

And you can use it as often as you want.

Tom Clark

That’s the thing. Yeah, you know, you use it once or twice and you’ve already got your money’s worth. So it’s really good value for money, honestly. It’s so funny. I mean, there’s such a range of people you talk to at the shows. Some people will come up to me and ask me how much it is. I tell them how it works, tell them it’s £44. And they’ll be like, “What?”

Matt Sims

“Is that all?”

Tom Clark

Oh, yeah, well, it is. Yeah. And it is really good value for money.

Matt Sims

One or two nights and you’ve paid for it, haven’t you?

Tom Clark

Yeah, exactly.

Matt Sims

And some very memorable nights in the pub!

Tom Clark

In terms of the business model itself, the only money we make is from that annual subscription. So people pay to access all the places and the app and everything. And that’s our total income. In terms of the hosts, we don’t make any money from hosts at all. So we don’t charge them anything. We don’t take any fees. They don’t have a fee to join. They get to keep 100% of all the purchases on site.

Matt Sims

And do you know roughly how many users are on Brit Stops at the moment?

Tom Clark

It’s about 30,000. Something like that, roughly, as it goes up and down throughout the year as people join in travel season and stuff. Yeah, it’s something like that right now. It’s just growing and growing, really.

I mean, since we sold it to Harvest Hosts, it’s just boomed and that’s been awesome to see. And they’ve really put so much effort and planning into the marketing, into the business development, into partnerships, like we’ve partnered with you and have been working together with you a bit more. It’s been fantastic. And especially, again, the full engineering team has just been a real game changer.

Matt Sims

Absolutely. As I said earlier, the speed at which this has come on has been absolutely incredible.

The future of Brit Stops

Matt Sims

So just then a little bit about the future of Brit Stops, Tom. There are some future developments planned, which I know you can’t talk about today as we record this. So you need to stay tuned, and Tom will give us the heads up on when we can announce it. What is the development plan for Brit Stops? What do you anticipate happening other than the big thing you can’t talk about?

Tom Clark

So there’s one big change that will hopefully come later this year, if we can get it all done in time. In terms of other things, really, our big focus this year, and probably next year as well is just growing the host platform.

Trying to diversify as big thing for us. So a lot of people love the pubs. But I get a lot of people as well saying, “We want more farm shops, we want more unique places to visit different things.” So really, I’ve been pushing this year to just trying to recruit different places. I recruited a place to literally drive tanks the other week, which I think is the coolest thing ever.

Matt Sims

Very cool!

Tom Clark

We recruited a castle, which is really cool. Some golf clubs, a llama Park, a skydiving school! Just some awesome places. So yes, we’re really excited about that. And that’s, really, I think the future of Brit Stops.

It’s giving people the opportunity to stay somewhere different, and even just to discover these places that are a bit different. Staying at pubs is awesome. And that’s a really cultural part of the UK that people really love. But I just really want to capture that sense of adventure and something different as well. And that’s really important too.

Matt Sims

Yes, absolutely. So we’ve got an offer for you as a listener to the Motorhome Matt podcast, where you can get 20% off your Brit Stop subscription. To find out more about Brit Stops, either as a user or as a potential host, you can do that at mhmp.info/britstops, where you will get a discount on your membership and at same time be helping the Motorhome Matt podcast as an affiliate to Brit Stops themselves. Tom, thank you so much for coming in.

Tom Clark

Cheers, Matt.

Matt Sims

I know you’ve had a five hour drive to get here today from Norfolk. But you’re not stopping in a Brit Stop, though, are you?

Tom Clark

No, we’re staying in a nice hotel!

Matt Sims

In the car. That’s cheating!

Keith Gooden

So that’s Tom Clark. He is the UK general manager at Brit Stops, and Brit Stops are actually Motorhome Matt Approved. So what is Motorhome Matt Approved? And why have they got your stamp of approval, Matt?

Matt Sims

Absolutely. Yeah, so Motorhome Matt Approved is our brand new directory of brands, companies, products and services that I have used or had a really great experience of using – brands that I would endorse.

So people often say to me, “Matt, who do you go to for an app, or for insurance or for a tracker?” And we thought we would get loads of these companies together that I’ve had firsthand experience of that I am prepared to rubber stamp, “This is Matt approved,” and build a directory of all of these brands so that I can help you research those brands and help you find a solution that could work for you.

So Brit Stops are certainly a brand that I’ve used for years. Our dog eared book has been in the glove box at the motorhome, but it’s written in. It’s ripped. Its pages are folded down. And we were buying new book often every year.

And I’ve used it for a very, very long time and we’ve had some brilliant trips where we’ve not paid any money for campsites at all. We’ve just used Brit Stops. And so it was certainly a worthy brand for me to recommend and commend to you if you’re looking for a similar type of trip or places to stop.

Keith Gooden

So for Motorhome Matt Approved companies, head to mhmp.info/approved. And of course, when it comes to Brit Stops, you’re a very ‘appy chappie, because it’s now an app, as we’ve just heard.

Matt Sims

It’s very easy to use as well, I have to say. Really easy to use. So if you’re considering it, have a look. Go and find Brit Stops on Motorhome Matt Approved and click the link. You’ll be able to download your own copy of it there.

Audience Q&A

Keith Gooden

It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

And it’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. Into my favourite part of every podcast – the questions and answers, where you ask the questions, and Matt, for it is he, is the expert who will try to answer them. And if he doesn’t know, he’ll ask somebody who jolly well does.

Matt Sims

For it is he?

Keith Gooden

For it is he.

Matt Sims

Have you gone all 1810 on us?

Keith Gooden

Iain Lynch is in Henfield, and he says, “Morning. Just listened to the latest episode and you mentioned an insurance company which is timely for me, as ours is up for renewal this month. What was the name and promo code for this company? Again, many thanks. Glad to know you’re in better health.” If you don’t know, Matt had a bit of a dodgy ticker a few weeks ago and we nearly lost him. But they put some stents in and they’ve given him some tablets and he appears to be fine.

Matt Sims

I appear to be fine. Some tablets? There’s an understatement.

Keith Gooden

Yeah, don’t worry if I suddenly turn round and thump him. It’s because it’s dodgy ticker is…

Matt Sims

Can we record your thump?

Keith Gooden

Clear! Ripe are new to the motorhome industry, aren’t they? And they are a sponsor of the Motorhome Matt podcast.

Matt Sims

So Iain, the company was called Ripe. They are new to the industry. They’ve actually been around for years. And they approached us a few months ago with an interest in sponsoring the podcast. I did a mystery shop on their website and built a quote for our Adria Twin. It was really easy, I have to say.

And the premium comes back really quickly after going through the usual questions that every insurance company wants to know. I couldn’t believe the premium. It was really, really competitive. You just bolt on all the things you want and ignore the things you don’t want. So if you don’t want go to Europe, don’t add European cover. Really simple.

I left the quote alone. They did ring me that afternoon and again the following day and I kept ignoring their calls because I was still in mystery shopper mode. They were persistent for about a week. And then the calls stopped coming, which I have to say I appreciated. Because you know what it’s like when you get hounded and hounded. Really annoying.

So then I rang them. I gave him the reference number and I gave him a name. They’re in Manchester, so it’s a UK based call centre. And I referenced my proposal from them, made some changes to it, which they were very happy to accommodate. It was really, really easy to move forward. And then I said, “Oh, I don’t need any insurance.”

Keith Gooden

“I am Motorhome Matt and I claim my £5.”

Matt Sims

I didn’t do that! So we left the quote as it was. But I have to say it was a brilliant experience. Very positive, very easy to work with and really competitive. So yeah, if you are looking for an insurance quote at the moment, it’s definitely worth looking at the notes for this episode. There are links there that will take you to them. If you do ring them up, just quote Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

So that’s Ripe. You can build your policy and only pay for what you need. As Matt says, reasonable pricing – click the link in the description or call them and quote Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

Sara Hubbard is in Cirencester.

Sara

Hi Matt. My husband Kim and I bought, “The beast,” from you last year. We follow a couple on Instagram who have travelled extensively in Morocco and Europe in a Hymer four by four. They had an unfortunate accident in Spain, tipped their home on its side on a remote mountain road. Thankfully, no one was injured. And with the help of Spanish locals, they managed to get her back on her wheels, make their own repairs and continue their trip home.

Their experience highlighted that whilst they had comprehensive insurance cover, this is reduced to the minimum legal requirement in Europe. A nasty small print surprise. We were horrified to learn this and checked our own policy only to find the same. To travel in Europe at the potential risk of total loss and huge financial consequences beggars belief.

Insurance companies surely need to make you aware of this. Comprehensive does not always mean comprehensive. We’ll be contacting our highly regarded insurer to discuss updating our own policy before our next European trip. Please make everyone aware and ask that they check their insurance documents very carefully before they travel. Hope you’re well again.

Keith Gooden

So that’s Sara Hubbard in Cirencester. So what did you do then, Matt?

Matt Sims

Sold them a motorhome. The beast! What a lovely van it was, too. Lovely to hear from you, Sara. So these guys travelled to Italy and are planning to quite a lot. And the key here is making sure that you check your small print and seeing what cover you actually have when you’re in Europe.

And make sure you buy European insurance cover for your van when you’re travelling. We mentioned Ripe just now. I did ask them for a comment. And they’ve confirmed that their European cover is fully comprehensive when you buy it.

Keith Gooden

They’ve said to us, “If the customer selects EU cover, they will be insured comprehensively, covered for theft and damage as well as third party cover. If they don’t select EU cover, they would only be insured to the minimum third party cover which is legally required for that country.”

Matt Sims

Yeah, so check the small print in the schedule of insurance. And make sure you ask before you renew at the beginning of your policy, especially if you’re planning to later add on European cover. So yeah, really important.

Thanks for flagging that, Sara. You should check the schedule anyway for all of the small print that insurers offer and what they do include and what they don’t cover. Particularly as we mentioned earlier, home insurance – check that as well if you’re not going to be there for any length of time. Check you are insured.

Keith Gooden

Simon Barton’s in Plymouth. “What’s the best way to keep your cab battery topped up when it’s not being used for a few weeks? Are there any DIY installs or gadgets I can buy to help with maintaining the battery? I love the podcasts. We are new to the lifestyle and they’ve learned a lot from watching you on YouTube.”

Matt Sims

Hi Simon, thank you very much for your question. It’s a really good question as well. So you’re right – if you leave your motorhome unattended for two, three weeks, the starter battery, or the cab battery, as you call it, is likely to go flat, particularly if you’ve got a tracker or an alarm connected to the motorhome.

So one solution in that scenario where you’ve got those security devices wired to it is to fit what’s called a battery maintainer. And they are simply a small solar panel. We sell them at www.thatleisureshop.com. Just search battery maintainer. You’ll find examples of them there.

Ring make a great one that you just crocodile clip onto the battery. Or you can plug it into the accessory socket, the little 12 volt socket in the dashboard. And it will then take power from the sun straight into the starter battery and keep it maintained at 12 plus volts. Really handy.

The other thing you could do is disconnect it. Now, if you haven’t got a tracker or an alarm on the motorhome, you could just lift the earth off, and that would stop it going flat. Or if your ignition switch has a little red button on it, when you’re turning it off, press the little red button which is by your thumb as you’re turning the key.

Turn the key all the way back, take the key out, shut the driver’s door. You get 15 seconds to lock the motorhome on the central locking and then the battery will automatically disconnect itself.

Keith Gooden

So what do you do? Just repeat that.

Matt Sims

Press the little red button. This is on the ignition key socket where you put the key into the ignition. Sometimes there’s a red button. It was an accessory that Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen fitted on some chassis. Press that button, turn the key. It will go one click further back than normal. And then you get 15 seconds to shut the door.

Use the button to lock the van. And then automatically the ECU will disconnect the battery from the motorhome and stop it going flat. We have motorhomes that we store and they are stored for months with this function activated and the batteries no longer go flat.

Keith Gooden

When you get back in, what do you do?

Matt Sims

So then you use the key to unlock the driver’s door and you get in, turn the key, and it comes back to life. It reconnects the battery for you automatically. The clock’s going to be wrong. And you might have lost all the tuning in the radio. It depends on the radio you’ve got. But it’s a really simple way of disconnecting the battery with the key. It’s very clever. The key is – get it? – the key is you get 15 seconds to lock it and then it disconnects the battery.

Keith Gooden

Yeah, that’s the 15 seconds in which you forget to take the seatbelt off, you trip over as you’re exiting, your elbow catches. That’s that 15 seconds.

Matt Sims

That one, yeah.

Keith Gooden

Been there. Done that. Thanks very much for all the questions. That’s a good tip from Matt there.

Ask Matt your questions

Keith Gooden

How do people get in touch then, Matt?

Matt Sims

Really easy. Go to mhmp.info/askmatt. And you can record your question as Sara did by clicking the little orange button. You can hear it back before you press submit so you can make sure you’re happy with it. Or you can fill in the form. Again, just go to mhmp.info/askmatt. If you do record it, please tell us where in the country you are.

Keith Gooden

Absolutely. That’s mhmp.info/askmatt. And people can subscribe on YouTube.

Matt Sims

They can. Please, if you’re watching on YouTube like Simon, hit the subscribe button. A huge number of you watching on YouTube don’t subscribe. Subscribing actually means we help promote the podcast and it grows the audience which means YouTube promotes it a bit harder. And please share it with a friend. If you know somebody that would find this informative, useful or entertaining, please tell a friend about it. And we can help grow the popularity of the podcast, which would be brilliant.

Keith Gooden

Have you got a cushion?

Matt Sims

A cushion?

Keith Gooden

This chair’s hard on my ‘ouse.