Keith Gooden
Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Hello, Matt, how are you doing?
Matt Sims
Really good. Nice to see you.
Keith Gooden
Nice to see you too! Fantastic to be here yet again, bringing you the very best podcast there is anywhere in the whole podcasting world.
Matt Sims
Is that true?
Keith Gooden
It’s very true.
Matt Sims
How many do you listen to? One?
Keith Gooden
Thousands!
Matt Sims
Just this one.
Keith Gooden
None of them are as good as you.
Matt Sims
Listening to your own work.
Keith Gooden
So let’s talk about what’s in the podcast this week. We’ve got the news, as usual – some very exciting stuff there. The main meat of today’s podcast will be the types of campsites that you can avail yourselves of. And one of my favourite bits every week is talking to you in the audience Q&A. We’re talking to Raj, Colin in Northampton, and Bethan who dropped a little paper form in when we were at the NEC.
Matt Sims
She did. Thank you, Bethan. We’ll get back to that later.
Keith Gooden
So before we get into types of campsites, let’s get through the news, shall we, Matt? First of all, you’ve been talking to somebody, haven’t you?
Matt Sims
I caught up with our good friend David Whitehead. He’s the director of technical services at the National Caravan Council – there’s a mouthful – back at the February show at the NEC. I was talking to Dave about their new guide that they brought out for motorhomes and for caravans. And we started talking about payload. Our favourite topic!
Payloads for different types of vans
David Whitehead
Yes, you’ll have a set payload. And you’ll understand from your information that you get how much you can load. But it’s not just how much – it’s where you load it. You’ve got a front and rear axle, sometimes a twin axle at the rear, and each axle will have its own maximum load, and you must ensure you stay below the maximum load for each axle.
So don’t just load everything to the back of the motorhome or motor caravan, because you can overload the rear axle, Spread the weight across the axles, even the load out, and that will give you a much better driving experience as well.
Matt Sims
Thinking about a bike rack as well, it’s very easy to shove the maximum bike rack weight of 60 kilos on a bike rack and in fact, overload it. That has a massive impact on the handling, doesn’t it?
David Whitehead
Yes, absolutely. If you’re putting a bike rack on the back and you load that fully and then you load the motorhome at the back, what you’ll find is the rear suspension comes down to its minimum limit. That will affect cornering and that will affect acceleration.
So what you need to do if you’re putting bike rack on the back of a motor caravan is consider where you’re putting the other load. Try and counterbalance it so that you actually keep the rear suspension at a decent level so that you’re not overloading one axle and creating problems with steering and braking.
Matt Sims
And how can people find out how the vehicle is loaded and what weight is on each axle?
David Whitehead
The easiest way is to take it to a weighbridge. But the important thing there is to make sure the weighbridge is calibrated for your size of vehicle. A lot of weighbridges out there are calibrated for 40-tonne trucks, and their tolerances are far too high for motorhomes. So what you then do is you find a county weighbridge and you ask what level is the tolerance is. If the tolerance is 10 kilos or less, that’s great.
What you don’t want is a weighbridge where the tolerance is 50 or 100 kilos, which they can be if they’re weighing 40-tonne trucks. To them it doesn’t make a lot of difference, but on a motor caravan it makes a big differenc if you’re 50 kilos out of the tolerance.
Matt Sims
Top tip. I’m going to check with the animal feed place that we use on their weighbridge what the tolerance is. I never thought to do that. Thank you. And the other thing is speed limits. This is something that people need to be aware of. I was chatting with the lovely family from Rolling Homes, and they raised the point that a van with windows, if that’s your classification on the V5, is limited to 60 miles an hour everywhere. Is that right?
David Whitehead
That’s correct. It’s determined by what’s on your V5, the body type on your V5. If the body type is motor caravan, then your national speed limits apply – 70 miles an hour on the motorway. If it’s a van with windows, the national speed limit on the V5 is 60 miles an hour. Now, you can get stopped and they’ll issue you with a ticket.
You could challenge that ticket in court by saying it’s a motor caravan. And if you can prove it, they may revoke that ticket. But that’s the risk you take if it says van with windows on your vehicle, I recommend you stay below the 60 mile an hour limit.
Why has a van with windows got a lower speed limit?
Matt Sims
And the bit about this seems odd to me is a van with windows is just a van with windows in it. A motor caravan’s got extra seats. It’s got a fridge, it’s got a hob, an oven, a whole load of furniture, a double bed, and then all our kit and kaboodle that goes with that is heavier. Naturally, it’s going to be much heavier and therefore take longer to stop when braking. So surely it should have the lower speed limit. Why is this the wrong way around?
David Whitehead
You could say it’s the wrong way around, but you have to remember with a motor caravan, most of the load is fixed. It’s not moving around anywhere. In a van with windows, it’s a commercial van, it can be loaded with boxes. It could be loaded right to the hilt. So the actual maximum weights are no different for the two vehicles, so everything set up for the maximum weight. It might be three and a half tonnes.
So both a van with windows and a motorhome are set up for three and half tonnes, but the van with windows could have a load in there that can move around. Whereas in a motor caravan, nearly everything is fixed. Nothing’s going to be moving around while you’re driving. So actually, there’s an argument to say that a van with windows should have a lower speed limit, because if it was in an accident, those things inside can fly around and go anywhere.
Matt Sims
And they’re often referred to as a dynamic load, aren’t they, because they can move.
David Whitehead
Yes, absolutely. It is a dynamic load, whereas a motor caravan – most of it is a dead load.
Matt Sims
But what about a half tank of water? That’s slopping about.
David Whitehead
Yes, but within a certain area. It can’t break the envelope of the tank. Whereas in a fan with windows, that whole area at the back is open.
Matt Sims
David, thank you so much for coming on the podcast again. We’re actually going to catch up with David again about type approval. There’s something very exciting. But actually, it’s really important because so many of our motorhomes and caravans and campervans that you can buy and see are not type approved. So they’re built to all sorts of standards. The National Caravan Council has a scheme that approves a build quality and standard. And what is it? Most people are completely unaware of it.
Keith Gooden
Don’t give it all away! Keep them hanging on is what I say.
Matt Sims
Yes, well, we’ll unpack that one in a future episode.
Keith Gooden
You mentioned speed limits in that interview. Vans with windows and the speed limit – that’s something that I wasn’t aware of. It drops if you put a window in it.
Matt Sims
Absolutely, yes. So the original van can go 70 miles an hour on the motorway. If you put windows in it and get it classified by the DVLA so it goes on your V5 as a van with windows, suddenly you can only do 60 miles an hour.
Keith Gooden
That’s something to remember when you’re hauling yourself down the motorway.
Matt Sims
Most people want to get a motorhome or campervan classified as a motor caravan on the V5, and the DVLA changed the rules around how you do this and have created a whole process with it. And we’re actually talking to the DVLA right now via email, trying to encourage them to come on the podcast. Do you reckon we can get a voice from the DVLA on? Let’s see.
Keith Gooden
You never know.
Matt Sims
You never know. So I’m intrigued to know, how have you got on? If you’re listening to this, have you tried to convert a van and have it reclassified as a motor caravan? And what was the result?
Keith Gooden
As you’ve explained it to me before we started recording, the DVLA is clear about the specifications about what you can do, but you’re saying that people do that, use those specifications, submit their work to the DVLA for reclassification, and it comes back as sorry, no. How does that happen?
Matt Sims
Oh, exactly. So I am yet to talk to anyone who has had a converted van reclassified as anything other than a van with windows. It’s the same letter that comes back. If you have had a pop top, this is key. If it’s a high top van then it’s a bit easier, perhaps, but if it’s a pop top, so a VW type van with a pop top roof and you followed all the criteria and submitted it to be reclassified as a motor caravan, how have you got on? Have you succeeded?
If you have, I would love to hear from you. If you haven’t, we’d love to hear from you. Because we are actually going to present this question to the DVLA and see if we can get response and an explanation from them as well.
Keith Gooden
We’re going to do that for you. Matt is on the case. Let’s delve into the main meat of this shall we then, Matt? The fillet steak, the sirloin, the T bone, and if you like chicken, the breast?
Matt Sims
Oh, dear. Half the listeners have just turned off.
Keith Gooden
The vegetarians have.
The difference between a CL and a CS
Keith Gooden
Types of campsites. That’s what we’re talking about today. What do you mean in terms of types of campsites?
Matt Sims
Well, there are lots of different types of campsite. We love an acronym. OTT, I’d say!
Keith Gooden
And TLS for That Leisure Shop.
Matt Sims
Indeed. Yes, yes, absolutely. Different campsites have different accreditations, so they’re often described as a CL or a CS and people say, “What does this mean?” A CL is a certified location and it’s a type of campsite affiliated with the Caravan and Motorhome Club.
The key is for the landowner, you can set up a campsite that’s restricted to five pitches for a motorhome or caravan without planning permission. And this is referred to as a CL if you then list it with the Caravan and Motorhome Club. If you list it with the Camping and Caravanning Club, the other club, it’s called a CS or a certified site. So they’re basically the same thing, same planning criteria, they just have different names.
What’s different about aries?
Keith Gooden
What about aires? We have talked about these before. Do I say it in the French way? Aires?
Matt Sims
Correct.
Keith Gooden
Never pronounce an S when you’re speaking French.
Matt Sims
Yes, that’s right, that’s right.
Keith Gooden
Or at the end of a word. Or do I say, ‘Eres,’?
Matt Sims
You can say, ‘Eres,’ given where you’re from. You can do what you like. So an aire is a park up. It’s a place where you’re not allowed to create an encampment. So unlike a campsite, you’re not allowed to get your awning out, your table and chairs and your barbecue – you just literally park up. You need to be self-sufficient. So particularly on the continent, you have to be self-sufficient in a motorhome or campervan. Aires are not for caravans, they are only for motorised leisure vehicles.
Keith Gooden
So when you say self-sufficient…
Matt Sims
The toilet.
Keith Gooden
Electricity?
Matt Sims
A battery on board, but you must have your own facilities, so your own water on board and your own toilet.
Keith Gooden
They don’t have somewhere you can plug into?
Matt Sims
Not always, not always. Some do. And often you pay to use that facility. They are increasing in number in this country. There’s a group, the Campaign for Real Aires, who we’ve spoken to, and you can listen back to that episode a week or so ago, where I spoke to CAMpRA at the Harrogate show. And they explained a bit more about what they’re all about and why they are doing what they’re doing.
There are 6,000 or so aires across Europe and a couple of hundred in the UK. So they are growing and growing fast. And they are a way for landowners to make money without really doing a huge amount. So, you know, that’s an option.
Keith Gooden
So if I can just jump in there, we don’t have aires or that style of stop off over here at the moment. Is that what you’re saying?
Matt Sims
We do. There are there are over 200, I think. CAMpRA have been involved with 120 of them. They are increasing in number. And we need more of them, because another common way of camping is to wild camp. We call it that incorrectly, we know, but where people just park up in a lay by or in an area of outstanding natural beauty and spend the night.
But we’ve done lots of content on that in the past, on trespass and wild camping itself, where you need to have the landowner’s permission. And they’re often called wild park ups or stopovers. They’re called lots of things. If it was an approved spot like an aire would be, where the council have approved it – maybe the council own it. Increasingly they do – then that would be great. We need more of them. So please, if you’ve got land, definitely go and listen to the CAMpRA episode and tell us about your aire as well.
Keith Gooden
An aire gets rid, doesn’t it, of that doubt when you’re driving along looking for somewhere to stop. Can I stop in this lay by? Can I stop here? Can I do this? The aires is another level which they’ve got on the continent, which as you say is being introduced more and more here. And CAMpRA’s campaigning is doing a great job in increasing the number of them. But like I say, it takes away that doubt in the driver’s mind about the risk of being towed.
Matt Sims
Yes, you’ve paid to go on the aire. It might be a car park and just pay £1.70 for overnight parking. But the point is, you’ve pay to be there and you have a right to be there. You’re allowed to be there. You’ve got the landowner’s permission.
Keith Gooden
Motorhomers want to abide by the law. They want to do the right thing. It’s just that sometimes it’s a bit fuzzy, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
It is fuzzy, yes, particularly around wild park upping. Is that a phrase? Wild parkupping?
Keith Gooden
It is now.
Matt Sims
We’ll coin it. Let’s use that. So yes, it’s the fuzziness that we don’t like, unless it’s you, Keith.
Keith Gooden
Said the actress to the bishop.
What are Brit stops?
Matt Sims
So Brit Stops is a book that’s been around for years. A chap called Steve launched it some time ago. And it’s a list or book of locations where you can spend the night with the landowner’s permission like a pub.
So you can go in the pub, have a meal, have a beer, and then spend the night in their carpark and often it’s free. Sometimes there is a charge for doing it of £10 a night. But there’s a whole load of locations that you can book, you can go and stay at and there is a minimal charge or no charge.
Keith Gooden
I’ve got you. So how do I go about booking an official campsite?
Matt Sims
Well, for an official campsite, there are lots of places and loads of websites. Google is your friend. So there are lots of websites where you can just go on and book. You could become a member of a club and book their campsite.
So I’ve mentioned before the Camping and Caravanning Club – you pay to join them. It’s £40 or thereabouts for the annual membership. And then you can book their sites. Some of their sites you can book without becoming a member, actually.
Or you could join the Caravan and Motorhome Club and book into their sites. So if you join the Caravan and Motorhome Club, you can book onto a CL. And you can find those via the Club website, although you need to search very specifically for a CL.
Finding a CL
Matt Sims
In fact, CLs are a bit tricky to find. I caught up with a guy. His name’s Ted, and he owns a CL and has actually been part of a group who’ve created a booking platform called CL Booking.
Ted Howard-Jones
I’m Ted Howard-Jones from Cholsey Grange CL.
Matt Sims
Tell us a little bit about the website that you’ve created that basically enables people to book on to a range of CL sites.
Ted Howard-Jones
That’s right. It’s called CL Booking, and I and about 20 other CL owners, which are five van sites, about two years ago got together and thought it would be really great if our visitors who like coming to our sites could quickly and easily find our sites and book them on the internet rather than having to telephone.
Quite often, we are farmers or we’re out at work, or we’ve got another job because a five van site doesn’t really make a living, as it were. It’s kind of a hobby or in my case, because I’m a farmer, it’s part of our diversification. And so we don’t spend full time taking bookings and so forth.
So it’s nice to be able to allow people just to book online, and then we can get back to them, confirm it, and so forth. And they can see what our availability is and whether we take dogs or children or whether we’ve got hook up and toilets and showers and all the normal questions that you would have. And so yes, we wanted to make it easy for people to book online.
Matt Sims
And so how many CL sites have you got listed on the website now?
Ted Howard-Jones
As of today we’ve got 250, which is fantastic. And that’s attracted about 20,000 people who’ve registered to use the site and get our newsletters and so forth and access to our Facebook groups and all that sort of stuff.
So we do two things. We help promote the small sites to our audience. And we allow the audience, the visitors, who want to come and visit our little sites on farms or in lovely remote places…we tell them all about it, and what the joys of running a small site are and of visiting a small site.
Matt Sims
So what’s your site called?
Ted Howard-Jones
My site’s called Cholsey Grange, and it’s up in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. And it’s got a fantastic view.
Matt Sims
And like any CL, you’ve got five pitches that are available.
Ted Howard-Jones
That’s absolutely right. We were limited to five pitches, and yes, we put those in about eight or nine years ago. And to start with it was just a grass field with a tap in the corner and so forth, and some chemical waste disposal. But now we’ve gradually evolved it to be hard standings and fully serviced and so forth.
Matt Sims
And you’ve got quite a few facilities on the site as well, I understand.
Ted Howard-Jones
Yes, we offer Wi-Fi. We offer dog walking and circular walks. And it’s it’s a great experience for people, but we don’t have toilets and showers. So that makes us a little bit different since some people would prefer toilets and showers. That’s good for them. There are lots of other CLs that do have those.
Matt Sims
You mentioned that you’re a farmer. That’s your real job.
Ted Howard-Jones
If I can call it that!
Matt Sims
And you’re diversifying. You have a CL. We’re going to see more farmers doing this, aren’t we? We’re going to see more CLs cropping up.
Ted Howard-Jones
Absolutely. If you’ve watched Clarkson’s Farm, you’ll know how important diversification is to farmers because all the government subsidies are going away for farmers. So lots of them are diversifying into doing other things. And tourism is one of the easier things for them to do. And they’re either setting up campsites or CLs.
Actually, alongside ours, we run horse riding holidays as well. So we’ve done two diversifications on our farm, but you will find lots more farmers being interested in this avenue to make some money. Yes.
How you create a CL?
Matt Sims
And for someone who’s listening and is thinking, “Well, yes, we’ve got some land, we could do that,” how easy is it to create a CL?
Ted Howard-Jones
It’s relatively easy if you go down through one of the major clubs who will provide the certification. And in essence, that’s the planning permission. And it helps you because going to your local authority for planning permission can be quite difficult. Whereas through the clubs for a CL, it’s relatively straightforward. It can possibly take three or four months to do, but it is probably more straightforward than going to your local authority.
Matt Sims
Yes. Is there a cost for that CL owner to join your listing website?
Ted Howard-Jones
So to join the CL Booking website costs £150 per year, and we don’t charge any commissions on the bookings that are taken. So unlike Pitch Up and Airbnb and so forth, there are no commissions. So it’s a straight annual fee.
Matt Sims
Brilliant. And just give us the website address again.
Ted Howard-Jones
www.clbooking.co.uk.
Matt Sims
Ted, thank you for stopping by. Really interesting, and I wish you all the best with your continued diversification. I think Clarkson has just elevated the awareness to us, Joe Public, of what a challenging time farmers have. And hats off to him. I heard it said that he’s done more for the farming community than Countryfile have ever done. Sorry, Beeb.
Ted Howard-Jones
I’d agree. I’d agree. 100%, absolutely. Yes, Clarkson has done a fantastic job of putting the awareness out there about how difficult is to grow food and make a profit and deliver it to the customer. And I think that if you haven’t watched it, go and watch it.
Matt Sims
Brilliant. There’s Ted!
Keith Gooden
Edward, as he’s known to his mother.
Matt Sims
He’s Ted to everyone else. Thanks for coming on, Ted. It was great to finally catch up with you. In fact, we’re going to talk to Ted again on a future episode about another challenge facing campsites. We’ll come back to that.
What is different about a standard campsite?
Keith Gooden
Fantastic. What about people with caravans and people camping in tents?
Matt Sims
Yes, true. So what we’ve been talking about really are motorhome and campervan destinations. If you’re a caravanner or tenter, then you need to head to an official campsite, which of course are generally – not always – but usually much bigger. They’ve got a toilet block, shower block, maybe washing up facilities. Some even have bowling alleys and arcades for the kids. I must say, we tend to avoid those campsites unless we’re going away out of season and it’s going to rain.
So there’s a choice really, and booking them you can do online. And really, it’s up to you where you want to go. So often, as Ted says, a CL or CS is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. And the only way you can get a campsite there is by having a CL or CS which is limited to five pitches. You’ll probably never get a campsite built on Dartmoor.
Keith Gooden
Right, got you. And Ted, the Jeremy Clarkson fanclub as I’d like to call him…
Matt Sims
I wouldn’t go that far!
Keith Gooden
… might like to persuade him to have an aire on his land.
Matt Sims
Who, Clarkson?
Keith Gooden
Yes.
Matt Sims
That would be popular, wouldn’t it?
Keith Gooden
Diddly Squat Farm.
Matt Sims
Imagine that. Well, Jeremy, if you’re listening, tell us your thoughts. What do you think?
Ways to save on campsite bookings
Keith Gooden
So Matt, can you point me to some savings? There’s lots to choose from. How can I make my buck go further?
Matt Sims
So in this country, the UK, I would definitely join the Club. If you want to go to a big campsite or CL or CS, I’d join a club. There are always special offers, and you have access to all their campsites. If you’re travelling on the continent, I would definitely go and buy the ACSI books, A C S I. We talked to ACSI. You’ll hear from them in a second. Or the Alan Rogers guide books.
Listen to a previous episode on Alan Rogers and and his guide books and what the team at the Caravan and Motorhome Club I’ve created, but ACSI is a very popular one. And at the NEC show in February, I spoke to the guys on the ACSI stand and asked them a bit more.
The ACSI guide In depth with At and At
Matt Sims
So I’m here with a familiar face to the show on the ACSI stand. I’m with At from the Netherlands. We see you at all the shows giving out the great ACSI handbook. Tell me, what does ACSI actually stand for?
At Rens
ACSI stands for Auto Service CampingCard International.
Matt Sims
So Automobile CampingCard Service International.
At Rens
That’s the right one! Sorry for that. I always use ACSI!
Matt Sims
I think everybody does. And what is the ACSI guide?
At Rens
ACSI is an editor of camping guides. We inspect on an annual basis more than 10,000 campsites all over Europe. And we put them in one big ACSI Europe CampingCard camping guide. And that’s what we mainly do.
And as well as that, we have something for people who travel in low season. And that means that you can travel all year long, except July and August. And then you can use the world famous ACSI CampingCard, which gives you a discount of €5 €10each night on 3,000 campsites all over Europe.
Matt Sims
And in two or three nights, you would save the cost of having the card, wouldn’t you?
At Rens
Exactly, exactly. And after that you are saving two bottles of wine a day!
Matt Sims
I love that. And it’s £18.99. Is that a typical price?
At Rens
£18.99 is a special offer for the show here. Normally you will pay around £21. And if you buy it online, you will pay for the shipment as well.
Matt Sims
Yes. Well, we love it. I love ours, it’s an essential to have. And it’s an annual guide, isn’t it, that you need to renew every year. When was it launched?
At Rens
It launched in 2006. And since then, it’s grown to an immense success because a lot of people… we are printing 400,000 copies of the guide in 14 different languages. One of them is English!
Matt Sims
Thank you for doing that. And when does the new guide comeout?
At Rens
The new guide is coming out at the end of the year. So when you have a subscription, we will send you an email reminder by the end of October. Once we have made the financial arrangements we will ship the new books for the new year to you before Christmas every year.
Matt Sims
So it’s kept up to date every year.
At
All 10,000 campsites, because that is high season information – and out of these 10,000 campsite for high season, 3,000 have said, “Come to us in low season and then you will get a discount.” And low season is the whole year except for six weeks in July and August.
Matt Sims
Thank you for adding that in. That’s really good. Have a great show!
At
Thank you very much.
Matt Sims
Thank you both.
Keith Gooden
So two men called At!
Matt Sims
At and At.
Keith Gooden
That’s the name of a film, isn’t it? Two men called At.
Matt Sims
They’re such lovely guys. They come to every show we do here in the UK or certainly at the NEC. You see them standing there smiling and trying to sell the ACSI guide. It is really good. You can save up to 30% on campsites offseason as they say, so yes, worth getting, definitely.
Keith Gooden
You’ve heard a small part of that interview. If you’d like to hear more or see more, you can go onto our YouTube channel. Just look for Motorhome Matt.
Matt Sims
That’s it, yes. You can see the full interview with them. And we’re doing this increasingly, aren’t we? Snippets for the podcast, enough for the dog walk or emptying the dishwasher or whatever it is you’re doing – in the shower. Some people, we know, are listening in the shower. And if you want to get the full deep dive, then head off to the YouTube channel.
Campsites – how do I book?
Keith Gooden
So Matt, I’ve got all the information here. You’ve given me all the different sorts of campsites. I’m on top of it.
Matt Sims
Good.
Keith Gooden
How do I now go ahead and book where I want to stay?
Matt Sims
Dead easy. So if you join a club, then you go to their website and you can book there. So join the Camping and Caravanning Club or Caravan and Motorhome Club. That’s a great way of doing it. There are lots of rally clubs as well that you can join. Google is your friend. There are loads of portals for campsites.
So the obvious ones like Airbnb are very mainstream, but there’s Pitch Up and Hipcamp. And there are some brilliant apps as well. The personal favourites of mine are Searchforsites or Park4night with a number 4 in it. In fact, we’ve covered this in two episodes in the past. One is called booking a campsite, and another is best app. So go and search for those. I think they run one after the other. So there are two quick episodes to go and check out on the podcast where we cover all of this.
Keith Gooden
Just a quick question about the apps. Are they free?
Matt Sims
Some of them are, yes. If you’ve paid for a membership, then obviously the app comes with it. But often they are, yes. And they make their money by you booking.
Keith Gooden
Fantastic. So if you come across an app and they demand payment from you, search and see if you can find a free one first.
Matt Sims
You’re just tight.
Keith Gooden
Money is tight these days. So we’ve covered our types of campsites and how you can book them. We’ve talked to some of the people involved behind the scenes as well. I think we’ve covered that off pretty well, don’t you?
Matt Sims
Hopefully, but if you’ve still got questions, then make sure you ask us. I’ll give a plug for it! www.motormatt.co.uk/askmatt. You can record your question by hitting the button or you can just fill in the form and send it to us. If you record it, please tell us where you are. It’s always lovely to know where our listeners are.
Audience Q&A
Raj: “Can you discuss six-metre, six berth motorhomes?”
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Okay, let’s delve deeply into our audience Q&A. Here’s Raj.
Raj
I’m new to motorhomes. I hired a motorhome a couple of times, so I enjoy it. I am considering buying one. My family has four adults and two children. That includes my wife and my parents. So I’m looking for something like a six-metre motorhome with six seatbelts in order to accommodate all of my family.
The reason I’m looking for a six-metre motorhome is because I’ll be travelling into London mostly, Zone Five or Zone Six. We have family there. I live in Hertfordshire. The lanes are narrow! Generally the UK has smaller roads. That’s one of my reasons. I would be grateful if you could discuss six-metre motorhomes with six seatbelts. Thank you!
Keith Gooden
That’s Raj there with the television and his kids and pets in the background.
Matt Sims
There was a lot going on there, Raj! It sounded like you were all in the motorhome when you were recording that!
Keith Gooden
What advice have you got for him?
Matt Sims
Well, six metres and six belts, that’s a challenge, I’m not going to lie. I can understand your logic. The first thing that came to mind is to look at more of a people carrier, where you then perhaps look at putting an awning on the side or the back of it. And these things do exist.
Spaceships campers do lots of these, where they take a Toyota Previa or some type of vehicle like that which is actually a car, and it’s had some sort of conversion to make the seats into a bed. And then you bolt a tent onto the side or clip a tent onto the side of it, making your living area much bigger. That may be an option, and particularly if you go into low emission zones, and that’s a consideration too perhaps.
Six metres and six belts is the challenge. If you were to go a bit longer, 6.4 metres – we’ve just actually sold a lovely motorhome. It was built by Adria. And if you want to Google it, Raj, so you get the idea of the layout, it’s called a 573 DF. It has six seat belts and sort of two double beds. Six of you could sleep in it.
And of course, it’s always an option to put the parents in a tent outside or the kids in a tent outside if it’s a bit of a squash inside. But normally I would say a six belted motorhome with six beds – you’re looking at a seven metre motorhome.
Keith Gooden
Okay, Raj. I hope that helps you.
Colin: “We’re looking for far flung insurance.”
Keith Gooden
Colin’s in Northampton. “Hi Matt. It was good to meet you at the NEC in February. We, Colin and Liz, were the couple asking about worldwide insurance. We went to chat with the other stands you recommended but still got the same message that beyond Europe they did not offer more far flung cover.”
“We’ll let you know if we find out there is someone out there that will cover this. We’ll definitely be listening to some of your podcasts for more tips and hints of things we need to consider before venturing into the big wide world.” And they send their best wishes, Colin and Liz.
Matt Sims
I remember meeting them. It was great to meet you guys. Thanks for your message. Since we chatted – I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t get on very well speaking to the insurers I sent you off to talk to – but I did ask one myself and they suggested Adrian Flux.
Now, I don’t know if Adrian Flux can cover you, but they often offer policies which are a bit left field. I’ve got a classic car insured with them, actually, but they may be an option for you. But if you do find out, let me know. I’d love to know where you’ve managed to get cover. Colin and Liz want to go around the world properly, outside of the Schengen Zone, and really go far flung. So yes, I’m going to hide in their boot.
Keith Gooden
Cheers, Colin and Liz.
Bethan: “Can I get a multi-use European visa?”
Keith Gooden
Bethan Wynne dropped a little form at the NEC into our little box. “Can I get a visa for Europe for travelling to many European countries? I know about the France 180 days stay. But I want to travel outside France.”
Matt Sims
Good question. You don’t need a visa currently as we record this to go to the Schengen Zone, so mainland EU. However, as of November this year, and it’s threatened to be introduced sooner, you will need to apply for a visa waiver. It’s called an ETIAS, E T I A S. It’s €7 and it will last for three years. And everyone of all ages must apply for one.
If you’re under 18 it’s free. If you’re over 70 it’s free. However, in the middle it’s €7, but you only have to pay that once every three years. And that will mean you can travel into the Schengen Zone. If you haven’t got an ETIAS, you must have a visa.
Obviously, travelling outside the Schengen zone, you may need a visa. But at the moment, none is required. So keep an eye on www.etias.info, and you’ll be able to see – and we will let you know as well. We’re keeping a close eye when this rule is going to change.
Keith Gooden
They’ve got a very similar system, haven’t they, when you go into America, the ESTA.
Matt Sims
ESTA, yes. It’s basically the same.
Keith Gooden
Just on Bethan’s point here, she says she knows about the France 180 days. As I understand it, the 180-day rule applies to the Schengen Zone in total. So you can’t spend 180 days in France and then go to Spain for 180 days.
Matt Sims
No, there’s actually a 90-day limit. It’s a rolling 90-day limit, which would accumulate 90 days of travel.
Keith Gooden
So you can spend 90 days there come back and then return, but it’s not country by country. It’s within the EU zone.
Matt Sims
Absolutely, within the Schengen Zone. Yes. If you want to find out more about this, we actually have a guide on preparing for a European trip, which you can get for free. It’s at www.thatleisureshop.com/europe. And I gave a presentation recently in Harrogate every day, and there is a video there as well that you can watch.
And the guide has a checklist and a handbook on everything you need to know about preparing for a European motorhome adventure. It says all this stuff you’ve legally got to have and all the paperwork you need, all the paperwork your motorhome or caravan has to have and then all the stuff that you didn’t even know you needed. There are some interesting facts in there, so definitely go and get that. It’s completely free.
Keith Gooden
I applied for Crit’Air today.
Matt Sims
Well done.
Keith Gooden
Another €4 odd, that is, plus if this ETIAS comes in, that’s €11 before you even get anywhere.
Matt Sims
That’s your holiday budget gone.
Keith Gooden
Sorted! They asked for a photograph of the car, so I sent them one of Coco the clown next to his. It’s in better condition.
Matt Sims
Did they actually ask for a photo?
Keith Gooden
They asked for my registration form.
Matt Sims
Right, the V5. So what did you have to give them?
Keith Gooden
I didn’t have to give them anything. I just filled in the online form, which is the sort of car, when it was first registered, which is on your V five, the VIN number and what sort of fuel it takes. And also down the bottom, it’s your CO2 emissions.
Matt Sims
And that was on your V5?
Keith Gooden
And that’s on the V5.
Matt Sims
Okay. I had someone else the other day – in fact, someone posted this on Facebook as well this week, the same question about classification. So what we were talking about earlier – is it an M1 or is it a motor caravan? So they went with M1. But it’s back to this, what we’ve been talking about today. This is important. You mustn’t lose that V5, because that classification is on there. And if you’re going to apply for a Crit’Air then you need all that information.
Keith Gooden
And there’s one thing that isn’t on the V5 which you have to look up independently, which is the Euro rating of your car.
Matt Sims
Right, exactly. That’s what the Crit’Air is. Yeah. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 different stickers. And how did you find the Euro rating of yours?
Keith Gooden
I went to the RAC site and there you have got a very handy little, ‘Check your car here,’ tool.
Matt Sims
Yes, very good. So that’s a great place to go. You could go to www.gov.uk as well and look at one of the clean air zones here. And if you haven’t got to pay, you’re probably Euro five or six, I think. You might be Euro four. But yes, there’s a bit of guesswork there. RAC is a great resource. They have a brilliant website.
Keith Gooden
And if you’re wondering how they do the Euro, it’s when your car was first registered. It’s when the car was built, basically. And mine’s an old car, so I was Euro five. More modern cars are a Euro six.
Matt Sims
It’s about the emissions. Your car – I’ve seen the plume of smoke following you around!
Keith Gooden
It’s mostly emissions, my car. Okay then, I think we’ve covered just about everything. How do people get in touch?
Get in touch with Matt
Matt Sims
Go to www.motorhomematt.co.uk/askmatt. Submit us a question. We love hearing from you. And there you will find all our social channels and you’ll find us on YouTube as well at Motorhome Matt.
