Keith Gooden: In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast…
Matt Sims: We unpack how much a motorhome would realistically cost you to own per month.
Keith Gooden: In the news, the 12 Daves of Christmas are here.
Matt Sims: And we answer your questions on trackers being declined for insurance and converting a pop-top to a high-top.
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 all brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com and sponsored by Ripe.
Matt Sims: Now remember, please do follow on your favourite podcast app. Or if you’re watching on YouTube, click subscribe and that little bell.
Keith Gooden: In the news, Matt, the 12 Daves of Christmas have started. What are they?
Matt Sims: This was a huge success last year and it’s back by popular demand. So Dave runs our little shop in North Somerset at That Leisure Shop, and no doubt you would have seen his big beaming smiley face when you popped in, or if you follow us on socials.
Keith Gooden: His big, beaming face.
Matt Sims: Yes, big beaming smiley face. He is like Mr. Happy. He has such a great smile and he’s a lovely guy. And the 12 Daves of Christmas are 12 days of offers brought to you by Dave. And the offers are discounted products and great Christmas gift ideas or ideas for products you might need for next year’s travels.
Keith Gooden: Is there a different offer every day?
Matt Sims: Different offer every day! Now, some of them go out of stock really fast, so they might be limited-time offers or limited-number offers. So you need to get in quick. So follow us on social media, on Facebook, on Instagram at That Leisure Shop and you’ll tune in to Dave’s deals. And even if you’re not in the market to buy that product, they are brilliant value. And Dave is hilarious.
Keith Gooden: Now, we’re talking about Christmas. It’s actually October for us because…
Matt Sims: Don’t spoil the magic.
Keith Gooden: If you’ve been looking and listening, then you will know that Motorhome Matt is having some surgery. And we’re recording these ahead of time, so we don’t know what the deals are yet. But one thing is guaranteed – they will be Dave-y and they will be gravy.
Matt Sims: You always have to make it rhyme, don’t you? Wavey. We’re back with another Alan Rogers Campsite of the month feature. And I’m joined by Rob from Alan Rogers. Rob, where are we off to this month?
Rob Fearn: So we’re heading to the Costa Dorada, the golden coast of Spain, south of Tarragona.
Matt Sims: You’re still trying to tempt me to eastern Spain, aren’t you?
Rob Fearn: So this is called Playa Montroig. They describe themselves as a camping resort. It’s part of the Leading Camping Group. We’ve talked about Leading before.
Matt Sims: We have.
Rob Fearn: Yeah. They’ve only got about 30 campsites within that group, and there’s only two in Spain. So that really does show you the quality of this campsite. It’s a little more lively than some of the more rural campsites that we’ve discussed, and it’s a big site with top-class facilities. They describe themselves as a five-star resort, and it certainly lives up to that name.
Matt Sims: Okay, so what can we expect to see there?
Rob Fearn: They’ve got four pools in the garden pool area. They’ve got eight slides. Some of the pools are heated in the low season, a splash pool for the little ones with fountains, mini slides, and one of those tipping buckets that my daughter still thinks is hilarious when I get caught out by them. They’ve got direct beach access with the Tucanamar tropical beach bar, parasols, sunbeds. I’m already there.
Matt Sims: And food is a big theme again at this campsite, isn’t it?
Rob Fearn: Traditional Catalan farmhouse-style food. Mediterranean food, lots of seafood tapas snacks on the terrace bar. And they’ve got a lot of activity. So when you’ve eaten so much that you can’t move, you can get onto that court. Football, basketball, boules. Or I probably should say petanque.
Matt Sims: Yeah, let’s do that. That’s far more relaxed. And then what can we expect to see in the local area? There’s lots to do, isn’t there?
Rob Fearn: There is. So you’ve got Cambrils, a bustling coastal town nearby. Beautiful beaches, lively promenade, so you can walk off a little bit more of that food before you dive into one of their fresh seafood restaurants. The picturesque village of Montroig, which is known for its mountain top chapel. Tarragona is nearby. We’ve talked about Tarragona before, but obviously that’s a Unesco World Heritage Site. So lots of Roman architecture there. And you’ve got the Port Aventura theme parks. So you’ve got the the water park, the theme park and the Ferrari World there as well.
Matt Sims: Loads to do. This campsite is also known for its spa and wellness centre. What’s going on there?
Rob Fearn: Well, when you’ve done all those activities, you need somewhere to relax. So there’s a range of therapies in there. Spa. There’s jacuzzi, sauna, Turkish bath, Japanese garden, solarium and a relaxation area. So yeah, you can really chill out when you’ve hit the beach.
Matt Sims: And this is also not just motorhome caravan pitches. There’s other types of accommodation too.
Rob Fearn: They offer a range of bungalows, villas including innovative eco lodges. So that is in a converted shipping container. So it’s spacious. They’ve taken the side off this thing and so it’s nice and airy. Wooden interiors, hammocks, coffee machine – and it is right on the beach.
Matt Sims: Wow. And loads of the pitches, I understand, have beach access.
Rob Fearn: They do. They’ve got six pitch types. So there are those set further back from the beach. They’re standard pitches. And then as you move closer to the beach, you end up on the Premium Plus ones. But 47 of their pictures have got direct beach access.
Matt Sims: And when is this site open?
Rob Fearn: It’s open from late March 2025. That’s around the 28th and it will close around about the 26th of October. So late October.
Matt Sims: And cost?
Rob Fearn: €32 is the starting price. As usual, that’s for a pitch with two people and electricity. But if you’re staying for longer then offers are available.
Matt Sims: Fantastic. So eastern Spain, if that’s your chosen destination – where are we this month?
Rob Fearn: We’re on the Costa Dorada, the Golden Coast south of Tarragona, and it’s Playa Montroig Camping Resort.
Matt Sims: Thanks, Rob. So if you want to find out about all of Alan Rogers campsites, including this one, just head to mhmp.info/alanrogers.
Keith Gooden: So today in the podcast, we’re asking that question. It’s a toughie, but it needs to be asked. And we’ve the man for the job can you afford to run a motorhome month in and month out? What is the real monthly cost, Matt?
Matt Sims: Well, we obsess a lot about the purchase price. And then there are the obvious things that people of course consider. So we thought we’d list them all. So the first one is finance. Are you going to take out finance to buy the motorhome? And these days, increasingly, we’re seeing more and more people do this. So you need to consider what that’s going to cost every month. With motorhome finance, the good news is you can take long payment terms – 15 years, which will keep the monthly cost down. You do of course pay more interest. And we unpacked this recently with a whole episode on motorhome finance with Steve from motorhome.finance. But I reckon let’s start the running around £300 a month. That’s kind of an affordable number for most people.
Keith Gooden: And so what does that buy you, then?
Matt Sims: So it depends on the term. So if you’re looking at a motorhome that’s around £40,000 and you could borrow that money with a reasonable deposit, you’re probably looking at around £300 or £400 a month. So most people’s finance typically is around that number. And it depends on so many variables – the size of your deposit, the appetite of the finance company to lend on it and the rate they’ve given you. That’s another big one too. You may have got a special offer. It may have been 0% when you took it. And the term – how long you’re going to run the finance for. But let’s just say for the purposes of this exercise today, we’re going to budget £300. You may not need finance, so £300 is irrelevant. The next one we all know about is insurance.
Keith Gooden: Yeah. You’ve got your motorhome, you’ve got the finance – insurance.
Matt Sims: We all know we need that. And again, there are so many variables to this. It depends where you live. The value of the motorhome is a big one too. Your claims history. But in my experience most people are paying somewhere between £300 and £500 a year.
Keith Gooden: Is that all?
Matt Sims: Well, that’s interesting you say that. Lots of people say this to me. I mean, if it’s a hundred grand motorhome, you’re going to be paying £800 a year, probably – or thereabouts. But again, let’s assume. We’re going kind of world of averages. The motorhome’s worth £40,000 or £50,000. You live in a respectable neighbourhood. I would guess – and it is a guess, and I’m only going from my own experience – you’re going to be looking at about £400 or £500 a year. So £40 a month. Okay. Broad brush strokes. We just want to get to a rough end number, don’t we? That’s the whole point. So I would budget £40 a month for insurance.
Keith Gooden: Right. Road tax, then – how much is that going to cost me?
Matt Sims: So again this one is determined by the engine size and the weight and whether the emissions were put on the certificate of conformity when it was new. If they were, you would be paying a much higher road tax than if it’s just a motorcaravan and there’s no emissions on that certificate.
Keith Gooden: Can you just explain that a little bit?
Matt Sims: There’s a whole podcast in itself. So when you buy a motorhome, you get given a certificate of conformity. And it’s got the weights and measures of the vehicle, everything that means it complies to be a motor caravan. An M1SP is the categorisation of the DVLA, and you need that certificate if you ever want to export the vehicle from the UK to, say, Spain. Now normally, the emissions are not written on a motorhome certificate of conformity, whereas on a car they are.
Keith Gooden: They most certainly are.
Matt Sims: And those emissions determine the road tax. So if you’ve got a Range Rover, it’s extortionate. I’ve got an old Range Rover and it’s now… gosh, it must be nearly £600 a year really to tax it because its emissions are high. It’s an older diesel. It’s brilliant at towing anything, but it’s high to road tax. A motorhome doesn’t have any of those emissions on normally. And it’s really important you check this when you’re buying a brand new motorhome. Ask the dealer to see the certificate of conformity. And if there are no emissions, it’s just an M1SP. It’s an M1 special purpose vehicle. It’s a motor caravan and it has two tax classes. So we’re going to assume for the sake of this exercise it’s around a two litre engine, thereabouts. And it’s three and a half tonnes. Now oddly, road tax on that vehicle is now I think £365 a year. If it’s over three and a half tonnes, so 3,650 or 3,800 it’s £171 a year.
Keith Gooden: How so?
Matt Sims: It’s private heavy goods versus private light goods. Private heavy goods for the very first time in years was put up by £6. It used to be £165 a year. And it’s always been an odd one as to why a motorhome that weighs more should be a lower tax value. I’ve never understood why. It’s in a similar tax band to trade plates and lorries. And can you imagine if they really started putting that up? Lorries would just queue up and block roads. I think that’s a given. So they’ve never really messed around with it until 2025 when they put it up by £6. It is now £171, whereas private light goods, so anything under three and a half tonnes with an engine of around two litres is typically £365, and that they’ve put up and up and up. Every year, they seem to raise that because they’re not affecting trade and business, just consumers.
Keith Gooden: You know, I wish I’d never asked.
Matt Sims: I know, but it gets more complicated than this! So if the engine is smaller, it’s even more complicated. And we’re going just broad brush strokes. Mainstream motorhomes are typically £365 a year at the moment, or £165 if you’re heavier. So we’re going to budget that you’re a mainstream motorhome. We’re going to say £30 a month, right? Roughly.
Keith Gooden: Okay. Storage, then – why do I need to store it? I can just keep it on the front drive, or the street outside my house.
Matt Sims: Well, you could do, but some insurers won’t insure you if you do that. Maybe they’ll insure you for 24 hours. You might have a deed of covenant on your house that restricts you from parking on the drive or on the road, and you can only park there for ten hours. So you need to check this. You might have neighbours who get upset when you pull up outside their house in your motorhome. So storage is a solution for many people. We’ve discussed this at length before, haven’t we? More and more new builds don’t even have space for a motorhome.
Keith Gooden: And they do have covenants. I mean, I bought one, what, nearly 30 years ago now. A while back. I had a covenant that if you had a caravan – six weeks maximum per year. And that was 1997.
Matt Sims: And of course, motorhomes and caravans got bigger and bigger and they block more and more light. So storage is a solution for many people. And it is becoming more expensive in the UK to store a motorhome or caravan as business rates go up and land rates, rent and so on go up. Typically, and it does vary where you are in the country, but I would say if you budgeted £50 a month, that’s going to cover you for most storage sites. Our own storage business is £699 a year, so we’re slightly over that. But I was talking to a storage company in the southwest, and they are £780 a year, I think. And some are well over a thousand. Some are the old school pound a day, but they’re not registered with the trade body CaSSOA, the Caravan Storage Site Owners’ Association. We are. We’re a gold registered site and we are roughly £50 a month, thereabouts. So that’s what I would budget.
Keith Gooden: Fantastic. So that’s up to £800 a year. Servicing and habitation checks and all the rest of it?
Matt Sims: Yeah. So let’s assume you’re going to have an oil change every year and an air filter. You’re going to be diligent. And rather than do it every two years. I think oil is the lifeblood of the motorhome. So I would do it every year.
Keith Gooden: Even if you’re just doing a couple of thousand miles?
Matt Sims: If it’s sat around, I would just replace the oil. It’s only going to cost £200 or £300. So again, I would budget £25 a month for servicing. Habitation check – I’m a huge fan of endorsing a habitation check every year. You need to have one for manufacturer warranty to be upkept. They want you to have one done every year. And again, it depends who you use for it. If it’s mobile, it might be under £200. Maybe it’s a mobile engineer coming to your house or to your storage business, or you might go to a main dealer and you’ll pay £400. But for the sake of argument, let’s go £20 a month.
Keith Gooden: Okay, so we’ve replaced the oil and had a service – £299 ish. Let’s call it £300, shall we? Habitation check checks – up to £400. Repairs. I mean, my motorhome… I bought it second hand, but it was in pretty good nick. Why are you budgeting up to £500 in repairs?
Matt Sims: Well, I think you should. I mean, things like tyres are consumable and you’re going to spend £400 on two tyres probably, if you get camper spec tyres. You might break a door handle. I mean, you could spend thousands of pounds. In a recent episode where we were talking about Warranty Solutions Group, my own motorhome probably would have cost me £2,000 to repair the things that went wrong on it just in that year. So then we’re budgeting £200 a month for those repairs. I think that was unusual. My flyscreen door broke, the oven wouldn’t stay lit. The bathroom tap failed. I had a kind of a calamity of things.
Keith Gooden: You had a poltergeist.
Matt Sims: Something went on. Yeah. But we have been using it a lot. So I think how often you’re using it is going to determine the wear and tear. But then equally not using it, that can cause issues with damp, you know, because it’s stood around. Things seize up.
Keith Gooden: You’ve got to get the balance right.
Matt Sims: You have. Yeah. And so my advice is to use it. So I reckon if you’re budgeting for repairs, let’s say £500 a year, that’s a ballpark. And it might be you’re lucky and you spend £20 on a little widget.
Keith Gooden: But then the year after it could be £600.
Matt Sims: It could. So for the sake of this exercise, let’s say £40 a month.
Keith Gooden: Okay. Then we’re on to what I would call ancillary costs, things which aren’t fixed costs, fuel, campsites, ferries, wine.
Matt Sims: Well, yeah. Well…
Keith Gooden: Before we go on…
Matt Sims: There’s too many variables in there, aren’t there dancing girls. Wowzers. So it depends where you’re going to go. If you’re doing a trip to Spain, you’re going to blow £500 on the ferry in that one trip just getting down to Bilbao. You might spend hundreds of pounds on fuel in one trip. You might just do a little short weekend break. So can we keep that separate? Can we do that? Are we allowed to do that?
Keith Gooden: Okay.
Matt Sims: Under the rules of this little game.
Keith Gooden: Yeah. So you’re not going to include those costs in your final figures. Is that what you’re saying?
Matt Sims: Yeah. Because even for our own use, we might choose to go off grid to what we call a Brit Stop, which is a pub car park. And then we’ll go and use the pub. And on that basis, the stopover is free. But then we’ll go and blow £120 or more a lovely meal and some drinks.
Keith Gooden: Pie, chips and drinks.
Matt Sims: Well, no, it’s probably going to be a Michelin star meal, I’ll be honest. But we only do that once a month because we’re posh.
Keith Gooden: Once a month?!
Matt Sims: Maybe not every month..
Keith Gooden: Michelin star…
Matt Sims: Well, not Michelin star, maybe Michelin star style. We love watching Great British Menu, programmes on the telly box like that.
Keith Gooden: Big plates, little bit of food…
Matt Sims: Sometimes. But we love following where those chefs end up and often they end up in a pub. So we’ll go and find that pub and go and eat in it. We’ve talked about it before. We were doing the White Horses of Wiltshire and there were ten of them. We would go and explore the White Horse and stay in a local pub overnight for free. But then we’d go and spend and wde’ turn that three nights’ camping into a £100 odd night out. And then there are other times where we stay on a campsite and it’s £25 or £50 a night, depending on the campsite.
Keith Gooden: So you could be going for anything from, you know, the bronze package to the platinum one, basically.
Matt Sims: There’s too many.
Keith Gooden: It’s up to you.
Matt Sims: That’s use case derived. So that’s down to you.
Keith Gooden: Let’s cross that one off. I’m crossing it out.
Matt Sims: We’re ignoring that. You really scrubbed it out! So let’s ignore those. We also need to bear in mind as well that there might be some subscription costs. Subscription – I can’t say it!
Keith Gooden: For what?
Matt Sims: Trackers. So maybe that’s going to be £10 a month. Maybe £15 a month. And maybe they’ve got a SIM card as well that you’re paying a subscription on, which could equally be £10 a month. So a small cost. But the point is, these costs all add up. We end up getting to a number… broad brush strokes…
Keith Gooden: So that’s your finance, your insurance of £500, the road tax up to £365, storage up to £800, service and habitation £700, top end. Repairs £500. Then subs at… let’s put £30 or whatever in for your subscriptions. And you add it all up together…
Matt Sims: If you haven’t got finance, you are probably looking at £200 to £300 a month, realistically.
Keith Gooden: That sounds good.
Matt Sims: If you’ve got finance – depends what the finance is. As I said earlier. So you could be looking at £500 to £800 a month as a cost of ownership to use that vehicle. Now, the big caveat on this and the other huge cost that doesn’t become apparent until you sell it is depreciation.
Keith Gooden: So I’ve bought it for, say, £40,000. I expect to sell it in two years’ time for £42,000.
Matt Sims: Well, in 2020 you probably could have got £50,000 for it. But depreciation is back. It’s bad news. It really is back.
Keith Gooden: Well, when you buy a car, your car depreciates.
Matt Sims: Exactly. And I have a little formula for depreciation. So you can work this out for yourself. So if you’re buying something brand new or very nearly new it’s going to depreciate in the first year by 20%. In the second year…
Keith Gooden: A fifth?!
Matt Sims: A fifth.
Keith Gooden: So my £40,000 – let’s call it £50,000, for the sake of argument. That’s gone down by £10,000 in year one.
Matt Sims: In year one.
Keith Gooden: So in year two it’s worth £40,000.
Matt Sims: This is harsh, to be fair. But yeah, 50 grand new. It’s worth 40 grand in a year’s time.
Keith Gooden: Then year two?
Matt Sims: Year two, 10% and year three, 5%. So in year three, your £50,000 motorhome…
Keith Gooden: Yeah.
Matt Sims: Is worth how much?
Keith Gooden: Oh, hang on, what was the last one? 5%, wasn’t it? That would be 1,000… 1,800 off that… hang on a second. I’m doing it. I’m doing it. £35,000?
Matt Sims: I was going to say! It’s £35,000. Could you not do that in your head?
Keith Gooden: Why can’t you just tell me?
Matt Sims: I do this too often. That’s the thing. So in three years you’ve lost 15 grand. That’s quite a lot of money, isn’t it? Five grand. So we’ve then immediately doubled our cost of ownership to £500 a month.
Keith Gooden: But yeah, you say you’ve lost it. You know, it’s a comestible. You’re buying it a comestible. You’re buying it, you know, and you really do expect to make a profit at the end after you’ve driven around of it and had holidays, even though you’ve been paying for all this stuff you’ve been talking about? You really do expect to come out the other end of the tunnel and still be in profit?
Matt Sims: No. You used to be able to. So only a few years ago you were, but depreciation is back. And I have to say, a lot of people are finding this a bitter pill to swallow. And of course, there are too many variables here as well, so it depends on the dealership willing to bid you for it, or if you sell it privately. And remember, a private sale is always going to have a lower value than one from a forecourt. It has no warranty with it. That’s my formula 20,10, 5 – 1, 2, 3. And that’s the formula I use if I’m trying to value something and I will then round it up. So in reality, your £50,000 motorhome was £50,000 when you bought it, and three years later we’re saying it’s £35,000. The new one is probably now £55,000 and I might get £42,000 for it, maybe £40,000. So that might up the value to you. But then you’ve got to consider as well, I’m saying that’s the retail price, you’re going to sell it to a dealer who wants five, six or even ten grand across it. So they might be offering you £25,000 or £30,000 for that motorhome, and you’re probably going to go, “That’s too much. I can’t lose that much money.” And I had this recently. Someone was looking to sell their motorhome and they paid for it during the pandemic. They paid a premium price because there was a queue for them and there was a race to get them, and I said, “This is what they’re selling for now at three years old. This is what I think yours is worth.” And they said, “That’s too much. We’re going to keep it.” And they have kept it.
Keith Gooden: I’ve got some bad news for you. I went back and did my calculations properly. £34,200 is actually what it cost.
Matt Sims: Yeah. So I would round it up to £35,000, £36,000. It is a harsh curve but that is one to consider. It often gets overlooked. So there you’ve got it. I reckon running costs typically with no finance, £200 or £300 a month. Wiih finance plus the monthly payment… and then of course you’ve got to consider the depreciation. But as you say, Keith, how many holidays can you have? You have 20, 30 holidays over a three-year period. And they’ve cost you maybe £10,000 or £15,000. And you’ve got some fantastic memories. You then sell the van. Yes, you’ve lost money, but you’ve had all these fantastic trips and you’ve been to these places that you would not have gone to on an aeroplane.
Keith Gooden: Living the dream.
Matt Sims: You are living the dream.
Keith Gooden: And in something that you know you love. And you’ve made it comfortable for yourself and for your family and for your friends.
Matt Sims: So it’s not a cheap pastime, but I still think it’s affordable. And it can be made affordable, depending on your use case and how you plan to use it.
Keith Gooden: Matt, some people think VPNs are just for hiding what you’re watching online. Is that really all they’re made for?
Matt Sims: No, not at all. A VPN like Nord is really about safety. So if you’re on campsite Wi-Fi, a coffee shop hotspot, or even using mobile data abroad, you don’t know who else is on that network. NordVPN protects your data so no one can snoop. It keeps your banking safe, and it stops your internet provider tracking what you’re up to. And here’s the thing. It’s not about having anything to hide. It’s about protection. It’s like locking the door on your motorhome – not because you’ve got gold bars inside, but because you don’t want anyone poking around trying to steal your valuables.
Keith Gooden: I suppose that’s a fair way of putting it.
Matt Sims: Yeah. NordVPN is fast, easy to use, and runs quietly in the background. I use it for every trip. Click the link in the description and you can try it with a discount and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Keith Gooden: It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims: And me, Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden: And it’s brought to you www.thatleisureshop.com and sponsored by Ripe. It’s time for our Q&A, the questions and answers where you ask the questions and Motorhome Matt – for he is the expert – will find out the answer. Like I say, if he doesn’t know himself, he’ll ask somebody who jolly well does. So first of all, we have Brian Sims who got in touch, and he wants to know about trackers.
Brian Sims: I was watching a podcast of yours on Monday about trackers, and I can’t find it again. And what I wanted to know is there was quite a basic tracker there that just connected on… you got three years on there and then it was £60 after that three years. I wonder if you could let me know what that tracker was. I really would appreciate it because I’ve just bought a new motorhome.
Keith Gooden: So Brian and his trackers, is he crackers? It rhymes. I’m a poet, and I didn’t know it.
Matt Sims: Yeah, absolutely none of us did. So, Brian, it’s a GPSBob unit I think you’re referring to. It’s a little tracker that literally just wires to a 12 volt connection, plus or minus. I’ve got one on my VW and you can monitor it on your app. It’s brilliant. They’re not Thatcham approved, though. So if your insurer requires you to have a Thatcham approved tracker, this one won’t cut it. But GPSBob do do Thatcham approved trackers. A whole range of them, and they are Motorhome Matt Approved as well. Fantastic business, great prices. And they are shaking up the trucking industry for sure. There’s also other products that we’ve not talked about yet on the podcast. Scorpion have a new tracker that doesn’t need wiring up at all. You just literally hide it in the van. And that’s one that might be worth looking at too, ScorpionTrack, who are also Motorhome Matt Approved. So two great businesses with great products – plenty to look at. And there is lots of content on the podcast about trackers and some of the challenges that industry is facing as well.
Keith Gooden: Cheers, Brian. And remember, if you are recording a question for us or indeed emailing Matt with a question – and we’ll give you the details at the end of this section – do put where you’re from. It does help us put a pin in the map. Now, Ripe sponsor this podcast. But we have a question here from @PaulWaller8218. And he has got a Ripe question for us. He says “Ripe, hassle free? They wouldn’t insure me and they haven’t given me a reason why.”
Matt Sims: So we sent that comment, Paul, you’ll be pleased to know, to Ripe. They came back with, “Hi Paul. Sorry to have received this comment from you, as we do always aim to make things as easy as possible for our customers. Without knowing exactly what the issue could have been for you it’s hard for me to answer, but I will try and break it down for you and explain the types of things that could occur during the quote process.”
Keith Gooden: And this answer comes from Mel at the Ripe team, by the way. She goes on to say, “In the event of an issue occurring, we do encourage you to call us and we can either explain or try and put it right if we can. It could be various things, including driving licence information or claims history.”
Matt Sims: Mel went on to say, “Sometimes people will alert us to an issue, and we’ve been able to make sure that doesn’t happen again for anyone. So getting feedback is really important so that we can be constantly making improvements for our customers.”
Keith Gooden: And she says, “Really sorry you had this negative experience,” and she hopes that you got covered in the end. That’s Mel from the Ripe team.
Matt Sims: There you go. So we don’t just show you all the positives. We and Ripe are completely open to all your feedback, and we’ll do our best to champion for you. You can get an exclusive 15% off your premium by clicking the link in the episode description.
Keith Gooden: Keith’s in Eastbourne. “Hi, Matt and Keith. We have a 2022 Auto-Sleeper Air. It’s a pop-top Transit Custom which we’ve owned from new, and like many people, we’ve decided that we would like to change to a hard or high top as it’s otherwise known. Should we get our Auto-Sleeper Air converted from a pop top to a hard top, or sell our vehicle to find another?”
Matt Sims: Keith goes on to say, “Obviously, having owned our vehicle from new, we know its service history and all minor modifications we’ve done to it to get it how we want it. We have struggled to find Transit converters down south who could do the conversion, although a few VW converters have said they may well be willing to give it a go.”
Keith Gooden: So Keith says, “Also, if we convert what we already have, do we need to inform DVLA of any changes?” He says, “Really enjoy the podcast. So informative.” Cheers, Keith. Another Keith, this time in Eastbourne. So, Matt, what’s the answer?
Matt Sims: Well, it’s a great question, you know, and I understand why you would want to convert it. And by all means you could. There’s nothing to stop you.
Keith Gooden: Politicians. “That’s a great question!”
Matt Sims: I think it is a great question. How many other people are thinking of doing this? I don’t know. I’m intrigued. I’ve never considered doing this, but then I’m not a fan of pop tops, as has been well documented in the past. I would be very mindful of the impact of a dealer to accept it as a part exchange because it is no longer an original vehicle. So you’ve created something that’s not necessarily a white elephant, but it’s not textbook. That may be a factor going forward and perhaps speak to a dealer about their willingness to take it if it were a hard top. Maybe they would prefer a hard top. Maybe they’re easier to sell than a pop top. It may suit you. But it does become unique in the market, and it might be harder to value because it’s not in the book, as it were.
Keith Gooden: Will dealers automatically know that he’d made the conversion.
Matt Sims: Someone who knows the Auto-Sleepers range would for sure. Yes. I mean, a high street dealership that just sells campervans may not, and many consumers may not realise that this has been converted. I’d also add, though, that your insight into its service history is really valid, and I get that. And if you’re dead comfortable with the vehicle, it’s been highly maintained and you know every little nut and bolt and every little thing you’ve done to it, that’s valid. And that may be the motivator to do it. And you can go on using this vehicle that you’ve fallen in love with, and it continues to be ideal for your use. I see no reason to inform the DVLA if it’s a motorcaravan already, it’s still a motorcaravan and they won’t have any interest in whether it’s pop-top or hard top. The only thing I’d say is if you’re changing its weight, because this one might be heavier, having that hard top on – or changing number of seat belts, for example – it may definitely be worth informing DVLA. Certainly if you’re changing it to a hard top, I definitely would tell your insurance company. Now, they may not care because it may not be a criterion that they’re concerned about, but I definitely would tell them that you’ve done it or maybe speak to them before you do it.
Keith Gooden: So thanks for the question, Keith. Hope that helps. Okay, Matt, how do people get in touch?
Matt Sims: We would love it if you did. Just head to. mhmp.info/askmatt. You can record your question. As Keith says, please do tell us where in the world you are or fill in the form and we’ll read it for you.
Keith Gooden: And if you’re looking for trusted brands and services, then make sure you visit the Motorhome Matt Approved directory. You can find it at mhmp.info/approved.
Matt Sims: And remember to follow on your favourite podcast app. Or if you’re watching on YouTube, click subscribe and that little bell.
Keith Gooden: Thanks for listening to the Motorhome Matt podcast. Remember to check back here for more episodes full of hints, tips and helpful advice. We’ll see you soon for another Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.
