Thinking about buying a motorhome or campervan? Here's our tips!

We bought a super old Fiat Ducato motorhome and we have not regretted it for a minute since!

We were ready to make some changes so we bought an old campervan and a small home in the rural mountains of Andalucia (Spain) and left the UK for a bit. We love spending time in our little place but we also adore being by the sea. What it comes down to is that we really wanted the best of both worlds on a super duper small budget. For us that means chilling, jogging, cycling and exploring the hills and mountains around our home while also being able to enjoy road trips to swim or have a meal and a drink in the beachfront 'chiringuitos' (seasonal bars and restaurants). But you can read more on all of that here.

Back to buying our old motorhome on a budget! And our budget was slim. We knew that we wanted to be able to move around in the van and we needed a comfortable space to be off-grid which, for us, also meant our own loo (and shower). We thought that being completely self-contained in the van would give us more freedom, and we were right.

Meet Lucky Duke.

It is quite clearly at the mechanics here but what would you expect buying a thirty year old motorhome? We needed to replace a key component, which is easier said than done with a motorhome of this age - it actually meant converting several parts in the end, many of which had to be sourced from 'breakers'. We also wanted a full service before really hitting the road. In our case, one huge road trip followed by many smaller ones. So, our first lesson was to have a reasonable budget for engine work to ensure it's safe and roadworthy for long European trips.

Lucky Duke is a left-hand-drive Fiat Ducato Burstner motorhome which started it's life in Europe - an important thing to note if you're planning on taking your van to Europe long-term! There will be a lot more about 'matriculating' (moving) your vehicle from the UK to Europe soon (if you subscribe to our email news, we'll let you know as soon as it's published).

Wow, we can't tell you how much of a learning process this is. To be frank, I don't think we'll ever stop learning about maintaining an old motorhome but we thought you might find some top newbie tips for buying, based on what we've learned (sometimes the hard way) in case you're thinking of doing the same.

Our top tips for buying a budget-friendly (i.e. older) motorhome

1. Hire first

We reckon that it's a good idea to have a go at driving and staying in one before you buy.

To be honest, even for someone that's a very comfortable driver, I still found it quite intimidating to drive at first. For some people, the reality may not match the dream (but we hope that for most it will). They're higher, wider, heavier (and slower) than cars, small vans and even transit vans so it does take a fair bit of getting used to. For us, getting used to looking up when we're driving down roads was the weirdest bit. If there's overhanging branches, it can be catastrophic!

Having said that, you will get used to it if you're determined to and I reckon you'll love it like we do. Also, importantly, there are motorhome manoeuvring courses around which are worth considering if you fancy being a ninja at parking the beast or navigating the cobbled streets of European towns!

It also gives you a chance to see how you get on living/staying in one. Not everyone loves camping and this isn't world's apart from that! Also, do you want a toilet/shower or can you live without? What type of bed do you like? There are sooooooo many versions that it's just sensible to hire and stay in one to get a feel for what you do and don't like or need. We hired in the UK and in Australia to ensure it was what we wanted.

There's tons of rental places and it can be pricey but it's not as expensive as having to sell a vehicle that isn't for you after a few months. And, don't forget, it's not just about the size/shape/handling but also about the layout in the habitation - there's lots of variations and this is a main reason that many people end up selling and replacing (at considerable cost) quite quickly after their first purchase.

But don't be put off. It's brilliant and will give you the freedom you desire if you're determined and sure that it's what you want. The open road awaits!

2. Join some forums

There's tons of Facebook (and other) forums for motorhome owners or prospective buyers. The health warning is that they're not all understanding and sensitive (some people seem to forget that they were once newbies) but ignore the nasty ones as there are plenty of lovely, knowledgable people willing to help those of us that don't know a crank shaft pulley from a timing belt (or what any of the buttons in the habitation do)!

The SUPER bonus for those of you with a limited budget (think less than £7k/€10k) who will be buying an old motorhome is that you'll also find 'breakers' or 'wreckers' on these forums and they are very often your only chance to find old parts that can be reconditioned or fitted as they are.

Again, they can be a touch intimidating as there is just so, so, so much to know but don't worry about it. Just trust that you'll get there and use them to search others' questions or ask seemingly daft questions. In our opinion, there is absolutely no such thing!

If we were starting again, we'd join these groups before we bought but we don't regret anything.

3. Drive and inspect the vehicle carefully (take a mechanic if you can)

We chatted to the seller (a lot) and asked loads of questions but we didn't visit as it was about three hours north from us. We probably relied a little too much on intuition and a trust of the seller (we were lucky - he was ace). For us, it was a private sale (via ebay) and it worked out well.

However, having now heard plenty of horror stories via others on the forum (including those that purchased with warranty from dealers), we'd recommend that you do visit, test drive (carefully) and make sure to check for rust and damp! It's a home on wheels so damp in the 'hab' (the living bit) can be costly and time-consuming and, clearly, rust on the 'cab', body (underneath is key) and engine can be totally devastating!

4. Look beyond (or embrace) the initial motorhome interior

You might be weighing up a van conversion versus a motorhome? An immediately obvious benefit of the van conversion is that you can design it your way from the beginning. Nice! But, honestly, we kinda love the functionality (and the toilet/shower) and we've chosen to embrace the look of our super old school motorhome. But, if you don't fancy the way it looks or just want to update bits and bobs, there are tons of amazingly quick, easy and cheap products on the market these days to update it if you don't like the way the interior (or exterior) looks! With just a couple of hundred quid/bucks, you can do tons to make the space look really different. Check us out on YouTube as that's where you'll see the wee changes we made.

We bought and old motorhome (but all vans are great) and we adore our Lucky Duke.

5. Decided that you're buying the motorhome? Don't forget to get insurance and breakdown cover before you drive away.

Make sure the quotes are sorted before you go to test drive if there's any chance that you're going to buy. You'll be unlikely to press 'go' until you hand over the cash for the vehicle but, it saves a world of pain (and cash) if you work through all of the steps before you pick it up so it's a five minute job to seal the deal before you drive away.

I'm sure we're not alone in our very old camper breaking down on it's second journey so we used the breakdown recovery within the first week and it saved us hundreds of pounds (about US$500)! As you might imagine, these vehicles require specialist recovery and there's not that many that will insure old motorhomes for newbie MH drivers either so defo do your homework first!

We use the UK based broker, Adrian Flux, for both insurance and recovery and, although we haven't used the insurance element yet, we'd highly recommend their recovery (Europe-wide for three months at the time of writing). Please note though that you generally can't get breakdown cover for more than three months in Europe (but you can extend insurance) so consider that one carefully too. We fell foul of it about five months in and it wasn't a big deal for us (we were lucky) but it could have been it it was a pricey or if we were an elderly couple or a family with young kids.

Take a look at the forums too as there's plenty of options out there but we've had a good experience so far.