My first season renting a motorhome: my biggest fears and what actually happened
When I finished building my first motorhome, I thought the hardest part was behind me.
I was wrong.
Actually, it had only just begun.
The hardest part wasn't building it.
The hardest part was handing over the keys for the first time to complete strangers.
I built this my first motorhome for almost a year, right on the street, next to my house. Every cupboard. Every shelf. every metre of cabling. Every single detail. After work, almost every evening he would go out and keep building — bit by bit, an ordinary cargo van was turning into a proper home on wheels.
Perhaps that’s why I wasn’t so worried about the money. What I feared most was that someone might, in a matter of seconds, damage something into which I’d invested so much time, effort and dedication.
I think almost all motorhome owners feel something similar before their first rental. Dozens of questions spring to mind: what if they damage it? What if they have a serious accident? What if something stops working? What if, in the end, the insurance doesn’t cover anything?
Now, after my first season, I can honestly say one thing: most of those fears turned out to be much worse in my head than they actually were.
I had the motorhome’s paperwork sorted by mid-August, so my first season ran from mid-August to 31 December — just over four months. During that time, I had 14 bookings. The guests included families with children, young couples, retired people, other motorhome owners and people who were getting behind the wheel of a motorhome for the first time in their lives.
Of course during that time different things happened. I'll tell you about the three that I remember most.
The first major test: a flat tyre
Among my first clients was an Italian family. Before the trip we talked calmly about the route — they were going to spend their holidays in the south of Spain. I handed over the motorhome, explained to them how everything worked, answered their questions, and they left.
A few hours later, a message came through: a tyre had burst. It was a Sunday, and the first thing I wondered was whether we’d be able to find somewhere to buy tyres that very day.
In the end, there was no need to go anywhere. We rang the insurance company, and they sent out a tyre specialist. He’d only come to repair the puncture, but when he arrived he saw that the tyre was actually blown out and needed replacing. As the two front tyres have to be the same, I decided to replace both of them.
At that moment, it occurred to me that even a problem that seems serious can be sorted out in a few hours, even on a Sunday. Yes, it’s a nuisance. Yes, it costs money. But it’s no disaster.
The damaged skylight
The following story taught me something completely different.
After some customers had returned the motorhome, I checked it over as usual. At first glance, everything looked fine; I couldn’t see any damage.
A few days later, the next customer arrived. That morning, before handing it over, I went in once more to make sure everything was in order. It had rained heavily that night — and suddenly I saw raindrops falling onto the bed.
I climbed up onto the roof straight away. The cause became clear within seconds: the skylight was damaged.
At that moment I put two and two together. I remembered the previous customers — when they returned the campervan, they seemed a bit nervous to me. At the time I didn't find any damage and thought I'd imagined it. Now it was clear: that was probably when they scraped against some branches and damaged the rooflight.
Following this incident, I changed the way I collect my car.
Not because I’d stopped trusting people.
But rather because I realised something: sometimes harm can simply go unnoticed.
A thorough review protects both parties.
The branch that was impossible to see
Another incident took place a few weeks later.
A customer parked near some trees. He took great care, using the reversing camera to guide him. But the camera only shows what’s behind the car — a large branch, just above the roof, was impossible to see. It was that branch that left a small dent on the rear doors.
When the customer returned the motorhome, he told me straight away what had happened. We had a calm chat. The insurance didn’t cover that specific type of damage, so it was paid for out of the security deposit. As I already had a good, trusted mechanic, the repair worked out much cheaper than I’d expected.
Everything was sorted out without any arguments or lengthy discussions. After that, I stopped seeing every bit of damage as the end of the world. A motorhome is a vehicle that’s meant to be on the road. Things happen sometimes. The important thing is to sort them out calmly and carry on.
Of the 14 bookings made over those nearly five months, only three ended up as stories like these. The other eleven times, the motorhome simply set off and came back — without a single phone call, without a single problem. That is precisely why these three stories stuck in my mind so much: they were the exception, not the rule.
The biggest revelation of the first series
But what surprised me most wasn’t the damage. It was the people themselves.
Before I started renting out my property, I was convinced that if anything went wrong, most guests would try to cover it up. In reality, it was exactly the opposite. People told me about any problems of their own accord, sent photos, gave me plenty of notice, and apologised if they’d accidentally damaged anything. Nobody tried to shirk responsibility or pretend nothing had happened.
That’s when I realised that trust works both ways. If you treat people with honesty and respect, in most cases they’ll respond in the same way.
After hearing these stories, it became clear: most of my fears didn’t stem from the idea that renting was actually that dangerous, but from the fact that I didn’t understand how the whole system that protects the landlord worked.
What really protects the owner
Before, the word «insurance» meant just one thing to me: if something happens, the insurer either pays out or it doesn’t.
When I sat down to read the contract at my leisure, I discovered that everything was organised in a much more interesting way. The insurance policy is just one part of the system. There’s the official tenancy agreement. There’s the security deposit. There’s the verification of the tenant’s documents. There’s the GPS. All of these things only work together — on their own, none of these parts solves anything by itself.
What surprised me most was that almost all the problems that arose during the trips were sorted out over the phone, in a couple of minutes, without the need for a garage. It usually turned out that they’d accidentally switched off the main switch, or that they hadn’t turned on the water pump. Since then, I’ve started recording explanatory videos for customers before each trip — and the number of repeat calls has dropped significantly.
Roadside assistance also turned out to be much more comprehensive than I’d imagined: not just a breakdown lorry, they also try to fix the problem on the spot, as well as dealing with flat tyres, flat batteries or lost keys — just as happened with the tyre.
And if the driver cannot continue the journey due to illness, and none of the passengers has a licence, the insurance sends a professional driver who drives the motorhome back home. It turns out that the insurance doesn't just protect the vehicle, it also looks after the people travelling in it.
And then there’s the scenario that any owner fears most: not having the motorhome returned. That is precisely why insurers are so strict in these cases: an official contract, verified documents from the hirer, a security deposit and a GPS device fitted. Since then, I have never handed over a motorhome without all the paperwork in order — this protects both the owner and the hirer themselves.
Today I'm much less worried about potential damage. Not because it has stopped happening, but because I stopped seeing every situation as a catastrophe. Almost every problem has a solution. The important thing is to stay calm and act methodically.
Why did LSR365 appear
After my first season, I unexpectedly realised something: almost all the questions other motorhome owners ask me today are the same ones I was asking myself a year ago. The only difference was that now I already had the answers.
That was how it gradually appeared LSR365
When I first handed over the keys to my motorhome, I thought the worst was beginning.
Today I understand that the worst thing was, in reality, the uncertainty.
Everything else turned out to be normal everyday situations that one can prepare for.