When you hire a campervan for a week or two – in some cases considerably longer – it becomes your home for the duration. That means you have a certain responsibility to look after it, just as you would if it belonged to you permanently.
Ideally, of course, the van will be in excellent condition when you pick it up, and that can only be guaranteed if you get it from a top company. Hiring a vehicle of any size or type should be a stress-free experience: we take it for granted that it’s in good working order and there will be the usual quick inspection of the bodywork to make sure any scrapes, dents etc. are recorded as having been there when you collected it and not acquired during your time in charge of it.
Campervan maintenance tips for a hired van, then, are a comparatively simple matter. If it were yours and you used it a couple of times a year, you would be well advised to give it a good inspection before each trip, just keeping an eye on it for signs of deterioration. You might want to get up on the roof to see how that is looking compared with the last time you saw it, and if you’re nimble enough, have a look underneath too. For the non-technical – and not many people are motor mechanics, after all – this is a rather unscientific exercise, but it’s a question of looking for obvious issues which you can get someone else to deal with.
You might have a look under the bonnet, too, but what are you really looking for? You don’t know; just checking there’s still an engine in there and it doesn’t appear to be damaged, but unless cables are hanging down and bits of oily debris strewn around, you’re going to be none the wiser, because when trouble happens in an engine it is often out of sight.
Still, if it’s yours, you can have a cursory look, then get the engine running and see if it sounds okay. What does an okay engine sound like? That’s hard to say. The fact that it starts first time and ticks over happily is about all the average motorist can hope for. If it’s your holiday home and it belongs to you, you will probably assume it’s okay, because why wouldn’t it be? Or you can get a qualified mechanic to have a look, and they are going to notice things such as the condition of the belts and so on, but they will be mainly making sure the oil and coolant levels are correct.
Campervan Maintenance Tips When It’s Not Yours
If you’ve got this mighty beast for a matter of days or weeks, safety is pretty much all you have to worry about. You’ve got to keep an eye on the petrol or diesel, obviously, but also notice the tyres. They should be at the optimum pressure when you pick it up, but things happen, and punctures are one such possibility, so if a tyre looks a bit soft, check it at a petrol station – or get somebody there to do it if they offer that service.
You can feel a soft tyre when you’re driving, anyway. The vehicle might pull to one side or just feel a bit wonky. Technically, it ain’t, but if you’re worried about it, get it checked over.
The Absolute Basics of Campervan Maintenance Tips: Keep it Clean
Tasmania has its fair share of dust, and it also rains a bit, so keeping the windows and mirrors clean is a no-brainer. Keeping things clean means you can see properly, and that is the bare minimum of maintenance tasks.
