All about a campervan in Europe - renting from Anywhere Campers, France Passion, park4night and how/where to park!

How to rent a campervan in Europe – Anywhere Campers

The first step to planning our journey to tour Europe was to rent a campervan.  We’ve never even driven one in the United States, so finding one in Europe was daunting.  After much searching, I found several companies that we could rent from – including Roadsurfer, Indie Campers, McRent and Anywhere Campers.  I decided to go with Anywhere Campers.  We’ve had 2 great experiences with them, and another trip coming up this summer.

Renting from Anywhere Campers is very easy.  Everything is communicated via e-mail and they respond quickly.  I usually have a lot of questions, and I have always felt comfortable asking anything.  At one point, I didn’t hear back from them and I sent them a Facebook message to make sure that my email hadn’t been filtered into their spam mail (which it had).  They replied right away.

There are several reasons why I chose to rent from Anywhere Campers.  There are three main types of campervans they offer – depending on what size you are looking for.  I specifically wanted a separate shower from the bathroom area (not a wet bath where the shower is over the toilet).  They also offer the option of automatic vs. manual transmission.  Each year we have chosen the automatic option – which we especially appreciated as we drove through the hills of southern France.  Most of the automatic options now also have living area air conditioning, which you can use if you are hooked up to electric.

Anywhere Campers also includes EVERYTHING with the rental.  There are no extra fees or add-ons.  I liked the all-inclusive and ease of it, not having to worry about missing something.  The campervan comes with all the bedding, pillows, towels, kitchen gear, toilet tablets, camping chairs and table, 2 bikes and unlimited mileage.  They even include basic cleaning supplies and toilet paper!

They also offer one-way rentals.  When you get a quote from Anywhere Campers, you let them know the pick-up and drop off locations.  I have found that the price you are given will vary on how far away this is from Prague, Czechia, where they are based.  I loved this option because you don’t have to do a complete circle and return to where you started.  The first year, we picked up in Nice, France and dropped off in Munich, Germany.  Our second year we also picked up in Nice and dropped off in Frankfurt, Germany.  This year we are arriving and departing from Munich, Germany (that option offered the best flight deal).  Also, YOU determine the time/location for pick up and drop off.  If you need to change your pick up or drop off location after booking, that is possible (ie – if you don’t have your flights booked yet). 

On Anywhere Campers website, they have over a dozen video guides of how campervan works.  We watched these several times before we left for Europe and when we arrived, it was more of a review since we were very familiar with how everything worked.

At pick up, the Anywhere Camper representative will greet you and go over everything in and out of the campervan.  You will look for any scratches, dents, etc.  Inside he will go over all the systems and how to use everything.  The hand-off takes around an hour and then you are on your way!

During your trip, if you need anything, there is a number you can call.  Our first year, we were broken into (twice!).  They were great over the phone and would have set someplace we could go to get the broken windows fixed, but we declined as we didn’t want to waste precious vacation time.  Thankfully, they do provide duct tape in their tool kit, so we could patch up the damage.

At drop off, the representative will go over everything in the campervan.  You are expected to have the tanks emptied, the water filled and have the inside of the campervan cleaned.

This summer will be our third time renting from Anywhere Campers.  We have been very satisfied with them and highly recommend them.  Until we purchase our own campervan in Europe (future goals!), we’ll stick with Anywhere Campers.

TIP – Send in the deposit prior to leaving for Europe.  At times, I had trouble with my credit card approving the foreign transaction, and it was much easier to resolve at home than already being abroad.

TIP 2 – Check your credit card policy on rental card coverage.  Our Costco Visa offered rental car coverage (which also covered the campervan).  We did have to use this during our first trip and were able to get back the portion of the security deposit we had lost due to the two broken windows.  All we had to do for the coverage was put all the charges on that card.