customer reviews

Check out our Customer Reviews about RVing in Europe, on which page you can both read and post reviews.

your domestic drivers license

The minimum age limit for the motorhome and campervan rentals presented by IdeaMerge depends on the vendor. (Many vendors require that drivers have posssesed a valid domestic drivers license for at least a year prior to the rental.) In some cases there is a maximum age limit. See the relevant Payments & Policies page.

Drivers must of course possess their valid domestic drivers license, valid especially relative to the rated ("total permissible") weight of the rental vehicle. Most domestic drivers licenses suffice for operation of the vehicles presented on the IdeaMerge Website. Relative to some vehicle and rental country combinations, however, our online software will rather precisely note to the user that this sufficiency is less common (most notably relative to vehicles rated over 3500 kg rented in the European Union). To research the limits associated with your drivers license, please check the back of your license and visit the Website of the governmental agency that issued your license. You can also see the following Wikipedia articles: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver's_license and, say, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Driving_Licence_codes.

international driving permit

Many countries require of you, the foreign driver, no license apart from your domestic drivers license. However, certain countries require of certain non-resident drivers an International Driving Permit (IDP) in addition. You should contact the relevant tourist office, consulate or embassy to determine whether a country requires you to carry an IDP while driving. A good secondary indicator in this respect is the IDP webpage posted by the UK's Automobile Association. Basically an IDP is a means by which police in a foreign country can know — in terms of translations in nearly a dozen different languages — that your domestic driver's license is indeed recognized as being valid by the proper authorities in your country. (See the excellent article at Drivers.com.)

The local office of your auto club (AAA, CAA, etc.) sells IDPs for about US$20. If you need an IDP, take your license, two passport-sized photos and the requisite cash to the club office. (Though for about US$6 the club may snap Polaroid photos for you.) Ten minutes later you'll be able to legally drive on any European road—assuming you're at least 18 years of age. If you plan to operate a motorcycle in Europe, be sure to have the auto club certify your qualification to do so. The USA's AAA now has a Webpage whereby drivers licensed in the USA can obtain an IDP: AAA's application for IDP. Web searches will bring up a host of Websites selling documents that conform to the model delineated in annex 10 of the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic (1949); but according to Article 24 of that convention, a truly valid IDP is one which is "issued .. by the competent authority of another Contracting State or subdivision thereof, or by an association duly empowered by such authority ...." The US State Department says it has empowered only the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA) to issue IDPs. (The AATA offers IDPs through the National Automobile Club.)

cell phones

Many cell phones (i.e. mobile phones, handies) now work overseas. Check with your service provider (i.e. your carrier, the phone service company) in this regard; it might be a good occasion for you to upgrade to a phone (and plan) that works well overseas. If indeed you want to be able to use your phone on another continent, you'll need to call your service provider customer support to get international roaming turned on.

But beware: such roaming in and of itself is very expensive. Every missed or rejected call will use a minute of roaming charges; every notification of a voicemail that's been left will cost a minute too. More charges will come if you use data, even unknowingly -- and the new smart phones are constantly using data that you're unaware of. Data roaming costs about $15/MB, which means a dollar fifty or so for every single web page that you view. If someone sends you a nice 2 megapixel photo from home, that'll be $30! If you want to avoid data roaming charges completely, you should disable data roaming and data synchronization before you go abroad.

International roaming is not a good value unless you have tri-band GSM phone. Such phones can be “SIM subsidy unlocked” via your service provider to accept a foreign SIM card. Calls received through such card will be charged to you as if you are using a local phone. To initiate such unlocking of your tri-band GSM phone, call your service provider at least a week or two before you go abroad. Your service provider will then request an unlock code from the phone manufacturer, but the service provider will not officially guarantee the manufacturer’s response time (it’s usually 24-48 hours) nor even that a unlock code will be provided. Moreover, you’ll need to obtain a prepaid SIM card or cards for the country or countries you plan to travel to. Those cards cost roughly 30 euros and can be bought in mobile phone shops in Europe (the primary companies in France, for instance, are Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR). Alternatively you can buy or rent them before you go abroad, from various internet-based companies. You would replace your current SIM card with the European one. (Typically they go under the battery.) Do save your current SIM card, however; you’ll need it when you return home.

See the following excellent New York Times articles:

For SIM card or special phone rental or purchase online, see the following:

portable GPS navigation solutions

Which if any portable GPS navigation offer on the market is best for you?

See IdeaMerge's analysis of portable GPS navigation solutions.

maps

Good printed road maps are not provided with your rental motorhome or camper van. We recommend that you invest in a top quality map or maps, or a very good atlas. You can buy your map(s) domestically, from the likes of Amazon.com, or once abroad from a bookstore (present in most airports) or service station. Everyone wants a free map, but in addition to death and taxes at least one further fact will always be generally true: free maps are not good maps. And no matter what map you get, remember the words of Thomas Ottavi: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are maps."

printed maps:

gps map devices and software:

books

travel insurance

motorhome liquid petroleum gas (LPG)

Ask the depot for appropriate LPG connectors/adapters for each country you plan to visit, and make sure the motorhome's LPG heating/cooking cylinders are sufficiently full upon pick-up and upon crossing national borders. Many European, Scandinavian, British and Irish rental motorhomes employ LPG cylinders (or bottles) which are meant to be exchanged by the customers rather than refilled by customers or by retail operations, the customer paying only for the LPG. The refilling of such cylinders by retail businesses is prohibited in the UK and in many other countries because it is a dangerous process and one which can easily be performed improperly. Continental exchangeable cylinders are not typically available on the UK or Irish markets; and there is no adapter on the general market which interfaces continental heating and cooking systems to the "Calor" gas exchangeable cylinders standard in the UK and Ireland. So, you might need to bring extra, full exchangeable cylinders if you are crossing to the UK or Ireland for an extended tour. UK and Irish vendors supply the standard Calor gas exchangeable cylinders for travel in the UK and Ireland. When a client is traveling from the UK or Ireland to Europe, the vendor typically supplies the client with continental "Camping Gaz" exchangeable cylinders and/or an adapter that interfaces the Camping Gaz exchangeable cylinders to UK heating and cooking systems. Calor gas cylinders are not available outside the UK. Regardless of where you are picking up, it is indeed a good practice to ask the depot for appropriate LPG connectors/adapters for each country you plan to visit. The exchangeable cylinders tend to vary by country even within continental Europe. Therefore you might not be able to exchange the cylinders provided by the motorhome rental company. Instead you might need to buy an exchangeable cylinder locally (in which case you'd also have to place a deposit on the exchangeable cylinder, because it remains the property of the gas company.) In such situation an adapter is usually needed to fit the exchangeable cylinder to the vehicle's heating and cooking system. Moreover, you might need a different regulator as well, although this is now typically the case only with pre-year-2004 vehicle models (which are rarely rented). With respect to LPG cylinders that are meant to be refilled by customers or retail operations, various connectors might be needed to re-fill the cylinders because the LPG dispenser nozzles at fuel stations tend to vary from country to country. Three different dispenser connectors used in Europe: the Dutch Bayonet, the Claw or Italian Dish, and the ACME thread. See the following articles:

motorhome water, waste, electrics, etc

online driving directions & route planners

compulsory equipment

fuel

BEWARE: A diesel fuel pump nozzle (for cars and motorhomes) is considerably wider than either a leaded gasoline pump nozzle or the even smaller unleaded gasoline pump nozzle and indeed will not fit into either such tank. Consequently a gasoline nozzle will fit into a diesel tank. Therefore, be careful not to put gasoline into a diesel tank!!! Even a liter of gasoline added to the tank of a modern diesel campervan or motorhome can cause irreversible damage to the injection pump and other components due to its relatively low lubricity. (Diesel in a gasoline engine — while creating large amounts of smoke — does not normally cause permanent damage if it is drained once the mistake is realized. Similarly, older diesels using completely mechanical injection can tolerate some gasoline, which has historically been used to "thin" diesel fuel in winter.) A green pump holds unleaded gasoline or else diesel, a blue leaded gasoline. Diesel pumps are sometimes colored black, sometimes green. Diesel pumps are chiefly signified linguistically, either with the very word diesel or with one of the equivalents: gas-oil, gaz-oil, gasolio, gasóleo, dieselolie, mazot, motorina, or nafta.

austrian GO-Box

automotive conversions

camping

especially relevant campgrounds

general advisories

With respect to manual transmission vehicles, it is the client’s responsibility to know, or to learn how, to drive a manual transmission. The rental company (i.e. the vendor) will likely refuse to deliver such vehicle unless all the drivers listed on the rental contract are expressly or evidently proficient in the operation of a manual transmission vehicle. There are no refunds in such cases.

Almost all the motorhomes and campervans available for rental in Europe have a manual transmission rather than an automatic transmission.

Vehicle models and layouts are not guaranteed. Some vehicle accessories, such as an awning or a bike rack, are not guaranteed, because some of the vehicles are delivered from the factory to the rental company so near to the pick-up date that there is no time to install such items.

Where and when road or weather conditions, and perhaps laws or ordinances or such, dictate the wise or requisite use of specific tires or specifically embellished tires (e.g. tires fitted with snow chains or socks), it is the driver's responsibility to abstain from driving until such tires are installed on his or her vehicle. It is nevertheless the client's responsibility to return the vehicle with the initial (i.e. original) set of tires installed or co-present; otherwise the client will be billed for those initial tires. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden, for example, have laws which dictate the use of winter tires. It is the client's responsibility to research and understand such laws in relation to his or her rental and itinerary.

You can study the UK Automobile Assocation website to learn more about winter tire requirements and other compulsory equipment per European country.

Regarding snow chains, it is vital that you check and if necessary maintain the tension of the chains frequently, and certainly after every short journey. Also, with the chains fitted do not drive faster than about 35 miles per hour (60 km/h).

IdeaMerge suggests that our clients do not plan to rely solely on any one guide nor even on any collection of such guides (whether they be in book form, software form, or online) to determine the location or quality of appropriate hotels and campgrounds. Such a guide — especially if it is provided free of charge by the vendor or another entity — should not be considered suitably thorough and up to date, although in many cases they are very useful. Even if a vendor’s policy is to provide such guide with every rental vehicle, they occasionally run out of supply because too many clients lose or abscond with the guide, or for other reasons beyond the vendor's control. IdeaMerge therefore suggests a sort of rule of three: use at least two published guides (in book form, software form, or online), and rely on your own on-the-ground research (e.g. following local signage, questioning local people, and so forth) to complete the picture. Market forces usually take care of the rest because they result in hotel and campground locations per the general demand and thus near where you are most likely to desire such location.

Neither IdeaMerge nor the vendor is responsible to assist in locating or recommending hotels or campgrounds to clients. Any assistance IdeaMerge or the vendor does give in that respect should not be interpreted as sanctioning or signifying the suitability of the services or products provided at the hotel or campground.

For motorhome travel soft-sided, collapsable bags are the best sort to use, because they can be stored within the vehicle without taking up much room. See our relevant Locations page for information about whether or not the rental depot will store luggage for you.

Unless otherwise specified on the IdeaMerge website or by the relevant IdeaMerge vendor, clients should not plan to park their own vehicle at the rental depot. At some rental depots such parking is possible, but only if upon the pick-up occasion there happens to be room on the depot grounds. Typically rental depot personnel can direct clients to optimal parking solutions nearby the depot.

Check all accessories at the depot to be sure they are in working order. If there is a problem say something at the depot before leaving.

Ask questions during the vehicle orientation; refused to be rushed.

You will be held liable for vehicle damage that is deemed to occur during your rental. Test drive the vehicle at and near the rental depot where you begin your journey. If you notice anything unusual about the vehicle, especially the clutch, return it to the depot immediately.

Drive carefully. The security deposit that you leave with the rental company upon the pick-up occasion will be debited for vehicle damage.

Please carry a mobile phone with you so the vendor can easily contact you if necessary and in case of emergency. Please confirm that your phone service provider and contract allows you to call toll-free numbers.

The vehicle should returned with the toilet waste receptacle (e.g. blackwater tank) and the shower/sink waste water tank (greywater tank) empty. Otherwise the vendor reserves the right to charge a waste cleaning fee.

Moreover, the vehicle should be returned clean inside and be emptied of luggage by the reserved return time. (Typically the vendor will clean the outside.) If the vehicle is not clean on the inside — i.e. not only emptied of luggage but also with clean floors (vacuumed or thoroughly swept), clean seats, clean appliances, clean bathroom, and generally clean surfaces — the vendor reserves the right to charge an interior cleaning fee.

If proper return (as described above) occurs after the reserved return time, a charge will be levied for each extra such hour (up to the daily or nightly rate); and the customer will assume responsibility for claims made against the vendor by the subsequent customer because the subsequent customer's pick-up is the delayed by the late return.

Upon returning the vehicle the client should report to the vendor any ticketed parking violations, ticketed traffic violations, and toll-road violations and such that the client knowingly incurred during the rental, along with any documentation thereof (e.g. the ticket itself). The cost of any associated fine or fines devolves upon the client, even if the client was not directly ticketed for the violation or was otherwise unaware of the violation. Moreover, the vendor might charge to the client an administration fee for processing each such fine.

Also see our General Disclaimers & Notices.

miscellaneous resources

The best place to begin further researching your journey may be our Moto Europa Website at www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa. The Moto Europa site is a full and free online guide and Web portal devoted to the topic of European motor travel.

Some highlights from that Moto Europa Website include the following:

And some very useful links include:

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