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What a calming idea: You drive behind a huge glass front, like the face mask of the mobile home, through pretty country.
Mountains, coasts, buildings pass by, landscape cinema without the risk of infection.
A private shower is on board.
And if you cook and eat on board yourself, you don't even get embarrassed about meeting complete strangers.
Motorhomes are the perfect vacation companions in the pandemic.
"Caravanning is particularly safe and particularly suitable for the current situation, as you travel largely individually and independently," says Daniel Onggowinarso, Managing Director of the Caravaning Industry Association (CIVD).
Thousands of holidaymakers already saw these advantages in the Corona summer 2020, when the demand for rental vehicles rose as exponentially from the beginning of May with the lockdown easing as the number of infections in some places had before.
"In around 15 percent of the cases we were unable to confirm a mobile home to customers between July and September 2020 because the demand was so huge," says Björn Esperling, Marketing Manager at CU Camper, an agent who works with major rental companies such as McRent, Apollo or DRM has in the program.
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And this year?
According to a survey by the online travel agency Tourlane, motorhome trips will also be very popular in 2021, and this is the most popular form of travel for eleven percent of German citizens.
The CIVD assumes that motorhome travel, at least within Germany, will be possible again from spring.
Many German citizens believe that too, and quite a few have already booked.
With the result that booking bottlenecks are already emerging.
If you don't want to go empty-handed, you should consider the following tips.
The situation when booking for the summer
RVs are becoming scarce, as various providers confirm.
For example Tui Camper, one of the market leaders in Germany (25,000 vehicles in 23 countries): Large campers for families are already fully booked on certain dates during the summer holidays from popular German rental stations such as Munich, says Inke Rasmussen, head of Tui Camper.
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Björn Esperling from CU Camper (a good 40,000 motorhomes in 20 countries) agrees: The booking situation can quickly become "critical", especially in metropolises.
The ADAC reports similarly, with 2800 vehicles only in Germany one of the big providers: From spring the demand for mobile homes and camping sites will increase "by leaps and bounds", "the availability will be limited especially during the main season".
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Indie Campers (a good 2000 motorhomes in 15 countries) also confirms this trend.
The reason for the growing demand is also new prospects: In 2020, the number of German customers who have made a trip with a mobile home for the first time increased by 20 percent compared to 2019.
Further growth can be expected this year.
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With the association of independent mobile home rental companies (RMP), under whose roof around 150 smaller rental companies are bundled, one reckons with an “extreme run” if the number of infections continues to fall.
This is also due to the fact that air travel is likely to be rather difficult, says managing director Thomas Kretschmer.
What it looks like for families on summer vacation
If you are tied to the summer holidays, book now, recommend Tui Camper and ADAC in unison.
This is especially true for families who are dependent on larger mobile homes - the selection of suitable vehicles with more than two berths is rapidly thinning out, according to the CIVD.
Large motorhomes with space for more than two people are particularly in demand in 2021
Source: Konrad Stöhr
Those who travel outside of the summer holidays or can switch to the off-season have better cards.
"With flexibility in the rental period, you can still find the right camper in July and August," says Inke Rasmussen from Tui Camper.
Alternatives are offered by sharing providers or a VW bus
If you cannot find a suitable dream vehicle from the large rental companies, sharing providers such as PaulCamper or Yescapa, which are on a growth course, could save the camper holiday.
Their range is growing steadily and currently comprises 6000 or 900 private vehicles in Germany, which are offered by the owners via these online platforms.
"We do not see any dramatic bottlenecks at the moment because we are constantly adding new vehicles to the fleet," says Kartin Witt from PaulCamper.
The company sells motorhomes not only in Germany, but also in Austria and the Netherlands;
In the second quarter, two more European countries are to be added to the range.
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An alternative can also be the rental of VW bus campers.
Feliras Campingbusvermietung (rent-a-bulli.de), for example, has different models in its range - from the T3 Bulli with a folding roof to the T6 California.
Other providers with smaller fleets are Camperboys.de, mein-bulli.com or Vantopia.de;
In addition to campers, the latter also rents station wagons with a roof tent.
Development of prices in 2021
The RMP association is assuming price increases of around five percent compared to the previous year for 2021 - due to the previous season that was lost in 2020.
In the case of the CIVD, however, it is said that prices have remained largely stable this year.
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The motorhome has long ceased to be a bargain.
Daily rents of 140 euros are not uncommon in the main season.
It gets cheaper in the preseason.
At Tui Camper, a week in April from / to Berlin in a campervan with shower / toilet and kitchen currently costs from 722 euros.
Camping or parking space fees are added to the vehicle rental.
Costs for petrol and possibly tolls or ferry trips must of course also be planned.
Hygiene in times of corona
Many motorhome rental companies use special machines to fight viruses and bacteria, which clean the interior with cold fog or ozone before handing over the vehicle to new customers.
Both procedures promise "99.9 percent virus-free", says Markus Herrmann from the Federal Association of Vehicle Preparation.
The health-endangering ozone, however, requires long ventilation after use.
Social distancing is also popular: at Yescapa, many landlords send tenants a video before handover in which they explain vehicle functions, from heating to toilet, in order to avoid direct customer contact.
The advantage of the sharing platforms: The booking process is completely digital via website or app.
According to their guidelines, their landlords must also disinfect the mobiles - but they are hardly allowed to use cleaning machines like the large landlords.
Rules for canceling or rebooking
In principle, the landlords had already shown themselves to be "very accommodating" in the previous year with corona-related cancellations, says CIVD boss Onggowinarso.
In the case of government-issued travel restrictions, free rebookings and cancellations are usually possible without any problems up to 30 days before the planned start of the journey, sometimes even at short notice.
But this does not help if you contract Covid-19 shortly before the trip, test positive or have to be quarantined.
This is where travel cancellation and travel interruption insurance help - however, many policies rule out the event of a pandemic, and only a few providers have issued Covid-19 supplementary insurance.
The consumer center Brandenburg advises travelers to check the different offers and compare them with each other.
It should also be noted that such an insurance usually does not apply if the trip goes to a country for which there is a travel warning or authorities have issued quarantine measures.
Tips for vacation with the motorhome
There are mobile homes in different weight classes - from VW buses to rolling apartments with a rear garage for bicycles or even small cars.
The ADAC recommends compact or slim motorhomes, such as box vans, for beginners.
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Because they fall into the weight class up to 3.5 tons, you can drive them with the normal class B driver's license.
If you want to rent a motorhome up to 7.5 tons, you have to show a class C1 driving license or a class 3 car driving license issued before 1999.
Important: Motorhomes drive differently, the high structure is susceptible to wind, the braking behavior is unusual.
Those who want to prepare under supervision can take part in a motorhome driver safety training course offered by car clubs and some vehicle manufacturers.
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This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: WORLD