9 replies to this topic

[barkley87]

Next year will be my 5th Glastonbury and as I'm a bit sick of camping I'm thinking of hiring a campervan with some friends.  I've been looking on a few websites today to get an idea of the cost and most already seem to be booked up for Glastonbury 2013.  Are they usually booked so early?  We don't want to book ours just yet because we can't afford it and we don't know how many other people will be coming with us, so does anyone know if any campervans will actually be available when the first lot of tickets go on sale?  Does anyone know any good rental agencies that might have some (we're willing to collect from anywhere south of Leicester).

Thanks!

[eFestivals]

renting is hugely expensive. If you've got spare cash floating around it might be worth considering buying a cheapie and then selling it immediately after Glasto. If things work out well with that you basically get to use the campervan for free.

[barkley87]

Good idea, thanks!  There may be the possibility of about 6 or 7 of us going though, which could make renting a little cheaper (I found some larger berth ones for a different weekend in June for around £70 each for the entire festival - not including insurance etc).  However if there ends up being less of us going buying may well be an option.  I'll definitely look into it and mention it to everyone.

[eFestivals]

barkley87, on 31 January 2012 - 03:48 PM, said:

Good idea, thanks!  There may be the possibility of about 6 or 7 of us going though, which could make renting a little cheaper (I found some larger berth ones for a different weekend in June for around £70 each for the entire festival - not including insurance etc).  However if there ends up being less of us going buying may well be an option.  I'll definitely look into it and mention it to everyone.

ahhh - it's probably less easy to find a cheapie to buy for accomodating those sorts of numbers, but it's probably worth a look anyway. Be aware that the prices to buy are a fair bit cheaper in the autumn & winter than they are in the spring and early summer.

As for what you've said there on the rental price, that makes me rather dubious as to the authenticity of what you've found. I've only rented a campervan just the once - ten years ago, for a shorter fest than Glasto, and just a 4-berth one that was quite old and a bit tatty at the time. If my memory isn't playing tricks on me then that cost me £400 or more in rental.

Make sure that you can find some authentic reviews of the place you rent from. There's a thread on here (search for sundrive*) about a company that fleeced loads of people last summer with promised rentals that they didn't deliver.

(* it's a long thread but worth reading all the way thru - both for amusement and shock value).

[Mishy]

Have you considered Tangerine Fields?

I have campervan'ed it at Glasto and didnt really enjoy it as I felt so far away from everything.  But I'm not sure where at Glasto the Tangerine Fields are located.

I stayed in T.Fields at a different festival and loved it.  It also takes away the stress of finding a spot to pitch your tent. Plus hot showers!!!

I

[eFestivals]

Mishy, on 02 February 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

I have campervan'ed it at Glasto and didnt really enjoy it as I felt so far away from everything.

I campervanned at Glasto last year for the first time.

To my surprise I was much nearer the parts of the site where I tend to be than I'd been at the previous festival in the camping fields.

There wasn't even a greater height of hill to go up to get to the campervan, tho the hill was steeper than the slower incline I'd had for that camping spot.

[loosechange]

barkley87, on 31 January 2012 - 03:38 PM, said:

Are they usually booked so early?  We don't want to book ours just yet because we can't afford it and we don't know how many other people will be coming with us, so does anyone know if any campervans will actually be available when the first lot of tickets go on sale?

Yes!  I've only had to rent one once, but was told most people who rent book up for the next festival as soon as they get back.

However, there's always changes in circumstances or people failing to get tickets when the festival comes around so it might be worth registering an interest with a few reputable hire companies.

Only catch is you might have to speculate on a campervan ticket, you can always sell it on later but they go pretty quickly first time around.

[grumpyhack]

Over the years we've gone from a big tent, via a campervan to a trailer tent (which we pitched in CV East.  Last year we also hired a motorhome. As a result of that combined experience I've now bought a small-ish touring caravan to do festivals.
Each to their own needs but my thinking goes like this.
Big tent: Great and you can pitch where you want on site.but you have to lug it onto site in the first place.
Campervan: found very few pluses - just a small tent on wheels.
Trailer tent: Bought second hand for £1,200 and lasted for five years worth of fests and still going strong.  Can be stored in a normal domestic garage over winter.  Lots of space but takes a couple of hours to fully put up and take down.
Motorhome:  Relatively expensive - though we manged to hire one for Glasto week for £500.
Caravan: Bought second hand for £1,500.  Got the lot including a full awning so can sleep a total of five and has full toilet, shower and cooking facilities.  Will be trying it for the first time this year.
Downside is having somewhere to store it between festivals.

[neilloggie]

We got a great deal on a trailer tent after the summer a couple of years ago, as for being further away we found that being allowed in to CV east a day early on Tue pm made up for not having to que and lug all the tent etc onsite

[Funkyfairy!]

We have booked ours already for Glastonbury 2013. Paid a deposit at the moment of 200, but with the understanding that if we are not lucky enough to get tickets the deposit is refundable. Not cheap but we hired from Taunton Motorhomes- hired from them last year and they were brilliant. Can't buy one as nowhere to store, plus not a lot of good having one when you live in the Channel islands unless you're going to do loads of touring holidays