Why it takes so long
A campervan is not a large car. Compared with a normal vehicle hire, the handover has to cover:
| Layer | What has to be covered |
|---|---|
| Vehicle | dimensions, height, weight, mirrors, reversing, fuel type, tyres, driving characteristics |
| Dwelling | bed conversion, heating, cooking, fridge, lighting, ventilation, ceiling and locker catches |
| Services | fresh water, waste water, toilet cassette, gas, mains hook-up, leisure battery, solar |
| Safety | gas isolation, carbon monoxide and smoke alarms, fire extinguisher, ventilation while cooking |
| Legal and commercial | agreement, deposit, insurance conditions, permitted use, mileage or generator limits |
| Evidence | condition record inside and out, inventory check, signatures |
Six layers, each with its own failure mode. Skip the dwelling layer and you get a support call at 22:00 from someone who cannot make the bed. Skip the evidence layer and you cannot charge for the burn on the worktop.
Move the explaining before arrival
The single largest saving. Nothing in the "how does this work" category needs to happen on the forecourt.
Send, at least two days before collection:
- A walkthrough video of the exact vehicle type — heating, water, gas, bed, toilet, hook-up. Five to ten minutes, filmed on a phone, no production values required.
- A one-page quick guide for the glovebox with the same steps in writing, plus your out-of-hours number.
- A packing and expectations note: what is supplied (bedding, crockery, hook-up cable, levelling ramps) and what is not.
- The agreement and deposit details in advance, so the counter step is a signature rather than a negotiation.
- What to bring for identification and driver checks, in line with Verifying Drivers Before a Vehicle Hire.
Customers who arrive having watched the video ask two or three specific questions instead of twenty general ones. That alone typically halves the handover.
The running order
A repeatable sequence beats a thorough but improvised one, because staff can be trained on it and it produces the same evidence every time.
1. Paperwork and identity first, while the customer is fresh — agreement, driver check, deposit, permitted use, insurance conditions. Do this before excitement takes over.
2. Exterior walkaround with photographs. All four corners, roof edge, both sides at an angle, wheels and tyres, and close-ups of every existing mark. The customer walks with you.
3. Under the bonnet and around the wheels. Fuel type — say it out loud, misfuelling is a real and expensive event — plus tyre pressures, spare or repair kit, and where the jack lives.
4. Driving points. Height in metres, written on a sticker in the cab. Width, mirror use, reversing, turning circle, and where the vehicle will not fit.
5. Interior tour with photographs. Upholstery, worktop, hob, fridge interior, shower or washroom, all lockers open.
6. Services demonstration — customer performs each one. Fill water, empty waste, connect and disconnect the hook-up, turn the gas on and off, light the hob, run the heater, empty and refit the toilet cassette.
7. Safety. Alarms tested in front of them, extinguisher location, gas isolation, ventilation while cooking, and what to do if a warning sounds at night.
8. Inventory check, jointly. Count against the list and both sign it.
9. Fuel, mileage and service readings recorded, photographed with the dashboard visible.
10. Contact and return instructions. Return time, return condition standard, what happens if they are late, and the number to ring.
Steps 2 and 5 are the ones under time pressure that people abbreviate — and they are the two that pay for themselves.
Photograph the inside
For most rentals, condition documentation means bodywork. For campervans that is roughly half the story, because deposits are far more often spent on interiors than on panels.
Photograph, every time:
- upholstery and cushions, including seams,
- worktop, sink and hob,
- fridge interior, empty and clean,
- shower tray, washroom walls and the toilet compartment,
- floor covering, especially inside the door and under the table,
- roof lights, blinds and fly screens in the closed position,
- awning, if fitted, rolled and secured,
- every locker open, showing the inventory in place.
Dated photographs at both ends turn "it was already like that" into a two-minute comparison. The general method — how many, which angles, lighting, timestamps — is in How to Document Equipment Condition with Photos.
Where campervan deposits actually go
Knowing the common failures tells you what to brief and what to photograph.
| Issue | Prevented by |
|---|---|
| Waste and toilet returned full or dirty | demonstration performed by the customer, plus a published charge and a clear standard |
| Damp, mould or condensation damage | ventilation briefing, and a note in the guide about cooking and drying clothes inside |
| Roof and awning damage | height sticker in the cab, explicit briefing on car parks, barriers and low branches |
| Gas cylinder empty or missing | recorded state at handover, and a clear rule on replacement |
| Missing inventory | joint count at both ends, signed |
| Upholstery burns and stains | photographs and a stated cleaning standard |
| Overloading | brief the payload limit and where to check it |
| Habitation electrics flattened | explain the leisure battery, hook-up and what drains it |
None of these is exotic; all of them are cheaper to prevent than to charge for. And a deposit deduction that follows a demonstrated briefing plus dated photographs almost never becomes a dispute — the reasoning is set out in Deducting Damage from a Rental Deposit Without a Dispute.
Slots, buffers and staffing
Treat departures and returns as scheduled appointments.
- Book a slot, with a time, and say how long it will take. Customers arrive prepared when they know it is an hour.
- Stagger departures by at least the handover length. Two families on the forecourt at once means both get a worse handover.
- Leave a real turnaround buffer between a return and the next departure — for a campervan that is measured in hours, not minutes: interior clean, waste emptied, water flushed, gas checked, inventory replaced, laundry done.
- Handle returns with the same rigour. Same photographs, same inventory list, same signatures, in daylight where possible. A return done in the dark at the end of a long day is where evidence disappears.
If the schedule cannot accommodate this, the fix is a longer minimum hire in the peak rather than a faster handover.
The return
The return is a mirror of the handover and should take about half as long:
1. Exterior walkaround with photographs, compared against the handover set.
2. Interior photographs, same list, same angles.
3. Inventory count, jointly, signed.
4. Fuel, mileage, gas and water state recorded.
5. Waste and toilet confirmed empty and rinsed.
6. Any differences noted on the spot, in front of the customer, with photographs of each.
7. Deposit decision stated there and then: released, or held pending a specific quantified item with a date by which you will confirm.
That last step is the one that decides whether a customer recommends you. "We will let you know" is where goodwill goes to die.
Where Flotello fits
Flotello runs the handover and the return from a phone: the accessory and inventory checklist per vehicle, a minimum number of photographs before the record can be closed, both signatures on the screen, and the return shown against the handover so differences are visible before the customer leaves. The deposit is recorded against the booking, so nobody has to remember which ones are still open. There is a seven-day trial without a card.