For our 14 day Scotland campervan trip in April 2024, we rented a campervan with Goboony (Airbnb for campervans and motorhome).
Here’s a review of our experience with Goboony.
Why we think a Scotland campervan experience is priceless
As digital nomads since 2021, we’ve been travelling a lot and done our fair share of epic road trips in Greece, Japan, Taiwan etc.
Yet I got to say that our Scotland campervan experience was our most epic yet.
There is something about a campervan trip in Scotland that makes for such a special adventure. So much so that we were ok with giving up some modern conveniences that comes with living in a campervan.
Because the landscape is so wild and vast, and because the weather is so varied and dramatic, the flexibility that a campervan or motorhome affords makes such a big difference.
Instead of having to rush to check in to your next accomodation, you can keep your plans loose and adapt according to the weather because there is no fixed place you need to get to before nightfall.
While driving, if the weather aligns with your luck and you chance upon the perfect sunset place, you can pull over and stay as long as you want to savour it (which is exactly we did when we chanced upon this magical gem of a place on the a832 ).
Constantly being in the wild also increases your chances of catching Scotland’s magical wildlife, like how we were visited by the wild reindeer herd of Cairngorms as we were cooking dinner.
Why we chose Goboony for our campervan rental
We did a ton of research and figured that these were the main options:
- Search for individual rental companies on Google and Google maps
- Rent via Goboony (Airbnb for campervans and motorhomes)
- Rent via other Goboony alternatives like Indie Campers or Camplify
Our initial choice - rental companies
We decided to look for individual rental companies on Google and Google maps first because:
- It was going to be our first campervan experience
- We assumed that companies would be more experienced and so there’ll be less chances of things going wrong
- A friend who did campervan rental with an Airbnb-style platform told us how the owner forgot to tell them about some electrical wiring thing and so they couldn’t charge their phones for some parts of the trip - we wanted to avoid things like that
So we started looking on Google and Google Maps. The search experience was VERY tedious.
- Each company has its own website and system for checking availability (some don’t even have a self-served availability checker - you need to email them)
- Most companies only have a few vehicles - so we had to comb through A LOT of websites
- Most companies also don’t offer automatic campervans (which we wanted because we had limited driving experience driving manual gear and long vehicles)
After days of searching, we finally found a company that suited our needs and confirmed our booking after some back and forth emails. We paid the deposit and thought we were set.
Company cancelled on us
3 weeks before our trip, I received an email that they had to cancel our booking. Their explanation was that they just renewed their insurance and their insurance company decided not to cover Singaporean licenses anymore.
We were very disappointed. We spent so much effort looking for a professional company instead of an “Airbnb” precisely because we wanted to avoid stuff like this.
Goboony to the rescue
Anyway, we scrambled to find another company with a campervan available. Unfortunately, we could not find a suitable one.
And so we gave up and went with the “Airbnb” platforms. We mainly looked at Goboony because they had the most options that were suitable for us.
How it works
Driver requirements
To use Goboony, you must:
- Be 24-74 years of age (at the time of travelling)
- Have held the required driver’s license (depends on listing) for at least 3 years
1. Seach for suitable vehicles
Goboony has lots of filters to help you find the right vehicle. The most important filters for us were:
- Location of pickup (near Glasgow, where we were flying to)
- “Motorhome” type (Campervan, because we didn’t want anything larger)
- Gear type (Automatic)
- Price
Clicking into the listing shows you more details:
Key things we looked out for:
- Photos
- Does it look well maintained?
- Does the sleeping setup look comfortable?
- Reviews
- Any issues raised? Are we ok with those issues?
- As first timers we preferred to rent from someone with positive reviews
- Amenities included and NOT included
- April is cold, so a heater was important for us
- We wanted to cook in the wild, so gas, kitchen equipment, stove, fridge, dinette were important
- “Security deposit amount”
- This one was a bit confusing but here’s what we figured out:
- The “Security deposit” on the listing actually refers to the insurance deductible / excess
- The actual security deposit amount will be shown on the booking page before you confirm and pay - this might be different from the insurance deductible / excess i.e. the “Security deposit” on the listing page (it was different for us)
- The insurance deductible / excess on Goboony seems to range between 1,000 to 1,500 GBP
2. Make a request
The next step is to fill in your details and send a request.
This basically just starts a conversation with the vehicle owner. There is nothing committed at this stage yet.
If you have any questions, we recommend asking that in the message box.
For us, we asked:
- Whether he can offer pickup and dropoff from the train station
- How flexible can the pickup and dropoff timings be
- Whether he can provide beddings (usually it’s not included by default)
After sending the request, you will have to wait for the owner to review your request and respond.
You can always ask more follow up questions to the owner via the chat interface on the website.
3. Confirm the booking + pay installment / deposit
Once the owner has accepted your request, and you’ve clarified everything you needed to, you can confirm the booking.
To confirm the booking, you will have to pay the first installment. The % of the installment depends on how far you are from the start of the trip . The exact amount that you’ll need to be pay and the timeframe will be clearly displayed on your Goboony’s booking page.
Our trip was in less than 3 weeks’ time. So we had to pay everything in one shot.
That included a 3,000 GBP deposit that would be refunded after the trip after the owner confirms that there are no damages to the van that we should be liable for.
3,000 GBP is a lot of money. We were definitely nervous about it. We’re not sure why it’s so high. It might have to do with us holding a Singapore license. In any case, time was running out and beggars can’t be choosers. So we went ahead.
5. Pick up and handover
On the day itself, we got picked up by the vehicle owner, Chris, from the train station as arranged. He drove us to his house for the handover.
Chris was super nice and meticulous in showing us the ins and outs of the van. He also allowed us to leave some of our luggage in his house so that we can have more space in the van
From our experience, I strongly recommend you to:
- Come prepared with a list of questions
- Take notes, photos, and videos as the owner goes through the vehicle (we forgot how unfold the bed and had to text him in the evening and wait for his reply)
- Try everything at least once because if you experience any difficulties, you can ask him there and then (we did not try unfolding the bed during handover, so when we couldn’t release a catch we weren’t sure if we should push harder and potentially damage it, or there’s something else we’re missing)
- Take photos of the condition of BOTH the exterior AND interior for insurance purposes. We only took photos of the exterior but it was the interior where we later realized that some stuff were falling apart. Chris was very nice to take ownership of the issues and I believe most owners will (unless the damage is very obviously caused by you instead of wear and tear). Nonetheless it’s probably a good idea to be on the safe side in case you meet the ocassional rouge owner.
6. Goboony form submission
Goboony would have also informed you a few days before the trip about a “GoForm” to fill in and co-sign with the owner. It looks like this:
It’s similar to one of those car rental forms where all the details are there and you mark any pre-existing damages and indicate the current mileage.
Either you or the owner will have to print it out. We didn’t have access to a printer since we were travelling and so Chris kindly printed our copies for us.
Once it has been signed, you must take a photo of it and upload it to your Goboony account, along with photos of any pre-existing damages. Then you’re set!
7. Return the vehicle
Nearer the end of the trip, we coordinated with Chris for the exact timing to return the vehicle.
After clearing out our stuff from the van (takes a while), Chris filled out the return part of the “GoForm” (similar to the departure form, where the condition of the car and damages are recorded if any).
I then uploaded the photo of the filled form to Goboony and that’s it! Chris sent us to the train station and we continued our journey to Edinburgh.
8. Get back your deposit
After the trip has ended, the owner supposedly has 14 days to file any damages that you are liable for. If there are no damages, he can release the deposit.
We were notified via email the next day that Chris has already released our deposit. Within the next few days, we were refunded the deposit in the same card that we used to pay.
How does the insurance work?
You’ll encounter 2 types of insurance on Goboony
- Provided by Goboony
- Provided by vehicle owner
If the pricing information on your booking page includes a “Goboony Insurance” line (as seen below), the insurance is provided by Goboony.
If not, the insurance is likely provided by the vehicle owner and is baked into the rental fee. In those cases you can check with the vehicle owner how the insurance works.
For Goboony insurance, one thing to note is that the excess is per incident of damage, not per trip. Not the best terms but we unfortunately didn’t have a choice 🤷🏻
All the documents related to the insurance and roadside assitance etc will be available for download on Goboony’s portal.
Issues faced
Unfortunately, we actually did face several issues with the van during our trip. Thankfully, we managed to resolve them along the way and did not need to cut our trip short.
The biggest issue we encountered - on day 2 morning, our van suddenly door couldn’t close. Many of our campsite neighbors took a look and tried to help but nobody could fix it.
So we had to borrow some twine and tie the door close as we drove slowly to a locksmith nearby (it was a saturday and by then car workshops were closed).
Thankfully, someone else at the campsite had the exact same van model and that helped us to narrow it down to a mechanism that wasn’t catching. With that info, the locksmith somehow managed to fix it with some magic fiddling. Phew! He didn’t even charge us for it. What a great bloke (if you’re near Loch Lomond and need a locksmith, I highly recommend Michael )
We also encountered some issues with parts of the interior of the van falling apart. Thankfully they were minor inconveniences and we could bear with them until we returned the van.
Chris was sincerely apologetic about the issues we faced. We appreciated that and were just thankful that we could complete our trip and that he did not accuse us of causing damages (especially since we didn’t take photos of the interior at the start).
So despite the issues faced, our overall experience was still positive.
Crhis does seem to maintain his vehicle well. I believe we were just unlucky that the issues happened to crop up during our trip.
Chris mentioned that he’ll be sending the van to the workshop the next day to get the issues fixed. So i’m sure it’ll be fine for future renters.
Overall - an experience reminiscent of Airbnb in its early days
In my opinion, our Goboony experience felt a bit like the early days of Airbnb - where hosts were regular everyday, genuinely nice folks sharing their space with you (as opposed to full-time “professional” landlords much more common now).
The experience may not be as streamlined and “professional” - for example, I wish Chris had a “campervan manual” that we could refer to in case we forgot something. And in unlucky event that the van really breaks down, it’s unlikey that the owner will have a spare van to let you continue your holidays.
However, what you get in exchange is a much more personal and warm experience. For instance, Chris went out of his way to accommodate any special requests we had (extra beddings, pillows, later return timings etc). He even offered his highlands guide book that he personally uses.
There’s a warm homey vibe that is pretty nice.
The Goboony platform itself is pretty easy to use and seem to have the important things thought out (insurance, pre-existing damages etc). Customer service is fairly responsive too - I emailed them a few times about insurance and they replied within the day or the next.
Other helpful info:
Can you call Goboony if there is an issue?
Their phone number is actually quite difficult to find (probably on purpose).
We scrambled for a bit when we wanted to clarify something regarding the driver details. You can find it here .
How much did it cost us?
In total, inclusive of insurance, we paid 1,542.15 GBP for 13 days, 12 nights.
That worked out to 128.50 GBP per night.