Looking to buy my first motor home and I am unsure over which side the habitation door should be on ?. I have heard that UK campsites will only let in homes with the door on the passenger side,is this true ?.
does it make any difference as you could drive in the opposite way to rectify this. Any advice would be good as it will really help me decide on a make and model.
We have french caravan with door "on the wrong side". Only times we had problem was on the odd Caravan Club site where the warden was a graduate of the Victor Meldrew Academy.
No site that I’ve been on, and I’ve been to a few, has refused entry to “European side” RHS doors.
Some sites DO require everyone to park up with the hab doors facing the same way, so the door might be on the shady side when you’d prefer sun, or your front windows with the comfy seats might be facing into the site not the view. But such sites are in the minority. One site we go to gives you a 10x10m pitch & is clear you can park lengthwise, diagonally, whatever.
We have a German made camper with door on 'wrong' side.
We were also instructed to turn around on a M&C club site, despite not facing anyone 😬
But generally it makes no difference. Its great when in Europe though.
The only time I have seen anyone asked to turn around on their allocated pitch was indeed a caravan. They had driven onto the pitch with the van behind them. Moved the car to one side 'on' the pitch and had started to put up their awning. They were told understandably, that in case of fire it would not be possible to drag the van clear of other vans if the fire was within their van, or indeed in the van next to them. They were also told that this was a fire brigade stipulation. It was a British van.
Maybe, as the pitch was huge, they wanted to have the sun for longer.
Our is a motorhome with the habitation door on the right hand side, never had any particular problem with it. If parking close to other vans just face which ever way is appropriate.
I was going to ask a similar question as we are looking to buy our first motorhome at the NEC show in October?
With so many Club sites insisting which side you have to park. It could cause a problem with the habitation door being in the wrong side?
Having been caravaners for many years we prefer to reverse in and have the form of the caravan pointing outwards and would in most cases want to do the same with a motorhome .
Would it be better to buy a U.K. built motorhome in this case or are there many European manufacturers that put the habitation door on the U.K. side for the U.K. market?
Quote: Originally posted by Dave11 on 09/10/2022
I was going to ask a similar question as we are looking to buy our first motorhome at the NEC show in October?
With so many Club sites insisting which side you have to park. It could cause a problem with the habitation door being in the wrong side?
Having been caravaners for many years we prefer to reverse in and have the form of the caravan pointing outwards and would in most cases want to do the same with a motorhome .
Would it be better to buy a U.K. built motorhome in this case or are there many European manufacturers that put the habitation door on the U.K. side for the U.K. market?
It's never been a problem at any club site we've been to, they always ask which side the hab door is on and have said if it was on the opposite side, we'd just have to drive in nose first rather than reverse in.
Same here, our sliding door on 'wrong' side. Never once have we been refused to any site. If we use a pitch where we would open onto someone else's door we just park the other way round.
Wouldn't worry about it if it's the van you want.
On CAMC sites that we’ve been on, we’re told to go forwards with the marker at the front LHS wheel, or reverse with the rear RHS wheel to the marker. (Or the other way round, but you know what I mean.) That is, go onto the pitch either way.
So - just choose the MH you want! There are enough other variables to decide already.
Yes Sitona , I have seen that some models dependant predominantly on their base supplier are taking up to 12 months , with a few taking a little longer.
I will be keeping my current caravan and combo until the dealer actually gets the MH in .
I already have holidays booked for next year including trips to Switzerland and South of France .
There is no way I will risk letting the dealer have the caravan fir trace in until they have the MH ready for collection.
We were on a UK site earlier in the year which had strict instructions on pitching depending on what side the door was. Reverse in for UK side and drive in for Continental side. Personally I think it is curtesy not to park door to door with your neighbour, particularly if pitch size in not that generous.
We've had both: our first MH was a UK brand with the door on the passenger side, and our current one is a French brand with the door on the driver's side. In the end, it makes no difference whatsoever.
Whether we drive or reverse into a pitch depends on various factors: the view, the sun direction, the slope of the ground, access and the shape of the pitch. I don't think we've ever had a campsite tell us which way round to pitch....but most of our UK camping is on relaxed sites like the ones in the New Forest (abroad they don't really seem to care).
As a matter of courtesy we try not to park with our door facing the neighbour, but sometimes its inevitable....for instance on a site in France this year we were next to a British van who'd reversed in and a German who'd also reversed in so no matter which way we choose we'd be facing one of them. Wasn't a problem though....in fact we had a few nice conversations.