Go Explore Scotland 

We had a fantastic experience renting a motorhome from Go Explore Scotland for one week. Everything went smoothly from start to finish. Communication was fast and easy, and Tom – who handed over the motorhome – was incredibly friendly, helpful, and professional. He took the time to explain everything to us clearly, which made the start of our trip stress-free.

The motorhome itself was in excellent condition, well-equipped, and super comfortable – we had no issues at all during our trip. Highly recommended! We would definitely rent from them again.

Very helpful staff, set us on the right path when we collected the lil combi van for our weeks adventure in the Outer Hebrides.

Van was clean and tidy, we learnt so much on our trip about what we needed/didn't need in a van, which was the whole point of hiring the Combi.

It was such a good experience that we have now ordered our own van.

Thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, the only downside was the island bed, the mattress was far too thin and the metal frame could be felt through it!

SCAM ALERT. The company is illegally withholding nearly £1,500 from us for an unused franchise, claiming indirect costs that are neither specified in the contract nor detailed in any invoice. Be extremely cautious with Gillian Ralston, the Manager — she is the main person responsible for this scam. We have taken legal action and reported the matter to the Scottish authorities, but I wanted to leave this review to warn potential clients. Feel free to contact me for more information — we have everything documented. We will keep updating as the situation evolves.

I hired a campervan from Go Explore (Scotland) Ltd from June 19 to June 27, 2025. I paid a security deposit of £1,500. This review is based solely on their conduct after the rental concluded.

The Facts of the Incident
Vehicle Condition: The rented campervan was returned with NO damage (confirmed by their own Post Rental Inspection report, which I have).

Deposit Retention: Go Explore has withheld the full £1,500 deposit, claiming it was entirely consumed by the insurance excess for a third-party claim following an accident.

Transparency Refused: Despite repeated written requests, the company's representative has explicitly refused to provide a single piece of evidence to justify this deduction. They refuse to share the insurer's settlement letter, the claim reference number, or a breakdown of the costs.

Company Stance: The company's final communication stated that the insurance settlement is a "commercial matter" and therefore irrelevant to the customer.

Consumer Warning
Go Explore (Scotland) Ltd is permanently retaining a significant amount of money (£1,500) from a customer without providing any proof that the charge is legitimate, proportionate, or even necessary. This behavior is a fundamental breach of transparency and accountability expected under UK consumer law and BVRLA guidelines.

This refusal leaves me, the customer, with no way to verify that the money was spent correctly.

Action Taken: Due to the company's continuous refusal to cooperate or provide documentation, this matter has been formally escalated to the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association) for investigation into their compliance and conduct.

Recommendation: Potential customers should be aware that if a claim is raised during your rental, Go Explore may withhold your entire deposit and refuse to provide you with the necessary documentation to prove why. Proceed with caution.

Very negative experience – I do not recommend this company

We rented a motorhome from this company and took out the full insurance policy with a £2000 excess per incident. During the trip, we had three minor issues, one of which was simply a piece of plastic that came loose from the side mirror. The company charged us two full £2000 excesses.

In one case, the repair cost was higher than the excess, so we understand losing that amount. However, the other two damages were estimated at £521.84 in total, so we should have received a £1478.16 refund, which we have not received even after a long time.

They also told us that the £2000 payment is independent of the actual repair cost, meaning that even for a small scratch you’ll be charged the full excess. In addition, they mentioned “indirect costs” without providing any invoices or breakdown.

Another issue is that the same company that rents the motorhomes also carries out the repairs, which raises concerns about transparency in pricing.

In summary, my experience has been very poor. I do not recommend this company – the damages were minimal, but the way they handled the situation was unfair and unprofessional. If you want to avoid problems and losing money, look elsewhere to rent your motorhome.

Mechanically vehicle in good condition and drove well, however internally several things weren’t working - heating (September Scotland!), the door handle kept falling off and the toilet door didn’t close. Able to call to see if could be fixed, but asked us to return to Glasgow from the Northeast 500 not feasible. Feel reasonable that these could have been checked before we left. Then, perhaps we miss-understood our introduction, but we were charged for diesel ‘top-up’ (even though we filled it up) and for emptying tanks. Perhaps a check list to remind us before returning. We queried these payments, receiving rather a terse email to say that is how it is as they already had our money. They were nice people, but WOULD NOT recommend them as a little ‘basic’ in their service and attention to detail. Several other reviews echo our experience

I was honestly going to give 5 stars, because we got exactly the campervan we booked, it was clean, with all the necessary things (pots, plates, outside table and chairs, ...), and overall it was very nice to drive around Scotland. However we got an issue with the water pump on our 4th day: basically after we filled up the clean water tank, whenever we pumped water inside (to cook, clean dishes, in the bathroom) there was a huge leak outside and we ran out of water in 1 day and a half. We didn't plan to stop to a camp again before returning the vehicle, and so we stayed 3 days with no water. We managed, but it was not expected to happen. We also couldn't stop to have it checked right away, because we would have lost important travelling hours/days. They promised to check on the issue once they had the campervan back and then reach out to me in a couple of days/weeks to let us know what happened, and maybe agree on some king of partial refund. Well, they never contacted me afterwards, I was the one sending them a reminder with no real answer about what had happened. I reached out to them again today (almost 2 months after renting the vehicle) and it seems like they blocked me as the message has never been received by them.
I'm really sorry about how this ended, because it was overall a nice experience.

RUN AWAY.
This company is practicing the scam rearmirror that we have been victim of!!!!
Unfortunately i cannot put the link but check and add https:// check on wideworldmag news/rear-view-mirror-scam-how-a-bad-hit-on-car-can-lead-to-a-money-scam
We have been renting a van and someone broke the rearview mirror, at the return of the vehicule the women checks the vehicules and says to us that it will be around 300/400 pounds and made us sign the paper after checking the damage.
Fair enough we're willing to pay the damages even though we find the piece for 150pound on net, ok for the mounting 300 is okay.
After returning to our country, we receive an email saying that the TOTALLY of the deposit of 1500pound will not be returned.
it is a famous scam, run away.

Hired a van for a week, No oven, one single socket in the living space, TV didn't work, radio didn't work.
Got charged for a windscreen replacement for the mist tiny chip less than half the size of little finger nail and totally repairable.
This isn't a good business to hire your van from - I definitely wouldn't recommend to anyone!!!

Reply to supplier response:-
If it were possible to give less than one star, I would do so!

Oven is a basic function for such an activity and would certainly be an expectation for anyone hiring. It isn't available because that's the choice that was made when the vehicle was bought, a choice driven by price and not functional use for the hirer.

Chip in the windscreen was less than a 5 pence piece, not cracks or spiders, out of the swept area. It was definitely repairable and almost certainly that's what was done despite charging for a replacement.

Strongly advise anyone considering renting a motorhome from this company should read the reviews and choose carefully.

Great quality and communication throughout the whole process, booking, pickup, drop off. Nice new (2021) Macbeth 2 person camper with a double bed setup at the back, just the right size for two people exploring Scotland.

I had this camper booked but due to personal error I was unable to use it. After finding this out all communications stopped and I was unable to get in contact with anyone who could help. This would stop me using this company in the future, extremely disappointing

Pleasant and helpful staff. Good standard of motorhome- well equipped,clean

A very friendly company to work with. Nothing was too much trouble. Thank you!

Never will use this company again!!! Worst experience ever of motorhome rental: the motorhome was super expensive for a low quality vehicle (the interior was not waterproof - which in Scotland is kind of a problem - the whole front area of the vehicle was wet inside, dripping on our bed and clothes...), people were nice but so unprofessional: we were charged, without notice, 6 weeks later, a colossal amount (nearly half of the rental) for a so-called damage that was never observed at the time of returning the vehicle! No explanation, no estimate, no invoice! Unbelievable. Avoid at all costs.

The ourlander berth campervan was well-equipped, we had fun exploring the van as well as Scotland :)
The crew was very helpful when introducing all features and was very patient with all our questions, as it was our first time renting a campervan.

We were issued a new immaculate,super nice motorhome. The service we received was sublime...we would never consider using any other company in future.

We have rented a small campervan from this company. We have already hired RVs and Campers all around the word, so we have had some experience.
There were issues with the car:
1) The car was quite warn down. Of course things happen to rental campers, but it was not really clean, there were wear and tear marks everywhere, and some parts were effectively broken.
2) The interior of the camper was not really well thought out. In a small camper it is important to have furniture that will make the best use of every cubic centimeter. Their camper was very bad in this regard.
3) According to the description, we were supposed to get one nearly full gas bottle and one spare. We got only one practically empty. Adding to the problems, they are using an exotic construction that is unavailable except in the largest hardware stores.
And the icing on the cake is, that after nearly two weeks we have returned the car, they are still sitting on our money.
So, not recommended you should be able to find better providers.

We had a great trip to the Scottish Highlands with Go Explore Scotland. We were in a Bruce automatic and the vehicle served us well during our trip. We had a minor issue with the heating which I was not sure how to sort out. I sent the company a message through facebook at around 10pm one night and a few minutes later there was already someone trying to help us sort out the problem. They are extremely responsive through facebook. Scotland is a beautiful part of the world. Weather was not always on our side but we had a great trip. The roads are very narrow so it takes some time to get used to

Fantastic company, professional, very helpful.
No problems