Retrocamperhire Anmeldelser 

The camper van I got was not the one I originally booked. The replacement van was in a poor state. The interior was dirty, bathroom cubicle smelled of urine, and several fittings were either broken, missing, not working, were installed incorrectly, etc. The vehicle battery failed twice, requiring me to source jump leads on both occasions and a willing car to assist. Concerningly, the tax and insurance discs displayed on the vehicle were out of date!!!

The handover consisted of sending a video (with insufficient detail) of the van half an hour before pickup and being pointed to where the van was parked on the road. No “comprehensive handover” as advertised on their website was carried out, and nothing was demonstrated as working at pickup.

When I raised the issues with the vehicle on day 2 of a 4 day booking, there was no offer of a replacement vehicle and no out-of-hours assistance (other than breakdown assistance). I was told that I was too far away for them to assist, despite being a half an hour drive away.

When I raised concerns, I was met with confrontational and argumentative responses. Nothing was their fault. Instead of listening to genuine issues, user incompetence was repeatedly the default reply, even though it was clear there were items broken / not installed correctly. I was offered a €50 refund as compensation for the issues I experienced, which I didn’t accept as it didn’t reflect the condition of the vehicle, the problems encountered, or the overall lack of service provided.

I was warned by the company that if I left a 1-star review, they would respond by publicly posting CCTV footage of me and, more concerningly, posting my signed rental document (containing my personal information and banking details). This intimidation tactic is extremely inappropriate and raises serious concerns around their handling of customer personal data. The company has made it clear that they intend to respond to any review I post and challenge it; however, everything stated here is an honest and factual account of my personal experience.

I would encourage people to read both the positive and negative reviews carefully and make up their own minds. A number of the 5-star reviews are left by people sharing the same surname as the owner (Byrne). That may be entirely coincidental, but it really stood out after my hire experience, particularly when comparing them with the detailed 1-star reviews describing poor experiences very similar to my own.

Based on my experience, I would AVOID, AVOID, AVOID this company!

Fabulous , thank you so much . We had a great experience 5 star

Awful experience. The camper van is filthy, not as advertised. Nothing worked, all the things that they say are provided such as bedding, gas and towels, toiletries etc are not provided. They also do not return deposits!
These people are stealing.
Please be aware.

Fantastic experience using Retro Camper Hire , would definitely recommend

Camper was very comfortable, gave that "retro" feel,4 of us was very delighted, we booked it for a week to do Atlantic way trip,which was unforgettable! Highly suggest! Defo will come back in the summer!

We got a vehicle without an heating system. We stayed 4 days like that. We tried to change it after two days but nobody showed up so we keep the Van for the rest of the trip.
Electric works just when plugged externally, no plugs work during the travel, we bought a cigar usb to connect the phones.
Various pieces fall apart: wood pieces that worked to keep the window up and the back mirror was joined with a piece of paper, when I tried to adjust it it remained in my hand.
Our vehicle was the Europa...by the way on the web site they wrote: Coming soon...maybe it was not ready to come...

Hired out retro style camper van for the weekend ,there not modern so expected that with the name retro ,enjoyed the experience, will definitely do it again 😀 travelling around the coasts of ireland with the most fabulous views 😀

Hi everyone. I had an amazing experience. I chose this company because, like the name said, the campers are RETRO, I wanted to feel experience to drive and live in for few days. Although the camper is old doesn't let me down. Like I said I feel very good in this trip and I will repeat on summer. I recommend it.

Great experience ! I want to feel again this around Ireland trip. Thanks Retrocamperhier.

First time campervan enthusiast.
What a beautiful country 🇮🇪
And what a fantastic way to see it.
All the guys a Retro Camper Hire were absolutely fantastic 👏
We hope to come back again soon

Travel at your own leisure , if you want to explore wild camping this is the way to go

Our first ever time renting a campervan.
The whole experience was so enjoyable from start to finish.
Thank you so much to everyone in
Retro Camper Hire
Highly highly recommended

The vehicle I hired was about 20 plus years old, within 3 hours it broke down, with a faulty fuel pump electrical connection, after an hour on the side of the road, the owner got back to me with a fix, wiggle the wire on fuel pump, it worked but broke down again in the middle of Galway city, I contacted the owner again, he told me to take it to a garage, I did the following morning and was informed by the garage, it was a possible fire hazard, and shouldn't be on the road. The mechanic fixed the issue, the owner never offered to pay back for the repair either.
I tried to contact the owner several times with no joy; I had booked it for 7 days but due to the state of the vehicle I decided to take it back to his depot in Dublin, on the way back it started to overheat, so was a very slow trip back, the owner was not around or answering his phone, not responding to massages or emails.
I was offered no refund on the 6 days that I had already paid for, and it took a lot of messing around to get my 1000 euros bond back. But no offer to refund the balance of the hire. He doesn't respond to emails, messages and even phone calls.
He even told the booking.com that I had cancelled.
If you go to their website, don't believe a word of it, he has NO new campers, and the customer service is well there isn't any.

steer clear scammers, worst vans, worst customer service and worst experieice ever

We had a shocking experience with Retro Campervans Ireland. Despite booking a small camper (Bandit), we were forced to take a much larger, unsafe van (Betsy), after being told our original choice was unavailable. The replacement vehicle was not roadworthy and had numerous serious safety issues, including faulty brakes, a smashed wing mirror, jammed gearstick, a broken accelerator pedal and interior door handle on the sliding door. Worse still, it had an expired CVRT and tax, making it illegal to drive under Irish law.

We were asked to pay a €1000 cash deposit without prior notice, and when we tried to cancel due to these issues, the company refused a refund and pressured us to proceed. The van was also unsanitary, with mouldy utensils, broken fittings, and missing safety features.

When stopped by Gardaí, we confirmed via the official RSA website that the vehicle’s CVRT was months out of date. The owner knowingly misled us and ignored safety laws.

This company put our safety at serious risk. We strongly urge others to avoid Retro Campervans Ireland.

SCAMMERS! VIOLENT, DISHONEST, AND DANGEROUS – AVOID THIS RENTAL COMPANY AT ALL COSTS

If I could give zero stars, I would. Renting from this company was an absolute nightmare and I’m warning anyone reading this: DO NOT TRUST THEM.

I rented a minivan for a weekend and it was a complete disaster. The vehicle was ancient, falling apart, and clearly unfit for the road. In just two days, it broke down five times, a dead battery, engine overheating, and brake issues that made it downright dangerous to drive. I wasted half the weekend stuck on the side of the road, calling for help, and stressing about being stranded.

But it gets worse. When I returned the van and explained everything, the owner turned aggressive, yelling and trying to intimidate me. Then he had the nerve to try and charge me for the repairs of his garbage vehicle. And just like that, he kept my full deposit €1000, gone. By the way, this huge deposit was never clearly mentioned in any documentation or during the reservation process. They just demand it when you show up to get the van, and you’ll never see that money again.

To top it all off, the situation escalated so badly we ended up at the police station. That’s how out-of-control and violent this man became.

And if you’re wondering why they might have positive reviews online, let me tell you: it’s all a scam too. They offer a €50 discount if you leave a 5-star review. That’s how they manipulate their ratings – they buy their reputation while treating customers like garbage.

This company is unsafe, dishonest, and completely unprofessional. Their vehicles should be taken off the road, and their business practices are borderline criminal. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

Stay far away. No trip is worth risking your safety, your money, or your sanity.

Retro camper hire offered me a €50 refund if I posted a 10 star review on booking.com, they are paying for their good reviews!!
I was overcharged for bedding by €30 and after driving for 5 hours we discovered we weren’t even given pillows. I ended up paying 40 euros per person to rent a dirty sleeping bag. I contacted Retro camper hire about this and asked for a refund and they stopped communicating with me after 2 emails. During our 6 day rental the van broke down twice. The accelerator cable snapped due to it being bodged with a bicycle brake cable and we had a blow out on a rear tyre. After the blow out I realised that the tyre was defective when we picked it up from them, iit also hhad a puncture in both rear tyres as they were nearly flat causing me to lose control of the vehicle twice. The tyre blow out ended up costing me nearly 700 euros. Eventually I became so concerned about the state of the van so I had a good look over it as would do if I was inspecting a customer’s car. (I am a car mechanic) I found lots of problems due to very poor cheap fixes, the worst being with the suspension and steering, the vehicle should not be on the road, it is dangerous.
From a comfort point of view, the beds are tiny, only 60cm wide and very uncomfortable, bear in mind the drivers seat makes up half of one of the beds, despite the vehicle having a mk5 transit face-lift conversion, this vehicle is actually a mk4 transit so the drivers seat is almost 40 years old – would you want to sleep on a 40 year old mattress? The bed on the drivers side isn’t full length as the steering wheel is in the way. The privacy curtain has been moved from the windscreen to just behind the front seats, this means the curtain is dangling across your waist when you’re lying down and the curtain is pulled across. The pop up roof leaks onto the right hand side bed when it rains and it pops up when driving in windy conditions.
From reading other reviews on google and Booking.com we are not the only ones to have this type of bad experience.