If you are thinking of buying an Auto-Sleeper motorhome, you are unlikely to find anything better when it comes to your choice of large or small, luxuriously spacious or nimbly manoeuvrable. Nor, for want of options when it comes to the layout of your ultimate leisure vehicle.

Indeed, you are likely to be so spoiled for choice that making a final decision seems overwhelming. So, why choose an Auto-Sleeper, and what do you need to consider when buying one?

Why choose an Auto-Sleeper?

This might be summed up in just three words – quality, design, and variety:

Quality

• the whole point of a motorhome is to provide comfortable accommodation while you are out and about exploring the world at large;

• as a result, you will typically want the accommodation component of your motorhome to offer the height of comfort, and be well equipped and spacious;

• while no motorhome is likely to offer the same space and luxury as a penthouse suite in a top-class hotel, even so, Auto-Sleepers come close to achieving this in the vehicles they have constructed or customised;

• this is partly about the quality of the materials used internally, partly about the design approach and most importantly, about the overall build quality;

• it’s perfectly possible to have a great design using superb materials, but if they are poorly put together, the end result will be sub-optimal – that is not a mistake made by Auto-Sleepers, who consistently turn out widely praised interiors;

Design

• there are certainly cases where it is evident the design of a motorhome has perhaps not been entirely well thought-through;

• although the materials and build quality may be fine, that doesn’t count for much if you have to climb over a table to reach the WC or can’t easily open a cupboard door when sitting in the lounge because it jams against a piece of furniture;

• Auto-Sleepers have clearly been impeccably designed with an emphasis on practical functionality – and the importance of that often becomes crystal clear during the first 24 hours of using your new motorhome;

Variety

• Auto-Sleepers offer a wide range of vehicle types;

• not only do they vary based on chassis and engine but also in terms of their internal configuration – you could, for example, have near identical chassis and engines but with the accommodation configured for two, three or four-berth use;

• the company also doesn’t restrict its activities to larger flagship motorhomes;

• the manufacturer’s van conversions are innovative and display genius in terms of the utilisation of available space;

• this means that recreational vehicle users of all types and budgets can usually find an Auto-Sleeper to meet their needs.

Meeting your needs and requirements

These three excellent reasons for choosing an Auto-Sleeper come to nothing, of course, unless the motorhome can meet your particular needs and requirements. However brilliant the motorhomes are, you will still want to exercise personal tastes and preferences to your own specification.

Whether you will be happy with a van conversion or a full-sized motorhome is very much a matter of personal choice. The same is true in terms of things such as the size of the shower room and the total number of berths. For example, some people may prefer to trade a berth if it means they have a larger shower and WC area.

These things need to be considered, and a general requirements list produced before you start searching the Auto-Sleepers range. It will help focus your attention on what’s important to you.

So, let’s take a closer look at what might appear on your list of sought-after qualities and features.

Size

Who is likely to be travelling with you on your adventures in an Auto-Sleeper motorhome? Is it just you and your partner or do you have children or maybe an extended family to think of?

The answer governs the number of beds you need in your motorhome and, of course, this determines, in turn, the overall size of the vehicle that may comfortably accommodate your travelling companions.

Weight

Closely related to the question of size is the overall weight and laden weight of your motorhome.

This may become more critical as you consider the largest of the motorhomes you might have an eye on. For the great majority of motorhomes, your standard driving licence allows you to drive vehicles of up to 3,500kg Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM), explains the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). For motorhomes above this weigh, however, you may need to pass and hold a supplementary Category C1 licence.

To complicate things a little further, your precise driving licence qualifications also depend on whether you took your test before or after the 1^st of January 1997.

Where are you going?

Your choice of the size and weight of your motorhome might also be influenced by where it is you are likely to be going and how you intend to use the vehicle:

• if you are planning to use it mainly for touring, with just overnight stops along the way, a smaller vehicle is likely to be more manoeuvrable along narrow winding lanes or congested city streets;

• if you have a particular destination in mind and plan to use your Auto-Sleeper as a – somewhat luxurious – home away from home, then the extra spaciousness and higher standard of fittings and furniture of a larger, heavier vehicle may be more appropriate.

Seeing is believing

As you begin to lock onto the motorhome of your choice, there is nothing to beat the experience of ditching the brochures and magazines and getting up close and personal to the real thing.

Why not stop by our Auto-Sleeper exhibition centre and view the whole range on offer? Settle down in one of the comfortable seats in the cockpit or lounge area, bounce up and down on a bed or two, and get hands-on with the galley.

Your budget

As with so many things, your final decision may come down to the hard realities of your bank balance.

Once again, though, Auto-Sleeper build motorhomes to suit many a pocket – and reputable dealers such as ourselves here at Derby Motorhomes offer access to finance specialists who may advise on the ways to finance your purchase – including the Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) similar to the deal with which you might have bought your last motor car.