Can I park a Warwick duo

We are looking at various vans, and started off looking at the Symbol/Duetto. But we are now checking out the Warwick duo as we prefer the end lounge/bed arrangement.

I’ve realised that the Warwick is a good 2 foot longer than the Symbol. Does anyone have experience of parking the Warwick duo. Can they get in normal spaces in a general car park, supermarkets etc?

I can’t see us leaving this on the street (has anyone ever tried parking in Ambleside in the Lakes!!!) so I’m worried that I’ll buy one then not be able to take it anywhere.

Any help and advice from Warwick duo owners would be really appreciated.

I wouldn`t have thought a supermarket would be a problem, unless it is a small Aldi, there are too small for some cars. How long is it ?

I stay away from the middle of car parks and if possible reverse in away from the main car parking, cars like to park as near as possible to the store doors, I park as far away as I can.  

Well my van is 6.88 metres plus bike rack, it is my only transport. I do have to think a bit more re parking, but for me it is still early days as she has been off the road  for a few weeks, doing jobs on her. only bought her last Dec.

My previous  van an Anniversary Clubman, no problems. If trades van go almost anywhere, we can/, says she hopefully.

Hi Daisy - thanks for your comments. it’s 6m long, based on the LWB Peugeot boxer. I’m hoping it’s okay but don’t want a van that we can’t park and leave.

I’ve never owned or driven a camper in the UK, so I’ve nothing to base things on really.

Hi, I have a 2016 Boxer Duo, was advised by the dealer to have the Duo as opposed to the XL, he did have both in stock, due to the extra length.

Never had a problem with parking, just need to watch the nearside kerb when driving round tight bends at first if you are moving from a shorter van. I park in shop car parks but tend to park if possible with the rear over hanging the surrounding grass.

We love the rear lounge/bed arrangement also, so much better than climbing over each other in the night as the years go on.

You will not go wrong in my opinion with a Duo.

_____________
Richard

Hi Rolyan, I drive a Kemerton , same size , also at work daily driver is similar sized Transit. Supermarket/ retail parks no problem unless they have height barriers. I try and park around perimeter and put excess length over a grass verge for example or overhang 2 spaces lengthwise. Width not a problem as fits in most spaces exactly but you then attract door dings as other adjacent space users cant get in/ out of their vehicles as yours takes up the whole space widthwise.
     If I use pay and display I apply the above but if overhanging 2 spaces pay for 2 as they will ticket you even although spaces are generally getting smaller as vehicles get bigger.  At work , I have to take pot luck as time constraints apply but on holiday a quick 2 mins googling parking in an unfamiliar area usually points you to suitable parking. Like Daisy, I value my dent/ding free van and park miles from anyone much to the annoyance of my wife!

With practice you’ll be fine. I’ve left my fairford in all manner of places lol. Even on a street! Like previous poster I tend to overhang a bit of grass if allows or just take up 2 spaces for the length. Some places like retail parks etc have extra big spaces especially in tourist places.

rgermain wrote:Hi, I have a 2016 Boxer Duo, was advised by the dealer to have the Duo as opposed to the XL, he did have both in stock, due to the extra length.

Never had a problem with parking, just need to watch the nearside kerb when driving round tight bends at first if you are moving from a shorter van. I park in shop car parks but tend to park if possible with the rear over hanging the surrounding grass.

We love the rear lounge/bed arrangement also, so much better than climbing over each other in the night as the years go on.

You will not go wrong in my opinion with a Duo.

_____________
Richard

Hi Richard - thanks for your comments, thats put my mind at ease.

Re the bed (which has little to do with parking I know) can we use the double lengthways.  At our age we know we will be getting up during the night ( ) and hoped we could make up the double and sleep lengthways, which although it would involve a shuffle, wouldn't require us to climb over each other.

All the adverts seem to suggest that the double bed is designed to sleep across the van; will the cushions/gaps/sizes etc allow us to sleep lengthways?

Many thanks for the help and support on here.

kaspian wrote:Hi Rolyan, I drive a Kemerton , same size , also at work daily driver is similar sized Transit. Supermarket/ retail parks no problem unless they have height barriers. I try and park around perimeter and put excess length over a grass verge for example or overhang 2 spaces lengthwise. Width not a problem as fits in most spaces exactly but you then attract door dings as other adjacent space users cant get in/ out of their vehicles as yours takes up the whole space widthwise.
     If I use pay and display I apply the above but if overhanging 2 spaces pay for 2 as they will ticket you even although spaces are generally getting smaller as vehicles get bigger.  At work , I have to take pot luck as time constraints apply but on holiday a quick 2 mins googling parking in an unfamiliar area usually points you to suitable parking. Like Daisy, I value my dent/ding free van and park miles from anyone much to the annoyance of my wife!

Hi Kaspian - I will definitely be parking well away from others if possible!

I've seen that advice to park in two spaces and pay for two tickets.  Do you just put two tickets in the windscreen or do you add a note as well.  Knowing my luck i would get a jobsworth who would argue that i need to be in the white lines.

I'm trying not to think of door dings!

Lorfal wrote:With practice you’ll be fine. I’ve left my fairford in all manner of places lol. Even on a street! Like previous poster I tend to overhang a bit of grass if allows or just take up 2 spaces for the length. Some places like retail parks etc have extra big spaces especially in tourist places.

Hi Lorfal

I drove a similar (ish) sized van in New Zealand, which was great because a) the roads are empty and b) you can wild camp anywhere.  I can recommend it to anyone.

We then drove a wicked camper in South America.  The less said about that the better; my partner is only just speaking to me now.  She wasnt a happy bunny and it was three years ago!!!

Hi Rolyan, yes put 2 tickets on and leave a note if  you wish belt and braces approach! For some it seems to be a perverse sport. Spot the nice car /van parked in the far corner of the car park miles from anyone then park either side so close that you return and need to enter via the back doors!

A parking warden told me recently to drive my 6m van into the parking space rather than reverse it in, he explained afterwards that if I had reversed in the wheels would have been outside of the marked bay but by driving in all the wheels were inside the marked bay and the overhang was not as such I wouldn't incur a fine, it did not matter a jot that the van was sticking out into the roadway it was up to other drivers to drive around me. I must add that on this carpark there was a solid wall or fence all the way round the perimeter.
this not the first time that I have been told this so it must be the way all council car parks operate. 
Hope this helps.
Pete

Rolyan wrote:
I can’t see us leaving this on the street (has anyone ever tried parking in Ambleside in the Lakes!!!) so I’m worried that I’ll buy one then not be able to take it anywhere.

 Parking in Ambleside is not a problem with a motorhome in the car park adjacent to White Platts Recreation Ground

Hi Rolyan. Wow, glad to see you have been able to double your budget from the original 15 grand you had to start with. You should be able get get a really good Warwick Duo for that sum of 30 grand with a bit of bartering. For that sort of money you would be looking 2008/09 model Warwick Duo. I think that's the year it was introduced by A/S but not 100% certain, and sure someone will tell me if not. Anyway hope you find a good un, and that 30 grand has opened up a whole new market for you.

Mindhyg wrote:Hi Rolyan. Wow, glad to see you have been able to double your budget from the original 15 grand you had to start with. You should be able get get a really good Warwick Duo for that sum of 30 grand with a bit of bartering. For that sort of money you would be looking 2008/09 model Warwick Duo. I think that's the year it was introduced by A/S but not 100% certain, and sure someone will tell me if not. Anyway hope you find a good un, and that 30 grand has opened up a whole new market for you.

I'm certainly hoping that the new budget has opened up some good possibilities.  It's certainly made vans like the duo an option.

We really like the rear lounge/bed option, so the Warwick duo scores best in that respect over the Symbol/Duetto.  I still need to find out if the double bed can be used lengthways, as we definitely don't want to start scrambling over each other in our nightly forays !

I'm getting some great advice from everyone, which is really appreciated.  The only trouble is that, if I summarise the parking advice so far, there are three main points.
1) the van definitely WILL be okay to park in supermarkets and car parks.
2) the van definitely WON'T be okay to park in supermarkets and car parks.
3) the van may or may not be okay to park in supermarkets and car parks.

It does my head in (in a slightly humorous self deprecating way) but I genuinely appreciate the time and trouble that everyone takes to post on here and help.  The trouble with camper vans is that you don't find out about them until you've bought one.  Gulp.

Hi Rolyan, we always sleep lengthways in our Duo, its a shuffle to get out at night but at least you are not climbing over each other. The cushions are easy to set up.
We think it is a great van and hope you enjoy yours as we do.
The reversing camera helps a lot when parking.

We moved from a Duetto to the Duo and found that the extra length does make parking more awkward, especially in the UK. On occasion we have bought two car park tickets (e.g. at Sennen Cove), but often we have found that placing either the rear or the front over grass at a perimeter car park space just gets us into position without the wheels being over the line. Some car parks have notices which specifically state that the vehicle must be wholly within the lines, not just the wheels (e.g. Sennen Cove), so in such cases you will need two tickets.

Roly. Don't worry about supermarket car parks. I don't use them alot but I've never found one to small for our van and it's 6.36 metres - width is more of a problem! For the amount of times you will use supermarkets it's not worth thinking about it. Here's a little tip that I use quite a lot and probably others do as well when they want to go off site for the day with the van. When or before you go off on a trip ( UK ) look up the local 'park and ride' car parks in the area you are stopping at, they are usually massive and you can jump on the bus ( oh hail to the bus pass ). You can get to more or less anything or anywhere in the particular area you are, and leave the van parked there for the day and for free. We are off for a trip to the Bristol area soon we want to visit the City and docks area. There are three big 'park and ride' car parks in that area, we will park up for the day and jump on the bus into the City. I'm not saying you should do this but I have even stopped overnight on the ' park and ride ' car park adjacent to Cheltenham Racecourse and not been bothered by anyone at all. If you go travelling in Spain and Portugal the supermarkets really want your custom and have special bays for motorhomes they want to get you into their shops and I have never seen one of those car parks full up either. Anyway, take life as it comes and work around it.

The Park and Ride in our nearest city,14 miles away,  has height barriers, so no good to me,

Most above have answered, more or less as I would say. My Duo, as all are except the XL is 5999mm long. My previous MH was 5.8m long, so this is 8" or so, longer. Good use of mixed measurements here Ian!

In reality, neither will park in a "normal" car space, they are either too long or too wide.

We get round this in several different ways. One is to park on a street, alongside a kerb, then the length doesn't matter. Another is to use only spaces in a car park in corners and only one bay long. the corner gets rid of the width issue, the one bay long means you're not using two bays.

Both assume lots of parking space, not a reality these days. So the other option is to use two in line bays and pay for both.

In the UK we never use sites, only do pub stops, therefore the parking is at the pub. Those pubs which allow pub stops for motorhomes invariably have large enough car parks. Follow the "rules" of pub stops, phone the day ahead, speak to the manager if poss. Assuming all well, make a point of introducing yourself on arrival and be sure he/she is happy with where you're parked, again, corners are my choice, only one side of you can be parked next to. Eat and drink in the pub. Problem largely solved.

In more civilised countries from a MH point of view, then the problem disappears. Most of France, for example has many more parking spaces than cars, it seems, and all of Europe has Aires or the equivalents. Far from discouraging parking, these positively encourage it as they want you to stay in the town and spend money. Hence why we don't use ours much in the UK far preferring France, Spain, Portugal and Italy

Another option we do use is park and ride. No need to worry about parking in silly wee spaces in city centres or supermarkets, no worries re 2 bays etc.MUCH more likely to be more room, particularly if you are prepared to walk a little from the far parts of the car park.
Visit the town/city, then drive straight to the pubstop............simples!

As to the bed, the only way to use the double option is ALONG the truck, not across it so that one is solved for you. We only ever use the beds as two singles, then absolutely no need to climb over each other.

IMHO the 6m AS trucks, and of course others of that length are about the minimum length in which to live in proper comfort without the need to dismantle the thing to make the beds each night then re-assemble it next morning. I may, of course, be biased! 

Rather than clutter everything up with multiple quotes, I just want to thank everyone who has posted. I knew it would be worthwhile contacting those who actually own Auto-Sleepers, and I’ve had some great advice and information.

I’m looking forward to sourcing our van, and I hope to pick everyone’s brain again. Thank you to everyone who has helped, it’s all been good, from using pubs, to park and ride, to sleeping lengthways!

Those that use pubs; do you source your own, or does anybody use Britstops. Someone recommended it to me but I’ve never heard of them before.

daisy mae wrote:The Park and Ride in our nearest city,14 miles away,  has height barriers, so no good to me,

Good god 14 miles away!! Where is it so I can avoid coming to your City. You'll need to buy a very small camper conversion in that case or perhaps limbo under the barrier.

I haven`t been to the city for 16 years until last November, as buying wedding outfits, so no choice really, thought P&R  would be the way to go.

 Leicester city, not aiming to go there for another few years, use to be the cleanest, richest city in England, when I was younger, now it has gone so downhill, it was a shock to go there.

I live on the edge of a village, so don`t go to cities now. even when away. prefer country.

Rolyan, Two points of note. Reversing into a parking space is almost always easier and more accurate with a large vehicle than going in forwards.  And most of the advice here, whilst helpful, is of no consequence when you meet a height barrier !! And an increasing number of car parks have them. Keith