The paperwork a motorhome buyer asks for
A motorhome sale is mostly a conversation about paperwork. A buyer cannot see the years of servicing, so they ask to see what survived. This guide lists what is worth having to hand, and where each item comes from.
The V5C
GOV.UK says the V5C is the vehicle registration certificate issued by DVLA, usually called the log book. If yours is lost, GOV.UK explains how to apply for a replacement. It asks for the registration number, the VIN or chassis number, and the name and postcode on the V5C.
Check the VIN on the paper against the one on the van before a viewing. A buyer will, and a mismatch is a bad way to start. When the sale goes through, GOV.UK sets out what the seller and the buyer each do to tell DVLA.
MOT history
Anyone with the registration number can read a vehicle's MOT history on GOV.UK. It shows whether each test passed or failed and the mileage recorded at the test. For England, Scotland and Wales it also lists what failed and any minor problems.
That makes the odometer readings public for every test, so a buyer can set them beside your invoices. Your own paper certificates matter most for the years where you want to add context, such as an advisory that was dealt with the following week. Vehicle and MOT data is provided by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The service history
Your motorhome is a van underneath, so this is the familiar part. Keep the invoices from the garage, each with the date, the mileage and the work done. Keep every one, including the ones that mention a cambelt, a DPF regeneration or brake fluid.
A missing year leaves a gap in the story. If a service happened and the invoice is gone, write down what you remember while you still can, and say it came from memory.
The habitation check and the damp report
The living area has its own servicing, separate from the van. The Approved Workshop Scheme says leisure vehicles should be serviced on an annual basis, and that the scheme covers the habitation part of a motorhome rather than the base vehicle. Its workshops provide a checklist for each service, and every service includes damp checks with a formal report.
The scheme's sample damp report says only readings over 15% are recorded. A dry van's report can therefore hold no readings at all, and that is still a report worth keeping.
Warranty is the other reason these sheets matter. The Camping and Caravanning Club notes that manufacturers' warranty schemes generally insist on at least an annual service. If your handover pack carries a water ingress warranty, the habitation sheets are the paperwork that records those visits.
Weights
A buyer asks about payload because it decides what they can carry. GOV.UK defines maximum authorised mass as the weight of a vehicle including the maximum load it can carry. It says the figure is normally shown on a plate or sticker fitted to the vehicle. GOV.UK also defines mass in running order as the weight of a vehicle that is empty and ready for the road.
Motorhome makers call the maximum MTPLM and the running weight MIRO or MRO, and Coachman's own FAQ says payload is the first minus the second. Write all three figures down, from your own plate, before the first viewing.
Manuals, warranties and receipts
The last pile is the one that gets lost. Gather the handover pack, the appliance manuals, any warranty paperwork and the invoices for things fitted since: solar, a reversing camera, a leisure battery. Photograph the rating labels on the boiler and the fridge while you are in the locker.
Keeping it in one PDF with NomadStamp
NomadStamp keeps what you and your workshops wrote, exactly as it was written. A blank year in the coverage grid means nothing was entered rather than that nothing happened. Keeping multi-year data is what turns a folder of loose reports into a record a buyer can read.
Other, then Export Resale Pack builds one searchable PDF, in date order, followed by the attached photographs and files. It holds service history, certificates, habitation checks, inspection sheets, damp surveys, tyres and your own paperwork. It is real text, not screenshots, so a buyer can search and print it.
The contents list is the control. Switch off any section you would rather not send and the preview rebuilds as the file the reader gets, so you choose what goes in before you share it. Enter MTPLM and MIRO and NomadStamp subtracts one from the other to give you the payload.
The sample pack is built from a sample van. Each heading below is a section of that document, with a line taken from it, abridged.
| Section heading | From the sample pack, abridged |
|---|---|
| Vehicle Overview | MTPLM 3,500 kg · MIRO 3,010 kg · Calculated Payload 490 kg |
| Annual Record Coverage | Marked entries indicate a record held for that year. Blank entries reflect absent records within this logbook rather than the vehicle's history. |
| Chassis Service History | Full service. Oil and filter, air, fuel and pollen filters, front pads replaced, cab tilt mechanism greased, road test. Fenwick Commercials, Chorley · 43,910 |
| Standalone Invoices | Offside rear light cluster replaced, panel filled and resprayed after the Honfleur bollard. Marquis Preston |
| Certificates & Expiry Dates | Habitation service. Gas soundness and appliance service, electrical test, water sanitise, damp survey, ventilation and fire safety check. Ribble Valley Motorhomes · 22,750 |
| Warranties & Documents | Ten-year water ingress warranty, conditional on an annual habitation service by an approved workshop. Auto-Trail |
| Workshop Inspection Sheets | Base Vehicle Service · Tread depth, front axle 7.9 mm · Tread depth, rear axle 8.2 mm · Wheel nut torque 160 Nm |
| Tyres | Michelin Agilis CrossClimate · 225/75 R16 CP 118R · DOT 0523 · Full set of four, fitted at Kwik Fit Leyland. |
| Appliance Inventory | Heating and hot water · Truma Combi 6E · serial 24518803 |
| Damp Surveys | Moisture percentages as recorded. Blank entries indicate unmeasured locations. |
| Damage | Overhanging branch caught the nearside of the roof and cracked the rear rooflight surround. Repaired. |
| Mileage Logs | End of year · 42,100. Mileage values reflect raw readings. Expected mileage is not calculated. |
| Checklists | Before setting off · 12 of 12 ticked |
The pack also ends with Attached Files & Photos, which lists every photograph and file filed against a record in the pack. Open the sample resale pack (PDF) to read every page.
NomadStamp is a record-keeper, not an advisor. It never tells you whether something is due, safe or legal, and it never works a date out of a damp reading, a tyre code or a service record.
NomadStamp. Log maintenance, track key dates, and consolidate all your paperwork on your phone. Export everything as one searchable PDF. Get NomadStamp on the App Store. Price and requirements are on the home page. Read the sample resale pack (PDF).
Related guides
- What a habitation check report records, and why to keep every year's: What the habitation check sheet and the damp report record, and why a run of annual reports is worth more than one.
- The NomadStamp logbook app: what it keeps and how it exports.
- All guides
Sources
Each source is named and linked. Where a rule or a figure can change, this guide points to the source rather than repeating it.
- GOV.UK, Get a vehicle log book (V5C): what the V5C is and how to replace one
- GOV.UK, Sell, scrap or take a vehicle off the road: telling DVLA about a sale
- GOV.UK, Check the MOT history of a vehicle: what the public MOT record shows
- GOV.UK, Vehicle weights explained: maximum authorised mass and mass in running order
- Approved Workshop Scheme, FAQs: annual servicing, check sheets and damp reports
- Approved Workshop Scheme, sample motorhome damp report: how a damp report is laid out
- The Camping and Caravanning Club, servicing advice: the annual service and manufacturers' warranties
- Coachman, What do MRO, MTPLM and User Payload mean?: a manufacturer's definitions of the weight terms
Sources last checked: October 2026