What to watch out for when buying an older camper

peasant

My personal horror story : (long post, sorry:D )

Having had two successive VW camper vans, we finally decided that that was just too small and that we wanted something a bit bigger with a proper bathroom and more elbow room.

For several reasons we can't really go on long trips to the continent, but use the camper for short outings in Ireland only. Therefore it was decided that it would be unjustifiable to invest large amounts of money into buying something new-ish and we set ourselves a limit of 10K.

So I camped out on mobile.de and narrowed it down to a few different choices. My parents are in Germany, drive a motorhome themselves and they offered to go and inspect my shortlist. That was my first mistake: My parents bought their camper new and they were only really looking at interior layouts, overal appearences and the little intricate details as they had no experience of what can go wrong with an older camper.
They basically discarded all my choices, as all those that I had picked off the internet turned out to be somewhat tatty and worn inside. Instead they came up with a beautiful little alkove model from a nearby dealer that looked absolutely faboulous inside and out. He wanted a bit more than 10k for it, but the yoke had been lingering in his yard for over a year, so they negotiated the price down.
Having seen all their pictures, taking into consideration that the dealer was well established and reputable and that the vehicle was to get a new Tuev (NCT) inspection, I went for it and bought it. My parents collected it from the dealer and I flew over a few days later to pick it up.
On first inspection, I was absolutely delighted, as it really was a lovely loking thing. So the following day I started on my journey back. Everything went swimmingly until I hit the Dublin rush-hour trafiic, coming off the ferry. I spent over one hour creeping through the city and when I finally hit the M4, I had difficulty changing gears ...outside Mullingar I had no gears at all :eek:
One towed vehicle, several days, bus journeys and 900 euros later I had a camper with a new clutch. According to the garage, the clutch had hardened while being laid up for so long and the stress of stop and go traffic had basically killed it ...so be wary of yokes that haven't been driven for a long time.

But it was to get worse:
Finally walking around the vehicle (properly !) for the first time (on the Saturday before the Monday on which I had an appointment to register the yoke and pay my VRT) I noticed that the right rear bumper was hanging off a bit ...and I went to tighten the screw that held it.
Imagine my horror, when the scew just fell out, as I touched it. So I investigated further and found rotten wood with the consistency of turf. When I was done investigating, it turned out that the whole rear quarter of that vehicle, about half the width, half the height and one third of the lenght of the entire construction was rotten to the core ...only held together by styrofoam and the aluminium planking :eek: The floor underneath the kitchen and entrance area also was turf only (coverd by linoleum on the inside and bitumen on the outside) ...the whole thing was about to desintegrate.:mad:

Fortunately enough, under German law, a second hand vehicle bought from a dealer has to be "fit for purpose" and free of hidden defects ..so at least I had some comeback.

A lot of threatening letters, faxes and phonecalls followed, a lot of nerves where used up, the whole family was on edge ...but several months later I finally got to drive back that heap and and exchange it for what I currently have.
I still didn't get the money for my clutch back, saw no re-imbursement for my travel costs and the dealer also insisted on more money for the exchange ...but in the end I consider myself luck for having gotten out of this with at least something.

Having learned my lesson, I gave the dealer only half of the extra money that he was looking for and was to pay him the other half after three months of not finding any faults with the vehicle.
Needless to say I found some (again!) but luckily enough they are only minor and fixable (with the money that was held back).

So ...bottom line ...

If you're in the market for a slightly older camper ...prepare for and look for the worst ...assume nothing, check everything, and then check again.
No verbal agreements ...everything has to be written down and signed by both parties.

Do not buy without warranty or "export only" / "trade only" vehicles ...you WILL be stung.

dowtchaboy

Hi Peasant - your story sounds only too familiar! I got the bug (sorry....) for a VW Gipsy in 2003. Went to Hamburg where old friend could drive me round and translate. Made the classic mistake of getting one way air ticket - don't! it makes you psychologically too biased towards closing a deal and overlooking or ignoring problem areas. Saw 4 - 2 were rubbish, one was expensive, one was just right - 1987 T25 based Karmann Cheetah (Gipsy) at 7500 - well - in retrospect I should have bargained at least 500 off.
Despite TUV and guarantees and reputation of Germans - I was sold a pup. They even let me drive off without spare wheel, jack, warning triangle - I could have been in deep trouble with the fuzz. Got as far as M25 before she died - near Heathrow - all CV joints had to be replaced. Back home had lotsa fun till the 1.6TD engine got worse and worse - turns out the stamped and documented engine "replacement" was "a heap of junk that someone threw a few rings into" according to my mechanic.

Well - we stuffed a 1.9TD from a 94 Passat into her and had the best of times since. She's small enough to slip into car parking spaces and down country lanes that the big ones fear, and fast enough to pass cars going uphill. What I didn't know was there was water leaking in, and had been for years, probably from something as simple as an amateur using ungalvanised screws that were too long, and were not sealed, and the roof and one whole side was yuck internally. Once I started to rip out the area where it showed, more and more needed to come off - very depressing. So now she's sitting in a shed and I haven't got the energy to do the relatively simple but time-consuming rebuild she needs and deserves. Must put her up on adverts.ie or carzone or whatever - just don't feel like dealing with all those tyre-kickers that appear when a camper is advertised. Mind you compared to some of the smelly wet rusty junk I went viewing 4 years ago all over Ireland she's a dream!
Will be off looking for another Karmann (T4 based though) in Germany soon - but this time I swear to take my time, not be rushed, poke into everything, hire my own mechanic from ADAC or whatever, pay a few yoyos extra if need be and above all be prepared to walk away.
db