Anyone ever buy off this crowd?

derden

Thinking about going to germany in October, came across this website http://www.wohnmobil-galerie.de/ did anyone here ever buy off of them? I think you fly into Hamburg, is it far to drive then? Is October a good time to go, what will the selection/prices be like? How long would ot take to drive back to cherburg or is there another ferry closer? Lots of questions there thanks for all your help guys.

peasant

Never dealt with them personally, but I know of a few people who have (from a German forum)

They offer to buy older second hand campers for cash from private sellers, come round, inspect the camper, find a few faults, reduce their offer (because of the faults) but still wave cash and a quick sale.

So people sell.

Three days later, the same camper appears on their website for a higher price and marked "for export" or "without warranty".

Is three days enough to fix any faults?

You make up your own mind.

Don't buy without thorough inspection (especially for water damage and damp) and not without warranty.

Under German law, vehicles bought from a dealer have to be free of any hiddden faults and fit for purpose ...otherwise you can bring it back and ask for your money back.

Stay away from vehicles marked "for export" ... those are the ones the dealer doesn't want to stand over and avoid the German law.

Those vehicles aren't all faulty ..but they could be.


There are to different warranties here:

"Garantie" is a warranty in the proper sense ..they guarantee that the vehicle is alright and will fix it if it goes wrong. A "Garantie" is usually advertised and pushes up the price ...although it may not be given on an export sale for logistical reasons.

"Gewährleistung" is what the law requires ...i.e. being free of hidden defects and fit for purposes. No dealer can avoid this, there is no "sold as seen" ...unless they export the vehicle outside the German jurisdiction.

So some dealers also sell questionable vehicles to this crowd, who then try to export them.

Most of their customers come from Scandinavia. Motorhomes are expensive there and buyers are quite willing to buy a faulty one and fix it afterwards.


Having said all that ...not all their vehicles are questionable !
For every bad report you hear about them, there is at least one good one.

Some dealers don't even want to inspect an older trade in that doesn't fit into their line-up, they just sell it on on for a quick buck to this crowd and it could be a little gem !

Not all private sellers are disposing of junk either ...some just need the sale to be quick, that's were this crowd comes in.

YOU are the one that has to find out though what kind of vehicle you're looking at ...a goodun' or a heap.

derden

Thanks for the info Peasant. When you say look for water damage/damp where exactly should i be looking? is it easy to cover up? Also i head of the toilet cartridges leaking or the toilet being faulty what is the best way to test if it is working correctly?
I'm very tempted to go over and buy off them as they seem to have a good selection for my price range, i wouldn't get anything like it here for the money. Just don't want to throw money ona heap od sh*t. One last question, some of the milage on there campers is very high, what would be your cut off where milage is concerned.

peasant

Water damage:

Most (cheaper and older) motorhomes are nothing but glorified garden sheds really. You have a wooden skeleton structure which gets cladded with aluminium on the outside and plywood on the inside and the cavity is filled with styrofoam or PU foam for insulation.

Sooner or later something's going to leak. Big holes with water gushing through (like around a rooflight or window) are usually discovered very quickly and repaired. Small little pinhole leaks are the nasty ones. You don't know that they're there and they let in small amounts of water every time it rains. That water can get inside the structure and find its way into some hidden corner and just sit there and rot the wood for months or years.

By the time you see a tell-tale stain it's usually too late, the wood underneath is rotten to the core and has the consistency of turf threatening the stability of the whole structure.

There are instruments out there that measure for damp inside the structure. Unfortunately they are very expensive (several hundred euro for a good one) so very few people have one.

A good dealer should have one though and should be prepared to do measurements in front of your eyes to show that the vehicle is dry.

Dry or wet isn't your only problem though ...you can get a thoroughly soaked vehicle and park it in a warm garage (or full sun) for a few weeks and it will dry up and nothing will show on the instrument. The structure underneath is still turf though ...just dry turf.

The best way to test is to creep into all nooks and crannies (also underneath) and press your thumb against the wood. If it "gives" anywhere, it's rotten.

Tell-tale signs are stains on the inside, fabrics or coverings that don't match the rest of the vehicle and on the outside degrading aluminium. If you see pocks an the alu (like rust, only alu doesn't rust) make sure to check the inside. These pocks usually appear from the inside out because it's wet behind.


Mileage:

I wouldn't worry about mileage too much. All base vehicles are commercial vehicles that are designed to do high mileage. In Germany they get NCT'd (TUEV) regularly ...as long as you have a service history, mileage shouldn't be a problem really.
Personally I'd be more weary of a vehicle that has hadly any miles (for its age), because it probably was serviced as little as it was driven.

Up to 160.000 km (100 k miles) would be my personal limit.
200.000 km (125 k) for something that's a bit newer but did a lot of motorway miles.

Toilet:

Just make sure that it works properly.
If the cassette is leaking, a new one can be got for little money

peasant

Here's an example picture of a rotten rear wall.

The whole bottom is dark and rotten, so is the structural beam above the window.

As you can imagine, repairing this is not easy and not cheap either

peasant

How do I know all this?

I had to learn the hard way

read this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055050002

derden

Thanks again peasant, i'll owe you a pint by the time i buy a camper!!

Rolex

I bought from them and would not recommend them. If there are any faults with the motorhome when they get it thats the way you will get it. They give you this bull about them doing a thorough inspection and correcting any faults...they correct the faults that you discover and point out. I certainly would not recommend them unless you are literally an expert in fault finding. On arriving home I found two litttle bits 'missing' when I called them and told them this they said no problem you will have them next week. After at least 40 phone calls I got them 3 months later. In saying that I am happy with what I bought but seeing as I am totally ignorant when it comes to campers its obvious I was just lucky. They said they sell a lot to Ireland and are aware that for the lower rate of VRT we need a van over 3000kgs. But wont bother to tell you this if you pick a van 'underweight'. They could have saved me a lot of hassle. I found their only interest was to sell you the van...any van and you sort out the problems. They are probably no better or worse than any other dealer.

galwaycamper

I bought off them once. Typically very clean vans. They sell a lot of used vans.