small motorhome europe buy or rent

Gooday, In 2008 did exactly that and kept the van for two years having sold it last year after a three month jaunt around the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, England, Wales and the Channel Island onto France and back to GB. When we initially went in 2008 and bought the van, a Peugot Talbot Autosleeper, great little campervan we travelled for 9 months, visiting Ireland, GB Finland, Norway, Denmark,Estonia, Lithuania,Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia plus our travels across Europe back to GB and storage at Hereford (Storage in a covered facility was only 500 dollars for 18 months). The purpose of my reply is that you need to to stay a reasonable length of time. Insurance is another problem if you are not GB citizen and do not have a GB driver's licence. There are companies that do insure you, road side service which is helpful if you are not mechanically minded, is also difficult to get. It is all able to be done but it will cost. Selling the van can be a problem and we were lucky enough to sell ours for just over half of what we paid for it. We thought the whole exercise was good value, and far cheaper than renting or staying in B&B. Campgrounds are not hard to find throughout Europe and a GPS is a must. Travelling through GB and Europe in a campervan may not be every bodies idea of fun but we thoroughly enjoy the freedom of going where you wished and meeting lovely people in some of the most interesting places. You will find there are a number of campers for sale in the UK or Europe and mid size campers are great, however we purchased our van and although it was not much larger than a VW campervan, it had stove, oven, toilet, shower(alright for midgets)fridge, heater, water storage, roll out fiamma awning, a great little vehlcle, four cyclinder petrol never missed a beat. The upside to this size camper was that we were never restricted in our travel. Some of the villages in Cornwall for eg are unable to visited by large vehicles, the roads are just not suitable. Anyway I could go on for hours if we can be of any help contact us.

Regards

Mike and Lyn

Hi

I rented for two weeks last year in Switzerland/Italy and had a great time. We ran into some fellow Aussies who had bought and were travelling for 6 months. They were really happy with their "deal"

They used a broker of sorts based in Australia who arranged several options for purchase with inspection reports, picked what they wanted and bought site unseen. Once they arrived everything was in order and they had a guaranteed buy back at the end so they could just walk away. I think in the end it was costing them about 3k for 6 months.

Sorry I don't have details but I'm sure you could google along those lines and find the broker???

Best of luck. I plan on doing it once my kids grow up!

Cheers

Another good option is to lease. There are several advantages, you hand the car back in whatever condition you like with an empty tank, no penalty. You are fully insured in every country including the Eastern countries like Hungary and the Czech republic. Most cars rented in Western Europe are NOT covered in Eastern Europe. It would pay to check that if you buy and then get insurance cover. The lease term can be as short as 4 weeks. The car you lease will be brand spanking new. When we leased for 5 weeks it was no dearer than renting for the same period. We used Peugot Open Europe but I am sure there are others. You will be responsible for any scheduled servicing though. Cheers.

Hi,
Just be very careful when you drive through parts of Italy and France as there are thieves waiting for tourists to leave their vans alone while they go sightseeing. I had all my valuables stolen while away for approx. 10 minutes. I also spoke with other RV travelers that had things stolen from their vans. Just be aware.

sorry for the late reply , we toured UK , Ireland just over 4 years ago , found hiring Wicked Van the cheapest , basic sleeping , cooking facilities etc but reasonable economical vehicle , worth googling