ex-rental motorhomes

Because of the competive nature of the rental business service intervals do get stretched but 40000ks is over the top. However some vehicles just seem to miss out ,due to quick turn around times.
Next one you check may be fine, a lot depends on the fleet or maintance manager.
Cheers Pete

I've never seen any ex-rental camper vehicle, particularly a high-outlay motorhome, for sale with only 40,000 kms on the clock.
They usually don't sell them until they've done 400,000 kms. The rental companies outlay big $$'s for these campervans and motorhomes, and they want big $$'s back out of them in hire money.

All rental vehicles get minimal maintenance. It's not the first time I've seen a rental car that has never been maintained according to the log book, in 40,000 kms, and has never had an oil change.
These vehicles are usually in extremely high demand, and the companies want them working (and therefore earning), all day, every day.
As a result, they come back off hire, are quickly checked to see if everything still works, and they go right back out again.
Workshops and mechanics are not something rental companies want on their payroll. They're a drag, a real cost burden.

It's easier and more efficient for them to buy a new car, hire it for 40,000 or 60,000 kms, then boot it off down to the auction yard, where they still bring good $$'s, because they're still essentially, near-new. They then go and buy a new replacement vehicle.

Motorhomes are a different kettle of fish, though. Because they cost so much to buy new, and because they lose a lot of value via depreciation in the first couple of years, the rental crowds keep them for much longer than cars.
Because they're diesel, and built on commercial chassis, they will do high kms without a lot of repairs.
We (missus & I) have hired a couple in the last couple of years, and they've all done around 300,000 kms or more. We're hiring another one in June for a fortnight, and I don't expect anything with less kms. They state you can expect a motorhome up to 6 yrs old, when you do a budget deal with them.

I would be suspicious of a rental motorhome that is for sale with such low kms. It might have been in a major prang, and has undergone very substantial repairs. Companies won't keep vehicles that have been pranged, because they are usually a source of trouble, due to repairs never having been done properly and thoroughly.

I agree with the "too much chipboard" construction. A lot of their construction appears to be done to a price, not a quality level.
The Mercedes we toured Kakadu in, in 2008, you couldn't adjust the passenger seat in any manner! I thought that was pretty poor.
The missus has big long solid legs, and likes to shove the seat back, and stretch out. She was really cramped in the seat and we couldn't do anything about it!

The Mercedes was a pretty good rig. Fuel was $2.03 at Rum Jungle in July 2008, so we pedalled along softly, at a pretty steady 85-90kmh - and I got 8.0L/100km out of it! I was duly impressed. This was the 3L manual.
Haven't had any experience with the VW, and I've heard little feedback on them.
The rental crowds seem to keep a mix of Ford, VW and Mercedes motorhomes, and I don't know if that's because they like to play one against the other, or because they're still trying to see which is best suited for the job.

Forgot to mention, apparently the VW Crafter and Mercedes Sprinter come out of the same factory. They have some differences, such as a different motor and trans, otherwise they are essentially the same vehicle.
The camper conversion had screws falling out here and there, and a handle coming off one of the drawers. We had to get them to fix them before we set off.
We found that dropping the table and setting up the bed every evening was a bit tiresome.
We liked having a toilet and shower on board. A luxury we don't get in our Aliner.

One thing to be very aware of with modern vehicles but particularly modern common rail diesels is that in the early part of their life thay can be very cheap to own and run, and as such that can be very attractive to fleet owners.....but as their age rolls on servicing them can get very expensive.

I have seen a couple of sprinters going quite cheap...ahh but they are in need of injectors or some such.

and because of the way some of these vehicles have the mechanicals crammed into smaller spaces, doing anything significant on them gets realy expensive.

As has been mentioned......oil change interval alone is a real concern with diesels, all diesels.

As has been mentioned lots of rental and fleet cars are turned over before anybody has a chance to bugger em up, some still have the original tires on them.

But the rental motorhomes may be a different story.

I would be very very carefull about the condition and service history of any used motor home.

cheers

If I was looking at buying a motorhome I would be looking at a pampered private sale one. you can then talk to the owner and gauge how he has looked after it, and if he is mechanical minded. If he is he will have serviced it on time.
Cheers Pete