Our First Year with Our Campervan: Summary and Statistics

In the spring of 2025, our family bought a campervan. We’ve been on the road with it a few times since then—and what can I say: we’re pretty thrilled. By now, we’ve also taken care of the repairs and warranty claims that came up after the purchase. So it’s time for a little update from our little vacation home on wheels.

Our Campervan

Our campervan is a Dethleffs Globetrail Classic 600 DK based on the Fiat Ducato 9, featuring a pop-up roof, chassis and electrical packages, an awning, an ESX navigation radio, and a backup camera. It originally came from the former rental fleet of the now-bankrupt Mönchengladbach-based RV rental company Roadfans. At the time of purchase, it was just under a year old and had about 13,000 kilometers on the odometer.

Purchase Price & Upgrades

The purchase price was €51,211. According to the Dethleffs Price List for Camper Vans & Urban Campers 2024, the list price for the 2024 model year in this configuration is €70,742, which is made up of the following items:

• Base price: €56,999
• Pop-up roof: €5,999
• Insulated and heated wastewater tank: €1,299
• Chassis package: €2,199 (special price)
• Electrical package: €249 (special price)
• Backup camera: €399
• Navigation radio: €2,299
• Awning: €1,299

With upgrades such as the Thule VeloSwing trailer hitch, SYSRACK heavy-duty slide-out, a refillable propane tank, a 320-Ah LiFePO4 auxiliary battery, better speakers, sound insulation on the driver’s and passenger’s doors, anti-theft protection on the driver’s and rear doors, and all sorts of accessories, the total cost has risen to about €58,500. I installed all the upgrades myself.

Defects

After the purchase, in addition to minor defects (e.g., missing cover caps, a missing rubber seal around the access point to the pop-up roof, screw covers coming loose, a screw on the door that wasn’t fully tightened at the factory, and a defective microswitch on the faucet), more significant problems also became apparent. These included water leakage at the access point to the pop-up roof because the adhesive seal on the spoiler in front of the pop-up roof wasn’t fully watertight, as well as sometimes severe interference noise with the navigation radio. At first glance, that sounds like quite a lot, and yes, it did take quite a bit of time for emails, phone calls, coordination with the repair shop, and, in some cases, troubleshooting. However, given all the reviews I’d read and watched before buying, this didn’t come as a complete surprise to me. Fortunately, it didn’t stop us from taking our planned trips. By now, all known defects have been fixed and were covered by the dealer’s warranty or the manufacturer’s guarantee. One payment is still pending, but overall, I’m glad that this chapter is now largely closed.

Overnight Stays in 2025

In 2025, we’ve already taken several vacations in our new campervan. By now, we’ve found a good rhythm when it comes to packing, driving, arriving, and going about our daily lives in our mobile home. We’ve really enjoyed the vacations so far. In total, we spent 49 nights in the campervan, spread across the following trips:

• Easter break – Marina di Venezia: 7 nights
• Legoland in May: 2 nights
• Pentecost break – Southern France/Bötzingen: 15 nights
• Lübeck/Schweden: 21 nights
• Cinque Terre: 4 nights

Rental Plans

We also plan to launch our own website dedicated to our campervan soon. The plan is to rent it out during the times when we aren’t using it ourselves. This way, it will be put to better use instead of just sitting around most of the time. The domains roadresort.de and familyfinca.de have already been registered.