The family adventure begins: our journey to our own campervan

2025-05-18 5 minute read

Owning my own camper has been a dream of mine for a long time. To stop wherever it’s nice and discover Europe on my own. The dream never really materialized, but then everything happened very quickly.

Save, save, build a house - is it really that important?

The idea came to me during the 2024/2025 Christmas vacations. In line with the Swabian motto “Save, save, build a house”, we are actually saving for a home of our own. However, property prices are still only manageable for us with a high loan. It doesn’t seem very attractive to us to tie up such a lump sum with high monthly payments for the next 20-30 years and have little financial room for maneuver. The block is simply still too big at the moment. Fortunately, there is no real pressure: we feel comfortable in our rented apartment. We really like the maisonette style and the great view of the mountains.

So why not make a smaller wish come true now instead of waiting forever for the big one, when the big wish might take a long time to come true or our needs might change at some point (children grow up and move out)? So why not just buy a camper now and not wait until retirement like my parents, for example?

I was immediately hooked by the idea and my family was also quickly convinced. We already have some camper experience: in 2018, we traveled through Switzerland and the south of France for about 4 weeks in a Hymer Exsis I camper van. A wonderful vacation that we all look back on fondly.

Requirements

After extensive online research in January/February and a visit to the CMT 2025 in Stuttgart, it was clear that it should be a young used panel van camper, preferably with a remaining warranty, and with the following minimum requirements:

Used with remaining warranty up to 20k kilometers
Upper price limit 60k €
Fiat/Peugeut/Citroen commercial vehicle
Length: 600cm
Seating and sleeping space for 4 people
Rear sleeping facilities for two people (no bunk bed)
Pop-top roof with sleeping facilities for two people
Sanitary facilities in a separate room (i.e. no room solution or solution in the aisle)
Reversing camera
Navigation system/car radio with Apple/Android Carplay support
Awning
Bicycle rack and/or trailer hitch

Purchase

Such young campers are usually not available privately, but are offered for sale by rental companies after a rental season. Presumably because this makes good business sense and offers tax advantages. I found what I was looking for in mid-February. It happened very quickly: it was early in the morning, I had just dropped my son off at school and wanted to enjoy my day off in the sauna when I came across an interesting ad from the Pössl Center Bremen in the classifieds. A camper with our requirements at a very good price.

Now we had to act quickly. After several phone calls and emails with the dealer, who made a trustworthy impression, the purchase contract was signed on the same day with the agreement that there was a right of withdrawal after the viewing and that the deposit could only be paid afterwards. In the end, I didn’t even make use of free legal advice from my legal protection insurance, as I was able to clarify all open questions about the purchase contract with ChatGPT or the Internet. A brief financial check did not reveal any anomalies that would have indicated that the dealer was in financial difficulties at the time.

Inspection

During the carnival vacation in March, which we spent in Göttingen, we took a day trip to Bremen to inspect the camper.

When buying a young, used camper from a dealer, it is usual for the vehicle to be checked again in the workshop before handover and for any defects to be rectified. In addition, during the pre-inspection, the buyer has the opportunity to look for defects themselves, which are then recorded in the purchase contract and rectified in the workshop inspection.

As I knew from experience that such workshop inspections are not always flawless, I wanted to be on the safe side and contacted a motorhome expert from the Bremen area via the Caravaning-Gutachter Fachverband e.V.. In the end, however, I decided not to pay for the expert opinion, on the advice of the expert himself. The camper was still very young, in good condition and still had a remaining warranty.

Instead, I then asked for support from the community in several camper forums and we were actually accompanied on the inspection by a helpful man from Bremen who provided us with a great deal of expertise.

To our relief, there were no major surprises and we only noticed minor defects such as the hob cover not lying flat. The full LED headlights listed in the purchase contract turned out to be standard headlights with LED daytime running lights on closer inspection. Full LED would have been great, of course, but we agreed to reduce the purchase price by the corresponding amount.

Pick-up and transfer

A few weeks after the viewing, the time had come: on April 1 at 9 a.m., the pick-up appointment was scheduled. I had arrived by train the evening before and spent the night in the HafenTraum Indoor Hostel Camp. This is a rather unusual but inexpensive accommodation where you spend the night in old caravans in a hall. Not necessarily luxurious, but perfectly okay for one night and halfway from the main station to the dealer.

I had already paid the purchase price in two installments, the second installment only a few days before collection. I had €1,000 in cash with me so that I still had some room for negotiation in the event of minor defects. The papers were sent to me after the first installment had been transferred, so I was able to conveniently order the license plates at home and register and insure the vehicle.

As the missing rubber sleeve for the access hatch to the pop-up roof had not been delivered on time by the manufacturer, I had agreed in advance with the dealer by email to hold back €200 until the sleeve was delivered.

The handover itself was pleasant and professional. I was given a thorough briefing on the most important functions of the vehicle. After about two to three hours, everything was done and then I was actually on the road alone in my own camper.

The return journey to Upper Bavaria went pleasantly smoothly. The car drove well, the technology worked, and for the first time I had the feeling that this dream had now really become a reality. When I arrived home late in the evening, I was tired but very happy.