francheezy Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi, Firstly a big thank you to everyone who replied to our questions on our old van (SeA dinghy 1), we recently sold her. Looking for another just now and wondering if anyone has any experience of someone (AA perhaps) checking out the van for them, my husband cannot travel by car so we are unable to go and see a van if it is far away, any advice on this would be great, cannot afford to lose our money on the wrong van, also does anyone have any experience of having a van transported to them. Many thanks Francheezy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 The risks of buying a MH without seeing it yourself first are considerable, even if you buy from a reputable source (like a good dealership) with a dealer's guarantee. If you are in a weak position to shop around widely and inspect carefully, you cannot realistically expect to get something at a bargain - you will need to buy from a trustworthy professional source and pay the costs (i.e dealer's margin etc) of using their services. Compared with the costs of depreciation over a few years, the extra cost of buying this way will not be enormous. Look for a specialist MH family-operated dealership of reasonable size, a firm which has a local reputation to preserve, rather than a branch of a chain or the like. You can probably arrange for a workshop inspection and a habitation check on a vehicle you are interested in without too much difficulty but there will be costs involved in that too. Who you would use for these will depend on where in the Country you are. The AA might well be able to offer a vehicle inspection and you might be able to find a mobile habitation service provider who would do the habitation side for you. The key obstacle is probably getting yourself to the MH dealership to look at their stock. If your husband cannot travel in a car them organise travel in a vehicle which he can fit into - a minibus taxi for example or maybe even a private ambulance if that's what is necessary. Again there will be costs but these will be necessary costs if you want to buy a suitable motorhome. I know from my own contact with them that Todds of Lostock Hall in Lancashire fit this requirement and they usually have quite a large stock of used as well as new motorhomes to chose from. Their showroom is a huge converted cotton mill so everything happens indoors - but of course you may not live near enough to visit that particular dealership easily. Their website is http://www.toddsmotorhomes.co.uk/ Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francheezy Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi, We are actually in Scotland, the problem for my husband is his illness, not his size, he has Crohn's and cannot travel without a loo. Thanks for your advice though we will take all you said on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi Francheezy, The Mobile Caravan Engineers Association offer an inspection service... Link. Also the CC or C&CC offer a service but I'm not sure if one of them then use the MCEA. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi Francheezy I am just embarking on my first ever MH purchase to go travelling around Europe for a year. I have 5 weeks to complete the transaction - so it's going to be a bit manic. I have no problem working with you to try to help with your own purchase. We could send photo's via Facebook or mobile phone to your partner and get an engineer to inspect the MH before you purchased. Let me know if I can help? Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 PS - I live in Glasgow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bounty hunter Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 What about buying privately from someone near you? If you and seller are genuine, and after getting your searching questions answered along with plenty of photos, you could agree to meet the seller near your home to view the motorhome. Suggest you don't give out your address early in the negotiations for obvious security reasons. Whilst it is commendable that people are offering to help please use your own judgement on who are best placed to offer informed advice, me included, but I'm on my 10th van. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Hello, we are in North Wales but have a lot of dealings with Roseisle Motorhomes near Edinburgh. Never met them, but they seem not only a clued up bunch, but with Integrity. A couple of things have happened during our dealings with them, and the reaction we got was unexpected, in a very good way. Not like your average team. For example : we were working on a vehicle from Scotland, they come from all over the UK to us, and we noticed a minor issue with some work carried out by Ranuld at Roseilse, nothing serious, which I mentioned in passing to Ranuld next time we spoke. 2 weeks later the customer rings me to say thank you as Roseilse had called him in, etc. You might be able to use them in some way as an Inspection and transport team? Ranuld is a top bloke, in our view, might be worth talking to him just for advice? I know that is not normally the ideal solution, but your situation is different to most? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francheezy Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 Hi All, Thanks to everyone for their replies, all very helpful in their own way, we are still looking but will keep in mind all the advice given. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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