The Caravan Owners Club

[multimedia2]

Hi. I'm new to the site. I've just found it this morning and think its brilliant. I'm thinking of buying a hobby 400kb from Germany. I've stumbled on an article on practical caravan's website warning of the perils of personally importing.

http://www.practicalcaravan.com/feature ... broad.html

Can some of you seasoned importers tell me if the problems suggested are accurate, or is it a bit of slanted reporting designed to support the UK caravan industry?

Thanks

[Roy Armstrong]

Totally slanted to the benefit of the shoddy British caravan industry.
I haven't found any problems with buying a Hobby from Germany only a great financial saving.
Like many others on this forum I used P J Joeressen in Moenchengladbach and found them a pleasure to deal with.

[multimedia2]

Thanks for that, Roy. It was what I suspected.

When you bought from Joeressen were there any extra costs or surprises when you got there?

[Roy Armstrong]

No extra costs at all (except for self inflicted ones, the accessory shop is more-ish!).
Mine actually cost less than their catalogue price.
Choose your model and any extras, ask for their best quote and delivery from Klaus Josef by e-mail, and take it from there.
If you decide to buy, you will then need to buy a tail for your choice of gas cylinder, 13 pin to 7 pin converter ( assuming you car has 7 pin sockets) and don't forget to take a number plate.
You will get plenty of other suggestions/advice closer to collection.
Happy hunting.

[Eric G]

You should also look at Camping Center Voepel near Mainz
http://www.camping-voepel.de . I just purchased my new 560KMFe from them and they were a pleasure. They dropped the list price about 2000 Euro and included 2 gas tanks. Being an American working in Germany under the status of forces agreement I was also able to waive payment of the 16% VAT which ended up making my purchase a rather excellent bargain. They also have a store which includes all of the latest accessories, and a garage to make any modifications that may be needed. I had them wire my Chevy tow vehicle with a European 13 prong plug while I waited.

[apg]

Hi, not been on the site for ages and cannot beleive, well I can really, that this load of old tripe is still causing people so much concern- that was the intention!
The piece was devoid of factual evidence, just anecdotes,and it was even deliberately misleading in giving the impression that it was 'illegal' to import your own van.
I bought a 495 ufe from Joeressens and have been delighted with the van. We spent a long time, about 9 months, researching before we took the plunge, and despite all the work it was still daunting setting off, with a bankers draught for several thousand euros, for Germany.
The process was very simple and the staff helpfull.Go for it!
Good luck
APG

[jeepstar]

The other thing to consider when buying abroad is the exchange rate what i did was to use an agent that would give me the commercial rate not the tourist rate which can mean up to 3-5 cents more to the pound and when paying out such a large sum will give you a couple of hundred pounds worth of savings. i got the name from the reuters uk web site
www.reuters.co.uk and they will handle the transaction for you all electronically.

[beejay]

Your U.K. Bank will give you commercial rate automatically when you order your transfer draught. My only "surprise" was that I had to pay the German Dealer's bank handling charge when I collected the van. Was only £12 but I thought I had paid all the charges via my bank. It appears when the money is transferred into the Dealer's account the German bank actually charges the Dealer who then reclaimed it from me (you would have thought he would have absorbed £12)

[jeepstar]

my bank was 2 cents down when i rang them on the day of transaction so the other option was a better deal every little penny etc i did not pay the other parties bank charges.

Even paying 2 electronic charges one from the bank and one half the price of the bank to the dealer it still saved a couple of hundred.

It pays to check.

[Doc]

Hi. I'm new to the site. I've just found it this morning and think its brilliant. I'm thinking of buying a hobby 400kb from Germany. I've stumbled on an article on practical caravan's website warning of the perils of personally importing.

http://www.practicalcaravan.com/feature ... broad.html

Can some of you seasoned importers tell me if the problems suggested are accurate, or is it a bit of slanted reporting designed to support the UK caravan industry?

Thanks

mm-2,

Take no notice of that very slanted article (2004 I think), as others have indicated.

I did post here a big criticism of it at the time, but I can't find it now.

Just to let you know that the Gareth Jones, mentioned in the article, was advised my me and my co-importer, Andy, about buying from Joeressens, which he did.

I contacted him after the article came out and he was very miffed to have had some of his views mis-represented. He understood that it was commisioned by Practical Caravan from a free-lance journalist who somehow knew of Gareth buying his caravan in Germany.

I guess that PC wanted a certain 'slant' to the article and if the journalist didn't provide it then the article was in danger of being 'spiked'.

[framptoncottrell]

The December issue of Which Caravan has a lot of information about importing from abroad, as well as an excellent article about the newly imported Knaus Starclass, redesigned for conservative British tastes.

It seems to me that these articles are much more balanced than the Practical Caravan article mentioned above.

I'm off to Manchester to look at the imported Hobbys (or is that Hobbies) in January to help me make up my mind. Looking forward to having some interesting discussions with the salesmen about their unwarranted mark-ups...