Sprinter van rescue part 1

Diary

Since late summer 2019 I was looking for camper van. This was not an easy task as many parameters, including the cost had to be taken into consideration.

Living in Norway means that the vehicle must be registered in Norway. The most beautiful country in Scandinavia has a very high tax on motorised vehicle imports. So prices for cars in Norway are inflated by this tax. Not a big problem as this tax becomes part of the resale value. So in other words – it’s just a matter of cash flow. However, cars 20 years and older can be imported without paying the import tax, just VAT (25%) and a scrappage fee (around 250 Euros) is to be paid

Market research on available used vehicles and the aforementioned tax situation made me believe that either a new vehicle, imported or bought in Norway or a used van from 2000 or older would make the most sense.

The new vehicles in my price range were all based on pretty much the same car. Fiat Ducato, Citroen Jumper and Peugeot Boxer are all built in the same factory. These basic vehicles are then marketed by a plethora several brands which seems to belong to rather small number of big companies.

Despite the a variation in price of 30% to 50%, the furniture in these camper vans seemed similar in quality to my eye. Even though they are all very nice, I failed to get excited about these vans.

The Facebook groups I chatted with all whereof great help I must say. Some there mentioned I should look at Mercedes, so I did. I was sceptical as new models were really expensive and way out of my wallets reach.

But – what about a used one then? Year 2000 would be ideal, wouldn’t it, I thought – and bingo. After some intense online search I found one. A CS Reisemobile Duo in a sort of “British Racing” green. Brilliant … I forced myself to think.

Forrest, as me and my wife then called him due to the colour, was standing alone and unloved on a parking lot at a car dealer close to Hamburg.

The rescue started …. 😉

To make things bit safer I contacted a car taxation specialist (KfZ Gutachter in German) to have a look at the car and give me a report on the condition.

https://youtu.be/97MonUytE6I

Images

© Thomas Züllich

If you want to read more about our van Forrest, please click on this link https://www.thomas-zullich.com/tag/our-sprinter-forrest/

Disclaimer – This blog is a personal diary without any commercial interest. Even though my mother tongue is German and my daily language Norwegian, it is written in English so many can understand it. If it helps planning your own adventures even the better. Feel free to leave comments or get in touch via email. Please respect the copyrights of my images. *Copyright for other linked pages and services (Google Maps, Wikipedia etc.) is in the ownership of the respective websites.