Buying Dora

Knowing nothing about motorhomes didn’t stop us from deciding to live in one for a year. Learning new things is always exciting and, these days, it has never been easier with so much information available. We started by buying a beginners’ guide and a couple of technical guides. After three weeks of reading, blogging on motorhome sites, and visiting a few dealers over the weekends, we had a pretty good idea of the type of vehicle we were looking for:

• It had to be left hand drive, since we were going to spend most of the time driving around Europe.
• Not older than fifteen years old.
• Preferably German made.
• Four berths motorhome as opposed to two to enjoy more habitable space.
• Maximum weight of 3,500 kilos, since my driving licence wouldn’t allow me to drive anything heavier.
• Power steering to easily turn the wheels, especially when stopped.
• Lots of storage for the climbing gear, the canoes and accessories.
• Fixed bed at the top of the cabin to avoid making the bed every day.
• Living room at the back of the vehicle to maximise the separation between the resting area and the cabin area.
• Medium to small bathroom size. Motorhomes with large bathrooms were either too big or had smaller resting and kitchen areas.
• Portable table to put it away when not need it.

We also compiled a comprehensive checklist of things we had to watch out for:

• The state of the engine.
• The tyres.
• The history of the vehicle (accidents, major repairs, MOTs).
• Broken things, rusts, dampness.
• Security.
• Windscreen for chips.

After three weeks of research, we found a left-hand drive motorhome for sale on http://www.markwitteycars.com/ website which seemed to tick all the boxes and we went to see it that weekend.

Mark, the dealer, had never sold a motorhome before; he was making a friend a favour, so his knowledge about these type of vehicles was very limited. This concerned us, as we were counting on the expertise of a dealer. However, he was opened and honest from the beginning and he did his best in answering all our questions. After a couple of hours of going through our checklist and noting down the additional information we needed from him, we booked a test drive for the following Saturday and he offered to bring someone along who knew about motorhomes.

The test driving went well. Dora was easy and comfortable to drive. However, parking her was a bit challenging, even though she was fitted with good quality mirrors. I think it will take me some time to get familiar with the dimensions but that doesn’t worry me too much; Gary can always jump out of car to help me with the directions.

Mark and his friend gave us a good demo of how all stuff worked, i.e. water, power, spare battery, toilets, gas, fridge, awning, etc. They also gave us tips and advice for daily maintenance.

Finally, we sat to go through the paperwork. Everything was in order and the MOT history was pretty clean. We agreed on the price, which was well within budget. In addition, Mark offered a three months guarantee and a MOT. And that was it, we bought a motorhome only one month after deciding to take the trip. I never imagined it would be that easy.

To personalise her we had to give her a name and we came up with Dora La Exploradora, an American cartoon series which centres around the travels and adventures of a Spanish girl. Perfect fit for us!   Dora is now getting ready for her big trip. Visit our post for further details.