Hello, i'm new to motorhomes! (1 Viewer)

Volusia

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Hi all, we (husband Dave and two Bichon Frises ) and myself have just bought our first motorhome - except they are called camping cars here in France where we have lived for five years! We were going to buy one from he UK but then discovered that to re-register one here would be a nightmare and very expensive! So we trawled the Internet and found a second hand Rapido 700 on a VW T4 chassis/engine !

I must explain that the T4 stuff means nothing to me except that I have to do all the talking to garages etc as Dave doesn't speaka da lingo here :Smile: so when it comes to sorting stuff out I have to do it:Doh: it's a steep learning curve and I've made many mistakes - sometimes said very rude things by accident:winky: but I get there eventually!

Anyway, we picked up the camper last week from a lovely village between Orleans and Vierzon, then we went to Amboise ( on the river Loire ) for one night and then home. We live between Limoges and Poitiers in a largish village and we have wonderful neighbours, all French but our nearest neighbour is a retired English teacher so we are very lucky. If we get stuck he loves to help.

We are planning a short trip next week when the weather improves a bit, hopefully! I don't fancy two wet dogs in the camper:Sad: we are really looking forward to that trip and we are already planning a trip to Spain and Portugal in the winter (it gets VERY cold here in winter:Sad:)

I have had caravans in the past, Dave has always had boats, and we had a narrowboat in the UK but sold it when we came here. Campers are new to us both........ A new adventure unfolds!:thumb:
 
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estcres

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:welcomefunster:

Welcome to the Forum and have many happy times in your "Camping Car"

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Oct 15, 2012
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Welcome to FUN, this is the best site for any question you may have, we all started like you so your not alone. Enjoy. :thumb:
 

stcyr

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Et bienvenue au site, depuis la Basse-Normandie! :thumb:


:france:

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chrisboyo

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Welcome to the funsters

:party2::flyingwelcome::party2:

I remember it well, 2 dogs and us in a leaking caravan for 2 weeks
The smell was awful, but the dogs soon got use to it :ROFLMAO:
 

Mel

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Hello & Welcome to Fun

Enjoy it.
This is a great site with loads of help.

:welcomefunster:

Mel & Lieve

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Allanm

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Welcome, you live in a lovely part of France, we spent a week in a village between Limoges and Poitiers in June and were surprised how many ex UK residents lived there ( there seemed to be a lot from around Manchester.)
Have fun in your Campingcar.
Allan
 

hilldweller

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From Aug 2007

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daisy mae

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I`m a newbie, now 1 year
Hello and welcome from me too, :thumb:

I had a VW T4 2.5tdi on my Topaz loved it so much, I have bought a larger Motorhome with the same engine, I wouldn`t consider any others, very good on fuel I got 37.5 mpg to lower 40`s sorry haven`t converted to klm.

Loved the time we spent in France, my Brother in law, lives near Toulouse.

Enjoy.
 
Jul 28, 2010
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Hi all, we (husband Dave and two Bichon Frises ) and myself have just bought our first motorhome - except they are called camping cars here in France where we have lived for five years! We were going to buy one from he UK but then discovered that to re-register one here would be a nightmare and very expensive! So we trawled the Internet and found a second hand Rapido 700 on a VW T4 chassis/engine !

I must explain that the T4 stuff means nothing to me except that I have to do all the talking to garages etc as Dave doesn't speaka da lingo here :Smile: so when it comes to sorting stuff out I have to do it:Doh: it's a steep learning curve and I've made many mistakes - sometimes said very rude things by accident:winky: but I get there eventually!

Anyway, we picked up the camper last week from a lovely village between Orleans and Vierzon, then we went to Amboise ( on the river Loire ) for one night and then home. We live between Limoges and Poitiers in a largish village and we have wonderful neighbours, all French but our nearest neighbour is a retired English teacher so we are very lucky. If we get stuck he loves to help.

We are planning a short trip next week when the weather improves a bit, hopefully! I don't fancy two wet dogs in the camper:Sad: we are really looking forward to that trip and we are already planning a trip to Spain and Portugal in the winter (it gets VERY cold here in winter:Sad:)

I have had caravans in the past, Dave has always had boats, and we had a narrowboat in the UK but sold it when we came here. Campers are new to us both........ A new adventure unfolds!:thumb:

Welcome to the club. You will enjoy the new freedom
Not sure you should tell the members where in France you live
Some might come and stay with you :ROFLMAO:

If you get over to uk. You'll find a warm welcome at any of the meets

Look forward to reading about your exploits over the coming months
Yours Ian

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Volusia

Volusia

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Well thank you all for your amazing welcome! We fully intend to enjoy the new experiences that are waiting for us!

Hello to Simi who I know from another completely unrelated forum, and thank you for the info you sent me re your trip and sites last winter. We are planning to do a tour of Spain and Portugal in the winter to escape he cold here! It s cheaper to go South than it is to pay for central heating at home:Doh:

I had my first drive this morning! Only managed to hit a few tree branches :winky: we went for a drive to a nearby lovely Aire de Repose. Stopped for a cuppa and then I drove home. The trees were in the Aire!! Whoops! I forgot I was driving a high vehicle :RollEyes:

Still no harm done - they were only little branches of a weeping willow. I'll do better next time I promise...... And Dave didn't shout at me too much:ROFLMAO:

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Goldilocks40

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Welcome Volusia
You are one step ahead of us we have just bought an almost new motorhome and are off on our maiden trip next weekend, so excited, I will report back how we get on lol. Enjoy this forum everyone is so helpful.
Dawn
 
Oct 7, 2013
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New to camping cars

Bonjour et Beinvenue.

We also are keen camping caristes. (I don't believe there is such a French word, but there should be !).

We have a holiday home in Burgundy and will use that as a base for touring France and the rest of Europe.

Registering a vehicle in France is not as complex as it is made out. We carried a motorbike on the back of our motorhome but found it a problem with MOT,s and Road Tax being due when we were away from UK. We registered it in France. NO MOT,s. No Road Tax. Heaven !

The local Hotel des Impots and the Sous Prefecture were very helpful but French language was necessary for the staff there. You may find English speakers in the larger conurbations but French officialdom expects you to have at least a smattering of their language.

Hope you enjoy your camping car, we may pass each other en route in the future.

Maison
 
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Volusia

Volusia

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Hello Maison

We have re-registered three cars over here and, I agree, if you are organised with the paperwork it is easy enough.

However a caravan or camping car is a lot more complex!

As well as the certificate of conformity, that covers the chassis/engine part, you then ave to have the camper checked... This means a visit to the DRIRE office and there aren't many in France, could mean a three hour drive or more:Eeek: they take 150euros of you and say 'non!' So off you go to have all the work done to bring it up to French standards. All sockets to be changed and lots of other stuff as well depending on the make. Then back you go to pay another 150 Euros and hope they say 'oui'! Then off to the gas office where you.....guess what? Pay 150 Euros for them to say 'non' you must have more work done to make the gas fittings safe to French standards! Work done and back again to pay ... You've got it! Another 150 euros:Doh:

Before you ask...... No you can't get it all done first because they want to tell you what is wrong before you do it!!

Oh it all makes work for the working Frenchman to do:Eeek:

There are other trips hither and thither as well, and then the final payment when the lady at the local office works out what emissions charge you also have to pay! Plus the re-registration fee.

If you are very lucky you might manage it for just less than 1000 Euros plus the fuel for traveling to the various offices and the doctor's bill for something to calm your frayed nerves:cry:

But that is one of the things we love about living here!?

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Apr 28, 2013
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HI and :welcomefunster: from a close neighbour!!
I too have registered cars and bikes here and two campers,the first camper took 6 visits to DRIRE and nearly as many months and then was sadly written off by an errant truck on a mountain road in Spain but thats another story.
Any help needed or just a chat or passing by and fancy a coffee am just 3 kms from N10 between Mansle and Ruffec,enjoy your time here and your new van.:thumb:
 
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Volusia

Volusia

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Oct 2, 2013
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Hello Baldeagle and thanks for your welcome.... And your kind offer of coffee and a chat! Might take you up on it one day when:Smile: yes you are close to us, we are Haute Vienne but bordering the Charente and the Vienne, not too far from Bellac!

I think you are very brave to tackle DRIRE etc! I couldn't face the stress of it all. I love France but the bureaucracy gets to me sometimes:Doh: I have to go back to the Sous Prefecture this morning with my marriage licence! I took the docs in last week for the new Carte Grise (log book) everything they asked for .... But because the camper is in joint names they came back by post yesterday with a letter saying. 'Non!' They need the marriage licence to prove I am Dave's wife!!

Now I knw it is a good precaution but why didn't they ask me last week at the Sous Prefecture :RollEyes:....... Hey Ho, another trip to Bellac to brave the roadworks yet again! As if today isn't going to be busy enough! We have the man coming to knock down a bit of our front wall so we can make another driveway for the camper ! We have loads of garden but our drive way is a short one into the sous sol (basement garage) :Sad: so, much work and aging of gravel over the next week or two.

But first ....... Tomorrow ..... An oil change and a trip to Royan for a couple of days ::bigsmile:
 

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