Burstner Ixeo IT 640 buying in Germany

[justdoit]

Good morning all,

I've never owned a motorhome before and having watched from the sidelines for a while, I've finally made the decision to, 'just do it'. I have seen a Burstner for sale with a dealer in Germany. It is 'brand new' and unregistered, although a 2017 manufacture. Having spoken with the dealer he informs me it is part of a cancelled order due to be retailed in France through a Burstner franchise. That French dealer had cancelled the order and the vans were subsequently distributed throughout the German dealer network. As the french dealer had to pay a significant upfront non refundable deposit on ordering, the vans are now being offered at, what seems, a ridiculously low price.

The same new van is currently being offered by a UK dealership for £65.5k. Aesthetically it is the same as the German van. However, it does have an oven and microwave, whereas the German van does not. These are not things that would bother me too much as the German van comes with awning and bike rack, which for me more than compensates. The German van is LHD. Again, not an issue, as a retiree I have the time and inclination to travel throughout Europe. Even after the poor exchange rate the German van can be bought for £39k (inc German vat).

I am flying out to Germany tomorrow to view and make a decision. Having seen the UK variant the layout is good for me. I have researched importation procedures and have the necessary DVLA information and paperwork for post import registration. Before I view I'd welcome any feedback on the following questions:-

Whilst the van has a 2 year European warranty from date of first registration, will I have to return to Germany should any warranty work be required. Or are UK Burstner dealers likely to want to take on this work.

Will I be able to have service and habitation checks in the UK to maintain any warranties.

The German dealer says, that as the vans were made for the Southern European market they do not have ESP and hill hold assist (?). Would this be an issue for UK and Northern European driving and site conditions. There must be thousands of vans out there without it that seem to manage.

Any advice on initial viewing and, if successful, handover checks will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Regards,
Tony

 

[Speve]

We have done two self imports from Germany of Hymers and although can be difficult with servicing etc it’s not impossible and we used Premier Motorhomes, Chichester for servicing etc as long as you are prepared to wait to get things done it’s not an issue as you have to remember that their priority is vans they have sold.
You could always make a trip of it when servicing is due and return to German dealer they usually have stelplatz facilities at their sites.
Go for it you will save lots and that more than covers the odd problem,
Good luck tomorrow

 

[justdoit]

Alan,

Thanks for the advice. Like the idea of incorporating any servicing within a little jaunt abroad.

Cheers,
Tony

 

[Grianan]

Think ESP and hill hold assist are U.K. pack although they have far bigger hills than we do.
ESP is a UK requirement for cars, I believe ... maybe it’s not for vans?

 

[Allanm]

We bought our Burstner in France and it was around £12000 cheaper than the closest UK equivalent, ( our exact model was not available in the UK). It doesn’t have ESP or Hill Hold ( nor did any of our previous vans) so it isn’t an issue for me.
Although people are happy to buy from distant dealers, it would bother me having to drive a long way to get the dealer to sort things out, should anything go wrong.
We bought locally for just this reason ( we live in France 20km from the dealer,) but luckily, 4 months on and 4500 miles later, nothing has gone wrong.

Personally, I would be concerned about buying a van that has been sitting around for over 2 years. The likelihood that appliances could fail early from lack of use would bother me, especially with the dealer being so far away, but, it’s a very good price and you would have to weigh all the facts up to decide whether it is worth it.

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