- Nov 19, 2019
- 793
- 2,605
- Funster No
- 66,935
- MH
- Challenger 287GA
- Exp
- Since 2020
We've only gone and done it! After months and month of looking round dealers all over Poland (and I do mean ALL over!) we've finally bought our new van. We looked at probably hundreds of different vans both new and used, but fell in love with the layout from Chausson/Challenger.
So, we are (or will be in 3 weeks) the proud owners of a new Challenger 287GA. Lovely front lounge. REALLY good storage solutions, good payload. We went for the entry model as we much preferred the matt white lockers to the black finish fitted on their premium models and it really made the interior feel bigger than it really is. We're fitting 360W of mono panels with an MPPT controller and a 4.5m awning with a sexy black "case" and then we'll get into using it.
We're a bit sad to see our beloved Brunhilde go, but there's also a bit of a story to that too. If you're interested in that story, here it is...Our local dealer stocks mainly Dethleffs, but also some Hymer and Laika. They have been SUPER nice to us..always happy to show us round vans..the salesman, Patrick, has a genuine love of vans and will come to greet us from our car with "Joe, you've GOT to see this new Hymer!" even though he knows full well it's WAY out of our price range. Long story short, they are all really, really nice people. We were thinking of getting a Dethleffs Just 90 from them, but although the van is beautiful inside, the storage wasn't good for a family with 2 kids and a big-ass dog, so we could never bring ourselves to pull the trigger on a deal. So we were going to other places...some dealers were full of BS, some were sleazy, some willing to say anything, some were downright rude (a German dealer started literally shouting at me when I said I would need to translate his contract to read it before signing anything). Nobody else we dealt with gave us that good "feeling" that we felt with our local guys.
So, we rang them the other day as we were going to buy the Dethleffs from a dealer 200km away. I wanted to double check how big the shower was. We rang to ask if I could see the shower in one of their rentals. They were more than happy to, even though we explained we were buying the van from someone else. Went there, they also had the Challenger. Went back the next day with our van to discuss trade-in value etc. They did a full, proper look over and found some serious issue at our back rear garage door. It was bad...they were very open, showed it to me, let me use their damp meter etc and I agreed it was pretty serious. At this point, the owner...a guy named Sebastian started doing the "plumber stance". Hands on hips, pursed lips, the lot. Finally he turns to us and says that it has always been his dream to have his own motorhome, but he's never been able to and would we consider a private offer from him?
The offer was quite low and we know that we could have got quite a bit more from someone ignorant of the issues the damp has caused. But that wouldn't sit right with either of us. We are only able to buy this due to some incredible luck and good karma and screwing over someone else would be a crappy thing to do. So, we took his low offer.
His face was really something to see! He was so happy! The other guys in the office and around the workshop started coming in saying "Has Sebastian just bought his own van??!! Oh my God!!" and stuff like that. Made us feel really good.
TLDR - We bought a new van. We took a low offer on ours that has made someone that has been nothing but kind, nice and supportive to us super, super happy and we feel great about the whole deal!
So, we are (or will be in 3 weeks) the proud owners of a new Challenger 287GA. Lovely front lounge. REALLY good storage solutions, good payload. We went for the entry model as we much preferred the matt white lockers to the black finish fitted on their premium models and it really made the interior feel bigger than it really is. We're fitting 360W of mono panels with an MPPT controller and a 4.5m awning with a sexy black "case" and then we'll get into using it.
We're a bit sad to see our beloved Brunhilde go, but there's also a bit of a story to that too. If you're interested in that story, here it is...Our local dealer stocks mainly Dethleffs, but also some Hymer and Laika. They have been SUPER nice to us..always happy to show us round vans..the salesman, Patrick, has a genuine love of vans and will come to greet us from our car with "Joe, you've GOT to see this new Hymer!" even though he knows full well it's WAY out of our price range. Long story short, they are all really, really nice people. We were thinking of getting a Dethleffs Just 90 from them, but although the van is beautiful inside, the storage wasn't good for a family with 2 kids and a big-ass dog, so we could never bring ourselves to pull the trigger on a deal. So we were going to other places...some dealers were full of BS, some were sleazy, some willing to say anything, some were downright rude (a German dealer started literally shouting at me when I said I would need to translate his contract to read it before signing anything). Nobody else we dealt with gave us that good "feeling" that we felt with our local guys.
So, we rang them the other day as we were going to buy the Dethleffs from a dealer 200km away. I wanted to double check how big the shower was. We rang to ask if I could see the shower in one of their rentals. They were more than happy to, even though we explained we were buying the van from someone else. Went there, they also had the Challenger. Went back the next day with our van to discuss trade-in value etc. They did a full, proper look over and found some serious issue at our back rear garage door. It was bad...they were very open, showed it to me, let me use their damp meter etc and I agreed it was pretty serious. At this point, the owner...a guy named Sebastian started doing the "plumber stance". Hands on hips, pursed lips, the lot. Finally he turns to us and says that it has always been his dream to have his own motorhome, but he's never been able to and would we consider a private offer from him?
The offer was quite low and we know that we could have got quite a bit more from someone ignorant of the issues the damp has caused. But that wouldn't sit right with either of us. We are only able to buy this due to some incredible luck and good karma and screwing over someone else would be a crappy thing to do. So, we took his low offer.
His face was really something to see! He was so happy! The other guys in the office and around the workshop started coming in saying "Has Sebastian just bought his own van??!! Oh my God!!" and stuff like that. Made us feel really good.
TLDR - We bought a new van. We took a low offer on ours that has made someone that has been nothing but kind, nice and supportive to us super, super happy and we feel great about the whole deal!
