Rear lounge with at least five belts (1 Viewer)

[Andy Bramhall]

Hi!

We are thinking of buying a 2007 "Arto 69 EGB" through a motorhome broker.

From what I can find - this was a special edition for the UK market (hence the GB!) featuring a rear lounge with the added benefit of 2 extra seatbelts at the back of the van! We love the layout and belts which is all going to work brilliantly for us and our three small kids. It is actually 4 berth but with 6 belts and being hardy campers we will make the bedding work!

I have two questions though...

1. We are newbies and have no idea what the van is worth. It is on at £37k but they are open to offers - which to my mind means that they know it is overpriced - but what would be a good price?
From what I can discover the new price for these in 2007 was somewhere around £53k varying slightly with spec.

2. My other question is just - if this van falls through - does anyone know of any other A-class motorhomes that feature a rear lounge, and at least 4 berths and 5 belts?

Thanks so much for any help you can give!

Andy Bramhall
Newcastle upon Tyne

 

[RogerThat]

Hi Andy,

My trusty old 1999 Swift has a rear lounge and four belts so there must be many more out there.

If I were you, I'd offer £35k.

From a sellers perspective, if i had a MH up for £37k and someone offered me thirty five grand in cash, I'd bite their arm off

 

[TUCANO]

Andy, have a look at autotrader motorhomes who have 5 listed for sale at the moment. May give you an idea regarding the prices.
Originally from Newcastle myself but happily exiled in Yorkshire since 1991.

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[sedge]

Hi Andy,

My trusty old 1999 Swift has a rear lounge and four belts so there must be many more out there.

If I were you, I'd offer £35k.

From a sellers perspective, if i had a MH up for £37k and someone offered me thirty five grand in cash, I'd bite their arm off

No they need at least 5 proper 3 point seatbelts. You can't rely on a 6 berth having enough - we have supposedly a 6 berth (well it is possible if two are very thin but you couldn't take anyone claustrophobic LOL) - but only 4 seatbelts inc driver.

 

[sedge]

Oooh - you also need to check any car seats you need, can be suitably and legally anchored to the fittings in the van. In a rear lounge I dunno how the gurt high lump of wood behind the seats in question, might be fitted? let alone the (chassis?) anchor points they need these days.

 

[pappajohn]

Do you REALLY want your loved ones travelling in the back with nothing more than a bit of plastic and thin plywood to protect them in a rear end accident.....think long and hard.

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[Linda and Steph]

The Autoquest 180 has a rear lounge and 6 seatbelts, there should be quite a few of them on the market.

Or how about this Bessacar

 

[Minxy]

I assume this is the one you've seen:

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It's quite a rare layout with having 2 lounges in a foreign made van and looks very comfy and I'm sure you could use the rear lounge for settling the kiddies down at night and you use the front lounge and drop-down bed for yourselves at night so would have 2 'separate' rooms.

As for the seat-belts, it looks like it's got five 3-point ones so you should hopefully be able to sort out fitting kiddies seats securely. My initial questions would be:

what weigh it is rated at
what payload there is (a weighbridge is the only sure way to find out is with both axles weighed independently)
if it is over 3500kg if you have a driving licence that will allow you drive it.

As MotorhomeDepot sell on behalf of owners there may be a fair bit of wiggle room on the price so if it's definitely what you want go in with a low offer ... you can always go up but won't be able to go down!

 

[Minxy]

I've found a review which might be useful for you:

https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/m...s/details/niesmann-bischoff-arto-69egb/898476

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[TheBig1]

I would make a £30k offer and see what they say. then maybe meet somewhere in the middle eventually

 

[Theonlysue]

You say 4 berth with 6 belts, are you sure it's not a 6 berth?
Go and look.
The arto is a good van, and if you do decide to buy it get a habitation check done, including gas check.

 

[Gellyneck]

Could be worth a look here too?
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[nicholsong]

Andy (OP)

I have a N+B Arto69GL(2003) so know a bit about the make but not this layout.

You have been given advice about the seat belts. One other consideation I would mention is the amount of storage space you have for 5 people, considering you have two living areas and no garage - what play/sports gear/bicycles do you wanrt to take?

You must also realise that buying through a 'Broker' you are buying from the owner and the broker is only his agent. When buying from a Dealer there is often some sort of Warranty, but not here and also you have more protection for a claim under tha Sale of Goods Act.

Taking those points in mind and knowing the market for secondhand Artos this one is well overpriced. Evenan offer of £30k seems to me to be too high.

You seem to be quite new to this motorhome market. I suggest you sit back and take a deep breath.

I bought my Arto 69 in 2009, so was 6 yrs old with 16,000 miles.. I too bought privately and paid £27,600. Maybe that gives you a measure of the sort of figures one would sell for privately, so even allowing for the fact that the owner has to pay the Broker some commission it is still well overpriced.

Hope this helps.

Need any more help? Just ask.

Geoff

 

[Mousy]

@Soaringman has the same van and layout and after spending an evening in it I can confirm it's a great layout. Good luck with your search.

 

[Minxy]

@nicholsong

I must disagree with your 'valuation' of this particular MH, they are quite rare and looking on the web at similar models it does seem to be well priced already but as there isn't a warranty then obviously this gives the OP wiggle room, well worth trying a low offer and taking it from there. Of course the OP could look at getting a warranty to cover major expenses (reading the small print carefully of course!).

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[peterc10]

Motorhome Depot can offer insurance based warranties, similar to some dealers. Not sure if they would charge more for them. The way they normally work is that they tell the seller what they will pay him for the motorhome and are free to sell it whatever price they like above that. So no fixed commission.

I think it is in effect a franchise operation, with each franchisee having an area they work in. I was interested in buying one they were advertising in 2015 and wanted to know what me motorhome would sell for. Spoke the guy selling it, but he had to put me onto another guy who I guess had the Kent franchise.

 

[Andy Bramhall]

I am so grateful for all this advice. Thank you!

Very happy to hear any more...

 

[gus-lopez]

I assume this is the one you've seen:

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It's quite a rare layout with having 2 lounges in a foreign made van and looks very comfy and I'm sure you could use the rear lounge for settling the kiddies down at night and you use the front lounge and drop-down bed for yourselves at night so would have 2 'separate' rooms.

As for the seat-belts, it looks like it's got five 3-point ones so you should hopefully be able to sort out fitting kiddies seats securely. My initial questions would be:

what weigh it is rated at
what payload there is (a weighbridge is the only sure way to find out is with both axles weighed independently)
if it is over 3500kg if you have a driving licence that will allow you drive it.

As MotorhomeDepot sell on behalf of owners there may be a fair bit of wiggle room on the price so if it's definitely what you want go in with a low offer ... you can always go up but won't be able to go down!

@Minxy Girl that is a 69C not the 69egb

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[Minxy]

@Minxy Girl that is a 69C not the 69egb

Really? I thought the fact that it has the rear lounge rather than a bed meant it was the GB one. I'm assuming the dealer being motorhomedepot is the 'broker' ... and they've just called it what they are normally called, ie a 69C as they may not be aware there ever was a GB specific model.

 

[Minxy]

Really? I thought the fact that it has the rear lounge rather than a bed meant it was the GB one. I'm assuming the dealer being motorhomedepot is the 'broker' ... and they've just called it what they are normally called, ie a 69C as they may not be aware there ever was a GB specific model.

Just looking at the models again I think the 69E denotes a fixed rear bed, where a C is the rear lounge ... but then again they have so many variations it could be 69 ... anything!

 

[gus-lopez]

True.
The only actual 69EGB that I could find was a 'now sold' one at travelworld.

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[Minxy]

Perhaps the OP would like to reply and put us all out of our misery!

 

[Andy Bramhall]

The broker listed it as a 69C but on the plate it is named as a 69EGB - so I just assumed they were different references to the same van

 

[Andy Bramhall]

The van we are looking at is that one -
We are thinking about putting in an offer.
If we did I would like to find someone professional who could check the van over throroughly for us.
Who should we use for something like that? Would they be willing to come out to see the van at the seller's home - or would we need to take it to them?

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[scotzsue]

Dont make an offer until you have a weghbridge certificate, surprising how much the stuff for 2 adults and 3 children weighs. have you physically seen this van? Go take family and car seats and see if it is doable. you all need to be safe. It's a great life though, once you find the right van.