South Americans travelling to Europe to buy a motorhome and tour the continent (1 Viewer)

[Du And Nica]

Hello Everyone,

We found this forum on an internet search (looking for info on Sunlight motorhomes) and we became so impressed with the quality and volume of information here that we decided to join.

We are a South American married couple, currently living in Chile. We've been taking vacations in rental motorhomes since 2010, so when we retired last year, we decided to move into full-time motorhoming. We tried to buy a motorhome here to no avail (available units were either too expensive or had too many issues, or both), so we decided to travel to Europe and buy one; believe it or not, we did the math and it's less expensive to buy one over there *and* then ship it across the world to Chile *and* pay all the import fees/taxes here, than to buy most local units -- and we will end up with a better unit in the bargain.

Our current plan is to land in Germany by the end of this month and buy a local unit (with german export plates so we don't pay the VAT), use it to tour Europe -- including England, yay! -- for the next 90 days, then drop it off in Antwerp and fly back to Chile to wait for it to arrive. We are on the final stages of tying all of this together, so you can imagine how crazy these days are going for us ;-)

We have a lot of questions, but will post them in separate threads on the appropriate forum boards.

Thanks for having us!

Cheers,
--
Du & Nica.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Welcome to fun-you would be better spending more time in Europe than England-better facilities for a motorhome in Europe.
If you travel to the UK head for Scotland but it will be colder from this time of year

 

[Speve]

Hello and welcome to the forum as you have already found out it’s a great place to learn the ropes hope you find what you want
We have imported our last two vans from Germany such good value, good luck with your trip and search.

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[ianthebuilder]

Hi du, Nica,,,

I hope you enjoy your new van, and your time in Europe! Some people I’ve met lately are packing it all up in this country and moving to South America,,, Columbia to be exact,, and medallin to be precise,,,

Looking at South America on the internet now and again, I must say I’m impressed with Columbia, looks beautiful,, I’ve also heard that chille is beautiful too! Do you have your own alpacas? Lol xxxxx

 

[hilldweller]

Our current plan is to land in Germany by the end of this month

--
Du & Nica.

What a Great Plan. Pity about the date, winter is on the way. So, if you must, get UK done immediately then head south. Why not a bit of time in Africa ? What a talking point back home and Morocco is only 200 Euros return from southern Spain.

 

[Du And Nica]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

If you travel to the UK head for Scotland but it will be colder from this time of year

Will do! We can't get these scenes from "Highlander" and other movies from our heads!

Pity about the date, winter is on the way. So, if you must, get UK done immediately then head south. Why not a bit of time in Africa ? What a talking point back home and Morocco is only 200 Euros return from southern Spain.

We don't have much of a problem with cold (as long as we don't have to shovel the white stuff out of our driveway every morning, that is ;-) ) About Africa, this is certainly something to think about. When you mention 200 EUR from South Spain, do you mean ship freight with the motorhome, or just passenger sea/air travel?

I must say I’m impressed with Columbia, looks beautiful

We haven't been to Colombia yet. We plan on driving the Panamericana when we get back from Europe, so we'll surely get to know it too.

Cheers,
--
Du & Nica.

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[The Dudess]

What a fabulous plan, well done and good luck.

 

[hilldweller]

About Africa, this is certainly something to think about. When you mention 200 EUR from South Spain,
--
Du & Nica.

Just like crossing the channel, there is a ferry from Algeciras to Tangier, drive on, drive off. Many FUNsters go over in Jan and stay weeks/months. It's cheap living and a bit different to Europe, though not that different because it was a French colony so French is spoken as is English. As I said, return journey, two passengers around 200 Euros. Do a search on here for Morocco 2018, they've not started the 2019 thread yet. We've been twice, lots of great memories. Of course the weather is also a big attraction.

I guess you are obliged to visit Santiago if you pass through Spain.

 

[MattR]

Welcome @Du And Nica. What route are you planning and what are you interests? So much to see in Europe. If you're coming to the UK, I would be tempted to come over soon after buying the van in Germany and see what you want to visit early in October rather than later in the year.

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[TerryL]

What a great trip!

But question - how long can you drive on German Export plates before you have to register it somewhere?

 

[DBK]

Welcome! I assume you've considered issues of support for the vehicle. I'm surprised you are not buying an RV from the US purely on the basis it might be easier to get support locally more easily. But then the US isn't so welcoming these days....

 

[ambulancekidd]

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[StephandJohn]

Welcome. What an advenure!
Not sure whether you are thinking of campsites or wild camping. Campsites can be expensive - especially in the Uk. Many campsites are closed during the winter months in Europe so you need to check up beforeyou decided where to go.
You can join the Camping and Caravanning Club and the Caravan and Motorhome Club for discounts and also ACSI https://www.acsi.eu/en/home/l2-n144/ which has good discounted sites all over.
In the UK we have Britstops for overnight says.
IN most of europe (apart from the UK) you can get aires (in France), stellplatz (in Germany) and various other names in the rest of Europe. These are smaller,cheaper places to stop some with facilities and some without
Wildcamping is allowed in some countries and not in others (although many people still wildcamp even in those countries).
Just keep asking and search the forums and have a great and wonderful time.

 

[Cat53]

Good luck with your fantastic adventure.

 

[jollyrodger]

&

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[simsy56]

Welcome to the forum! Happy travels!

Craig

 

[Theonlysue]

The world really is getting smaller!
What a great choice you are making.
Perhaps store the van in europe and return for another tour before shopping home. I have friends who live in Australia do this.

 

[Du And Nica]

Howdy Brian,

Just like crossing the channel, there is a ferry from Algeciras to Tangier, drive on, drive off. Many FUNsters go over in Jan and stay weeks/months. It's cheap living and a bit different to Europe, though not that different because it was a French colony so French is spoken as is English. As I said, return journey, two passengers around 200 Euros. Do a search on here for Morocco 2018, they've not started the 2019 thread yet. We've been twice, lots of great memories. Of course the weather is also a big attraction.

Thanks for the tips Re: Morocco. We found the thread you mentioned and are already reading through it. Looks exciting! If we can fit it in our planning, we will certainly do it... if not for anything else, just to see the Sahara with our own eyes (we love deserts).

I guess you are obliged to visit Santiago if you pass through Spain.

Not really... having spent the last 9 months and change here, we have had enough of Santiago and its namesake for the time being ;-)
(just kidding as we figure Santiago in Spain must be very different from the sprawling metropolis we're living in right now)

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[Burgo]

We bought from Hispavan here in Spain, and I believe they have exported various motorhomes to South America for clients so know all about the process . Maybe worth talking to them if you want to import a van - fluent in Spanish as well as English. Leo is the person to talk to, but he may be in Dusseldorf at the moment for the big show over there with a lot of the staff - though Paulo is there and he will help if at all posible. Hope this helps.. Link Removed

 

[St Ivian]

 

[buttons]

Hi and Welcome…...

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[Du And Nica]

Not sure whether you are thinking of campsites or wild camping.

We will be mostly "in motion" due to the fact we plan in seeing most of Europe in just 90 days (which is what our tourist visa will allow us), except of course for the UK where we plan on spending around a month. Therefore most of our stays will be overnight only.... For that, we love wild camping (aka 'boondocking' as it's usually called in the US) and would like to do it as much as possible.

Campsites can be expensive - especially in the Uk. Many campsites are closed during the winter months in Europe so you need to check up beforeyou decided where to go.

What we're doing on our trip planning is to try and find a nearby wild camping spot near where we will be for every night of our travel (we use ioverlander.com for that, not sure if there's a better website for Europe). We're also putting in a campground for every night as a Plan B, in case the wild camping spot is closed, occupied or otherwise unavailable. As soon as we have a list, we will email them and check whether they will be open, need reservations, and check-in time/procedure.

You can join the Camping and Caravanning Club and the Caravan and Motorhome Club for discounts and also ACSI https://www.acsi.eu/en/home/l2-n144/ which has good discounted sites all over.

Thanks for the tip. Not sure it will be worth for us due to the way we're planning our trip, but will keep it in mind.

In the UK we have Britstops for overnight says.

You mean this website, correct? http://www.britstops.com
It sounded ideal for what we're planning, but we just checked and unfortunately it seems all their info is in book-form only (and paper book at that, not even an ebook or PDF). As our plan calls for us landing in Europe in exactly 3 weeks, I don't think we will be able to receive their paper book in time to consider it in our plans... :-/

IN most of europe (apart from the UK) you can get aires (in France), stellplatz (in Germany) and various other names in the rest of Europe. These are smaller,cheaper places to stop some with facilities and some without

When we motorhomed in South Germany in 2010, we stopped for a lot of nights at these Rasthauses (Rasthausen?) they have every few tens of miles on their Autobahns, and they were perfect for our on-the-way, overnight stays. Do you know whether there's some listing or website for that kind of place? the one we know (iovelander.com) unfortunately doesn't seem to list them... :-/

Wildcamping is allowed in some countries and not in others (although many people still wildcamp even in those countries).

We would like to follow the law and regulations as much as possible... not good getting in trouble in the middle of such a great trip. We have seen wild camping spots listed on ioverlander.com all over Europe, so we didn't know some countries didn't allow it (albeit we've heard that in Italy it's not allowed -- but ioverlander.com does list quite a few places there. Is there somewhere listing what countries don't allow it?

Just keep asking and search the forums and have a great and wonderful time.

Thanks! Will do!

 

[Du And Nica]

e bought from Hispavan here in Spain, and I believe they have exported various motorhomes to South America for clients so know all about the process

Thanks for the info. We will be contacting them and asking about it.

 

[Du And Nica]

What route are you planning and what are you interests? So much to see in Europe. If you're coming to the UK, I would be tempted to come over soon after buying the van in Germany and see what you want to visit early in October rather than later in the year.

Basically we want to see it all ;-) Route is still being decided... initially we were thinking of heading North from Germany as soon as we got the vehicle and see whatever'd be possible of Scandinavia, but after some reading here in the forum we now realize that the weather there in late September/early October can already be too harsh (ice on the roads, snow closing down passes, etc) so now we're thinking of heading to UK instead, going through the Netherlands/Belgium/North France while the weather is good, and afterwards drive back to the Continent and go to France, Portugal, Spain -- then cross the Gibraltar straight and go to Marroch, then come back the same way and visit South France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and back into Germany to drop the motorhome at the Hamburg seaport, and to catch the plane back to Chile. Time-wise, our plan is to spend the full 90 days our tourist visa will allow us in the Schengen zone, and 20-30 days in the UK plus 20-30 days more in Marroch.

We are finishing the "macro" maps and will send a link here as soon as they're done in order to learn what you folks think.

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[mitzimad]

i can forsee a big problem with insurance etc have you looked into this aspect?

 

[Du And Nica]

i can forsee a big problem with insurance etc have you looked into this aspect?

We were under the impression that, when purchasing the export plates, we would also be sold the compulsory European vehicle insurance. Isn't that so?

 

[mitzimad]

probably only third party and will it cover multiple countries sure there will be someone with more info on this

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[pappajohn]

i can forsee a big problem with insurance etc have you looked into this aspect?

We were under the impression that, when purchasing the export plates, we would also be sold the compulsory European vehicle insurance. Isn't that so?

I did wonder about this.
Under normal circumstances you must have a fixed address in which ever country the van is going to be registered in within Europe.
The van would then be registered at that address and insurance and any road fund licence would be bought using that address.
To travel between countries then becomes straightforward and usually the insurance covers for all European countries.
Export plates and insurance are usually issued for customs purposes when permanently exporting from one country to another.... IE... Germany to UK.... Not for general touring

I think you're going to have to find others who have done EXACTLY as you intend doing..

Australians seem quite good at sorting this problem by using 'care of' addresses.
An address you use as a postal address for a fee but I know very little about how to find of use them.
Maybe a Google search of the Australian campervan websites may help.

 

[MattR]

Basically we want to see it all ;-) Route is still being decided... initially we were thinking of heading North from Germany as soon as we got the vehicle and see whatever'd be possible of Scandinavia, but after some reading here in the forum we now realize that the weather there in late September/early October can already be too harsh (ice on the roads, snow closing down passes, etc) so now we're thinking of heading to UK instead, going through the Netherlands/Belgium/North France while the weather is good, and afterwards drive back to the Continent and go to France, Portugal, Spain -- then cross the Gibraltar straight and go to Marroch, then come back the same way and visit South France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and back into Germany to drop the motorhome at the Hamburg seaport, and to catch the plane back to Chile. Time-wise, our plan is to spend the full 90 days our tourist visa will allow us in the Schengen zone, and 20-30 days in the UK plus 20-30 days more in Marroch.

We are finishing the "macro" maps and will send a link here as soon as they're done in order to learn what you folks think.

If you can get a good solution for the insurance, I would look at doing the trip over a longer period; you have listed a large number of places to visit and it could be quite a rush to visit them within your time frame and you could have less favorable weather for November & December when in central Europe (possibly quite grey with little snow to brighten up the views). If you are able to do stay for much longer (spend the winter in S Spain / Portugal or Morocco or leave the MH somewhere secure while you return to Chile so it is ready for you to resume the trip in the spring / early summer.

 

[pappajohn]

, I would look at doing the trip over a longer period;

Non EU resident visitor visa... Only 90 days

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