Buying in Germany - tempting....

Max-Felix

Max-Felix

VIP Member
Messages
1,481
Location
Sussex
Vehicle
T5 SE 140
Very tempting, especially given the better spec on many vans there and the much nicer Caravelle dash and base vehicle on the Cali (and I believe better base vehicle on the Beach?).

Less than one year old Cali with some nice extras, from a dealer at £33k

https://www.car-copy.com/carcopy/sh...pYXRlZDswPXNvcDtrPXNycDs2NTcyNTE9cm9mIzNjIA==

And a lovely 2012 Beach with all the extras you could want incl parking heater etc at around £27k

https://www.car-copy.com/carcopy/sh...pYXRlZDswPXNvcDtrPXNycDs2NTcyNTE9cm9mI2MwIA==

Has anyone gone over to Germany to do a deal direct from one of the retailers?

What's really tempting is the prices and the fact you can get an older (cheaper) Beach as they were sold there much earlier than here.

I bought a late Westy T3 Cali direct once but via a middleman who bought it over.
 
Max-Felix said:
Very tempting, especially given the better spec on many vans there and the much nicer Caravelle dash and base vehicle on the Cali (and I believe better base vehicle on the Beach?).

Less than one year old Cali with some nice extras, from a dealer at £33k

https://www.car-copy.com/carcopy/sh...pYXRlZDswPXNvcDtrPXNycDs2NTcyNTE9cm9mIzNjIA==

And a lovely 2012 Beach with all the extras you could want incl parking heater etc at around £27k

https://www.car-copy.com/carcopy/sh...pYXRlZDswPXNvcDtrPXNycDs2NTcyNTE9cm9mI2MwIA==

Has anyone gone over to Germany to do a deal direct from one of the retailers?

What's really tempting is the prices and the fact you can get an older (cheaper) Beach as they were sold there much earlier than here.

I bought a late Westy T3 Cali direct once but via a middleman who bought it over.
Click to expand...

I bought a 2007 California Comfortline in Germany in June this year.. The process is fairly straightforward. I did a lot of internet research and narrowed the choice down to about 6 different vehicles. All these were in a radius of about 200km of Cologne (Ryanair fly from Dublin to Cologne) I e-mailed the dealers (in English) and made inquiries about each vehicle. Five replied and I arranged to go and look at them on a Friday and Saturday morning. Most of dealers closed for a half day on Saturday.

I managed to see 4 of the 5 I had hoped so see and got to see one other that I found advertised while in Germany- just didn't have time to get to one dealer.

The last one I saw I bought. It was from a company that converts T5's and now T6's to campers. He had taken the California I bought as a trade in against one of his own conversions. The company has a website www.sunvan.de and I dealt with the owner Peter Kohler.

He spoke English and was very helpful. The vehicle was exactly as described. it had a complete service history. He also gave a one year guarantee on the vehicle and habitation equipment through a company called Intec. I checked with them before I bought the vehicle and they confirmed that they will pay a VW dealer in Ireland to carry out warranty repairs as per the conditions laid down in the policy. This was included in the price as advertised.

It took about 2 weeks for all the paperwork to be completed. There was a TUV inspection, export plates had to be fitted and 3rd party insurance had to be bought covering the period it would take to get the vehicle out of Germany. All this cost in the region of €300 and Peter Kohler did all of it. We paid by bank transfer and flew back to Germany, collected the van on the agreed date and drove to Cherbourg and home.

Since then we have covered about 4000 km in France and Ireland and the van is perfect.

To sum up. It takes time and it's expensive to over and back to Germany- flights, car rental and accomodation etc. On the other hand the California I bought is in perfect condition, it has the 2.5l engine, 3 zone air-con, cruise control and an awning. I speak very little German but most people I met had a little English. Of the vans we saw only 2 were worth considering. One from a main VW dealer and the one we bought. Two (non VW) dealers had really impressive websites but turned out to be guys selling from less than impressive portacabins. We are very happy with our California and despite the expense of getting it from Germany it represents better value that we could have got in Ireland or the UK.
 
If you plan to spent much of your time touring Europe then left hand drive might prove to be an advantage! Just a thought


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
We were going to buy in Germany and saw this one online but didn't fancy the colour! The issue I found with a private purchase on mobile.de is that sellers feel it's a hassle dealing with an overseas buyer. A trade purchase is much easier but then the extra margin makes is sleds attractive compared with a UK private purchase.

Lots for sale on mobile,de but make sure you search under both cars and motor homes for the Cali as there are plenty listed. Interesting to see how many have done in excess of 200000km so it shows that they are built to last! If you are happy with a higher mileage Cali then they can be had for a lot less, we looked at one with 98000 miles for just £16k but they sold it locally before we were able to go and see it. They even offered to put me up for the night as I would have had to fly out the night before.

I expect we will probably keep the Cali we have just bought for 12 months then buy in Germany next year as I really prefer the LHD dash and they generally come well loaded with extras. Having owned two LHD previously I wouldn't hesitate as it is no problem in the UK other than reaching over for car park entrances and barriers! Maybe a selfie stick for my pass at work would do the trick. NAll I have looked at have had mostly one owner, above average miles but full service histories.
 
Max-Felix said:
Thanks chaps, no-one else had thoughts or done this?

Very early but beautifully looked after Cali here at just £21k!

http://suchen.mobile.de/wohnwagen-inserat/vw-t5-california-comfortline-1-hand-top-zustand-markgröningen-bei/196449677.html?lang=de&pageNumber=4&__lp=5&scopeId=MH&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=25600&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.makeId=25200&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Motorhome&segment=Motorhome&minFirstRegistrationDate=2002-01-01&maxFirstRegistrationDate=2014-12-31&minPrice=15000&maxPrice=30000&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&minMileage=10000&maxMileage=125000&noec=1

Or a three year old Beach at just £25k - would probably be nearer £35k here!

http://suchen.mobile.de/wohnwagen-i...ORT&minMileage=10000&maxMileage=125000&noec=1
Click to expand...
I'm not sure your view of UK pricing is that accurate. There are plenty of overpriced UK examples which over influence the pricing picture as they stick around so long. Well priced ones come and go, perhaps before you've even seen them.
Add in flights, currency costs, and some hassle time for the paperwork and I think you can do just as well here.
I've never seen a Cali in the colour that comfortline is rendering on my phone's screen. If it's as bad as it looks to me, you'd need to knock off a couple of £k to compensate.
 
Thanks for that, and I must say I just got to the end of the mammoth Cali Exclusive topic on vwt4 last night, all 133 pages of it incl lots of your input, very interesting stuff!

Back on topic, had a long chat with Andy today at CV4U, very helpful and he can pick up, liaise, deliver for me for a very reasonable fee. Comparing prices for three suitable Beaches I found today on mobile.de and Autoscout to the UK gave three 2012/13 models around £28k and in the UK 12/13/14 models around £33k.

Crucially though the UK models were all the lowly 114 hp 5 speed while all Germans are 140 bhp 6 speed and general spec on the German models is much better with sat nav, climatronic, heated seat and other goodies but most importantly many have the parking heater which is virtually unheard of with UK Beaches.

Even with Andy's fees and the admin, headlamp swap etc you're at least £3k better off and with a much higher spec and in many cases better looked after vehicle. I haven't done this for 10 years since buying a T3 Westy but it makes financial sense, you could sell for a decent profit the next day.
 
Andy is a sound guy - found mine for me although it was already in UK - and has done the leg work many many times.
Well done on reading the Exclusive thread! That's some achievement.....
Do still be careful in your view of the UK prices. There are some scary (mad) prices out there, particularly for a couple of beaches. It's a pity that there isn't a 'sold prices' register - the danger in looking at the 'for sales' is its still influenced by over optimistic sellers, particularly on here, who listed in the middle of summer. They were over optimistic then and are even more so now.
With the exchange rate there should be bargain lhd's to import, but just be sure your baseline is realistic as we enter the quiet period. I take your point about the better specs in Germany.
 
To be honest all the prices for VW vans are nuts wherever you buy but maybe I live in a different time! ;) I Bought my late T3 Westy Cali for around £6k from Germany 10 years ago and it probably worth 9k now?? My first T3 I bought at four years old in '94 and had a brand new factory conversion from Leisuredrive all in at £8500!

I'm in no hurry to buy so will see what comes up here and in Germany but if anyone spies a 140 UK Beach under £30k please let me know!

We mainly need the van for a planned Euro trip next Sumer but also to give it a go and see how things might work out with us and two kids, lived in the '94 T3 for 6 months round Europe BITD but we were younger then and there were only two of us to go mad at each other!

Buying in Germany will allow me to experiment and if we like it no worries, if not I won't suffer a loss and it gains me some financial room for the kitchen pod etc.
 
Test drove another Beach today (140 DSG) and had another long look at them - but still, still struggling to reconcile the cost of the d@mn things! I know about the residuals etc but it was nice to get out of what is still a tarted up van and back into my wife's BMW with leather and 175 bhp proper torque converter auto. I don't want to come over snobby though - at heart I'm a Landy nut (ran an ex military Ninety for ten years but now a last of line 300Tdi 110 CSW is our family vehicle to swallow kids, bikes, boats etc)

I keep flitting back between a newish Beach, a conversion or still a hankering for a last of line Westy Cali from 2002/3. Always liked the T4's and Westy's fit out - you'll know what I mean T4WFA... ;)

I have a soft spot for these older Startline/Multivan type Beaches too (this one's a little pricey for what it is but has low miles):

http://ww3.autoscout24.de/classified/276957693?asrc=st|as

Basic trim and a very s-l-o-w engine but add a kitchen pod and it's all you need for back to basics camper-vanning and less to worry about with two little kids in the van with us. :)

This is what VW need to offer over here for the old school back to basics campers.
 
I totally agree! (unsurprisingly!).
Having tried a t5 Cali, and having briefly owned a T4 Westfalia 150hp Event, and my own Exclusive for 2+ years, there is nothing to compete with Westfalia's build quality. Look at the thread on here about the current calf's rear overhead locker catch.... Something so simple and proven was cocked-up by vw's need to over engineer /reinvent the wheel (and failing).
A t5 (ok a t6 now) Van with a manual roof, black bumpers, integrated water tanks, chairs and table, tough upholstery and interior would be a winner. In the end it's about what you do with these vans, and an old-style Westy built on the car like modern Van would be great.
 
I have also done this in March this year.
I bought a 06 SE with one owner full history it came with the now hard to get bike rack, roof bars detachable towbar and the side awning. Everything it left the dealer with new.
The paper work was a bit of a mare but now I know it, it's quite straight forward. It would help if you got the right information from the DVLA before starting.

I'm thinking of selling mine on due to work commitments but would buy another LHD in the future. That's how it was designed to be and the extras show through. The dash,the blinds in the A pillars too.
Go for it.!
 
Thanks Mike, did you go over to a dealer?

Pondering doing it myself but Andy obviously has the experience, knows the dealers and will know far more about what to look for than me + will take his laptop to check for fault codes etc! Probably worth it to me for the extra cost.

What's surprising after looking is how much the last T4 Westys' are fetching in Germany, as desirable as here it seems and most are £20k to £22k, some even more.
 
Yeah I have to agree at the price of the T4s I was amazed. I did buy from a dealer and he couldn't ha e been more helpful spoke good English and held the van for me. There were 2 other couples waiting the day I flew out to look at it. He showed me around the van then let me take it for a full hours test drive. He sorted out my transfer plates for €100 and insurance too so I could drive it.
A big step to take on my own but I'm more than happy with it now.
It is the 130 but I've now had it remapped to 170 what a difference.
I'm a big happy Cali owner there are far more smiles to miles then moaning about little niggles.

image.jpg
 
I bought our 2010 Multivan 3 years ago on Autoscout .
Collected from Belgium, great price & spec, never regretted it
 
Hi I was thinking of buying in Germany some good deals and choice but in the end I opted for putting a California se roof on my 2004 kombi which I've been converting myself for some time and I'm so happy with it I've got a 3seat Rocknroll in the back which opens to a large bed a kitchen pod just behind the drivers seats hook up system powering two fixed rads when plugged in and 3 double sockets and light then my leisure system has separate 12v lighting off one battery and power off two large gel battery's through a 1000w inverter i charge them up with a battery charger then I have a split relay doing the roof and Eberspacer I can survive without hookup for two weeks when I have to all works very well my 3 kids love it I have slept 5 in there short stays by doing it my self I put in what I needed bit by bit just couldn't afford a California this suits my needs good luck i would buy from Germany great spec cheers
 
Chinny said:
Hi I was thinking of buying in Germany some good deals and choice but in the end I opted for putting a California se roof on my 2004 kombi which I've been converting myself for some time and I'm so happy with it I've got a 3seat Rocknroll in the back which opens to a large bed a kitchen pod just behind the drivers seats hook up system powering two fixed rads when plugged in and 3 double sockets and light then my leisure system has separate 12v lighting off one battery and power off two large gel battery's through a 1000w inverter i charge them up with a battery charger then I have a split relay doing the roof and Eberspacer I can survive without hookup for two weeks when I have to all works very well my 3 kids love it I have slept 5 in there short stays by doing it my self I put in what I needed bit by bit just couldn't afford a California this suits my needs good luck i would buy from Germany great spec cheers
Click to expand...

You are Jack Kerouac and I claim my £5
 
Not convinced.
This Cali has none of the following.
1. No small sliding / opening window on the side door. See picture
2. No front window on the canvas
3. No alloys
4. No side protective strips
5. No tinted glass to any of the rear or side windows.
These are the items I can see at first hand. Wonder what else is missing...
 
calicasas said:
Not convinced.
This Cali has none of the following.
1. No small sliding / opening window on the side door. See picture
2. No front window on the canvas
3. No alloys
4. No side protective strips
5. No tinted glass to any of the rear or side windows.
These are the items I can see at first hand. Wonder what else is missing...
Click to expand...


Things you name are "options" ...
So non of that are "missing" they just waren't added to the standaard SE.
Can't see why these mentiont items schould be a reason breaking down this add?
These are personal favors...
 
hotel california T5 said:
Things you name are "options" ...
So non of that are "missing" they just waren't added to the standaard SE.
Can't see why these mentiont items schould be a reason breaking down this add?
These are personal favors...
Click to expand...
Yes, this is probably the German base model, in the UK the spec includes all what Calicasas mentioned as standard so it is not really a true comparison with buying a UK version. You couldn't buy a Cali this basic in the UK unfortunately, hence our high prices.
 
Also beware of T5 van conversions fitted with all the Cali parts masquerading as a Cali with a carefully worded advert.

Where do think all the parts off the stolen Calis go?
 
hotel california T5 said:
Things you name are "options" ...
So non of that are "missing" they just waren't added to the standaard SE.
Can't see why these mentiont items schould be a reason breaking down this add?
These are personal favors...
Click to expand...
Ok the original post said the price was good for a high spec vehicle. This was not a high spec vehicle. The Cali is sold in two specifications in mainland Europe, I know, I had one when I lived in Spain. The point being that we only have our SE spec vehicle here and so we assume the items listed are standard. When I say missing, I mean missing In respect of the UK specific vehicle. My Cali in Spain had many 'missing' items as compared to the UK spec...
When I had my vehicle, these items were not an option, you just bought the higher spec model. Simplzzzz.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

RodCouncil
Buying from Germany
Replies
10
Views
3K
RodCouncil
RodCouncil
Wogga
Volkswagen Offers are they real?
Replies
5
Views
1K
Wogga
Wogga
Corradobrit
Buying a VW California Coast Editions LHD in Germany.
Replies
11
Views
4K
Thebears
Thebears
F
Import from Germany to UK
2
Replies
46
Views
6K
Corradobrit
Corradobrit
Sp0_0k
about buying new T6
Replies
2
Views
1K
Sp0_0k
Sp0_0k

Useful links

VW California Club

  • Comfort Insurance
  • VIP Membership
  • Comfort Insurance
  • Hire a Vw California
  • CampervanBits Accessories
  • Conquest

About us

The VW California Club is the worlds largest resource for all owners and enthusiasts of VW California campervans.

Our Partners

Our Websites

Back
Top