Ciao from Southern Italy!

Al and Suzy · Feb 16, 2013

Hi all,
We are newbies, currently living in Southern Italy, just joined your site tonight and...... are awaiting delivery of a new CALI SE, 180 BiTDI, Olympian Blue with a few nice trimmings. We are a family, with 2 boys 10 and 6 who miss our dear old 1997 T4 Camper which we sold in September last year after many fantasic trips. We are getting very excited aout its replacement, but are trying to solve a couple of challenges which our situation has thrown at us - your website and all the experienced CALI owners may be able to help, we hope:

1. We are initially exporting our CALI (it awaits our collection from the UK), so need insurance that covers not only a Camper van abroad in Europe, but one on a UK export plate for a about 4 months until we return to UK later in the year. So far we have found insurance companies that can cover for one or the other, but not both. The search continues...can anyone help or provide a recommended insurance company, probably one that does VIN / Chassis numbers as it will have to be re-registered onto 'local' plates when we get it to Italy?

2. Gas system and 'regulator'. We would like to know exactly what the 2013 CALI comes fitted with as standard from the VW factory, as I need to get this SAFELY and professionally connected up to include a gas bottle in UK when I collect it from the VW dealership. To that end, is there a recommended accessory shop between North London / North Circular Rd and Dover, that I could book in with to have anything required fitted, before I start the long drive South?

3. Brandrupp back of front seat storage pockets. Worth the money? We note there is a discount deal for VIP members, so we are certainly tempted, but are their other decent quality alternatives?

We will now look into your extremely comprehensive website and will probably come back with a few more 'rookie' questions as we near our much anticipated collection date!

Looking forward to hearing from anyone able to give us any advice.

Thanks for the help,

Best wishes
Al and Suzy

Stu · Feb 16, 2013

Al, Suzy.

Welcome.

The Gas cylinder is a Camping Gaz 907. All you need to connect that should be already in place.

Insurance is a more difficult story. Do you have to have it on the IT plates or could you keep it on the UK plates??

I'm sure the Brandrup parts are excellent quality but we use a Fiamma type which are much, much cheaper and very good quality.

Al and Suzy · Feb 18, 2013

Thanks for the gas cylinder and accessories advice Stu.

Regarding the 907 Camping Gaz cylinder, do you know if is this a UK 'standard' bottle or one that is widely stocked on the continent in campsites etc? I think this is important if we need to refill / replace it either abroad or in UK. I was advised by another camping chap that it may be better to get a continental fitting as they should stock both in UK, but perhaps only stock the continental ones abroad. Any advice / experience?

Regarding the insurance / plates, when exporting a new vehicle, it has to come off UK plates and be fully registered abroad within a few weeks, otherwise when you come to re-import it (as we are doing about 4 months after we collect it), you have to then pay UK import tax. It is all a bit of a minefield with the HMRC and DVLA plus all the IT regulations, but I am trying to ensure we don't get a hefty tax bill or find we are un-insured at some stage because of the number plate. We are working on it!

As the 'Moderator' do you think these and my other questions are posted in the right place, or can I, or maybe you shift them to the correct sections elsewhere in the forum? Sorry, as well as our first CALI, this is our first e-Forum, so all a bit new to us, so any help and advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks again,
Al