What made the decision was not the vehicle. It’s a binder of invoices.
I was afraid to buy from a private seller. Really afraid. We’re talking about a twenty-two-year-old motorhome at the time, almost 200,000 kilometers on the clock, an ad on Le Bon Coin, the French Gumtree, and a check that represented all our savings. And then the seller pulled out the complete history, all the purchase and maintenance invoices from the beginning, and I knew in ten minutes that I would be leaving with it. You could feel that there was good follow-up on it. Without this file, I probably wouldn’t have bought it.
Five years later, we’re still driving it. Here’s what we paid, what we discovered afterward, and what I would look at today if I were to start over.
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Read moreWhat we paid, and how
The starting budget was 19,000 to 25,000 euros, and it decided everything. We bought in France, in euros, so that is the currency you will read throughout: converting it to today’s pounds would be inventing a rate we never paid. We started by visiting dealerships because a used vehicle from a dealership is presumed to be serviced, and that reassured me. It yielded nothing in that range. And life is what happens when you had planned something else: it was a Le Bon Coin search that eventually paid off.
The price was fifteen or sixteen thousand euros. I couldn’t tell you the exact amount without pulling out the invoice, and I prefer to say it this way rather than invent a round figure. What matters more is how we paid for it: 10,000 euros in cash, and the rest on credit. A credit that ends in mid-2027.
In other words, at the time I’m writing this (October 2026), our motorhome is still not fully paid off. We’ve been living in it for five years, we’ve traveled a good part of Europe with it, and there’s still a line on the statement every month. I believe that’s a detail that is never mentioned anywhere, yet it’s the reality for many people who set off.
And the choice of model? It didn’t come from market research. I was following Greg Zway on YouTube, who had a motorhome of the same kind, I liked the configuration, and I started looking at this type of vehicle. There you go. Might as well write it down; it avoids creating the illusion of a rationality that didn’t exist.
The name, while we’re at it
The motorhome is called Édouard because that’s the seller’s name who posted the ad. And because it’s also the name of my great-grandfather. Two times the same wink, we weren’t going to miss that.
The invoices, the only criterion that really decided
I’m going to insist because this is the heart of this article. On an old vehicle, the history is worth more than the apparent condition. A cleaned, polished motorhome with new curtains can be made in a weekend. A file of invoices from the beginning cannot be fabricated.
What it tells you is not just that the vehicle has been maintained. It tells you at what frequency, by whom, and especially what has already been redone, thus what won’t be done anytime soon. A timing belt changed three years ago is an item you can cross off your budget for the next five years. Without an invoice, you have to consider everything as needing to be done.
Why we didn’t negotiate a single euro
No negotiation. Zero. It may seem silly on a purchase of this size, but we were in the middle of a post-Covid rush on motorhomes. People were looking to escape the lockdowns, the market was completely tight, and a decent vehicle with a good file sold quickly. Discussing the price was taking the risk of seeing it go to someone else.
The test drive on the day of purchase was a ride with the seller, nothing more. In hindsight, I would do the same, without changing anything. Not because it’s the ideal method, but because in that context, it was the right decision.
And I have to mention the trade-off because it’s huge. Our first year of travel happened while some countries were still in lockdown. Everything was empty, we could park just about anywhere, it was fantastic. It’s probably one of our best travel experiences, and it comes directly from the fact that we bought at that precise moment, in that market.
What we discovered afterward
There’s one thing I want to state right away because it’s often misrepresented: the anti-start saga wasn’t there at the time of purchase. It appeared a year later, and it wasn’t detectable during the test drive. It’s not a hidden defect; it’s a failure that occurred. You shouldn’t confuse the two, or you’ll start looking for faults with a seller that they had no way of knowing.
The big bill came in January 2022 with a broken clutch on a Saturday night on a Spanish highway. I’m not recounting the story here; it’s fully detailed in our maintenance cost report, and the insurance and reflex angle is in our article on breakdowns in vanlife. What matters to you is the total.
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Read moreDoes that make our purchase a mistake? No, and the formula we’ve been using since summarizes the situation quite well: our brakes failed once, our clutch twice, and we’re still here, driving. A well-maintained vehicle forgives a lot.
What I look at, in order
Here’s my list, as I would lay it out today. It’s not exhaustive and it’s not in the logical order of a visit: it’s in the order of what decides.
What is expensive to repair (therefore what decides)
What can be repaired, therefore what can be negotiated
The papers, which are worth as much as the mechanics
On the roof, I would be much more diligent than I have been. It’s the only place we never look, it’s where everything starts, and it’s also the one that a seller doesn’t think to prepare.
I'm Xavier
I write up what we learn on the road, from the gear we wear out to the paperwork that lets us live off it. Without dressing it up.
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The hierarchy, and that’s the real lesson
A checklist without hierarchy is useless because no twenty-five-year-old vehicle ticks all the boxes. What matters is knowing what is a dealbreaker and what is negotiable.
What is a dealbreaker
Infiltrations are THE detail. Above all else. Water entering a cell doesn’t stop; it descends, it works on the wood, and when it’s visible to the naked eye, it’s already too late.
The shower area: no cracks. Intact monocoque, moisture protections in place. Very, very important. A leaking toilet cassette can be replaced for a trivial amount, but a leaking shower causes water damage in the vehicle (I developed this reasoning in our article on chemical toilets).
Loose connections are the worst. Very hard to diagnose, especially when the wiring isn’t labeled. In our case, the cables aren’t annotated, and I pay for it at every intervention.
What can be repaired
The furniture and woodwork. They can be sanded, treated, and repainted. A worn interior looks bad in photos and lowers the price, but it’s not a technical problem. It’s even the best negotiation lever there is.
Comfort equipment. The TV, frankly, I don’t care. I just check that it works, like everything else: it’s not the TV that interests me, it’s verifying that the circuit supplying it is healthy.
Exterior aesthetics. A marked bumper, a scratched skirt, a detached molding are price issues, not sealing issues. Provided you check that none of these marks hide a water entry point.
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Available on 8 October 2026The case of the EBL, and why I was wrong
On a Hymer of this generation, everything goes through the EBL, the Elektroblock, a kind of electrical panel for motorhomes to which almost the entire cell is connected. For years, I said that if it failed, it needed to be replaced, and that it would be hard to find.
That’s false, and I prefer to correct it. The Schaudt EBL 99, which equips a good part of these vehicles, can be found new for around 410 euros including VAT and refurbished for around 260 euros, in stock in Belgium, France, and Germany. Some workshops do not repair and directly replace the block, with quotes around 745 euros including VAT, fitted.
What this changes in reasoning: the part exists and it’s not ruinous. The real cost is the diagnosis, not the component. This reinforces my point about loose connections instead of weakening it: on an old vehicle, you don’t pay for parts; you pay for hours of research.
What the MOT will never tell you
It’s the most expensive trap of an old used vehicle, and it’s structural. The test looks at the base vehicle: chassis, brakes, steering, running gear, lighting, emissions. It does not look at the habitation. Neither the sealing, nor the moisture in the floor, nor the gas circuit, nor the leisure electrics.
So a clean MOT certificate says nothing at all about what costs the most on a motorhome. That does not make it useless, but it does not replace a damp survey, and nobody will impose a damp survey on you.
One British detail while you are looking at the paperwork: which MOT class the van was tested in. Anything up to 3,000 kg gross is Class 4; between 3,001 and 3,500 kg it is normally Class 7, except that a vehicle recorded as a motor caravan on the V5C and declared as not carrying goods can be tested as Class 4 at any weight. Two vans that look identical can therefore carry certificates that read differently, and a seller who cannot tell you why is a seller who has not read his own file.
The habitation service is the test that actually matters here, and it is entirely voluntary. It is the one that checks damp, gas soundness, 12 V and 230 V, ventilation and the appliances. There is no legal obligation and no penalty for skipping it, which is precisely why so few private sellers have one to show you. Ask for the last report. Its absence is not a dealbreaker, but its presence tells you a great deal about the seller.
Would I do it again in 2026?
Yes. But not blindly because two things have changed since 2021.
The first is the right to enter the city, and this is where the British calculation stops looking like ours. A 1999 diesel is nowhere near the ULEZ and Clean Air Zone standard, which for diesels is Euro 6, roughly vehicles registered from September 2015. So you pay, every day, in every zone that charges motorhomes.
In France we at least have an exit ramp: the collection vehicle status at thirty years. For Édouard, first registered on 28 April 1999, that falls on 28 April 2029. The British equivalent is the DVLA historic tax class, which brings the ULEZ and CAZ exemption with it, and it arrives at forty years, on a rolling basis. Same van, same engine: 2029 on one side of the Channel, 2039 on the other. If you are buying a late-nineties diesel to live in and you are British, that decade is not a footnote, it is the whole calculation. Check the plate on the TfL checker before you sign anything, and never assume from the age.
The second is the weight. We tend to overload at first, and I realize in hindsight how much we were overloaded on our first trips. On an old A-class, the payload is short, and it is checked on the V5C before the purchase, not at the first roadside weigh-in.
And then there’s the phrase I keep for the end because it’s the only one that really matters. You need to know one thing: often our budget limits us too; we sometimes have to make concessions. So what you need to look at first is also in relation to the concessions you’re willing to make.
There is no universal checklist. There is a checklist relative to what you can handle, in money, time, and frustration. Mine, with a tight budget and zero handyman skills, doesn’t look like someone who knows how to weld. Start by establishing yours, and you’ll know what to look for.
Buying an old camper van: what we're still being asked
Does the MOT check the habitation of a motorhome?
No, and this is the most costly misunderstanding in the old-motorhome market. The MOT covers the base vehicle: chassis, brakes, steering, running gear, lighting, emissions. What happens behind the cab is not its business, neither the sealing, nor the wood, nor the gas, nor the leisure electrics. A motorhome can hold a clean MOT with a habitation that is quietly rotting. The test that looks at all of that is the habitation service, and it is voluntary.
How much does a damp survey cost and what does it actually find?
It is a specialist workshop job, billed by the hour, and it is the best money you will spend before signing. The technician runs a pin moisture meter over the sensitive points of the habitation: wall junctions, around windows and rooflights, floors, and reads a moisture percentage in the timber. Anything creeping past the mid-teens is a conversation; anything in the twenties is a decision. The point is that he sees what the eye cannot: an old ingress, sealed over on the surface, that has been working away behind a panel for years.
Are there still parts available for a vehicle from the late 90s?
For the rolling part, yes, and it's even the most underestimated argument of a Ducato of this generation: the base is shared with utility vehicles produced in very large series throughout Europe, so wear parts are found everywhere and at reasonable prices. The real difficulties lie elsewhere, on the manufacturer-specific cell parts, bays, trims, service hatches, for which one often has to go through scrap yards, owner groups, or adaptation.
Why doesn't the value of old Hymer vans collapse like the others?
Because value does not follow age, it follows the reputation of the construction and demand. The cells of that era were assembled with materials and methods that age well when they have been maintained, and there is a community that specifically seeks them out. As a result, a well-maintained example, with its history, sells for more than a newer model without a record. It is not the brand that holds the value, it is the record.
What paperwork should you insist on at a private sale?
The V5C in the seller’s name and at the seller’s address, with the body type recorded as motor caravan. The seller completes and keeps the green new keeper slip and notifies DVLA the same day; your own V5C arrives within a couple of weeks. A current MOT certificate, and ask for the older ones too: the advisories tell you what has been ignored. Then a paid history check, HPI or equivalent, for outstanding finance, write-off category, stolen marker and mileage record, because outstanding finance means the van is not the seller’s to sell. There is no French-style transfer certificate here and no fifteen-day situation certificate: the history check does that job.
How long do you have to put the vehicle in your name?
In the UK there is no window at all, and that catches out anyone used to the continental system. The change of keeper happens the moment the seller notifies DVLA, on the day of sale, online or with the green slip. Your job on the day is to make sure they actually do it and to insure the van before you drive it away, because the insurance problem starts long before any paperwork fine does.
Is it better to buy from a private seller or from a dealership?
The professional provides a legal guarantee and recourse, which is significant for a vehicle of this age. The private seller sells for less and, above all, can tell you about the vehicle, which no professional seller will do for a trade-in that arrived last week. The right answer depends less on the channel than on the file: a private seller with all the invoices is more reassuring than a professional who only has the registration document.
Can an old motorhome still get into UK cities in 2026?
Not without paying, and this is the real new risk in this market. The ULEZ and the Clean Air Zones ask a diesel for Euro 6, which in practice means registered from September 2015. A late-nineties motorhome is nowhere near it and gets charged in every zone that charges motorhomes at all, every day it enters. The exit door is the DVLA historic tax class, which carries the exemption with it, and it opens at forty years, on a rolling basis, not thirty as in France. For a vehicle from 1999 that is 2039. Check the plate on the official checker rather than guessing from the age.
Should you have the vehicle checked by a professional before buying?
On an old vehicle, yes, and not for the mechanics: for the cell. A mechanic will tell you if the engine is healthy, he won't tell you if the floor is damp. The valuable inspection is that of a camper workshop that uses a moisture meter. If the seller refuses this check, the answer to the question is already given.
What realistic budget should be planned in addition to the purchase price?
Think total cost of ownership, not the price on the ad. On an older vehicle, maintenance and surprises in the first years account for a serious slice of the purchase price, and that slice is not bad luck, it is the rule. The benchmark we have applied since our big breakdown is to keep a contingency fund of two to three thousand, in cash and reachable, for the day something lets go a long way from home.
Van life day to day, unfiltered
Two years of full-time van life, and the Algarve as our base ever since. We still hit the road, by van or otherwise, and we write up what we find along the way. An email when we have something to say, no more.
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