My experience searching for a camper van

As I have told you in an earlier post, after my boyfriend and I had bought a caravan to save money during the summer whilst we rented our house, we realised that if I had bought a camper van for the time I was in France for an Erasmus, I would have saved a lot in regards to rent, and I would now already have my camper van in Spain or in Portugal.

So, I am going to tell you about my search for a camper van this year, in case somebody wants to use my idea and save a few months of rent. Of course, this also depends on the country that you are completing an Erasmus in. Because in your case, it might be more expensive to buy a caravan than to pay for the rent of a little apartment. But, I am basing this on my experience of a very small and very expensive 25 square metres apartment, so for the space that I had, it would have cost the same as buying a caravan in a campsite.

In short, we began to look when my boyfriend decided that for next year, instead of being stuck on our plot with the caravan, we could use a camper van and park at a beach every three days. The reason for parking in a different place every three days is because, according to the law, you cannot have a vehicle, caravan or otherwise, parked in the same place for more than three days. Therefore, what the camper vans that park at the beach, as many do in open spaces, do is to simply move to the other side or move a few metres to the side. You don't have to leave the lot, according to Portuguese law, to be considered as having parked in another place.

My boyfriend's idea doesn't seem that bad, after having spent all summer sleeping in a small caravan. In this way, we could at least wake up looking at the sea and in different places each day, as Albufeira has gorgeous beaches and much variety near to home to change it up. So I went about looking for second-hand camper vans, because we had no idea how much they might cost.

After lots of looking into Milanuncios, a Spanish website, and into OLX, a Portuguese website, I realised that we couldn't even afford a camper van from 1990, because a normal one could cost us around 20, 000 euros, and this was a bit out of our price range. So, from reading forums I discovered that what people do is buy camper vans from countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland... where, apparently, they are quite a bit cheaper.

Knowing this, I started anew in my online search, writing in English and in other languages to see if I could find something different. I found a page where they sold caravans and camper vans from all countries across Europe, and the best thing was that I could choose the language I wanted to see the whole website in. So, I started looking here, and I also found very good references about the page. Many people commented that it was the best website for finding camper vans and that it was very reliable. We weren't sure if we had to go to the country that the camper van we wanted to buy was from, or if they would send it to us via a carrier, paying for the shipping fees, but at that moment we couldn't find anything that we wanted to or could buy, so during these days I was looking at anything that looked new that might interest us. It was quite nice to be able to put on a filter with the maximum amount of money that you want to spend. So, I only had to look on there each day and see if there was something new in my search.

For days I looked and looked, and still it didn't look as though the prices from other countries were as cheap as they had said. Yes, they were cheaper than in Spain or Portugal, but if you keep in mind that we had to add the costs of getting it home, it ended up more or less the same.

Until one day, I found a crazy bargain that I couldn't let escape. The price was much lower than those we had seen up until then, it was enormous, a nine seater, and was in Belgium. We didn't have the money and we had to wait for the bank to authorise the loan, so before I contacted them I wrote to my boyfriend to tell him about the advert and to see if we should contact them. One hour later, I clicked on the link that I had sent him, and it said that the advertisement was no longer available. I couldn't believe that we had lost it, and in that moment I realised that if another bargain such as this one were to appear again, I would have to contact them in the same moment that I saw it. We would have to sort out the money later.

So, a few days passed with nothing new of interest, until another bargain, similar to the one before, appeared, although the camper van was a little older and a little smaller. I didn't like it as much as the first one, but I knew that it would be impossible to find another one as marvellous, as big, as new and as cheap. So I still contacted this new one because i knew that it would also be difficult to find one such as this. The second I tried to contact them, it already said that the advertisement was no longer available.

I began to think that the website didn't work; it could not be that the announcement post had already been taken from me. So I began to read in forums that people spend hours on the website, waiting for this sort of bargain and getting in touch as soon as the advertisement appears. One girl actually said that she had missed three by the skin of her teeth.

I didn't have any intention of spending wasted hours in front of the website and also, I wouldn't be in a rush until the following summer. So I began to refresh the page in the morning every day in the hope of a new bargain that I wouldn't lose.

And early one day the same announcement that had escaped me last time appeared. This time, without hesitating, I contacted them in that same exact moment I could only send an email, since the phone number seemed strange, as though it were missing a digit. The advertisement was registered to be from Germany, but the phone code wasn't German.

I got the impression that nobody would respond to my email, and the next day still nobody had responded to me, but the creator of the advert had taken it down, so I thought that somebody had contacted them before, hence taking down the ad. So I continued looking, but that afternoon the advertisement people responded to me. The owner of the advertisement - I am not sure if they were male or female from the name that they used - told me that there was another person interested in buying it, that they have them a few days to decide, but this person was waiting for a loan to be approved from the bank and it had not been granted. They also told me that they were German, but the camper van was in Ireland, their actual place of residence. They seemed like very serious people and they told me that they only wanted to deal with serious people who were actually interested, which seemed completely understandable to me, and I liked their seriousness in this situation. They also wanted to be sure that I had the money available, and I, of course, told them that I did, despite it not being the truth.

Another good thing was that we could communicate in English, so we wanted to talk to them on the phone to be able to talk more about the details. Because, by email we had been given a lot of information, such as that they were selling the camper van because they wanted to buy a bigger one, and that they had been the only owners, which is why it was so well looked after. They also send me a lot more photos other than just the ones that appeared in the advert. The more I saw, the more I fell in love with this camper van. So cheap for how good it was, I was already dreaming of travelling across Europe with it, and I was excited about the idea. Who'd have thought it with the bad impression I was getting a while ago.

In any case, neither are we fools, and I wanted to go to Dublin to see it in person, or ask a good friend who lives there to pass by and see it. We rang him and he told us that he could do so, no problem, because Dublin isn't a huge city and it wouldn't take him too long to go to where it was and see it.

I wrote to the owner of the camper van and they told me that the only way to make the sale was to use a very reliable international company which, according to them, worked in the following way: the carrier would bring the camper van to the door of our house in Albufeira without us having to pay absolutely anything, they would give us a week to try it out as much as we wanted to without going over the kilometre limit from the point that they left us, and if after this period we then wanted it we would then pay, or if we didn't want it then they would take it back. I didn't really understand the explanation in English, and I insisted that we spoke on the phone, to which they now responded that they only spoke German, but could write emails in English by using a translator.

I searched up the name of the company, that according to them was so prestigious, and found one with a similar name, but was not exactly the same name, so I contacted them again and they told me that it was the same. I called the company office in Portugal so that they could better explain to me the way that they work, because it all seemed too good to be true. They explained to me that they were indeed a transporter that worked on a worldwide level, but that they didn't handle things as big as a camper van.

I didn't understand at all. If they didn't deal with sending big things, why did they think that they were going to send it to us using this method? And why couldn't my friend come to see it in person?

Something told me it was all a scam, but I didn't quite get it, so I wrote to say that I didn't trust this method and I didn't want to use it, to which the seller responded with by sending me a copy of their passport, a copy of the current documents of the camper van and documentation with the stamp of a mechanic, which explained that it had passed a review the month before and it had been in perfect condition.

Once again, I went to investigate via forums and I found a guy that said that in these instances, if there is something that is making you unsure, it is because you should distrust it. But nobody said anything about similar cases, and I still didn't know what to do. Some part of me wanted to believe it, because it truly was a bargain, but I also wasn't willing to lose my money either. Because, at the start I thought that I didn't have to pay anything, let alone even touch my money, but after reading and rereading their emails many times, I understood that I had to transfer the money for the camper van to the transport company. They would retain my money during the week that I had as a window to try the camper van and at the end of the week, if I wanted to keep it, they would release the money and send it to the seller.

Once again, I wrote to the seller and said that I need at least a phone conversation with somebody that spoke English for me to feel more comfortable, and to give me a couple of days to speak to my lawyer. I had always wanted to use that phrase, but, obviously, there was no such lawyer. But, I achieved what I wanted, which was to see their reaction. Within minutes, they responded with a very different tone to previous emails, and they told me that, unfortunately, they had already done their part and taken the camper van to the transport company and filled in the paperwork because I had told them that I was sure. They insisted that I did my part and send the money at once. This pressure to receive the money made it clear to me that it wasn't real.

And I soon had a very good idea, and I didn't know how I hadn't thought of it before. I decided to search on Google Images to see if I could find something with the images of the camper van. I looked with each of the 47 photos that they had sent me and found many similar ones, because it made sense that all of the camper vans of the same model were alike, but none were exactly the same. Until it occurred to me to look up the photo of their passport. My boyfriend said that I was going crazy and that I thought I was a detective or something, but my plan worked. I found the exact same photo on a Turkish website, where it came up as an example of a Turkish passport.

Here there was the same photo, just with a different name and nationality. They had kept everything up to the signature, because I wasn't sure what they had put.

I sent them a final email telling them everything and that they need to stop cheating innocent people who were only looking forward to buying a camper van.

They never responded to me, so I continued my search, this time knowing that everything that seemed like a bargain was definitely going to be a lie.

One day, another suspicious deal appeared, too good to be true, but I was curious to know if it followed the pattern of the scam or if, who knows, it was actually real.

Coincidently, the phone couldn't receive calls, and the area code was from Germany, despite the advertisement saying that the camper van was in France.

During those days, I dedicated myself to looking up forms of scams in forums, and discovered that it was something quite common in the issue of buying and selling camper vans in Europe. I learned that if the other person, no matter how much you insist, doesn't allow you to call them, then it is almost certainly a scam. And if you say that you have a friend who lives near and can go to see the camper van in person and they refuse to allow this, it is even more certain that it is a scam.

In short, now much more prepared after knowing all of this, I sent them an email, as I couldn't contact the seller in any other way.

They responded straight away, this time with a very different story. It was a middle-aged woman that had recently become a widow, and the camper van reminded her too much of her deceased husband. Which is why the sale was so cheap even though it was new, because she wanted to get rid of the camper van as soon as possible. The means of shipping and payment also didn't seem anything like the first story.

The supposed seller told me that the camper van was in Germany and, thinking that I was French, told me that in a few days she would be in France to visit her brother, and could bring the camper van with her.

Just as with the other advertisement, I insisted on calling her, to which she responded that she didn't speak French, and I said that it wasn't important because I could speak French, German and English. It was a total lie, of course, but I wanted to make sure that she couldn't wriggle her way out of it.

Finally, she told me that she didn't have time to talk on the phone, but that we didn't need to because, in a few days, we could meet in person in France, in the city where her brother supposedly lived.

What I couldn't understand was when she would rob me of my money. If we were to meet in person, it was assumed that I would pay in person. For a moment I thought that the story could be true, and that I was being so cruel as to laugh at this poor widow.

I searched for the images in Google, just as I had with the previous advertisement, and I found a blog called "the scam of the wretched widow". From there I didn't need to read anymore, as I already know what the scammer's next steps would be before they sent me more emails.

And, as it said I would in the blog, I received another email where it said that for her to be sure that I was going to come to France, before buying the return flight tickets to Germany (as she would come in the camper van and would have to return by another means), and before reserving a hotel where she and her brother could sleep, she needed for me to transfer the whole quantity of money, as evidence that I was actually interested and that I wasn't going to leave her stranded.

And here we have it, my second scam attempt. On this occasion, I decided to not waste my breath and passed directly over her and her emails. Just as I had done with the previous instance, I reported the advertisements to the website, but it didn't mean anything because, after a few days, the two were publishing again, with new names and different incomplete numbers.

The only good thing was that I began to be an expert on scams, and I was commenting on blogs so that the same thing didn't happen to other people.

Meanwhile, I still continued to look for advertisements that were real, but everything was out of our price range. Until I found my third scam, the method of which I cannot tell you about because I didn't have the patience to humour them, and I dedicated myself to making it so difficult for them that they eventually got tired of me.

By the time this happened I was already tired of the website, and was only looking on Milanuncios and OLX. I thought that it would be more difficult for the same thing to happen to me on Spanish websites, but I was wrong.

There was a day where I was looking through Milanuncios, when another gorgeous camper van appeared at a bargain price. I immediately contacted the seller, once again without a phone number.

They told me that the camper van was in France, despite the advertisement saying it was in Spain. I told them that it didn't matter, that I had completed an Erasmus in France and that I could go to collect it in person, and therefore save the return flight, and that I would love to travel back to Spain in it.

I insisted on a phone call with this seller, to which they couldn't tell me that they only spoke French because I had told them for a fact that I also spoke it, so they came up with the oldest trick in the book: that there was no connection in the town that they lived in.

It seemed similar to the first scam; they knew a famous, worldwide shipping company that you could trust entirely, and that they wanted to use this same method. They would send it to my house, where I could try it for a week and then decide if I wanted it or not. The name of the shipping company was completely different to that of the first one, but it had a website that was really badly done.

I suppose that the website was made by them to give more credibility to their scam. And the money would be sent directly to them. In fact, if you look online you will find many people that have been scammed in this way. People that sent the money and waited and waited until they realised that the camper van would never arrive to their house, and they would never be given back their money. Well, I remember reading a story of a man that tried to reclaim his money once he had realised, and they responded and told him to not try to cheat the company, that the camper van was already on its way and that it would now be more expensive for them to just send it back to the country of origin.

In short, already knowing how all of this worked, I asked for the city that the camper van was in. When they responded, I went to look it up on Google Maps, and I pretended that I was living in a small city that was only a 20 minute drive from where they had said,

I told them that I was very excited and that it would be absurd for them to send it to me in Spain when I lived so close to where it was. Then the seller sent me a copy of the same email that explained how the shipping method worked, and they said that they were tired of writing to me in Spanish by using a translator, and wanted to know if I were actually interested in accepting the shipping method. I responded to this email in French, and I told them that we could speak in their language, no problem, as I spoke it perfectly. And they never responded to me.

After that, I found quite a few advertisements that I could tell from a mile away were scams, but I decided to ignore them and focus only on those that seemed a bit older and that I could afford.

So, if nothing else I hope that this helps you to not go through the same thing, and to know that super deals do not exist in this world, but that it is worth buying a much cheaper camper van in Europe, if you are already here, and if they will let you see it in person.

But never buy it without seeing it in person, got it?

Ah, of course, I forgot to tell you that, in all that commotion, I also learned that there are four kinds of camper vans, that are: the nasturtium, the integral, the semi-integral and the pick-up. I will show you some photos so you can differentiate them.

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This is a nasturtium camper van. This is the one I like the most because the space is well spread out. What you see above the front seats is a double, fixed bed. I also realised that these are the most common, at least where I was looking.

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This is an integral. As you can see, this means to say that everything is built into a unique structure, as though it were a bus. I don't really like it because you lose space if you put in another bed.

So I am still today searching though Milanuncios and OLX in Portugal, and we have a few selected from the 80s, that are the ones we can afford, but at least we know they are legit, with real people and real telephone numbers that we can call and ask about any doubts we have about the advertisement.

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This is the semi integral camper van, which looks like a combination of the two previous ones. It's not too bad because, although you cannot see it in the photo, it has a fixed mattress at the front, at the top. This bed can lower down with an electric mechanism when you're not driving, and therefore there is more space. The problem is that the camper van is very old, the electric system often don't work and would be something that we would have to repair.

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And, finally, we have the pick-up which, personally, I don't like at all. It is built like a normal car; the only part that is like a camper van is the part on the top. I suppose that the purpose of it is to be able to park in normal spaces and take up less space. It's good for short-term trips, but not useful for me, who would be spending the whole summer in it. In any case, from what I have seen, it's not very common to find one.

Well, I don't think that I have forgotten anything.

See you soon, everyone!

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