10 Questions you’ll want to ask before buying a campervan in Europe.

Buying a campervan in Europe is a big deal.  And spoiler alert; there are a lot more than 10 questions to ask before buying a motorhome over this side of the world.  But right now, if you are looking to buy a campervan in Europe as an Australian or New Zealander, then I am sure you have a lot of questions. 

We did too.  In fact, we had so many questions I literally scoured the internet trying to find some other New Zealander or Australian buying a motorhome in Europe who could help me.  

And to no avail!

I found snippets here and there with tips to download an app to find campsites; and I found the odd post suggesting we create and register a company to buy a campervan in Europe in Germany…

But stop right there! That was before.  Now, we are a New Zealand family who has successfully bought not one but TWO motorhomes in Europe and we are here to share everything we have learnt.  

We’ve made all the mistakes for you; and you don’t need to push it aside for another year.  

This isn’t a blog about HOW to buy a campervan in Europe as a New Zealander or Australian. That is a whole different thing. You can buy a campervan in Europe through a BuyBack scheme; you can fly over and stay somewhere and buy one yourself or you can get a company to buy and register one for you. Each of these have their pros and cons.

We’ve done all of the above and we’ve had our share of highs and lows (to put it politely). If you want to know more about our experience (good and bad) you can leave us a comment or send us a message. We would be happy to share that (privately!).

But for now this blog is about the next step. It’s about choosing a vehicle and everything you need to ask before buying a campervan in Europe.

Buying a campervan in Europe? It is going to be ok…

Buying a campervan in Europe as a New Zealander or Australian is going to be ok.

Here is everything we wanted to ask about the type of campervan and anything else we needed to know before we went down that rabbit hole…. 

It’s two years on now and we can laugh about it.  But there was lots we wanted to ask before starting out.  So here you go – and if you have any more questions then leave us a comment below and we will get right back to you.  

And, before we start, over here everyone refers to this kind of little home on wheels as a ‘motorhome’.  In New Zealand we would call it a campervan.  And in Australia you might call it a camper.  But whichever antipodean country you come from, here are the questions we wanted to know. 

1. What on earth is a ‘Burstner’? What brand is the motorhome? 

We live in a Burstner.  Motorhomes is Europe are not the same as in New Zealand or Australia.  There are two things you need to know about the brands of campervan in Europe. 

• Make: This is the brand of vehicle. 
• Model: This refers to the specific vehicle model. 
• Body: This is the body on top of the make and model.  (Literally, your house on the back). 

Our current motorhome and home here in Europe(!) is a Burstner.

• Make: Fiat
• Model: Ducato
• Body: Burstner A646 

There are all kinds of makes and models and motorhome bodies to search for and learn far more than you ever wanted to know about motorhomes in Europe.  This can be a rabbit hole to go down and especially so as an unsuspecting New Zealander or Australian buying a campervan in Europe. It is a whole new world.  

The most common brands – and well-built motorhomes in Europe – are Hymer, Burstner and Knaus.  

If you are buying a campervan in the Netherlands, the most popular make is Fiat or Mercedes. In France, it’s Peugeot or Renault.   And in Germany it’s Mercedes or Volkswagen. 

What make, model and body is the motorhome?

2. How long, high and wide is the vehicle? How will it be for maneuverability, parking and taking ferries?

Size – and especially length – of your motorhome is important to think about. 

Our first motorhome was 7.5m long and over 3 metres high.  That’s a big vehicle!  In some countries you would need a truck license to drive that. But in Europe you can drive that size of motorhome on a normal license.  

My husbands a truck driver and is comfortable driving any kind of vehicle, and anywhere.  So, driving a large motorhome in Europe is fine.  But parking a large vehicle in the often-narrow lanes and tight carparks in Europe is a different story. 

We were originally looking for a motorhome under 6 metres as we had been forewarned not only about parking and small driving lanes in Europe’s old cities, but also about the change in cost for larger vehicles over 6m and taking ferries. 

We did not heed this warning.  

Now, our latest van is under 6m.  And for example, we paid 150 EUR less for a 6m vehicle on the ferry from Denmark to Norway.  This is a big saving.  (That’s another tank of diesel!). 

How long is the motorhome? And what is the height? (Including the sunroof). 

 3. How old is the van you are looking at? 

Now, obviously age shouldn’t normally be a factor in any relationship.  But if you are serious about buying a campervan in Europe then you do need to consider the age of the vehicle.  

In some of the larger cities in Europe there are restrictions on emissions for driving in the city with an older vehicle.  

For example, in Germany vehicles display a sticker on the windscreen that is Green, Yellow or Red.  A Green sticker indicates your vehicle has low emissions and you are not restricted on where you can drive in the city.   

If your vehicle has a yellow sticker you can drive in some areas of the city but not in the old quarter and restricted zones.  

But don’t let this put you off buying an older vehicle as you will probably find driving in the heart of the big cities is not the best way to see Europe anyway.  This didn’t affect us at all (and yes, we did accidentally drive into the low emissions zone of Augsburg, Germany).  And actually, our first van was a 2000 Fiat Ducato and when we learnt about emissions zone (while we were in Germany) we went to a vehicle testing station to buy a sticker to display.  It turned out they didn’t even produce the red stickers anymore which our van fell into the category of.  

• Tip: Don’t panic.  You don’t need to display the emissions sticker if you aren’t planning on driving into the heart of the old cities anyway.  (You won’t be missing out; if we hadn’t had been told we wouldn’t have known!).  It hasn’t affected us. 

What year is the vehicle we are looking at? 

4. What battery set-up does the vehicle have? 

Motorhomes in Europe are set up pretty much the same way, regardless of size or age of the vehicle. 

A motorhome will likely have an engine battery and one or two leisure batteries. 

• Engine battery: This runs the engine and starts the vehicle each time. 
• Leisure battery: This is the household battery and powers the lights, charging ports, water pump, toilet pump, and fridge.  

The good thing about this set up is that it means even if you run your leisure battery right out (not likely; but hypothetically) your van will still start.  The engine battery is completely independent (you won’t need a jump-start). 

Both motorhomes we’ve bought in Europe (1x Fiat Knaus Suntraveller and 1x Fiat Ducato Burstner) have had two leisure batteries each. 

When you are buying a campervan in Europe check what sort of battery set-up the vehicle has.  Does the campervan have a leisure battery? Does it have one or two leisure batteries?

5. Does it have solar panels? How long can we go off-grid for? 

When we were first planning buying a campervan in Europe, we had visions of being as self-sufficient as possible and being able to free-camp as much as we could.  The vehicle we were looking at didn’t have any solar panels, so we paid to install not one, but two brand new solar panels.  This is not cheap in Europe!  And we realise now this was a bit of an overkill.  

Yes we have laptops, phones, devices and a camera (we run our business and Group Trips from the van!).  But in hindsight we actually would have been fine with one solar panel.  

Fast forward to now in our new smaller van and we haven’t yet installed a solar panel at all.  Remembering though that we have two leisure batteries in this van that are brand new.  They hold their power really well.  And so far we haven’t ever run out of battery power and we’ve only ever plugged it in to mains power maybe a handful of times. 

Our campervan is only 6m long and there are four of us charging accessories and we can go off-grid – meaning without driving to charge the batteries, without a solar panel – for 4 days without having to worry about it. (Well, it could be longer, but we haven’t further tested that theory yet). 

Do check whether the van you are looking at already has a solar panel and what sort of system it has.  Do your homework.  Everyone has different needs and there is no point in having more than what you need. 

6. More about power in the motorhome. Does it have an inverter? 

Now, I willingly admit I had never heard of nor wanted to know about motorhome power or what an inverter was before buying a campervan in Europe.  But truth be told, an inverter is one of the things in our motorhome that we use just about every day. 

An inverter (for the non-electrically-minded-experts) is a type of converter and its job it to make the type of power from a battery (DC power) compatible with the power which runs most appliances (AC power). 

In a motorhome, an inverter is a power box and a switch that enables you to charge larger electronic devices (laptop, electric razor, camera charger) from the main leisure battery. 

You know how you can charge your phone in the car through a 12V cigarette lighter? Well, the inverter is important because otherwise the only charging point in your vehicle could be 12V. And this is not enough to charge a laptop.

But flicking the inverter switch means the power plug in your motorhome acts just like a power point at home. And when the inverter is switched on, you can charge your laptop as you would at home too. 

7. Gas in the motorhome. Do we just swap-a-bottle or how does LPG work for a motorhome in Europe? 

You can’t take a UK gas bottle to Europe and exchange it.  You can’t even take a Netherlands gas bottle to Spain and exchange it.  

This means that if you run out of gas in a different country than you started in, you will have to carry your empty bottle and buy a new gas bottle in whichever country you are. (As well as a suitable regulator). This is not difficult, but it is a hassle (read: a pain in the backside!) and obviously it adds to storage considerations and more importantly to the budget.

Disposing of your empty bottle is illegal in Europe (don’t get any genius ideas about dumping and doing a runner). And so there is no way of getting around it unless you are prepared. 

But you can be prepared! This is an important thing to ask before buying a motorhome in Europe.  What kind of gas system does the motorhome have? Does it have a refillable gas system? 

In New Zealand or Australia, you might use up your gas bottle and head to a service station and swap your gas bottle.  But in Europe, because each country has a different gas system with different bottles and regulators, each country also has a different set-up for buying gas.  

What does this mean for us if our motorhome doesn’t have this gas system already? 

If you aren’t travelling for long, you might get away with, say buying a gas bottle in Netherlands to start with and just buying one more in Italy when you need it, storing the empty gas bottle until you get back to return your vehicle.  

But if you are buying a motorhome in Europe and traveling for several months, ideally you need a vehicle that has a refillable gas bottle system.  

In layman’s terms, what this means in practice is that you can drive up to a service station that sells LPG (for vehicles that run the engine on LPG) and pull up to the pump and refill your motorhome gas in Europe without even sighting the bottle.  You don’t need to take the bottle out.  You don’t need to swap the gas bottle.  Rather, you just need to connect the LPG pump nozzle to your motorhome gas system and refill your onboard gas bottle.  (A genius invention).   

Even if the motorhome you are looking to purchase doesn’t have this system already, it is not too much hassle (or cost) to ask that this be installed before you arrive and pick up your new vehicle. Expect it to be around 150 – 200 EUR to have this fitted. 

8.  What about accessories? Is the van completely empty? 

Accessories for your motorhome are often an afterthought. They aren’t prioritized like questions about the mechanical or technical options.  But they are something that can definitely alter your enjoyment and leisure plans; and certainly, they can drastically alter the budget. 

Does your motorhome have any accessories?  Are there outdoor chairs and tables? Does it have a freshwater hose?  What about a bike rack?

Remember, you probably won’t want to take these things home but to get set up it could cost you a lot of money.  Make sure to ask ahead.  And you can start looking on Marktplaats or Facebook Marketplace if there is something specific you need. 

It’s a little bit further down the track, but if you are buying a campervan in Europe through a buy-back scheme you will need to check what sort of inventory there is to get you set up.  Are there sheets and towels? Do you need pots and pans?  Wine glasses?  A tea-towel? 

Obviously if you are buying a campervan in Europe as an Australian or New Zealander, you aren’t likely to lug the kitchen sink and camping chairs from home.  But if you are flying directly and have the room you could consider packing a couple of towels and the double-fitted bedsheet that you don’t mind leaving behind at the end. 

9. Let’s talk about toilets. What kind of toilet does the motorhome have? 

Alright.  Talking about toilets.  (No one really likes to talk about toilets).  

Often vans and campervans in New Zealand have a ‘porta-potty’.  Albeit not a flattering name, but for this, you use it and then carry the whole potty out to empty it.  

In Europe, motorhomes and campervans are set up with a cassette-style toilet.  

This can be accessed in two ways – from inside the vehicle (the same as a porta-potty at home) or, from a specially designed door on the outside of the motorhome body.  This is a cassette toilet and is the most common in Europe. 

From inside your vehicle bathroom, the toilet looks normal.  You lift the lid, sit on the seat and do your business into the cassette; a removal box-shape container.  (Yup; it’s basically like a portaloo!).

From the outside of your motorhome, you can open the lockable door to your cassette and pull out the base of the toilet.  This is the cassette.  And you carry the cassette to a motorhome service area (they are everywhere in Europe) and empty and rinse it out and then replace it back into your motorhome. 

Before you buy a motorhome in Europe it would be advisable to double check it has a cassette toilet.  (Although it’s uncommon that it wouldn’t).  

It would be good to know ahead of time if it is a porta-potty or removable cassette toilet. 

10. How do we park? Or more seriously – does it have levelling blocks? 

Parking your motorhome in Europe isn’t always straightforward.  You may have navigated the narrow lanes and picked up groceries in the small supermarket carpark.  But the next challenge is finding a park for the night and you need somewhere safe and somewhere level to sleep. 

It’s worth asking what sort of vehicle accessories your motorhome comes with.  You will need levelling blocks (and a hose for water but that’s a different story) and if they aren’t included, they start at around 200 EUR (for a set of very small ones).  These are triangular shaped wedges to go underneath your tires.  You only need two, but if the parking space you’ve found isn’t completely level you will need to drive up onto the levelling blocks to balance out your van.  This makes it more comfortable for sleeping but also simple things like using the stove top and draining the sink and shower.  (The water can’t run out if you are on the wrong angle). 

And, more importantly when you do get into your van to drive off – don’t forget you are parked on levelling blocks and drive right off them! 

11. Insurance 

If you are buying a motorhome in Europe through a Buy Back scheme you will have the option for insurance.  Make sure to enquire about options for insurance.  How much is full insurance? What does third party insurance cover me for?  

And it is also important to check what countries in Europe and beyond the insurance will cover.  (Hint: Does your insurance also cover you in Morocco?  We are big fans of Morocco and can highly recommend Morocco by motorhome). 

12. When is the next APK due?

In New Zealand we call it a WOF (a Warrant of Fitness).  In the UK it’s called an MOT.  But in the Netherlands, it’s referred to as APK.  

Whatever it’s called, you need one.  And if you are buying a motorhome in Europe as a New Zealander or Australian you need to know when the next one is due.  

In the Netherlands an APK is a check that’s done every 12 months.  In Germany, it’s done every two years. 

There are pros and cons to either timeframe.  But regardless, do enquire before deciding on a vehicle.  And check before you buy.   When is the APK next due? 

13. Do I need a rental agreement even if I’m buying a motorhome in Europe? 

This might seem unlikely if you are buying a campervan in Europe.  But remember, with Schengen being such a big issue for travelers wanting to buy a motorhome in Europe and travel for six months or a year it is easy to be caught out.  

Within Schengen Europe you are unlikely to ever be asked for the vehicle ownership papers and your driving license.  But, crossing borders outside of Schengen (to Morocco, Mauritania or Eastern Europe) you might be questioned about ownership.  

A rental agreement between the official registered owner of your motorhome and you is necessary to prevent any lengthy border crossings or added stress at these crossing points. 

We took our van from Netherlands to Morocco and then onwards to Mauritania.  Entering Morocco, we were never asked for ownership papers for the vehicle.  But then on re-entering Morocco at the Mauritania border they suddenly questioned who owned the vehicle.  They even tried to stop us entering Morocco driving a vehicle we didn’t own.  (This would normally be understandable but the fact we had been in Morocco for the last 80 days in the same vehicle was even more frustrating!). 

To save this kind of stress again, we have now got a rental agreement. 

Even if I buy a motorhome in Europe, do I need any proof of rental or ‘ownership’ as a New Zealander or Australian? 

14. Compare prices, sizes, shapes and everything else. 

Lastly, before you commit to buying a campervan in Europe through a company, I recommend doing a bit of (light) research yourself.  

You don’t need to upgrade to an engineering degree or anything like that.  But even if you are buying a campervan in Europe from a BuyBack scheme, it’s worth knowing what’s out there. 

The Netherlands has a large website that is the equivalent of Trade Me or GumTree: 

• Marktplaats

That is a link to the website but if you download the app you can navigate in English.

And there is a Facebook page I can’t pronounce but it has hundreds of motorhomes listed every week. 

• Gebruikte Campers en Karavans te Koop

You might not be browsing to buy, but at least you can get a feel of what motorhomes look like and what sort of price to you can expect to pay.  It’s good to do some research but don’t stress if it feels overwhelming.

Buying a motorhome in Europe at the end of the day…

Buying a campervan – and especially on the other side of the world – is a big deal.  And it’s a very personal decision.  It’s a lot of money. It can feel scary, and it’s a risk.  

But remember it’s YOUR decision.  It’s your money and it’s your choice. 

Our best advice is to have a real think about what YOU want in a motorhome.  Be aware of realities as far as budget, size, age and whether it’s got a bike rack or not.  But it’s your choice and we wish you the confidence to not be talked into something that you didn’t originally want.  

Buying a campervan in Europe is going to be ok!  It’s going to be an adventure of epic scale and like all adventures there is much to learn.  

Leave us a comment with any questions or send us a message privately if you want to know more! 

Useful links for your travels in Europe and beyond

These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel. 

• Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally. 
• Hostelworld – The largest inventory of hostel accommodation in the world. 
• Skyscanner – This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.  
• GetYourGuide – Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
• SafetyWing – Safety Wing offers convenient and affordable insurance plans that can be tailored to digital nomads and long-term travellers. They have cheap weekly and monthly plans that are possible to book even when you have already left home.
• World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home). 

Read more about traveling in and buying a campervan in Europe

• Finding free campsites in France: And being woken by the police!
• Taking your motorhome on the ferry from Spain to Morocco.
• Imsouane: Camping, parking and the famous Imsouane surf wave.
• Getting a SIM card in Morocco: And how to get unlimited data!
• Morocco motorhome services: What are motorhome services really like?
• Getting LPG in Morocco for your motorhome.
• Finding free campsites in Germany.