tl;dr - Son crashed my 4motion Exec, insurance offering £2.50, bought a (very) high mileage 'Velle Exec in Reflex Silver
I posted a few weeks ago in the "what have you done to your van today" thread after my son managed tocrash my 4Motion Caravelle Exec just 6 weeks or so into my ownership, with an estimated 18.5k worth of repairs it was deemed a total loss - fortunately, no injuries to him other than his pride.
Admiral were quick to let me know it was a total loss and it was now down to arguing about the numbers; sadly, their idea of a reasonable settlement and mine appear to be some distance apart and I'm now waiting on an independant assessment to be completed (it appears that DVLA doesn't recognise my van as a 4motion so I'm guessing it's not being valued as such). This left me with a bit of a dilemma as there was still a significant chunk still on finance and, although the finance company were happy to enter a new deal, they wanted the previous deal fully settled first.
I originally purchased the Caravelle from Eurobrand Motors (who I cannot recommend highly enough if you are in the market for a Caravelle), and I had a minor issue with the EGR valve a couple of weeks into my ownership that necessitated a replacement EGR. Lee @Eurbrand quickly arranged to come and pick it up and drop off a loan van - one of his ex-fleet Caravelle Execs. It was a 2018 DSG, with a full leather interior, 3 zone climate, camera, carplay... and 290,000 miles on the clock., Yup, 290k. I drove approximately 1200 miles in the van over 4 days and it didn't miss a beat; no knocks, rattles or squeaks and the interior was immaculate - you would never know from looking that mileage was as high as it was. In fact, the only issue was that it still had the fleet speed limiter installed so wouldn't go above 72mph
I have a whole bunch of trips booked for the next couple of months, including a pre-booked trip this weekend, 4 days in Dorset with our Grandkids and 4 weeks in the South of France in late July, so getting a new van was a priority. When I bought the 4motion I had traded in a (slightly) ropey T5, so I gave Lee @ Eurobrand a call to see if a deal could be struck to buy it back. Sadly, it had sold the previous day, but he had around 30 or so other vans in stock if I wanted to come down and have a look around.
That afternoon, I dragged my long-suffering wife back down to Rushmore Green to spend a leisurely afternoon picking a new van. Lee took us down to his storage yard where there were approximately 30 vans all lined up; all 2017 Caravelle Execs in reflex silver, all manual, all with a full, immaculate 7 seat leather interior, all with a detailed service history documenting every little thing that's ever been done - from bulbs to cambelts - and all with mileages ranging from 240 - 290,000!
We settled on what we considered to be the best, with a modest 257,000 miles on the clock and an extremely detailed service history - including cambelt and clutch/dmf in the last two years (25,000 miles). The seats looked barely sat on with only some very minor wear on the gear knob and steering wheel belying the mileage. We took it for a test drive and absolutely could not fault it - arguably it drove better than my 2016 4motion with only 70k. Lee has such faith in these vans (they are all ex Saga holidays so have spent their lives up and down the motorway ferrying old biddies to the cruise terminals) that he sells them with a 2-year engine and gearbox warranty, so with that in mind, it felt like a no-brainer, and a deal was struck.
The van at £15k plus a bit more to have running boards, carplay stereo upgrade and reversing camera along with 18" cascavelle wheels fitted was picked up at 12:30 pm on Friday, with a fresh no-advisory MOT. By 4:30 pm the 2 rear captains seats had been removed, a SteeFree bed board and slide-out tray fitted, forty winks mattress added, basic electrics routed, Hue lighting fitted, fridge and cooker in, roof rack and awning mounted on the roof, bedding, clothing and food for 2 nights all tucked away and off we set for the 90 mile journey down to the South Coast.
I'm delighted, the van was an absolute joy to drive with absolutely nothing to indicate it had driven over a quarter of a million miles. We had two fabulous days down in West Sussex and returned to Hertfordshire this evening, the long way, via Milton Keynes, to visit our daughter, and it hasn't missed a beat in 300 miles. It's got a busy week this week with a trip up to North Wales on Tuesday, home again Wednesday, then Derby on Thursday and Sheffield on Friday - I can't wait!
I posted a few weeks ago in the "what have you done to your van today" thread after my son managed tocrash my 4Motion Caravelle Exec just 6 weeks or so into my ownership, with an estimated 18.5k worth of repairs it was deemed a total loss - fortunately, no injuries to him other than his pride.
Admiral were quick to let me know it was a total loss and it was now down to arguing about the numbers; sadly, their idea of a reasonable settlement and mine appear to be some distance apart and I'm now waiting on an independant assessment to be completed (it appears that DVLA doesn't recognise my van as a 4motion so I'm guessing it's not being valued as such). This left me with a bit of a dilemma as there was still a significant chunk still on finance and, although the finance company were happy to enter a new deal, they wanted the previous deal fully settled first.
I originally purchased the Caravelle from Eurobrand Motors (who I cannot recommend highly enough if you are in the market for a Caravelle), and I had a minor issue with the EGR valve a couple of weeks into my ownership that necessitated a replacement EGR. Lee @Eurbrand quickly arranged to come and pick it up and drop off a loan van - one of his ex-fleet Caravelle Execs. It was a 2018 DSG, with a full leather interior, 3 zone climate, camera, carplay... and 290,000 miles on the clock., Yup, 290k. I drove approximately 1200 miles in the van over 4 days and it didn't miss a beat; no knocks, rattles or squeaks and the interior was immaculate - you would never know from looking that mileage was as high as it was. In fact, the only issue was that it still had the fleet speed limiter installed so wouldn't go above 72mph
I have a whole bunch of trips booked for the next couple of months, including a pre-booked trip this weekend, 4 days in Dorset with our Grandkids and 4 weeks in the South of France in late July, so getting a new van was a priority. When I bought the 4motion I had traded in a (slightly) ropey T5, so I gave Lee @ Eurobrand a call to see if a deal could be struck to buy it back. Sadly, it had sold the previous day, but he had around 30 or so other vans in stock if I wanted to come down and have a look around.
That afternoon, I dragged my long-suffering wife back down to Rushmore Green to spend a leisurely afternoon picking a new van. Lee took us down to his storage yard where there were approximately 30 vans all lined up; all 2017 Caravelle Execs in reflex silver, all manual, all with a full, immaculate 7 seat leather interior, all with a detailed service history documenting every little thing that's ever been done - from bulbs to cambelts - and all with mileages ranging from 240 - 290,000!
We settled on what we considered to be the best, with a modest 257,000 miles on the clock and an extremely detailed service history - including cambelt and clutch/dmf in the last two years (25,000 miles). The seats looked barely sat on with only some very minor wear on the gear knob and steering wheel belying the mileage. We took it for a test drive and absolutely could not fault it - arguably it drove better than my 2016 4motion with only 70k. Lee has such faith in these vans (they are all ex Saga holidays so have spent their lives up and down the motorway ferrying old biddies to the cruise terminals) that he sells them with a 2-year engine and gearbox warranty, so with that in mind, it felt like a no-brainer, and a deal was struck.
The van at £15k plus a bit more to have running boards, carplay stereo upgrade and reversing camera along with 18" cascavelle wheels fitted was picked up at 12:30 pm on Friday, with a fresh no-advisory MOT. By 4:30 pm the 2 rear captains seats had been removed, a SteeFree bed board and slide-out tray fitted, forty winks mattress added, basic electrics routed, Hue lighting fitted, fridge and cooker in, roof rack and awning mounted on the roof, bedding, clothing and food for 2 nights all tucked away and off we set for the 90 mile journey down to the South Coast.
I'm delighted, the van was an absolute joy to drive with absolutely nothing to indicate it had driven over a quarter of a million miles. We had two fabulous days down in West Sussex and returned to Hertfordshire this evening, the long way, via Milton Keynes, to visit our daughter, and it hasn't missed a beat in 300 miles. It's got a busy week this week with a trip up to North Wales on Tuesday, home again Wednesday, then Derby on Thursday and Sheffield on Friday - I can't wait!
