Online Auction Site Bargains
I used to keep looking at eBay to see if there were any bargain motorhomes, as I always fancied having one, but didn't have the money to splash out on a new or nearly new one. I soon learned the ropes- if you saw a really smart looking modern van, at a lower than usual price, the likelihood was that it was a left hand drive model- great if you are going to exclusively tour in Europe, but a pain if you want to stick to UK. I also came across quirky bargains- great if you are a person who can refit the interior- for instance a former ambulance, and even a former police divers incident vehicle(!) - which had loads of external lockers! Then one day I came across a really low price modern motorhome, right hand drive, fully serviced, not excessive mileage- only 50 miles from home. Of course, there was a snag- it had been fitted out as a mobile dentist's surgery, to tour villages and serve people who could not get out to a normal dental surgery (honest, you couldn't make this up!)- and it came complete with the dentist's chair still fitted!
On the grounds that I liked my caravan, and did not have space at home to park car, caravan and a motorhome, I just had a chuckle and did not bid for the item.
After a meeting at work that I was minuting, a few weeks later, I was chatting to one of the people in attendance, who I knew was looking for a motorhome to go to festivals, and on holiday, and, laughing, told her about the mobile dentist's surgery that I had seen on eBay. To my amazement, she told me that she and her partner had seen the motorhome, and had bid for it, and bought it. We all had a good laugh about the dentist's chair still fitted, but the new owners took it to a local festival and said it was ok.
However, the biggest snag was to come- the living area had been lined with a thin (but still heavy) layer of lead to protect the dental staff when doing x-rays, which made the diesel engine struggle to cope with the weight- no great problem in East Anglia, but when they went on a holiday to Scotland, it could hardly get up the hills!
I changed jobs a few months later, and lost touch, but believe that eventually the dentist's chair and lead lining were removed, and the interior improved, so the new owners ended up with a nice motorhome at a bargain price.