It Takes a Village to Find a Motorhome

We are well into our second week in France and though at first everything seemed a little daunting, we have started to adjust to our surroundings and the French lifestyle. Our little house has become our happy place and we are glad to return to it after a day out.  

The sunny entrance into our petite maison.

This is the view from the little terrace where we enjoy local wine and cheese.

The light and the view makes this a very relaxing place to be.

The extra bedroom has become an unpacking room for us.

Our kitchen.

From our master bedroom, the kitchen is to the right and unpacking room to the left.

Our sunny bedroom.

You might wonder why we chose such a sleepy little village for our home base as we search high and low for the perfect motorhome for our European travels. Saint Julien du Sault isn't the most convenient place to be, all things considered. 

We came here because we are working with a company called Euro Camping Cars which is located a few kilometers from Saint Julien in the town of Veron. Phill and his wife Hannah own this motorhome rental company and they also assist expats who are looking to buy and tour around, much like we plan to do. They are originally from the U.K., so English is their first language. 

As a foreigner, it's not easy to buy a motorhome in France. Even if you can meet all the requirements, there is still plenty of paperwork to contend with. Having someone on your team that understands the process and speaks the language is priceless. We have been in touch with Phill and Hannah for months now and they have guided us in our efforts. That is the one and only reason we are in Saint Julien. That it turned out to be an awesome place we are really enjoying was just a stroke of luck. 

The road to the patisserrie in Saint Julien du Sault.

Hey, that’s our street. You’d be hard pressed to get a motorhome down there!

At the Sunday market in Saint Julien.

So much cheese, so little time!

Love this pano fail. Steven appears to have lost about a 100lbs while photographing the local church.

We've spent the past year looking at motorhomes online, trying to get of sense of which manufacturers have a good reputation and offer a quality product. We tried to understand the floorplans and how the living arrangement could work for us. As you might imagine, sitting in Scoopy and looking at the teeny tiny motorhomes was a jolt to the system. We knew we'd be downsizing, but it was difficult to imagine just how much. For some reason I cannot begin to fathom, European manufacturers consider the "living area" to be some bench seating and a gigantic table. I can't think of anything more uncomfortable! Who wants to sit ramrod straight all the time? And don't even start me on the kitchen area. Yes, I know I absolutely sound like a spoiled American, because I am one. I can adjust, but we have to start with something I can work with, right??

Once we got to know the manufacturers, we settled on the Hymer brand. More specifically, a Hymer B 544. (More on why that particular model later.) We found one in the U.K. and were first in line to buy it. We really liked it and would have bought it if not for Brexit. We kept waiting for the British government to sort things out, but they didn't, and the owners rightly needed us to commit or move on. We felt we couldn't take the risk of potentially having issues with insurance or registration, or with our travels in general in what would soon become a non-EU motorhome. So we let it go and went back to square one. 

That's when we made the decision to work with Phill and Hannah and refocused our search in France. The best place to search is the French version of Ebay, called Leboncoin. We also looked on websites of the Hymer dealers in France. Language was an obvious barrier and also the fact that the sales people did not seem to ever check their emails. 

We nonetheless kept up our online search and over time we were able to narrow down our criteria and get a sense of availability. We had decided not to purchase sight unseen, but to wait until we were in France and would be able to see the motorhome in person. We had no idea what would still be on the market when we got here. 

Turns out, in our budget range, there were precisely four Hymer B 544 motorhomes for sale in all of France. One of them happened to be at a dealer just 11 miles from Saint Julien! We couldn't believe our luck! The second day after we arrived we hopped into our car and drove over to take a look. We walked onto the lot at noon and out came the salesperson. We assumed he was there to assist us, however, we soon learned he came out to tell us the dealership was closing for lunch and could we come back at 2 p.m., s'il vous plait? 

We were dumbstruck (and jetlagged), but we pleaded for two minutes just to peak inside. And guess what? We LOVED it! But as much as we wanted to come back and see it again after 2:00, we just didn't have the energy. We decided to go back after we had met with Phill and Hannah on Monday and then spent the rest of the weekend toasting our good fortune to have found our motorhome so easily. Can you believe our luck? Can it really be this easy?

As it turns out, no. No it can't. 

When we met with Phill on Monday and told him of our find, he stopped us and told us point blank, he cannot work with that dealership. Turns out that years ago there was a perceived slight on the part of the dealer and they have not spoken since. Again, we were dumbstruck. (I am seeing a pattern developing here . . . .) 

Phill suggested we read the online reviews of the dealership and they were quite informative. They had a 3.5 rating, which for a motorhome dealer is pretty good. However, some of the favorable reviews were written by the actual owner, his sales manager and local guides!! Reviews from actual buyers were mostly terrible. It was in these reviews that I learned a new French word that is now my favorite and one that I use as often as possible: CATASTROPHIQUE!!

And then there were three.