Autocaravana Perfilada de Annie

Un très bon accueil du propriétaire qui prend le temps nécessaire pour bien expliquer le fonctionnement du camping car. D'autant plus important que c'était une première pour nous.

Nous avons vraiment apprécié la petite attention de mettre notre voiture à l'ombre pour notre retour !!

The Van was essentially good. There were problems with the electrics as we could not charge our phone batteries without running the engine. This was a problem for us as we spent 5 days in a location without plug in 220V mains supply. There was a solar panel for charging an auxillary battery but this seemed to be inconsitent in charging.

We also did not have hot water at times as a "fuse type" switch at the base of the main bed had been inadvertenly knocked and damaged which caused a shut down of the water heater. Unfortuantley we did not have a spare switch and were unaware of the existance and vulnerability of the switch to possible contact with the foot of somone in bed or perhaps a suitcase left on the foot of the bed. 

Having a limited understanding of French proved to be a considerable drawback asalthough  there a information file provided with the van which probably contained a very good level of information, in French, but the English section was of limited value and appeared to have less detail than the French version. In this regard although Claude spent a considerable time explaining the workings of the van before our hire, but our mutual limited vocabulary proved to be a hindrance when we encountered problems, despite his valiant efforts at explanations to deal with the problems over the phone.

The other problem that we had was a completly blocked sink in the kitchen area. This was easily dealt with by use of a sink plunger which we purchased for €1.50 and some drain clean solution. When unblocked there was a considerable odour from the waste-pipe for days indicating that it had probabaly been blocked for a considerable time and likely would have been apparent for months previousl. Overall this was not a great problem and was easily resolved. 

In summary if you are going to be spending a few nights in a wilderness area with no access to 220V you may have to make other arrangements for charging electrical devices such as phones and laptops. For non-fluent French speakers this hire van, as it is, may prove to have limitations in terms of understanding the correct workings of the systems.

A small generator would be a welcome addition and perhaps at least some jump leads as we ended up with a flat van battery!

The van we had hired was I believe 20years old which I was aware of when I arranged it and I assumed it was in reasonable condition which it was, but a 20-year-old van has ageing components and weaknesses because of age, including what I would assume is a 20-year-old fridge and insect plastic mesh screen on the van entry door. I was aware that one day when were in the van and the door was part open that a sudden gust of wind blew the door open and there was an audible crash as the door crashed against the bodywork. The owner reported some days after the return of the van that the screen had broken at some point. I was not aware of this at any time and it was not mentioned at the return inspection. We were also informed that items such as chairs and folding table etc had not been replaced in their “correct positions” in the storage area. To be honest if never occurred to us that there was a particular position for each item in the storage. Again, there was no mention of this on our return although the owner did remove all the items and replaced them in the storage area. I assumed he was checking that there were no missing or damaged items.

I did mention in my review that the English instructions provided with the van were very brief compared to the French version and this combined with our limited French and the owners considerably limited English made communication difficult and that English speakers may find like we did that had led to a lot of misunderstandings between us.

We were aware of a damaged shelf on the inner door of the fridge. On our first day we placed a couple of drinks cans in the shelf as it was designed to take and a part of the mounting for the shelf cracked off.  This would not be expected in a non-aged fridge and the shelves in fact showed sins that this had previously happened with evidence of repairs to the shelves with a glue of some sort. We avoided using the shelves thereafter and had forgotten about it when returning the van and once again it was not mentioned by the owner at his return inspection.

I have been asked to pay him €133 for repairs to the insect screen door and fridge shelf. I do not accept that either was fit for purpose owing to age related deterioration. I am prepared to pay him what he has asked for to close the matter but would feel future renters should be warned of the likelihood of similar problems in an ageing van for which the rental fee was similar to that of much younger vans of similar proportions. For this reason, I would like to make an addendum to my review.

I am also aggrieved that there were major problems with phone charging for what the mechanic suggested was due to a battery in poor condition, to which the owner countered that the battery was only 2 years old. The mechanics opinion was that it was in poor condition and unsuitable for purpose. This problem cost us the loss of over half a day of our rental.

Overall, the van was not in good condition. We had to use the cork from a wine bottle to keep the shower-head in position as it was broken. The shower curtain was in very poor condition with mould completely covering the bottom 12 inches of it (photograph available if required), a matter that is easy to remedy was not in keeping with the other matters._______________***Réponse du propriétaire***: 

 Depuis 2016, au retour, nous retrouvons les affaires sensiblement aux mêmes endroits qu'au départ; ça n'a pas été le cas cette fois.

                             Devant ramener les locataires à l'aéroport, pris par le temps je n'ai pu tout voir. Notamment : la moustiquaire de la porte - le coup de vent et  "l'étagère du frigo s'est fissurée"  - je les apprends dans l'avis ?

                             Nous avons les factures d'entretien (batteries 2022 et 2019). Pour recharger les batteries, il faut rouler un peu.

                             Si besoin, je fais tout pour aider les locataires .

                             La différence de langue ne facilite pas la communication.

La location s'est tès bien passée malgré un petit bris de glace sur la route.

Proprétaires tout à fait sympathiques et facilitants.

Véhicule conforme à l'annonce et à nos attentes.

Expérience pour nous réussies, à essayer.

El vehículo está muy bien cuidado. Hemos hecho más de 1000km y nos ha resultado muy cómodo.

Las explicaciones del propietario han sido muy detalladas y no tiene inconveniente en repetir si no ha quedado claro. El manual de instrucciones también va muy bien por si no recuerdas algo.