The California came with 7 days free insurance courtesy of VW, so this week I've been on the look out for permanent Insurance. On the plus side with California's they are on all the car insurance web sites like Go Compare and Compare the Meerkat. But I heard a few people suggesting Comfort (http://www.comfort-insurance.co.uk/), so I gave them a look. They stuffed the rest of the opposition for me. Worth a look if you're insuring. They are specialist motorhomes insurance which helps. Plus all their cover seems to include European cover, and they had a default excess of just £200 which was one of the lowest I'd found as well.
The only downside I can think of is that they didn't care about my no claims record - and if they're not interested in that I can only assume this also means I won't be building any no claims record with them. I guess on the plus side it means there is no monetary downside to claiming if I have a problem too!
Their standard insurance includes class 1 business driving which I guess might be useful, and also a replacement brand new vehicle if mine is stolen or written off whilst 2 years old or less. Not bad!
The California Beach
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Sunday, 23 October 2011
October In Sussex
This weekend we took delivery of our new California. A 2011 Facelift model with the 140 bhp manual engine, in silver. And how pleased are we? The Cali is everything we hoped it would be - comfortable, warm, spacious, cosy, practical and most of all fun! We took it down to the Ship and Anchor Marina campsite and pub in Ford, near Arundel and spent Saturday night there.
The Ship and Anchor is a nice site - spacious (at this time of year) and quiet. The facilities are old but clean and they have pretty much everything you need there - including a handy pub on site. We only stayed one night and it was fine. The river Arun runs alongside, although there are no views over it from the site, we were able to get to the river side path through a side access off the site - nice and easy. From there we took the hour stroll into Arundel.
Unfortunately we didn't spend any time in Arundel as we were late for a lunch meet with some other Cali owners back at the campsite. We'd rate the site as 7/10 and would probably go back.
Sunday was a fun lunchtime. We met up with John, Britt, Martin and Lorraine and their families, from the California forums. It was a little unusual meeting complete strangers who you'd never have known or spoken to if not for our mutual ownership of a car, but it was actually a load of fun. We stopped in the Ship and Anchor, after a bit of faffing to find a suitable venue, and enjoyed a really tasty Sunday lunch and a few hours chatting about holidays, camping, shows, trips and of course the California. They're really nice people and it was great to meet them all. Hopefully we'll see them again in the future.
From there we whizzed home and have just unpacked as the Cali goes back into the Stealers on Wednesday for a full valet and to have an application of Shield Guard thrown over it - which apparently protects the inside and out from dirt and grease. It was an extra the garage agreed to throw in after some haggling and we hope it will be as good as it sounds.
The next time we'll be camping in the van we'll be on our way to Portugal!
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| The new Cali camped up in Sussex |
Unfortunately we didn't spend any time in Arundel as we were late for a lunch meet with some other Cali owners back at the campsite. We'd rate the site as 7/10 and would probably go back.
Sunday was a fun lunchtime. We met up with John, Britt, Martin and Lorraine and their families, from the California forums. It was a little unusual meeting complete strangers who you'd never have known or spoken to if not for our mutual ownership of a car, but it was actually a load of fun. We stopped in the Ship and Anchor, after a bit of faffing to find a suitable venue, and enjoyed a really tasty Sunday lunch and a few hours chatting about holidays, camping, shows, trips and of course the California. They're really nice people and it was great to meet them all. Hopefully we'll see them again in the future.
From there we whizzed home and have just unpacked as the Cali goes back into the Stealers on Wednesday for a full valet and to have an application of Shield Guard thrown over it - which apparently protects the inside and out from dirt and grease. It was an extra the garage agreed to throw in after some haggling and we hope it will be as good as it sounds.
The next time we'll be camping in the van we'll be on our way to Portugal!
Saturday, 8 October 2011
The California
Due to the wonders of the internet we've been able to get some pictures of the new Cali we're buying. It's basically a standard model facelift, 140 bhp manual in silver.
Interior is standard with a grey cloth interior - nice and dirt resistant - which is very good for us and our lifestyle!
The factory options are an awning, cruise control and front and rear parking sensors. It's also got privacy glass and the garage are fitting a rear 4-bike rack on the tail gate. In addition they are going to Autoglym the van inside and out - a treatment which will really help protect it.
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| Front |
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| Interior |
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| Rear |
Sold - and Bought
The end of an era. And the start of a new one.
I've sold the van back to Bilbo's - the very company I bought it off some two and a bit years ago. It's served us well and been great fun to modify, drive and camp in. But now it's going home to get a proper refit by the master conversion experts. I'll have to pop up there and have a look at it when it's done.
Although the van has been sold and I won't be writing any more entries about converting it from Kombi to part camper, we're still going to own a T5 - in fact we've just put a deposit down on a California - our dream campervan. I'll be blogging of our weekends and holidays in the new van as much as we used to about our old trips in the old van - simply as something we can look back on to remember good times.
Out with the old and in with the new. I'll post details here of the new California when we take possession of it in a couple of weeks time.
I've sold the van back to Bilbo's - the very company I bought it off some two and a bit years ago. It's served us well and been great fun to modify, drive and camp in. But now it's going home to get a proper refit by the master conversion experts. I'll have to pop up there and have a look at it when it's done.
Although the van has been sold and I won't be writing any more entries about converting it from Kombi to part camper, we're still going to own a T5 - in fact we've just put a deposit down on a California - our dream campervan. I'll be blogging of our weekends and holidays in the new van as much as we used to about our old trips in the old van - simply as something we can look back on to remember good times.
Out with the old and in with the new. I'll post details here of the new California when we take possession of it in a couple of weeks time.
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