How can you tell?

[Barry]

Hi,
I'm about to start looking for a Romahome and have read that sometimes you can get an old body/cab on a new chassis, or vise versa ..........
How can you tell? are there ID numbers that match?

[Graham]

Peter Holden is an expert in spotting these rebodies but I think I am right in saying if it is on a van which is older than 2002 then it must be a rebody as Romahome started doing Berlingo vans after that. I hope that's right hopefully Peter will be along soon to confirm.

Of course if the vehicle is a demountable then you are ok switching to a newer van as the pods are meant to be demounted but the non demountable bodies aren't.

[Derek]

If you are talking about a C15 the builds were on chassis cabs with power steering from 1994 on. The re-bodied ones are normally put on a cut down van.
The thing that gives things away is the cooker. About 1994 'ish Romahome started using inset stainless steel Smev cookers. Previous to this they used a Flavel or similar that was a complete cooker and grill. An old body on a new van will not normally have the stainless steel inset Smev cooker

[Barry]

how do you know

Thanks for the information guys. I'll bear it in mind.
I'll post again when I become a proud owner......

[peterholden]

On holiday in France on our way back from austria at the moment and will give more info when back in UK after next weekend but briefly

C15s using a van showing remnants of van sides finished around 1989-1990

Stainless cooker set in worktop started about 1994?

Any C15 Romahome registered after 2002 is suspect.

Power steering fitted to all Romahomes from 1995?.

Later vans had electric power steering but these were post Romahome C15s.

When home will elaborate and show photos to explain.

I have contacted a number of those on Ebay who advertise those that are not genuine. The replies are strange to say the least.

They say for example

I dont know what I am tasking about, it is the genuine article

It has been approved by Romahome - very definitely not true

and from one dealer that is how they bought it and they did not know any different.

Just remember that most vans after 2002 are 600KG vans and will struggle to carry the weight of a Romahome and equipment

[peterholden]

Just had a quick look on ebay and there are 2 C15s that are not what they say they are. One is on a 2002 van - you can see the sides - but it is a pre 1990 camper shell. The other is a 200X at 12995 but look at the cooker and the cupboard door in the photos. They are pre 1995

[peterholden]

There are 3 reshells on Ebay at the moment . 2 on 2002 vans and one on a 2000 van. Non of the adverts mention that they are not original.

[Barry]

reshells

Yet again I thank you for the info.
I was watching 2 out of the 3!
When I finally buy I will be very, very careful!
I think maybe a trip to Ant is a good idea after all...................

[peterholden]

Another one on ebay:

OCT MOTORHOMES
CREW LANE
SOUTHWELL
NEWARK
Nottinghamshire
NG25 0TX

Are selling a 2000 X C15 HYtop at £12995, the vehicle may be 2000 but the camper shell is about 1990.
You can tell that it is before 1995 because the stove is not built into the worktop but the real giveaway is that you cannot see through to the cab between the seats because there is a shelf that goes all the way across from side to side.

Peter

[heidinicholl]

Is this just a C15 issue Peter? I just bought a Romahome Duo (2001) from a private dealer a couple of weeks ago and only discovered the forum after buying it.. Van seems pretty decent - I did an RAC check and have quite a lot of service history etc but I am a total novice and am now slightly scared that I might have done something 'funny'. Thanks! Heidi

[peterholden]

Only ever seen one Berlingo based camper put on a new vehicle and the seller was up front about it, it had been an accident damaged right-off - a front end smash. It had been VIC tested and had an engineers report.

The reason that it happens to C15s is that the van part rusts quite badly unless well looked after and they are quite old but newer C15 vans are available quite cheaply.

Berlingos don't seem to suffer from rust in the same way