MH Handover advice

I fly to England a week on Thursday to collect our 1st ever MH.
It is a used van and totally different to what I thought we wanted and twice the price of what I wanted to pay!
It is a 9m A Class and has loads of solar, refillable gas low, immobiliser, alarm and tracker. The seller is an experienced motorhomer and he said he will take as long as it takes to give me a good handover. On his advice I am staying on a campsite for a couple of nights returning home on Saturday. I am staying on th campsite on his advice so that if I have any issues or problems he can pop round and show me how to resolve them. The van is set p for extended touring with the solar and gas etc.
Obviously I will ask about the solar,batteries, isolation valves etc but is there anything that you wished you had asked on picking up your MH which you hadn't asked but later realised was important.
The seller is going to come to the campsite with me and show me how to refill the gas en route.
Obviously the 9m is a concern for me but hey ho!
Thanks, Martin

the usual of how to fill with water, empty waste, toilet flush if it has one. Battery isolation switch if fitted, how to lift the bonnet to check the oil/water etc. Get all the hand books for everything even the reversing camera. If there are service records/MOT certs etc as the English MOT system records advisories.

Dont be afraid to ask a question no matter how stupid it may seem to you as you can end up having to ask it later anyway! Did I mention ask plenty of questions!

Above all take notes on how to operate things, if there is a front bed to make up get him to do it and take pictures, they can be a jigsaw puzzle.


Did I mention to ask loads of questions

If you have a phone with video get the seller to show you how to turn on the water heater for shower and sink, how to drain the fresh water and grey water tanks, what the display screens mean for solar, hookup, water levels etc, if there are any beds converted from furniture how it is done, where are the fuse boxes, how to switch the fridge from 12v, to electric hookup and to gas, how to turn on and off the gas.
Check all things work on gas, electric and 12v where applicable. If it has an invertor does it power all sockets or specific ones? If it has an alarm how it all works. Check guages to indicate battery, and water levels. Ask what size and when leisure batteries were last replaced and their locations. Check all catches, Windows and doors work.

AND get a habitation report before paying for the MH.

Is it over 3500kg I.e. Do you have a licence to drive it @ 9 mts it probably is

When you say it's a 9M do you mean a 9 metre long van or a Rapido 9M series, if it's the latter they have a ridiculously small payload particularly with a lot of extras added. AFAIK they can be uprated to 3,800kg to give a bit extra, if it is, make sure you have a C1 licence to drive it.
Otherwise they are a super motorhome with a very good build quality and as a rule Rapido's don't leak.

If it's a 9 metre long van it could present problems on campsites and Aires with pitches/parking spaces designed for sub 8 metre vehicles.

Be careful you may have the entitlement, but I don't think the just give them out nowadays.

1997 was the cut-off for getting C1 entitlement with a car driving test.

I got my van new from a dealer but the handover was rubbish. "To be honest, this thing is as new to me as it is to you" said the salesman at the start of the handover. And he went on to prove it.

Only thing that saved me was another dealer had a 40 min video on YouTube of a proper handover for the same make of van. You may be able to find something similar.

Thankfully they do. I quickly got my licence out to check as I was sure I had it but after Sprinters first post I had a slight panic. On the back is every every entitlement and the date for which it is valid. So panic over lol