Buying new should give you the same warranty on the vehicle as if you bought in the UK - eg engine, gearbox, etc. The warranty on the bodybuild will depend on who you bought from, but usually warranty issues are dealt with by the dealer who sold you the vehicle - they have an allowance built into their selling price (to you) to deal with small cost warranty items. Thats why other dealers are always reluctant to handle small warranty items as they dont get reimbursed unless they can do a deal with the dealer who sold you the van. Large cost warranty items are usually paid for by the factory.
If you cant speak German, buy from someone who speaks English!!! Using sign language to buy a vehicle is fraught with danger.
Buying used, you are on your own, but there are people around who can do the legwork in searching out good used vehicles. I know of a guy in Denmark who makes his living from sourcing vehicles from Germany for Danes.
German registered vehicles have to undergo gas testing every two years and a proof certificate has to be issued from new
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/Roger_Martin/gastestcert011.jpg and
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/Roger_Martin/gastestcert012.jpg
are examples of the latest certs that I have, there are older ones with different styles, the newer ones have a list of all the tests that the examiner must do.
Buy a vehicle with an LPG tank, so much easier than lugging bottles around and they take up a lot less room if they are under the chassis, a lot cheaper as you can fill up with Autogas - although you need 3 adaptors to cover all of Europe, the dealers in Germany are sure to have them. Bear in mind that Germany uses metric olive gas fittings and not BSP flares, so parts maybe a problem down the track if you get a leaky fitting. The appliances operate at 50mBar gas pressure, I think the UK operates at 30mBar.......anyone know for sure? Look at the gas piping and make sure that they have nt got lots of pipe joints inside the vehicle, ideally there should only be joins at gas taps prior to each appliance or under the vehicle. Make sure that there is a 12V gas pipe heater prior to the regulator if you intend using the vehicle in really cold climates - stops the gas pipe freezing up solid.
Electrical items will have the two pin Euro plugs so you will need travel adaptors to fit any UK 3 pin appliances. Check that the earth trip works and has the CE markings on it. Check that all of the window interlocks work if a gas appliance has an exhaust under a window, eg open window turns off gas appliance.
The TUV is (IMHO) not as strict as the UK MOT, but that maybe over things like rust that wont pass in the UK but seem to be ok in Germany. A current TUV will also give an emmissions test report - stricter than the UK. I have nt got a scanned image of a TUV and emmissions but I'll try and do one later to day.
You can only get a one month export plate/registration unless you have an address and residents permit for Germany. The plate includes green card
insurance for one month. The previous owner has to surrender their registraion plates, so can help you with the export plate.
The German auto club ADAC offers pre purchase inspections, I think if you are a member of the AA or RAC then you can get them at member rates. Lookup ADAC on the web, they have an English option. Get hold of a copy of the AA pre inspection checklist and use that yourself if you mechanically minded - but its difficult to jack up a vehicle and check suspension bushes, brake shoes/pads, especially if there are language problems.
I'd use the one month export plate to travel around the Continent, iron out all the teething problems, go back to the dealer after a couple of weeks with a list and then let them fix it up.
