During our time in Czech Republic, we bought ourselves a van with the intention of using it for our travels around Europe. We soon realised that buying a second-hand vehicle in Czech Republic could come with complications when we were told by a few car salesmen that the odometers are clocked on most vehicles, which generally come from Germany and Italy with limited (if any) recorded history prior to entering Czech Republic.
The van, a Renault Espace 2.2 dCi, looked great when we inspected it at the used car dealership in Prague, and it drove like a dream. But after about 100km of use, whilst driving on the highway from Prague back to Pavel’s home town (Brno), smoke started coming out of the bonnet and exhaust. Under the bonnet, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Oil had splashed everywhere and was dripping off several parts of the engine. We were towed to the local mechanic, where it was fixed a week later. The issue was apparently a common fault for this model, so in a way we were lucky to get that issue sorted before our trip.
After getting our van back, we fit it out with window tinting, a mattress and storage boxes for clothes and cooking items, and hit the road back to Prague for some final supplies before our big trip. Although we made it all the way to Prague, we noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the bonnet when parking the car. Again, it wasn’t a pretty sight when we popped the bonnet open. Oil was everywhere. So the van was towed back to the mechanic, and all faith in our van was diminishing. This time it was a different issue and a new part for the engine had to be ordered. Minimum fix time – one and a half weeks.
With this news, we booked some cheap flights for the next day to Spain. Our van issues were not going to slow us down!
Although we’ve been very unlucky with our van, we’re fortunate it didn’t break down in Switzerland or France where the fix would have cost us a fortune and a lot more stress mid-trip. Luckily, we’ve since managed to claim some money back from the car dealership where we bought our van, after some hassling, but it’s still cost us some valuable holiday time.
It’s inevitable that “sh!t happens” from time to time, especially during a long stint away from home like us. We’ve taken it as a sign that our 7-week road trip loop from Czech Republic was not meant to be this time around, so time to work on a Plan B..stay tuned!