Safari Condo Promaster MX

[AlexJ]

Originally Posted by RLM36

AlexJ,

My wife and I are traveling from NH to visit the Safari showroom next week. Were there any issues with titling and insurance after the van was converted, considering the RV has the same VIN as the original cargo van? Is anyone in the US financing the van and conversion? My local credit union can only finance the van at pre RV value.

We didn't finance. I notified our insurance company after the conversion to change it from van to RV coverage. Make sure you call ahead and schedule a factory tour in addition to your showroom visit. The factory is about an hour away.

[RLM36]

Thanks for the info Alex

[RLM36]

Tonik,

We visited the Safari Condo Showroom last week and were very impressed with their products. We have decided to go with an XL Flex Promaster. Our quote with almost every upgrade added was $64,100 CAD without a van. I saw that last year customers were getting quotes of around $52,000 CAD and was wondering if you also saw this steep of a price increase in just one year?

[CyclingCamper]

Originally Posted by RLM36

Tonik,

We visited the Safari Condo Showroom last week and were very impressed with their products. We have decided to go with an XL Flex Promaster. Our quote with almost every upgrade added was $64,100 CAD without a van. I saw that last year customers were getting quotes of around $52,000 CAD and was wondering if you also saw this steep of a price increase in just one year?

We were there last week too, I think we saw you on Thursday Sept 14? Were you driving a green Jeep with NH plates? We had to wait over an hour until you finished with the only 2 english speaking sales people .

I first contacted Safari Condo about the XL flex in Jan 2016. At that time the Canadian to US dollar was .71 Can to 1.00 US. We were quote the following base charge for the conversion not including options.
2016 conversion $50,006.00, US dollar at that time = $35504.26
This was $94380 minus credit of the van itself of $ 44374=$50060
2017 conversion $51,056.00, US dollars at that time = $35610.76
This was $96680 minus van credit of $45,624= $51056

With the options we selected it came to about 54,500 Canadian.

Since the base van can be had for $35-$38K US We considered this was a great bargain compared to the available US B-class units. Especially after seeing an actual unit and the great quality of construction. Plus this the only layout that works for us allowing us to carry four bikes inside under the queen bed.

As our plans for retirement changed and we wouldn't be able to use it much we decided to hold off ordering an XL Flex for at least a year or two. Last week we were in Quebec so we visited the showroom and got updates. The wait time is now at 14 months. They would need to receive the van about 10 weeks earlier than the delivery date.

I noticed a considerable increase in price from Jan 2016. The price of the unit increased
the 2018 standard no option build is now $100460 with van credit of $46149=$54311 BUT the exchange rate has changed and is now .81 Canadian to 1 US dollar. This makes the base cost $43992 US
Our quoted $59771 Canadian for a 2018 build now will cost us $48414.00 Plus a prep charge of $643 US.
There will most likely be another $2K-4K Canadian increase for a 2019 build.

The probllem or benefit is the exchange rates and what will happen to them from the time you order and put down the $7K required to the time you pick up the finished camper. Exchange rate changes could cause a considerable increase (or decrease) in the unit's cost. Looking back I should have transferred the money I needed to buy this into Canadian funds back in Jan 2016! ALthough I think I did better in the US stock funds the money is in now.
I think we will wait until at least next spring to order and recheck costs then. This would give us an early summer 2019 pick up date.

After seeing the units we are even more convinced that this is the unit for us. If we can get it built for mid to high $80K US we'll be happy.

[RLM36]

Wow, thank you for taking the time to write that detailed response....that was extremely helpful. Also, that was us in the showroom monopolizing the English speaking people's time��. Our sales person mentioned there was another American waiting, what a small world.

Those prices you provided seem to align with the quote we got as well. We are choosing a spring 2019 delivery date so that will incur a 2% increase in the overall cost.

We decided to remove the double seat/dinette and replaced it with the front desk dinette as we feel that will best meet our needs. Overall we are very excited as we couldn't find anything with such a functional layout and this quality in a US van.

[CyclingCamper]

We also elected to remove the front dinette seats and have the extra cabinet with table that slides out from under the countertop. My wife insisted on more cabinet space. It'll make setting up the table much easier to, no need to get a table out set it up etc. Since it'll only be the 2 of us in the van we have no need for the extra seats. I didn't see this option online only in the photos and display unit in the showroom.
I'm glad they had this option as my wife was starting to ask about removal of the second fridge.
Good luck with your purchase! We may be right behind you.

[AlexJ]

We ordered ours early Oct 2015 and paid the balance off Jan 2016 (lucky). Don't have my invoice on me, but numbers seem similar to what CyclingCamper quoted above. These will definitely hold their value because of their quality, uniqueness, and limited numbers in the States. Took delivery Halloween 2016. Over 23,000 miles in 10 months without any issues. Love it. Built a sliding tray (full extension, 5 feet, 500 lbs) for our 4 bikes. Have a small table that we can leave setup all the time behind the drivers seat (or take outside when needed) so don't we rarely travel with the bulky heavy table. Frees up storage space behind passenger seats. My wife uses it to spread out in her computer when we're driving down the road. The passenger seats are very comfortable and it's nice not to always have to sit in the front seats. I do see the appeal of the cabinets/swing out table. They started offering that option during our 13 month wait so we weren't able to see it in person. We sometimes travel on day bike rides with extra riders so like the extra seats. We opted for the Truma AquaGo instant hot water heater and love it. Also the larger furnace (even though we live in Texas). Works great. And the 2000w Abso inverter. The SmartSpace nesting cookware fit nicely in the upper storage cabinet behind the driver's seat. We have plenty of storage. We could not be happier with the build, ride and size of the XL Flex.

[RLM36]

We didn't think we would like the van with the cabinet in lieu of the seat, but it was so functional and opened up the space once we sat in it. Glad to hear all of the positive comments. We have been looking for over a year now and were apprehensive at the quality of other like vans. Thanks to everyone for all the good info and hope to see you out there soon.

[GeorgeB]

I'm so glad to see that originality and quality of Safari Condos are convincing more and more Americans to make the effort to have their US vans converted by this very reputable family owned company.

I never saw an XL-Flex ProMaster with the very interesting storage/folding dinette table option. The front area will be even wider than when it's installed on the Sprinter (see photo). It will be very spacious and open compare to the passenger seat option and much easier to take out the folding table.


From the FB album https://www.facebook.com/pg/kamperva...32724586988289



We often give rides to our friends with whom we camp and love to spread out on the huge folding table so that option wouldn't fit our needs.

Looking forward to see your build. Have fun with this perfect* camper van!

A detailed album of the work in progress of the original demo van (when we bought it the conversion demo wasn't finished) and some our our mods:
https://centrelab.smugmug.com/PERSO-...docom/n-MNSpq/



The great front "van living" space!






*We still haven't found a better van for our Van-lifestyle after 4 years travelling with this wonderful beast!


.

[InterBlog]

Suggestion for those engaging in cross-border purchase of any magnitude, whether a Safari Condo or otherwise:

Make sure you get the prevailing mid-market exchange rate. The major banks WILL NOT offer this to you. You have to do some fancy footwork at times to back-calculate to the effective hidden rate that the banks actually want, but if you do that work, you'll find that many transaction options really screw the buyer in rather deceptive ways.

I faced this issue earlier this year while trying to pay Canadian contractors for work on my boondocking property. After going around and around and AROUND with no satisfaction, I settled on TransferWise as my forex intermediary. They DO offer the mid-market rate, with something like $50 service charge per transaction. I was very pleased with how the transaction went.

Since that time, on social media and whatnot I've tried to explain to people that it's not a WYSIWYG situation with banks. I've been surprised at the number of people who can't seem to clue into what's going on. They say, "Oh, it's just fifty bucks for an international wire transfer - why go anywhere else?" but they don't compare the decimal points on the exchange rate. Even a small degradation from the mid-market rate can lead to a huge financial penalty for a buyer if it's a large purchase on the table.

[mzl969]

So in layman's terms how do you go about getting the MMER? Do you have to use a broker who deals with the FOREX to put the deal together for you, once you have a firm price?

[InterBlog]

I went through TransferWise. There are other forex options but they required more hoops to jump through. Even with TransferWise, I needed both an American and a Canadian bank account. No problem on the latter - I have a joint checking account with my father, who still lives in Canada (I haven't lived there in 30 years).

[RLM36]

To those that have ordered from the US, was the deposit you sent $7000 US or Canadian? I was initially told that all prices are in Canadian funds. I’m ready to send the deposit and was told it was $7000 US. Just curious what everyone else sent.

[AlexJ]

They wanted a $10,000 US deposit in 2015 when we ordered.

[RLM36]

Good to know. Thank You.

[AlexJ]

We ordered it in person after seeing it up close and wrote them a personal check. The Flex is so well thought out and built. It has given us no problems whatsoever after 11 months/23,000 miles. We are RV newbies and could not be happier.

[Shoestrings]

We are planning to get an RV within the next two years and have not found what we wanted yet. The XL Flex in the Promaster seems like it would do it. My hubby is an artist and I collect antique "stuff". I think the Flex version should give us a layout that is almost a "toy hauler". The means one of us will not have to sleep on the roof strapped to a roof rack. I will be following this and looking forward to seeing more pictures. Next step, buy a copy of Rosetta Stone for French!

[35603]

If you are buying the French lessons in order to communicate with Safari Condo, no need, they speak English quite well.

[AlexJ]

I suggest making a deposit soon as their waiting list has now grown to 18 months. We love ours and it was definitely worth the wait. Nothing out there that is comparable for what we needed. George's photo album above has loads of great pictures.

[michaelingp]

Hi, new to the forum. We have a 2016 Promaster MX. We thought we were the second (and last) U.S. owner. Our (final) salesperson, Francois, called the process of buying it the "parcours du combattant", meaning you really want to have one to go through it. Our experience matches previous posts so I won't go into the buying experience.

I will tell you why we love the van, and didn't see anything else remotely equivalent:

1. The visibility is outstanding, like driving a car. We previously had a Roadtrek built on a RAM van, and it was really not fun to drive alone. Even when not driving, it is so airy to be inside.

2. The van is really short (shorter than our previous Roadtrek 190), so parking and driving is a snap. This plus the visibility makes the van totally fine as a second car, and we use it that way almost every week.

3. Our previous van had a big propane tank. It developed a leak, and I developed an irrational propane phobia. Our Safari Condo just uses those little Coleman propane cartridges for the stove. I'm not happy with the ecological aspect of disposing of them, but they last a really long time, so I'm OK with it.

4. We love the cassette toilet! At 65, we're pretty comfortable with our bodily functions, so privacy is not a big issue. Not having a separate bathroom adds a lot of space, doesn't hamper visibility, and the emptying is so easy. If we're home, or there's no dump station, we can just dump in the toilet!

I'd be happy to answer any questions anybody has.