Considering replacing a pageant provence with a Geist AK565 - a few questions - are these vans easy to insure being german, do they hold their value, any issues that people have with them are their quirks as they are a foreign van.
Geist AK565
- Thread starter Robfooty
- Start date
Hiya.
We have just bought a Geist AK495 and had no trouble insuring it with the Caravan Club.
Only had ours two days but totally in love with it!!
Fantastic build quality - solid as a rock.
We have just bought a Geist AK495 and had no trouble insuring it with the Caravan Club.
Only had ours two days but totally in love with it!!
Fantastic build quality - solid as a rock.
These are fantastic vans (well the make is, I can't pretend to know the exact model). One note of caution is that a friend who owned one of these vans had great difficulty finding a dealer who would accept his Geist in a trade in. Got comments such as - to hard to sell due to being so heavy etc. Funny thing was when he give up trying to trade it in he was able to sell it privately with no bother at all. If I had a car up to towing a heavy well built German van like the Geist or a Hobby, that is what I would buy.
From what i can see it's only about 40 kgs heavier than our current s6 provence and about the same weight as a S7 although that's without any additions but i would imagine alloy wheels and a spare wheel wouldn't add much. They don't mention the weights of these
Like Jennifer B we have a 5 berth Geist AK495 and totally love it. No problems getting insurance - we shopped around and everyone we asked quoted with no problems (we ended up with Park Homes Insurance). With regard to weight, the AK495 has a MTPLM of 1390kgs which is actually lighter than the Bailey Pageant Provence we shortlisted.
We also were seriously tempted by the AK565 you're looking at but it was a bit too heavy for our 1.9 diesel Zafira so we plumped for the 495.
Only issues we've found are that the table for the front dinette is a bit small for a family of 5 and it's storage place under the fixed bunk is a bit impractical. We find that we take it out at the beginning of the holiday and store it in the awning when not using it. Unusually we're told for caravans, our 495 has 5 electrical sockets as standard which is very useful and we paid extra to have an external socket which is very useful in the awning. We also have a 12v socket by the TV point which you don't get very often and is great when you've forgotten your mobile phone charger from home but have got one in the car (Yes, we've done this!)
The beds are very comfortable, especially the fixed bunks for our teenage twin sons and the front double is very big. We don't make this up with the proper cushion configuration though as we don't like to lay across cushion joins (you'll know what we mean when you see it!). We use an old double quilt as a mattress topper and sleep wonderfully well.
The storage lockers are plentiful and have not come open in transit yet which is testament to the quality of locker catches. The wetroom has plenty of storage too. We had a microwave fitted as an extra by Geist pre-delivery and they made and excellent job of it. They sited it in the cupboard under the oven and created a new door for the space below so that we didn't lose all the storage space. They did and excellent job and it looks like it was designed to be there.
The only snagging issue we've had was that the front locker was very difficult to open on our second trip out last Easter when we had low temperatures and snow. We were in Northumberland so arranged to call in at Geist Gateshead on the way back down to Sheffield and they fixed it in about half an hour.
Don't know about trade-in but we love our Geist so much that we intend to keep it for quite some time and we'd only swap it for another anyway so this shouldn't be a problem!
We also were seriously tempted by the AK565 you're looking at but it was a bit too heavy for our 1.9 diesel Zafira so we plumped for the 495.
Only issues we've found are that the table for the front dinette is a bit small for a family of 5 and it's storage place under the fixed bunk is a bit impractical. We find that we take it out at the beginning of the holiday and store it in the awning when not using it. Unusually we're told for caravans, our 495 has 5 electrical sockets as standard which is very useful and we paid extra to have an external socket which is very useful in the awning. We also have a 12v socket by the TV point which you don't get very often and is great when you've forgotten your mobile phone charger from home but have got one in the car (Yes, we've done this!)
The beds are very comfortable, especially the fixed bunks for our teenage twin sons and the front double is very big. We don't make this up with the proper cushion configuration though as we don't like to lay across cushion joins (you'll know what we mean when you see it!). We use an old double quilt as a mattress topper and sleep wonderfully well.
The storage lockers are plentiful and have not come open in transit yet which is testament to the quality of locker catches. The wetroom has plenty of storage too. We had a microwave fitted as an extra by Geist pre-delivery and they made and excellent job of it. They sited it in the cupboard under the oven and created a new door for the space below so that we didn't lose all the storage space. They did and excellent job and it looks like it was designed to be there.
The only snagging issue we've had was that the front locker was very difficult to open on our second trip out last Easter when we had low temperatures and snow. We were in Northumberland so arranged to call in at Geist Gateshead on the way back down to Sheffield and they fixed it in about half an hour.
Don't know about trade-in but we love our Geist so much that we intend to keep it for quite some time and we'd only swap it for another anyway so this shouldn't be a problem!
Still weighing up whether we fly up to Lincoln to see these - does the Aktiv have a grill or an oven? It's not clear from the brochure or the pictures - we have emailed the dealer - I gather Geist don't attend the shows. Have to be sure before we travel 400 miles. Maybe we'll see one over the easter hols on site and ask to have a look.
Hi Rob this may be too late for you, just seen your post after our 9 night break in our Geist. Our AK495 has a small oven with a built in grill. You can only use one or the other at a time and a 3 ring hob.
We had a microwave built into our van by Geist and so hardly use either the oven or hob as we have a gas barbeque/2 ring stove that we use to cook outside whenever possible.
Hope this helps.
We had a microwave built into our van by Geist and so hardly use either the oven or hob as we have a gas barbeque/2 ring stove that we use to cook outside whenever possible.
Hope this helps.
We have had a AK565 for nearly three years from new We absolutly love it. I too was told that trade in might me an issue but we are so impreessed with the Geist that I think I would only trade it in agaist a new model anyway. Towing isn't an issue any extra weight makes very little difference in practice if anything I would say it is more stable than my previous two vans (Abbey and stirling)which were both the same size. It is also the only van with that layout on a single axle.
Hoping to get up to Lincoln to see one of these vans during our summer holidays - otherwise it's a 600 mile round trip. It's great shame they don't bring vans to the shows otherwise we would havw seen one sooner. Looks a nice van from the internet.
Claire & Rob
I have recently started looking to replace my 2004 bailey, i am open to any make that meets my demands.
I noted your comment re 5 sockets, and the 12v.
In the two site i have trolled so far bailey and swift, one at lest claims 5 sockets, and my 2004 bailey has the 12v socket adjacent the tv point.
So i certainly cant mark down the home built vans on those two points.
WE did look at a modified Geist in 2004, one fitted with a front triple window, this was at Bawtry caravans, is your van built with the triple windows?
I have recently started looking to replace my 2004 bailey, i am open to any make that meets my demands.
I noted your comment re 5 sockets, and the 12v.
In the two site i have trolled so far bailey and swift, one at lest claims 5 sockets, and my 2004 bailey has the 12v socket adjacent the tv point.
So i certainly cant mark down the home built vans on those two points.
WE did look at a modified Geist in 2004, one fitted with a front triple window, this was at Bawtry caravans, is your van built with the triple windows?
No, ours has a single front window.
Glad other manufacturers have lots of sockets too, we were just going on what we were told by caravanning friends whose 2003 Ace only had 2 sockets. In today's technoworld, you can never have enough!
Glad other manufacturers have lots of sockets too, we were just going on what we were told by caravanning friends whose 2003 Ace only had 2 sockets. In today's technoworld, you can never have enough!
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