Peugeot Boxer Harmony rust MOT Fail

Hi everyone, I hope you are all keeping safe and well at the moment.

I have had some bad news RE: our campervan - it has failed it's MOT and it is extremely rusty underneath and probably beyond economical repair.  We're gutted as we've loved having the van these past almost 3 years.

The guy that took it in to have a look underneath and quote for repair has advised the best solution would be to swap the very good condition interior into a newer van.  Does anyone have any experience with this? 

We obviously couldn't transfer the interior into a smaller van, but would any larger van be able to be used?  Ideally we'd like a bunk bed for our two kids with the rest of the current interior fitting around the bed.  
The main issues I see are the height for the shower / toilet compartment and the positioning of our current seats for folding out into the large bed.  If we bought a larger van we may need to rethink and replace the seats / bed.

We were thinking that we would need a larger van in the near-ish future anyway and this has simultaneously brought our plans forward and made it more difficult (financially).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, 

Andy

Two practical options really...

Go to a smaller, garage who specialise in, perhaps classic car restoration, or a tip from someone local as to where one is. I see you're in Stirling which is about as central as you can be

If, after that and the consensus is that it is economically too expensive to repair, and, particularly if it is the petrol engine version (needs E5 now) it may be as well to bite the bullet and sell it, with honest facts re chassis etc on Ebay.

Having had one, I see no future in transferring the interior to another van, first you have to find one, and a diesel at that, which is rust free (Near impossible at 25yrs old I'd guess) then it's a hell of a job to satisfactorily remove your's interior and put it in something else. Impractical IMHO to put that interior into a different van than the Harmony.

Others may suggest differently, but one last thing, do you have the last 3 years MOT history, it should be available online from DVLA? My point being it seems strange to have gone from MOT passes 3 and 2 yrs ago and now it's beyond hope??

Good luck whatever.....

I can confirm what Ian says about removal of interior - you're likely to find that the interior is very hard to remove because A/S didn't fit it with that in mind - so you will find (as I have) that there are numerous hidden fixings which have been covered over. And once you have it out, almost all of the panels will be a different shape unless the base vehicle is identical - so you might (almost) just as well start from scratch and build your own units.

We know it can be done (because occasionally you see the result on Ebay) but it won't be an easy task!

I would definitely get a second opinion about the underside, because often rust that looks quite bad can be just surface rust, which can be wire brushed off and coated over without significant loss of structural strength. Typically you will find that there are relatively few places where the rust has gone through, which will reduce the amount of welding needed a lot.

Hi Ian and Roopert, thanks for the replies!  

I took the van in to the garage for it's MOT and they advised it needed a fair bit of welding - I then took it to a local caravan and campervan repair company called SCR (basically one guy doing repairs and fitting out new vans too).  I already had the van booked in with SCR to replace the rusty sills.  
The garage seemed to think it was not too big a deal, although it was a lot of work to repair.  SCR got it up on the ramp and had a look - he said the whole back end basically needs replaced.  Also said even if it was repaired then the structure of the van was compromised and he wouldn't advise it.  There are holes where his hand fits through currently...

SCR have previously swapped interiors of old vans into new ones so this is why we are exploring that option.  I have asked him the same question re: van type but haven't had a reply yet...  

I think it's maybe worth checking with the garage if they think the repair is actually feasible?
I could potentially get the rusted part fabricated new (I work for a machine and fabrication shop) and get this welded to replace the old one - I would need to get some drawings from somewhere though...

For info, Ian, our van is a 1.9TD - it is solid mechanically and have not had any issues with the engine apart from squeaky belts when it's cold / wet.  1st MOT we had done was fine, with no advisories even, last year there was one advisory for "Nearside rear suspension mounting corroded but not considered excessive".  It was a huge shock that it has gone from that to basically needing scrapped. 

Happy for you to have a look at the current issues if you want to - reg is N133 COV

I will get the pictures of the underneath and post them here shortly as well.

You really have my sympathy with you’re rust issues after chasing rust on our N reg Duetto. Was there any mention last year of pending rust issues  or was it just this year.
We were warned about the rust issues on our Duetto before we had the bodywork sorted but it wasn’t structural at that time. The only potential fail was a cracked windscreen. Two years later we given an advisory for structural rust in the front cross member and the floor under the shower. 
Swapping the interior will be a very labour intensive job. I know of a guy that bought an MOT failed van conversion and built it into a van using a high top standard van. Rather than using the raised top add on from the oringional he used a high roof van. 
Good luck how ever the outcome is.

So an update from the garage that did the MOT - they won't quote on the repair work (fair enough) but say that it is extensive and will be costly, which I knew already...

I also contacted the dealer we bought the van from 3 years ago and they have offered (subject to viewing) £4000 for the van using this as a part exchange.  I think this is a decent price but would be tempted to put it out there to see how much cash we could potentially get.

What is a realistic price that we could get for the van - I keep an eye out on ebay etc for MOT fail vans, but the prices vary massively.

Thanks again!

Andrew

On eBay, this one is for sale requiring lots of welding, may give you an idea. Personally I'd get the dealer part ex offer.

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Like Paul I'd grab the £4k!

Me, too!

Thanks for all the comments - I've stuck it on facebook marketplace and had a fair few messages, so we'll hopefully get it sold.  
The only issue with part ex is that we'll need to wait for a van we like to come up for sale, even though that is the ideal route I want to go too.

Paul, I saw that van for sale on facebook as well and the price is pretty much what we're looking for, so hopefully we'll be lucky!  I see it's sold now too.

Andrew

andygee127 wrote:Thanks for all the comments - I've stuck it on facebook marketplace and had a fair few messages, so we'll hopefully get it sold.  
The only issue with part ex is that we'll need to wait for a van we like to come up for sale, even though that is the ideal route I want to go too.

Paul, I saw that van for sale on facebook as well and the price is pretty much what we're looking for, so hopefully we'll be lucky!  I see it's sold now too.

Andrew

Not sure that's  sold , just removed.

Micky

I wonder if you live anywhere in the vicinity f Chichester  I would really like to see what a Harmony is like because we are planning on buying a new campervan, our Duetto now an mot failure, and a harmony could be the answer.  Best wishes.  Playtime.

Unfortunately, your van looks rotten as a pear.
 I'd be very inclined to take the dealer's £4k offer on the understanding that you will hang on for a suitable van to be in stock. I'd get his offer in writing too!

Hi everyone - thanks for all the comments!  

We sold the van before Christmas - we went with the only person to actually come and see it.  They weren't interested in repairing it and were going to use it basically as a caravan.  We got less than £4k but now have it out of the way.  The hunt is on for a new van now.  This was my daily vehicle (just used for a 6 or 7 mile round trip to work) so need to get something organised soon!! 

Playtime - the Harmony was a really good layout for us as it had the two belted seats in the back with a toilet and shower too - it was a godsend for the past few years with campsites requiring self-contained units.  I will PM you some internal pictures of ours.

We had some great times going to France and over to the Outer Hebrides as well and has certainly confirmed that we really enjoy the campervan lifestyle.