Who traveled the farthest to pick up a Sprinter?

[jerryc1976]

Live in Va Beach, Va. Drove my Jeep, with dog, 6 days to Sandy, Oregon. Picked up 2018 Unity TB and towed Jeep back home.

42 days (some sight seeing ?) and just over 6,200 miles.

 

[kansascitysprinters]

Drove 26 hours straight from Oregon to Kansas City and ripped apart an entire 2006 Sprinter van in 1 day, loaded it up in my other Sprinter, and drove home. Took all my tools and slept in the front seat a couple nights. It was a fun trip.

 

[DesertAdventures]

After looking for years online etc. almost daily, found mine which was just listed on Craigslist by a Dr and used as a mobile Prosthetic work shop and was only 5 minutes away!

Dr was patient and trusting and just gave me the keys to give it a thorough pre-inspection and upon returning said his phone was blowing up with calls and one party in Oregon offered $5k additional to bump me and sell it to them. Van came loaded with like new Adrian Steel cabinets and workbench an after market AC, solar and big battery bank mounted in a steel construction job box.

Have been busy going through it (so glad 120F summer is over) and hope to convert it and be living in it full time soon as neighborhood I've spent almost my entire life in is rapidly turning very dangerous. Area command officer I talked to says GTFO ASAP! Will be so nice to load up the Malinois dog, turn key and drive away someday.

 

[tadeo1]

OK guys, I always wanted a108WB 2006, when I found one I was in Sayulita, near Puerto Vallarta and I found one near the Canadian border in Washington
drove it to Half Moon bay CA. where I had a house, converted to a mini motor home and drove back to Sayulita where I have a little village. In Mexico I got
10 yrs. license for $54 as a motor home. My little 108WB runs with any diesel fuel. I named her GITANA2, (Gitana 1 was a 2003/140WB.)
Gitana2 if I drive 60MPH I get 24/25 MPG. Next Gitana2 will come to Sooke/Victoria. BC in Canada where I bought a little Mfg. house in the woods and where I will escape the jungle summer of Sayulita, so she will be traveling 7000miles every year. I love my little "casita" Gitana2 will be my last RV. I am 82yrs joung.

 

[russinthecascades]

I flew from Washington State to Newark, NJ to pick up a used Sprinter 170 Crew. The next morning when I went to pick it up, the passenger side was scrapped up, dented in for about 8 ft. The person moving it into the garage that morning ran into the frame of the garage door 30 minutes before I got there! I ended up walking any from the deal, or I should say flying away...

In the long run it worked out better because I got a great deal on an in-state 2015 170 Extended, which was my target model

 

[ddesigns]

So mine was completely roadworthy but instead just to be on the safe side I decided to take my Express van up with a trailer and tow it back to North Carolina from New York. Everything was going great until my GMC threw the serpentine belt. so I may not have travel the farthest although it was a long trip, I would dare say I had one of the probably most eventful to say it nicely trips. However good news is I rolled the sprinter off the trailer, used what little battery was left to drive the GMC up on the trailer, and drove the sprinter the rest of the way home. I would have been better off to have flown and driven the sprinter but live and learn, lol

 

[ddesigns]

On a related topic, those of you that do drive these vehicles home, how are you handling the plates for them? Do you typically just have the state where you purchase it give you a temporary?

 

[Gaucho121]

Oh fun! I did a coast to coast trip to pick mine up. Flight from Coastal North Carolina to LA and a 2,600 mile drive back. We did the drive in five days but wish we'd had 25!

Fun additional fact, we were idiots and didn't know how to transfer a title properly. Turns out we were technically driving a "stolen" sprinter cross country. It took a full month of phone calls with the previous owner and multiple DMV offices to get it sorted out. ?

 

[Gaucho121]

On a related topic, those of you that do drive these vehicles home, how are you handling the plates for them? Do you typically just have the state where you purchase it give you a temporary?

We did it the illegal way and drove home on the previous owner's plates. Love to know how others do this.

 

[ddesigns]

After I got back my NC DMV said I could have gotten temporary plates in New York to use on my trip back home. I just always assumed the only place you could get plates for a car was in the state of your residence. but apparently that is not true so I wonder am I able to get a temporary tag on any vehicle I buy in any state?
I will also say after adding up all of the tolls, gas and lodging I dare say I probably could have had it shipped to me about as cheaply. But hey then I wouldn't have had the experience and the breakdowns to be able to say that my new to me Sprinter saved the day ?

 

[sprint2freedom]

One way to handle it is to pay the seller a little extra to drive the vehicle to you, then buy them a plane/train ticket or taxi ride home.

 

[ddesigns]

What do you do when they get to you, and you decide you do not want to buy it?

 

[sprint2freedom]

What do you do when they get to you, and you decide you do not want to buy it?

Don't let that happen? Treat it as a transaction that will occur, rather than window shopping. That means get it inspected by someone you trust, ask for hundreds of pics, etc.

 

[tom2turbo]

My son searched for and purchased our 2006 140 High Roof in San Diego County. He drove it to Portland, so I did not travel at all.

 

[Colorado_Al]

About 1800 miles. Flew to Pensacola, FL and drove back to CO via Louisville KY to pickup a bench seat that was listed for sale on the forum here

 

[8TrackDirtPlayer]

Only about 650 miles, but I thought it to be a good story:

After looking for about a year, a green 140 3500 with 100k miles popped up in my hometown right outside DC. Me, currently in Atlanta, called up a diesel buddy living in the area to check it out. When it passed his smell check I flew up with Ms. 8Track to see it ourselves. It really helped that my family still lives in the area (I walked from my brother's house to where the van was being kept!), and added something serendipitous to the transaction, if not straight up convenient. The fuel gauge was broken, so I stopped to fill up after 300 miles, an estimated half tank. Boy was I surprised to see it fill up all the way to 26 gal! Relieved we didn't lose prime, I feared the worst all the rest of the way home. One brake job later I found the rear calipers were stuck somewhat closed due to the van sitting. I didn't put calipers on the rotors, but they had cracks in them and were probably only a few millimeters thick. Lucky we didn't experience their complete failure! Needless to say, mileage jumped up from 11mpg to 22+ after that! We've since explored bits of the Southeast in it, pulled our stuff across the country to the Pacific Northwest, and have continued to explore our surroundings as we plink away at making it more comfortable. Long live the T1N!

Obligatory Picture:

 

[zorrobyte]

I had the dealer who is 5 miles from my house deliver it to my driveway. I signed paperwork in my robe on the hood of my truck.

May I please win the shortest distance award? I believe the couch to the drive was about 50 feet

 

[Jaxx]

Our first van was located in Ottawa, we live in Lake Tahoe and ventured out over New Years.
Return trip via Nashville (snow) & Santa Barbra (Maintenance repairs) and back to Lake Tahoe
Total miles = 2688 + 1000 + 2093 + 507 = 6288 Miles round trip.

Ex ambulance, 100k miles, and we scooped it up for 10k via online auction a few days before.
Started us on our van life journey, building out van 4 now

 

[ScottWCO]

A month and a half ago, flew from Denver to Orlando to pick up a van, drove it back - took six days. One of those days was me making some detours to see family and friends, but the other five was what should have taken three, tops - but this was just after that huge winter storm that ripped through Texas and Mississippi, and that along with other weather and route changes added two full days of angst and nervousness, driving an unfamiliar vehicle in such conditions. About 1800 miles return trip. I feel fortunate that the van I got was in such good shape, I had zero issues on the drive home.

 

[Hwalls58]

Provo Ut to Tampa Fl last year. Had to be towed in twice on the drive home. Quite an experience but met some good old boy mechanics who I'm still in touch with.