Caravanners that Motorhome. (1 Viewer)

4matt

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Not sure if this post is in the right section so please move it if it needs moving.

A while back I read a post by a member and in that post there was a demarcation line that put Motorhomers into two groups, Those who used their Mo-Ho as a Caravan and those who were true Mo-Homers. At the time I was quite new to Mo-homing and didn't understand the difference. It has only become apparent to me in the last few months of camping in our Mo-Ho. Mainly by observing the way others use the Campsite either in a caravan or Mo-Ho.

I have to say that on our first few trips away we were very much Caravan people as opposed to Mo-Ho People. We moved from a Caravan to a Mo-Ho, mainly because of our increasing unease towing on our increasingly congested road network and finding it more and more difficult getting onto our tight drive with the caravan and car (we have selfish neighbours that continually park overhanging out driveway) With the Mo-Ho its easier to get moving and the whole process of getting away for a couple of days is much more spontaneous and less stressful that it was with the Caravan.

It is all about being on the road quickly with the Mo-Ho. Gone are the days where you plan a route to get you on site at 12 so that you can spend the afternoon setting up the caravan, get the pump plugged in and the Aqua-Roll filled and waist tank plumbed in, the windbreaks set up etc. Now the holiday starts from the moment your off the drive and away down the road. If you want some Tea on route then you just pull into a view point and pop the kettle on. You sit in the van and enjoy your Tea and cake taking in the view. Then before you set off again you can use your own facilities if required to refresh yourself (no more nasty roadside rest-rooms).

Once on site its as easy as parking up and putting the kettle on if you want it to be. Otherwise it might mean getting out the levelling ramps and Plugging in the Electric lead. That's it. Oh unless you have to refill the fresh water tank. On our last trip we needed to do this on arrival as we really did get the urge to get away quite spontaneously. We got up one morning looked at the weather and decided to go. Within an hour of breakfast we had the fridge stocked in the van and away we went. My co-driver booked the site as I drove, we went to where there was a pitch available, It took three phone calls to get a pitch on a CL but that was part of the fun, not knowing where we would end up.

So I guess you could say we are now Motorhome people and no longer Caravan people. My only regret having changed from the caravan is the added cost of Motorhome ownership over that of Caravan ownership. It costs us an extra £750 to run the Motorhome over the annual cost of the Caravan (I have not included Fuel cost). I guess its a small price to pay for the added freedom a Motorhome brings you.
 

scotjimland

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It costs us an extra £750 to run the Motorhome over the annual cost of the Caravan (I have not included Fuel cost).


Good post ..

In my experience of having owned both, I have enjoyed them in different ways..

In a nutshell..
Caravan great for long stays on sites and exploring with the car, great for families with young kids.

Motorhome is better for touring.. one or two nights and moving on.. not so great for exploring... but that depends on size.. for that reason my next motor home will be a panel van conversion, sub 6 mts. .. a compromise in size but one that can go anywhere a car can..

In your cost comparison did you include the running cost of the caravan tug ?
 

Wildman

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There are any people who still use a motorhome as a caravan and park on a single site for the duration of their holiday. Good luck to them if they are happy. We seldom stay more than a couple of days in one place, but that's the rover in me I guess.

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Wombles

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We worked out with ownership costs & depreciation of a tow vehicle as well as having a caravan that having a motorhome plus just one car isn't necessarily that much dearer. Also the option of using free/low cost Aires in Europe is an added financial advantage which we haven't taken up yet. We love being able to do lots of short breaks which we never did with the caravan so use the motorhome much more so better overall value for us :)
 

tambo

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My motorhome has saved me a fortune compared to a tow vehicle and caravan

It's never on a site , it's great for exploring and I don't have to go backwards I move from place to place taking everything with me

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calion

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We have both. A very small, very old, SWB old Peugeot Boxer pvc and a tiny caravan. It has to be said that the campervan gets more use, as its easier to just load it and go, but I do enjoy the freedom of having the car to use when we do take the caravan away. The idea was to try caravanning and then maybe decide which was best and get rid of whichever one we liked the least. For the moment, we've kept them both and its nice to have the choice!
 

Debs

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We are swopping to a mh on the 29th of this month and tbh I have been just a teeny, weeny bit anxious that we are doing the right thing. However, this week my 86 year old dad has been quite poorly and it's meant daily visits to him - a round trip of 80 miles.

After the 2nd day it occured to me that if we had the mh we could've gone and parked up in that and taken the dogs. No worrying about the dogs being left as we could check on them and I would be on hand for my dad. (He doesn't want them in his flat)

I'm not worried whether we've made the right decision any more(y).

I do however, have to get my head round being able to bimble though :LOL:, that's just so alien. Once we achieve that we can perhaps call ourselves motorhomers:p
 

injebreck99

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I had a nightmare a while back, I dreampt that we were selling the M/H and saving the almost £800 a year it costs us to run, even before we consider the fuel and campsitem fees, but then I woke up, and was very relieved!.

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Terry

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Hi 4 matt how does it cost £750 more to run M/H than a caravan -- never owned a caravan but friends do and I am not 100% sure but she pays more ins for the caravan than I do for m/h and road tax is £165 but they pay 220 for tow car -just curious
terry
 

Mousy

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Well so far owning a motorhome has saved mr mousy thousands of £££££, what with all the rally's, meets and weekends away we simply haven't had time to go on any long haul 5* holidays this year!
 
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4matt

4matt

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Hi 4 matt how does it cost £750 more to run M/H than a caravan -- never owned a caravan but friends do and I am not 100% sure but she pays more ins for the caravan than I do for m/h and road tax is £165 but they pay 220 for tow car -just curious
terry


The basics are these: We had one car and a caravan. Now we have one car and a Motorhome. We now have two Motor vehicles as opposed to one. That is why it cost us an extra 750 a year, the yearly cost of the Motorhome before you add fuel. Not including depreciation and wear and tear. Our VED for the Motorhome this year is £230. Not all Motorhomes are new enough to be covered by the CO2 rules. Also this my own personal projection and once my no claims discount has built up on the van the cost should go down. However VED is only going to go up as will the maintenance costs as the van gets further into it's old age.

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SuperMike

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Why not tow a caravan, with a motorhome, best of both worlds. :rofl:
 

Hymie

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We spent at least 6k a year on fly away holidays until we bought Harriet.

saving a fortune every time we use her. :france::party:

Hymie.
 

plumbomb

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We had caravans for 25 or so years & had a great time with them especially when the kids were small but the last few years we had one we hardly used it. We always said one day we'd have a MH & were saving hard for one,but it always seemed so much money for the ones we'd Wanted. Then a Close member of my family major heart attack & I thought live for today & we bought Our new MH & have never looked back we use most weekends, been to France used it when I worked out of town & last week we wild camped in Wales. It's the best thing we ever done.

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Wombles

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It was losing many loved ones in recent years & ill health that put life into perspective for us too as it really is too short. Didn't want to wait another 10 years to when we could better justify buying a motorhome only to find that we might be too unfit to enjoy it. Had almost a year now & it has been life changing for us:)
 

Khizzie

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="Wombles, post: 1113343, member: 28783"]It was losing many loved ones in recent years & ill health that put life into perspective for us too as it really is too short. Didn't want to wait another 10 years to when we could better justify buying a motorhome only to find that we might be too unfit to enjoy it. Had almost a year now & it has been life changing for us:)[/QUOTE]
Couldn't agree more ,when I lost my wife after 45 yrs marriage I decided life was for living and changed my whol.e lifestyle and blew the pot on my khizzie ,best thing i ever did..
 

Hymie

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After 3 strokes in as many weeks the OH said why don't you stop messing around and buy a MH.

God bless SWMBO, best thing we ever did.

Hymie.

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