So close a call! What do you think? (1 Viewer)

[Cliffdale]

2 year old motorhome with habitation air con, sat tv and air suspension or new for £8k more but not including the mentioned extras.

I'm finding it tough to decide hence my previous thread about waiting for nec!

 

[Popeye]

Well it depends really on the age and original price, if it is in excess of £100,000 new then £8,000 saved is not a lot but if it is 35-55,000 new then 8,000 represents quite a proportion.

 

[RogerThat]

I'll throw mileage in to the mix too, how many miles has the 2yr old vehicle racked up? Service history? Any of the Manufacturer warranty left?

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[Cliffdale]

Original RRP is 59k for the 2016 model. The offer is £55k with comfort pack and solar panel included.
Or the 2014 for £47k but with the extras. included is a 3 year dealer warrenty.

1 owner and 10 000 miles, it has a tow bar so I'm wondering if it has the guts pulled out of it towing a little car for 10k miles.

 

[TerryL]

When we bought our Bolero our philosophy was hopefully all the bugs have been sorted, we get extras and someone else pays the VAT.

We bought a 2 year old with 5000 miles on the clock (not even run in!), in immaculate condition with a raft of extras at around £8000 (18%) less than new (without the extras).

Had it for 7 years now and are still delighted with it. Only went back to the dealer once, for a dud battery.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

When we bought our Bolero our philosophy was hopefully all the bugs have been sorted, we get extras and someone else pays the VAT.

We bought a 2 year old with 5000 miles on the clock (not even run in!), in immaculate condition with a raft of extras at around £8000 (18%) less than new (without the extras).

Had it for 7 years now and are still delighted with it. Only went back to the dealer once, for a dud battery.

I agree with that. Let someone else pay the initial steep depreciation

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[Cliffdale]

I agree with that. Let someone else pay the initial steep depreciation

I'm thinking £8k more means depreciation is £4000 a year, not such a huge saving.

 

[JJ]

Save the £8000 and avoid the teething troubles...

Mind you... I have no experience at all with motorhomes in this price range.

I bought a brand new flat for that kind of money.

It didn't have a tow bar though.

JJ

 

[G7UXG]

I wouldn't worry about the tow bar. What size is the motorhome? It's probably already pulling at least 3500kgs. A small car won't make much difference to the wear on a commercial diesel engine.

Mike

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[Derbyshire wanderer]

I'm thinking £8k more means depreciation is £4000 a year, not such a huge saving.

Plus the approx 3 to 4 thousand pounds worth of extras?
Not such a bad deal especially as you say a 3 year warranty as well?
8 grand cash saving plus the extras will buy a lot of nights away

 

[Cliffdale]

It is 7.5m with 150bhp engine

 

[Kool Kroozer]

Go for the used one.. If its mint and only got 10k on with all the extras your having a bargain imo, you loose too much on new plus as said above your gonna be stuck with the teething problems.. An if the dealer is throwing in 3yrs warranty what is there to think about.. Its a no brainer plus your bagging 8k saved

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[Lenny HB]

UK dealers make huge mark up's on S/H vehicles start with a low off say 38k. Personally I prefer to buy new, you could probably negotiate the 55k down to 50k.

 

[pyro]

Of all the wealthy people I know, most would buy a vehicle a year or two old than throw away good money on depreciation.

I prefer new or showroom models, but I wouldn't turn down a low mileage vehicle if it was the one I wanted

It's a vehicle, whatever you buy new today, it will depreciate. I would go for the two year old as others have suggested

 

[MR. FUSION]

Just to swing things, even 10k could represent a lot of abuse by a previous owner (that could represent driving around a lot of Europe) and 2 years outside in the sun/winter can represent a lot of weathering. I might be tempted to go new!

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[chaser]

I'd go for a four or five year old at half the price

 

[Gorse Hill]

I would go new, 3 manufacture warranty and 2 yrs fiat warranty and you don't have to worry about if it's been hammered, assuming you can afford the 8k, if you have to finance the 8k I would go with used one but good luck with whatever you choose

 

[pappajohn]

2 years old should mean far fewer trips to the dealers to sort faults and problems as they should have been sorted by now.

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[pops]

10k is about average miles for a 2year old. I have just done 3k in nine weeks on a slow tour of Scotland. My van will be 4years old next March and I have just gone over the 18k.
Go for the second hand.

 

[Popeye]

Well if you buy used all you save 8K but you only have an Insurance based warranty. You also have a three year old van, what is it's true value.

If you buy new you have a new vehicle warranty which is Not insurance backed. You do Not have to worry about MOT for around five years as at year 3 and four they usually fly through, you have increased pride of ownership and you know how the first owner has kept it. You can also specify your preferences at the outset.

 

[Langtoftlad]

So that's a helpful consensus then .
Good luck & enjoy whatever you end up choosing.

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[pyro]

And always remember, if you make the wrong decision, you can blame the people in the forum

 

[Cliffdale]

Thanks for the input everyone. I can see why its a difficult call!

I think all the points made here are valuable and correct!

A couple of points made here helped. The almost 3 year old motorhome is not enough saving on new even if it has lots of extra toys. I also think a dealer backed warranty it worth a lot to me should I buy new.


Looks like a trip to Birmingham in October.

 

[Billggski]

Have you tried haggling? It is coming to the end of the season and if you have no part exchange they will bite your hand off for the readies. Especially if you use credit, they make as much money on that as on the sale, probably more leeway on the used on, but there is a huge mark up on new.
Add the cost of the extras to the new one to get a real comparison.

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[Lenny HB]

With Motorhomes I find the depreciation so low you don't really gain much by buying second hand so might as well treat yourself to a new van. Our last van cost us 5% a year in depreciation compared to 20 - 25% on a car.
Mind you we would never buy in the UK can't afford silly UK prices.

 

[Feltwell]

Have you tried haggling? It is coming to the end of the season and if you have no part exchange they will bite your hand off for the readies. Especially if you use credit, they make as much money on that as on the sale, probably more leeway on the used on, but there is a huge mark up on new.
Add the cost of the extras to the new one to get a real comparison.

It's worth looking at the T&C's on credit even if you don't need it, no matter if buying new or secondhand. My in-laws bought a 12 month old caravan on credit, on the dealer's suggestion as part of the deal, then paid the credit off in full after 1 month. Dealer got his commission, in-laws got a good deal, credit ended up costing them about £50. Check the small print for early payment clause but the system's there to be played in my opinion!

And I'd go secondhand. Why would anyone worry about a brand new van being thrashed in it's first 2 years - if it's had one owner, and they're not a hire company, they are going to have invested a lot in that vehicle so why would they abuse it? How many motorhomes do you see being driven around like they're an 18 year old in a "pimped" Corsa? The commercial vans our vehicles are based on get a LOT more abuse and they survive! It would be obvious from the interior and exterior condition if the van has had a careless owner. I must admit I'd want a bit more than £8k off the new price though.

But then again I'm more of the school of buy an 8-10 year old vehicle privately that's in really good condition and keep it until it is no longer appropriate for our needs / starts to become unreliable. I like nice vehicles - of any kind - but I've never understood the "need for new" personally - although I fully respect that it's everyone's own decision what to do with their own hard-earned and someone has to buy new! My car would have been about £60k new, but when bought at 9 years old and 40k miles in immaculate condition for about 17% of that it really hadn't changed much. Certainly not by 83%!

 

[Lenny HB]

It's worth looking at the T&C's on credit even if you don't need it, no matter if buying new or secondhand. My in-laws bought a 12 month old caravan on credit, on the dealer's suggestion as part of the deal, then paid the credit off in full after 1 month. Dealer got his commission, in-laws got a good deal, credit ended up costing them about £50. Check the small print for early payment clause but the system's there to be played in my opinion!

Did something similar with my car, took the Santander finance, they gave me a £1000 towards the car, I cancelled after first payment had to pay 2 months interest so cost £150. Interest was tax deductible (self employed) so I gave them £100 they gave a £1000, I like deals like that.

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