PVC as a daily driver? (1 Viewer)

[RogerThat]

Hi everyone.

I've an old car (+10yrs) and an even older motorhome (20yrs), both of which are starting to cost me a bit of money to maintain, neither of which are retaining any residual value.

I've been toying with the idea of selling both the car and the coachbuilt MH then downsizing to a brand new PVC - which I don't think will be a problem, it's only a 6m coach anyway, but I'd be looking for a 6.3m PVC.

This would save me a fair bit of dosh each year as I'd then only have one servicing cost, one MOT cost, one TAX, one insurance(!) etc. My "trusty" MH is costing me thousands per year (literally, roof leaks, gearbox woes, etc) so believe me when I say I'll be saving money by buying new

The only thing I'm unsure of is the practicalities of using a PVC as my daily driver?

I cover about 10,000 miles a year in the car and about 4,000 in the MH so realistically I'd be putting 12k to 15k on a PVC. What's this likely to do to the value of it in say 5 years time? It'd realistically have c70,000 miles on the clock by that point. Sounds high when I say it like that...

Driving to work not a problem, we've a huge yard to park in.

Driving to Tesco each week? We'd probably just choose a parking bay at the far end of the carpark and overhang a bit?

Is the potentially high mileage likely to be a potential showstopper to my pipe dreams? I know the base vehicle itself is good for it, they're designed to hit 100k miles right? But I'm pretty sure a mileage this high, no matter how well loved, cared for and well serviced it might be, is likely to put off some potential buyers and / or any future part-exchange value?

Am I missing anything practical here?

 

[Langtoftlad]

Yes - high mileage will affect resale value...
...but relatively less & less the longer you hold onto it.

And... you don't have the expense of purchasing & running a 2nd vehicle.

Having said that, I'm not convinced I'd like my PVC to be my only vehicle [but not for value/resale reasons]

 

[2657]

We have a 6m PVC as our sole vehicle, no major problems, got to be careful about parking, in that you can't always park exactly where you would in a car, height barriers, underground/multi storey car parks etc.

Depreciation will obviously be more with a higher mileage, exactly how much is difficult to say but it wouldn't put me off if the vehicle was well looked after and serviced, not something that i worry about as the vehicle fulfills a purpose for us that we need.

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[Wissel]

We use one as our everyday vehicle. Not been an issue in 5 years.

Might be worth finding out about commuting to work in it (insurance)

 

[32143]

We only have pvc, use as a day vehicle. We can easily do 17,000 miles in a year.
This is our 3rd, mileage never mentioned when selling previous two.
We bought current one with 72,000 miles registered in 2013.


Lin

 

[rosalan]

Have you considered a really small car that is road tax free, very economical and possibly of the 'throw away' class to do your daily mileage and compare its cost against much lower mileage depreciation on your larger vehicle?

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[Minxy]

We've currently got a 2015 Globecar PVC with around 25,000 miles on (we bought it 'new' in May 2015 as an ex-demo with only a few hundred miles on it) and a Renault Twingo which has done just over 3,000 miles over the 19 months that we've owned it (bought in March 2016 with negligible miles as it was pre-reg in Dec 2015 by Renault just to get their sales figures up for the year end and then sat around until we bought it!) ... BUT ..... we have a soft spot for Smart ForTwo cars ... more an addiction really ... so have just bought a 2010 Smart car with 25,000 miles on, it is in brilliant nick and a hoot to drive with zero road tax, cheap insurance and doesn't cost the earth for servicing etc, it cost well under £3,000 including all the on the road costs, a service and plus 2 new front tyres (our choice to put these on rather than needing them now) and a new spare key.

We are very seriously considering selling our Twingo and just having the PVC and the Smart as we wouldn't want to use our camper all the time as we already do about 12,000 miles a year in it and so don't want to put more on although we did consider only having a PVC in the past but it would have been just too restrictive for us and there are times when using the camper simply wouldn't be practical for us.

What I'm trying to say is that you could look to buy a nearly new/ex-demo PVC as that will save you quite a bit of dosh and then use what's left to buy a little runabout for work, best of both worlds without the high mileage being put on your PVC and of course fuel efficiency will be a lot better with a small car than a PVC so the chances are that the fuel savings will pay for the extra outlay on a second vehicle. A very rough calculation, 10,000 miles in fuel alone would be around £1,800, for a petrol car that could drop easily to £1,000 or even less if you had a diesel one, more than enough I suspect to pay the expenses for the car. Obviously this doesn't even take into account the higher cost of tyres etc for PVCs compared to cars so the difference could be even bigger.

 

[Minxy]

Have you considered a really small car that is road tax free, very economical and possibly of the 'throw away' class to do your daily mileage and compare its cost against much lower mileage depreciation on your larger vehicle?

How come you can say it so much more succinctly than me!

 

[injebreck99]

I tried that many years ago with a VW, worked well but I stopped it because when we went away camping, it didn’t feel so special anymore, so reverted to car and van again, each to his own though.

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[SpeedyDux]

In 2012 I got rid of my car to save running costs, and relied on my VW T4 California as a daily driver and day van. The big advantages of the VW are that they are pretty much as easy to drive and park as a car, have a better turning circle, and they can do 40 mpg. The VW works best as a camper on full facility campsites including EHU. My annual mileage is under 6000.

This year the VW was replaced by a new 5.4m Fiat PVC. The on board facilities are in a different league to the VW. I haven't owned the PVC long enough to decide if I can do without a car entirely - meanwhile the Duxette lends me her car if I ask. Height barriers make some car parks inaccessible. Even the Council recycling centre has a pesky height barrier. Supermarket car parks are generally OK, as long I can find a space where the overhang wouldn't inconvenience others. If the car park is rammed, finding a suitable space can be a problem. The PVC is relatively new and I am perhaps over-anxious about the risk of dents and scratches.

 

[Dorwyn]

Insurance cost for commuting and sole vehicle use might be the problem, it might go some way to negate the cost savings. Ours is sole vehicle but many insurance companies double the cost. I can't see their logic. Those vans are built to be driven. You don't suddenly become a liability the minute you drive 10,001 miles. Stupid. Aviva does not even offer a MH policy with unlimited mileage, according to my broker.

We used to leave the 2nd car on the drive for months at a time, such a waste. I enjoy driving the pvc, I certainly would hate to leave that on the drive. As it is, it still sits on the drive too long if we are not off camping for a while, I look for the excuse to use it.

 

[Minxy]

Insurance cost for commuting and sole vehicle use might be the problem, it might go some way to negate the cost savings. Ours is sole vehicle but many insurance companies double the cost. I can't see their logic. Those vans are built to be driven. You don't suddenly become a liability the minute you drive 10,001 miles.

I can see the logic, the more you use it, the more 'risk' you are taking from being in an accident with the idiots on the road, or causing an accident/damaging it yourself, hence the increased premium based on mileage. If you leave it on the drive and only use it for 3,000 a year you are not taking so much of a risk, hence lower premiums ... its all about risk ...

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[Dorwyn]

Yes but, yes but. It's still insured on the drive, still a risk of theft (possibly more so). The point is, if I buy the same base panel van I can do unlimited miles for a good sensible price. Call it a motorhome and that same insurance company won't insure you for over 10 or 12k miles. Yes it is worth more, but that should be covered by the premium. You don't suddenly become a bad driver at 10,001 miles. That's the illogical bit. There are policies where you pay by the mile, that's a different thing. But this is a bump.

 

[gerry mcg]

Safeguard gave me unlimited mileage on my MH policy, not that im going to use it... well are going to be around 9k this year

 

[mikebeaches]

We've got the extra long 6.36m Ducato van conversion. And it's certainly much easier to tour about in towns etc than the previous coachbuilt. But, in this country in particular, it would really be just to much of a challenge as our 'only driver', for us. Might be different if we lived in France, for example - never seem to have too much difficulty finding somewhere to park there.

At the end of the day, it very much depends how you use vehicles. But in the circumstances you described, I'd be inclined to go for a road-tax-free, small inexpensive car to use in addition to the van. And as Minxy has mentioned, there does seem to be some very good value in used Smarts.

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[tacr2man]

You can get reliable little run about type cars for less money than a bicycle these days , one of my friends buys drives and when it needs spending on sells to the scrap man or on ebay , buys another .
eg

 

[Dorwyn]

Safeguard gave me unlimited mileage on my MH policy, not that im going to use it... well are going to be around 9k this year

Last year's was 9k for me too, a bit too close for comfort.

 

[maison]

Yes but, yes but. It's still insured on the drive, still a risk of theft (possibly more so). The point is, if I buy the same base panel van I can do unlimited miles for a good sensible price. Call it a motorhome and that same insurance company won't insure you for over 10 or 12k miles. ......

Another vote for Safeguard.

Our m/h is not our sole vehicle but we still expect to exceed 12,000 miles a year. Safeguard offered unlimited mileage at a very slightly lower rate (67p per annum, the difference that is, not the annual premium )than Caravanguard wanted with an 11,000 mile limit.

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[Minxy]

Yes but, yes but. It's still insured on the drive, still a risk of theft (possibly more so). The point is, if I buy the same base panel van I can do unlimited miles for a good sensible price. Call it a motorhome and that same insurance company won't insure you for over 10 or 12k miles. Yes it is worth more, but that should be covered by the premium. You don't suddenly become a bad driver at 10,001 miles. That's the illogical bit. There are policies where you pay by the mile, that's a different thing. But this is a bump.

Are you seriously comparing a panel van to a camper/MH???? Really? I think you need to have a rethink ... if a MH's insurance premium was based solely on the value of the vehicle they would be astronomical, one of the reasons, IMV they are relatively low priced bearing in mind the high value of the vehicle, is that MH owners generally look after them a lot better than your typical white van man, are less likely to claim and take risks and mostly use them purely for 'social, domestic and pleasure' purposes, and not whizz about all over the place ... try adding commuting to your MH policy and see what difference it makes to the price ... then you might be happy to set a mileage limit to reduce the premium!

If you find that your current insurance policy with a mileage limit is a pain in the bum then simply go with one that doesn't have this restriction ... simples!

 

[Wh05apk]

If you think adding commuting makes a difference, try adding business use, for a first timer, with a relatively high mileage the choice of insurers was caravan club only.

 

[Foxy1956]

We have a 6m PVC as our sole vehicle, no major problems, got to be careful about parking, in that you can't always park exactly where you would in a car, height barriers, underground/multi storey car parks etc.

Depreciation will obviously be more with a higher mileage, exactly how much is difficult to say but it wouldn't put me off if the vehicle was well looked after and serviced, not something that i worry about as the vehicle fulfills a purpose for us that we need.

We do the same with out 6.1 metre coach built. Parking can be a problem but we can usually park our overhang over grass in Cromer. We often go bird watching and use the van as a hide, it becomes a cafe or restaurant and can seat 10 at a pinch. It's our sole vehicle.

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[Dorwyn]

Are you seriously comparing a panel van to a camper/MH???? Really?!

Of course not, or I wouldn't have bought a new pvc, I'm just venting about silly insurance companies rules. Like C&CC insisting that they wouldn't cover me for 2 weeks while I sold my previous pvc, since they wouldn't insure 2 motorhomes at the same address (due to high value vehicles being an attractive target for thieves). Plus if I park it outside the house on the road, it would not be covered, but would be if it was parked half a mile or so away, since the policy was taken out with it being stated that it was kept on the drive. Nor would they cover me for a 2nd car since they don't do policies for a car and motorhome. I'm not sure about that one, mind. I'm sure they do. Perhaps they didn't want my business. Well they haven't got it! There has been other things over the years. And yes, I will change insurers next year, I'll look atSafeguard and NFU who sensibly don't limit mileage. But it would be expensive to dump the present one.

Any way, nit-pick away. It's not hard to prove me wrong! (Just a joke, by the way.)

 

[Minxy]

Any way, nit-pick away.

Nah, I'll leave your nits alone ... wouldn't want to upset your little buddies!

 

[RogerThat]

Hmmmm.....

So much to think about...

Thanks for the replies everyone

Having said that, I'm not convinced I'd like my PVC to be my only vehicle [but not for value/resale reasons]

What's the reason for that? (if you don't mind sharing?)

Might be worth finding out about commuting to work in it (insurance)

It's probably not much more? (ha! I'm making a wild assumption here!) It makes little-to-no difference on a car policy.

Have you considered a really small car that is road tax free

Nope, to be honest, I hadn't. Insurance is a big bug bear, I can only drive one vehicle at a time, paying for more two when I can only drive one seems bonkers to me.

That said, I like the post about "disposable cars" - I could even opt for third-party-only on something like that. Interesting... Not sure a little car would be big enough though, my dog is huge (literally, huge), she'd take up the entire rear passenger area of that Matiz

And this ladies and gentlemen, may well be the show stopper:

try adding business use

I'd not even thought of that... and it's a key requirement. I use my personal car for travel at work (with business mileage declared on my current policy) and I submit expenses claims for the mileage used, etc.

I'm wondering if this is as viable an idea as it sounded in my head yesterday

I might ring round a few insurance companies and sound them out re business mileage.

Thanks once again everyone, there was lots here that I hadn't even thought of

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[appydaze]

I MAY HAVE A SOLUTION but I had better not shout it....

.... the C word ...... yes , whisper it quietly a caravan...... there I've
said it, but for some people its the only option.

 

[Stroppy Bird]

I'd not even thought of that... and it's a key requirement. I use my personal car for travel at work (with business mileage declared on my current policy) and I submit expenses claims for the mileage used, etc.

I'm wondering if this is as viable an idea as it sounded in my head yesterday

I might ring round a few insurance companies and sound them out re business mileage.

Thanks once again everyone, there was lots here that I hadn't even thought of

My comfort insurance includes "use by the policy holder or the policy holder's spouse/domestic partner in person in connection with his or her business"

This used to be standard as part of their policy but I'm not sure if you have to request it now.