Sharing A Van

Sep 11, 2020
285
248
Aboyne
Funster No
75,732
MH
Apache 634
Exp
Since 2020
For people yet to retire, does anyone have any views or experiences of sharing a van with another couple? We have our own van, but I've often wondered if sharing the purchase and maintenance costs in exchange for needing to negotiate over usage might work.

Has anyone done this?

d
 
Not personally done it (or would want to) but given that the average motorhome is underused (look at average miles - very low generally) then I would have thought it would work for working people. Probably for a lot of retired folk who don't use them a lot either.

It would take finding the right people to share with though.
 
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For people yet to retire, does anyone have any views or experiences of sharing a van with another couple? We have our own van, but I've often wondered if sharing the purchase and maintenance costs in exchange for needing to negotiate over usage might work.

Has anyone done this?

d
Not done it personally, but boat sharing is quite common. The main issues seem to be around deciding who gets to use it when and for how long and reaching agreements on what upgrades to make and maintenance to carry out.

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I think it would lead to arguments, one couple goes away and 2 windows leak etc, other couple could say you pay to mend as you shouldn’t have driven in torrential rain etc.
Or you’ve used it more than us you need to pay more.

Arguments if both couples want to use in the same weeks.

Scratches and marks on furniture/upholstery etc, they did that not us, stinking cassette “ They not cleaned it out properly dirty bleeders”
 
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I have done it very successfully in the past but that was when my much better half and I were still working full time. We shared with very good friends who liked to use it in school holidays. Now we are retired it wouldn't suit us.
 
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We shared a glider in the past with the right people it can work very well with the wrong people it could be a nightmare. As others have said it needs organising who is going to have it and when and I would suggest a written agreement and open discussion about things that might go wrong like one couple totalling it in an accident the week before the other couple are booked on a ferry!.
 
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Every heard of ‘gobooney’?

A new ‘sharing economy’ outfit, think airbnb for campers. They keep pestering me to list my van.

Might be another way for you to own and reduce your cost of ownership?
 
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Not something we would consider, for the reason mentioned byBroken Link Removed and Jev88 above.

And, we have to reserve everything in advance as we can only realistically travel in schools holidays, and if we don't, there is no space available for us for where we want to go. If we have got five hundred quids worth of reservation deposits, we would be properly in the plop if we got a plaintive phone call from Andalusia, "sorry, we've totalled it".

No, it would cause tears in the family. Including mine! I love our bus!
 
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Absolutely not. For all the reasons given above. There would always be nagging concerns and doubts. You need to be rather thick-skinned and tolerant.

I don't even like hotel rooms and their beds that have been "shared" with hundreds of other people whose hygiene and habits are unknown to me.
 
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I know us retirees do have the advantage of being spontaneous users of MH's but spontanaity also extends to just weekend's away. Sharing would severly curtail pleasing yourself when you used the van. Also the kerfuffle of changing all their things to your things before using "your" van would certainly put me off. We just transfer things from our home fridge to the van fridge and away we go, knowing everything is in the van as we want it.
However, I do appreciate the costs involved in keeping a van for occasional use only.
Sue
 
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Alternatively, why fork out?

Rental, when you want a van can look expensive, but compared to the costs of a years depreciation, insurance, breakdown, maintenance and ‘upgrading’ we inevitably do to our own bus can make it seem a complete bargain!
 
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Not personally done it (or would want to) but given that the average motorhome is underused (look at average miles - very low generally) then I would have thought it would work for working people. Probably for a lot of retired folk who don't use them a lot either.

It would take finding the right people to share with though.
I think you'll find that most retired owners use their vans more than those that are not.
 
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We met a couple of couples a few years ago, I think they were neighbours and shared the van as well, sometimes all 4 sometimes just one couple, it wasn't a big van either :unsure:
 
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However decent they may be I don't think any two people look after stuff (or not) to the same level or with the same priority of importance.
Besides, my m/h is arranged and kitted out with things personal/familiar/nostalgic to me and I'd find it a chore in having to clear them out when the sharer was using it.
 
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I shared one with my brother in law it got awkward as we ended up wanting to use it at same time, I bought him out and he got a caravan. It did help sharing the costs but got when things went wrong we ended up blaming each other
 
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