Buying our first motorhome (1 Viewer)

[Mich Hel and Rubes]

Hi,
I'm new to this site so am just finding my feet. We saw a Hymer 6 berth motorhome yesterday which we really loved. It's bitter than what we wanted as there is only two of us and our travelling Staffie but we instantly fell in love with it. We have asked for a new MOT to be carried out. There is a problem with two windows at the back. Both windows have cracked. They are resin Windows and the owner has glued them temporarily.

I'm just a bit concerned how the windows cracked. The owner couldn't explain and he seemed a very genuine guy. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you Mich

 

[Silver-Fox]

Providing the frames are ok I cant see much problem changing just the clear part of the window.

Gut feeling is very often the thing to go with

 

[Anthea M]

have you seen the sale section on the forum a nice Mobil for sale if the Hymer falls through.?

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[wigster]

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[CazPaul]

Instantly falling in love with a van, particularly your first buy can be a disaster.

There are loads of things to check, loads, you need to look for the list on here.

2 windows need replacing, that may just be the start, take someone with you if possible who knows a thing or 2 about vans.

Firstly, get on the floor and look underneath from the rear wheels backwards, check the condition carefully, Hymer use a wonderful wall construction and then let themselves down by using a cheap 2 bit chipboard floor covered in a cheap 2 bit black goo, I have seen loads of rotten floors, check carefully. Have you a link to the van or have you already bought it?

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[WynandJean]

Hello and welcome from West Midlands.



Wyn

 

[Jo662]

 

[Beacons]

Hi welcome to fun happy and safe travels.

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[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN.

 

[Falcon 269]

I'm not that experienced with motorhoming but as a relative newbie, I'd caution against going bigger than you need with your first MH. Consider how you plan to use it, how far you intend to travel and where you hope to go. The larger the vehicle, the less easy it is to get to some delightful places and the more you might have to pay in running costs and road tolls.

 

[mitzimad]

weve seen it here so many time people who fall in love with the first van they see and then realise theyve bought the wrong van or worse have been sold a money pit for god sake do some research theres a book available from this site that details the things to look at
a van that has two broken windows is a bad start
why would you want a six berth for two people?

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[Mickey1]

Mickey.

 

[Kingham]

 

[Mich Hel and Rubes]

Hi. Thanks for the advice. The van is in excellent condition albeit the two broken windows. We didn't plan on getting such a big one but we do have kids and grandchildren and we're hoping they could use it too. We are going to have a motorhome expert have a good look over it before we make our decision.

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[Navajo]

We have bought our first motorhome but in our case we looked for a large 2 birth, very selfishly to dissuade the the grandkids coming along on our relaxation, late GnT music nights!!
Looked far and wide for a motor with an automatic gear box. Very rare apparently? But found a fiat ducato 3ltr autotrail Navajo.
Very lovely to drive, even Liz my wife loves driving it. The previous owner lives in Thornton cleveleys. If there on here ...a big hello!

 

[Anthea M]

We have bought our first motorhome but in our case we looked for a large 2 birth, very selfishly to dissuade the the grandkids coming along on our relaxation, late GnT music nights!!
Looked far and wide for a motor with an automatic gear box. Very rare apparently? But found a fiat ducato 3ltr autotrail Navajo.
Very lovely to drive, even Liz my wife loves driving it. The previous owner lives in Thornton cleveleys. If there on here ...a big hello!

Congratulations and enjoy your travels!

 

[Navajo]

Congratulations and enjoy your travels!

Thank you XX

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[juwlz]

When we bought our first MH, every bit of advice we read said you won't choose the right one the first time.

We took the advice seriously, and it made us determined to prove it wrong, so we thought very carefully about what layout would suit us and our space and budget constraints BEFORE we started looking at anything with a view to actually buying, and looked at lots of different layouts at shows and showrooms. The Motorhomes we saw were all at prices way more than we could afford, but there's no charge for looking, and you can get a good idea of what might - and more importantly, what might NOT - work for you by evaluating what you see. We managed to prove the advice wrong, and did get it right - for us - first time. Since then, we've upgraded a couple of times, but all we've done is to get a "better" (gradually newer) version of the same basic layout that we originally decided was right for us. (As an aside, we're now on the lookout for something different, but because our needs have changed, not because we got anything wrong at the time of buying.)

Everybody's needs are different. For some a fixed bed is important. For others it's lots of "lounge" space. A (relatively) roomy washroom may or may not matter to you (whether you plan to wild camp or stay on sites with civilised showers may have a big bearing on this for you). If you plan to travel with others, does the 'van have enough belted seats, and a big enough dining table to eat together (and good enough kitchen facilities to prepare the food for everyone)? And is it easy to convert from "day" mode to "night" mode without having to kick everybody out of the MH to make room for you to rearrange the furniture and cushions? If there's just the two of you, that doesn't matter much, but if you have kids around and it's raining outside, you'll want it to be easy to make up the beds every night.

And don't forget you're going to have to drive it! Is it easy to drive, manoeuvre and park? Can you get the driving seat in a comfortable position for everybody who's going to drive it? A 6 berth will be more difficult to park at "real world" non-site places, like supermarkets and normal car parks. You won't be on sites (or even in the wild) all of the time. You'll need to buy food, and you'll want to have days out where the MH is your transport as well as your living accommodation.

It's exciting finding the right one for you, but as others have already said, beware of falling in love with a MH without thinking through what you want from it and how you'll use it.

Julie

P.S. We bought our current (2+2 berth) MH from a couple who'd deliberately bought something relatively inexpensive the previous year just to see if they liked motorhoming before buying something bigger and more expensive that they could go away in with the family. A wise move on their part! (It worked: they were glad they'd done it, and were selling so that they could buy something bigger.)

 

[EX51SSS]

 

[Jim]

Mich, don't buy it. (yet) You've fallen in love with the concept of motorhoming, and when you see your first van it can look to be the best thing ever. Hymer's make some of the best motorhomes and have a great reputation, but with a van, the layout is the most important aspect. I've known people spend over £100,000 on a van and in the first week away, grow to hate the layout. Changing a van in the same year you bought it can sting. You need to be absolutely sure that this is THE van for you. This will mean doing a bit of research.

You should start by reading the Motorhome Buyers Guide. Subscribers can download the guide for free The Definitive Guide to Buying the Right Motorhome at the Best Price have a good read, you'll learn a lot and likely save a LOT.

Meanwhile, welcome to the fun

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[Shrimp]

Be careful the first MH is not always the right MH, you need a lot of imagination to see how things will work whilst you are actually using it!

 

[Pia]

We did loads of research including looking in MHs at dealers and shows and also at different layouts on the internet.....and over several years. Eventually, the opportunity came for us to change from our little Eriba caravan to a MH. We knew what we definitely didn't want ....and some imperatives that we had to have....so off we went searching. When we saw and sat in our Adria Coral Supreme 680ST we totally fell in love with it ....the particular lay out we had not seen either on the net or on any other MH....but for us it is totally perfect. Can't imagine ever wanting to sell our Harvey. We've been abroad for 2 months earlier in the year and had lots of days and weekends out here at home and are never more happy than when we are travelling in Harvey.....being at home is a bit of a drag these days....freedom and contentment .....is.....Harvey....so good luck in your search

 

[TerryL]

We researched for around 18 months, visiting shows etc. and making checklists for each one we looked at. This included hiring what we thought we'd like to see if motorhoming suited us (yes!). That was a good move because it instantly removed most of the "possibles" 'cos of the layout. Found what we thought was ideal and managed to hire one exactly the same - within 2 days we knew it was the one.

Had some good luck finding our van, but nearly 9 years later we know we got the right one. We still go to the shows and have a look round but even the latest model of ours doesn't attract us and we've seen nothing else. Having done around 85000 miles all over Europe as well as 4 trips to Morocco we're sure we made the right decision.

My point? Do your research, hire if you can but DON'T rush into it - the first one you "fall in love" with all too often ends up being sold within 12 months. If you're still unsure, buy a cheapie and get some experience first; a good one will hold it's price.

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[Viv Danks]

Firstly Welcome

We have also just bought our first Motorhome, This was after 18 months of trying / renting different vans - making a list of what we liked / hated and did not need. This then came down to a NEED - WANT - NO you cant have a Sat Dish (wife to me). Then we went to websites and drilled down to a list of vans that were possibles. Then we went to the MH show in the NEC in Oct and went through each one until we settled on a top 3 - Finally we got the dealers to haggle for our business - result is a van that fits our needs, best price with show offer, happy wife so happy me. If you were going for previously owned then this process (inc NEC) lets you see them all in one place any then you just need to look for the best fit via the power of Google. We almost fell for the first Hymer we saw but thanks to a dismissive salesman (did not want to talk to the wife - who is the mechanical engineer) we went to the list method.

Hope this helps.......

 

[beltsandbraces]

We have owned our first van for 4 months now and it was love at first sight although more money than I wanted to spend, did no home work (unlike me) looked at 2 vans prior to the one we bought, all at the same dealer. 1st one too cramped, 2nd one too dated, then we where given the keys to what is now named (Ronnie) and we just looked at each other and instantly new. 6 berth for me the wife and the dog, left having put down the deposit and 4 months on and a 1000+ miles (no regrets)