Hi from a newbie (1 Viewer)

[europeduo]

Hi,

I'm a newbie to this forum and motorhomes in general and could do with some advice. My wife and I are going to take a long trip to europe and will be buying a motorhome next month.

What should I look for when buying a motorhome? I'm seeing some great deals but the locations are usually down south (i'm just outside Glasgow). Even if I drive down to see the motorhomes what should I be looking for as I would only be able to see it for a short time?

Does anyone recommend going with a private seller (cheaper!) or a company (extended warrenty?)?

As it's such a big financial commitment I'm quite nervous and would appreciate any advice to stop me getting ripped off, but still get a good deal.

Thanks,

europeduo

 

[joemac]

First van.

Hi,

We have only had two vans in four years but it is the best thing we have done. So here goes with some ideas from a strictly non-expert. Look at a lot of vans to see the sort of layout that you like, the key things that we looked for were the beds and "lying about" layout. When we started we had a short list of "must have", "would be nice" and "wow!" things. A very good piece of advice We were given was to remember that we would be living in it more than driving it, and how often will you be driving on the right hand side of the road?

We probably looked at about 30 vans from different makers before we decided, and even then the van we picked was a slight compromise but ne we decided we could live with. Otherwise just pick one and try it!

Good luck


Joe

 

[Blisters]

Hi and welcome to the fun side of life.
To ansaw your questions its how long is a piece of string, however I would suggest if your planning on living in your M/H for some time consider a German van, Hymer are proberbly the biggest, but no better than other manufactours such as Eura Mobil, Hobby, burstner, Knaus, nishman and bishcof etc they should all be winterised (double floored) I would also recommend a tag axle to give you extra carring capacity. wether to buy private or trade, we'll thats a tough one, at the moment you can get some cracking deals on both, although trade is the safest (avoid Brownhills and oaktree to name but 2) another popular item on full timers wish list is a garage, the other thing is of course your budget, I spotted this the other day, don't know the dealer but seems a good buy
Link Removed
Considered it myself, I would be the wife want to keep ours because it shorter

good luck:thumb:

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[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Hi,

You say you are going to use it abroad, so once bought it is a bit immaterial from where up to a point.

As far as being able to 'play' with it before buying, there is a good motel not far from us £38 a night from memory and you could stay all day or as long as you want picking Andy's brains, he has been a MH owner for 20 years so he knows all the pitfalls and advantages.

Plus of course our service manager would be quite happy to go through any aspects that you have in mind.

Have a browse on our website and if you have any interest, just give us a call.

The main thing is to make sure the MH is (a) right for you and (B) everything works and is serviced properly. Wherever you buy, stay locally and have two or three days 'shakedown' so you can go back if you find any problems.

Good Luck

Peter

 

[vindiboy]

I think one of the most important things to consider when buying a Motorhome is storage,IE where will you stow everything and payload IE how much weight can you add to the van with all the things we Motorhomers carry.I hate things in the van which belong outside IE chairs, barbis,awnings, tables,hook up cables etc,so I opted for a van with a garage area.It also depends on how you intend to use your van IE short trips weekends or longer periods away, how much battery power does the van have, does it have solar panels to recharge your batteries, how large are the gas cylinders in the van, will it accommodate bigger bottles , or does it have refillable bottles or a gas tank, how many does it realistically sleep, does it have enough wardrobe space and clothes storage for the number of sleepers, what is the layout, seating arrangements ,how do you sit at the table to eat, when you get out of bed in the morning will there be any floor space if the beds are down,how much water do the tanks hold,does it have both gas and electric water heating, how big is the fridge,does it have an oven ,how many gas rings on the hob, does it have an electric cooking plate on the cooker, does it have a shower,do you have to stand in the loo to shower or is the shower area seperate,then there are types of motorhomes IE high tops, coach built ,A class ,lowline demountables etc.
It is a very good idea to buy several Motorhome mags IE 3ms Motorhome monthly etc to see the different types of vans out there and get a feel for prices, If you buy the wrong one for your requirements, van that is ,it can be a costly mistake, one a lot of us have made before,.You are lucky in that it is a buyers market at the moment so you should get a good deal and as you have no trade in you should do good, buying private can be good if you are sure the seller has had the van a long time ,they will be very happy to show you how everything works as it will have been their much loved pride and joy.
hope this has been of help to you ,others will give you lots of good advice also, take your time searching and look at lots of vans before you buy, the choice is vast.:thumb::thumb:

 

[europeduo]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. They were all very useful.

I've just bought a 2006 Swift Sundance 590RL. Great layout and storage, ideal for the 2 of us.

Thanks again,

europeduo

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