How much!!!???

D

David72

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I’m currently thinking about buying a first MH – too old for camper vans now. The budget is up to £20000, but having doubts about what you can get for that. I could go up to £30000, although I’m not sure how I would justify that to the missus. So I have two questions.
  • What is the difference between a £20000 and a £30000 motorhome – a two birth, nothing fancy? Is it worth paying 50% more? There are a lot for sale around £20000 that are over 15 years old. I’m guessing that the Nissan Primera I was driving 15 years ago went to the scrapyard long ago. Is an mh of that age a safe buy assuming I had an inspection?
  • Depreciation – clearly an mh is a depreciating asset, but roughly how much does a well-cared for mh depreciate? (yes I know the obvious answer is “how long is a piece of string?”) My big worry would be rapidly losing a huge chunk of the cash.
 
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We went for new as we couldn't justify the silly second hand prices. Ours has deprecated very slowly, they say cars lose half their value in 3 years. Our van is 5 now and because new ones have gone up, it's not worth much less than we paid for it.

w2f
 
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As you have mentioned yourself - almost impossible to offer useful advice.
Apart from.......... consider a cheaper MH and budget a chunk of cash to upgrade or replace things the way you want them after you have used it a few times? I couldn't justify £20K+ so went for a solid, older, used MH and reserved £2K to sort faults I knew it would have (front suspension, water heater, fridge gas parts, batteries, reversing camera and LED lighting).
 
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Hi, we have just gone through the same process, we started with a £25k budget and quickly realised we would have to up it to get a few more luxuries. We then looked at a 2012 Bailey 745 which seemed to have everything we wanted, fixed bed which was normal height as we didn’t want to climb to get in, separate shower and full size cooker. We went to the show at NEC this month and met a lovey couple who were sat in a Bailey who gave us really good advice as they were on their third. We now knew that Bailey listened to their customers and upgraded the Van in 2014 with coolant central heating instead of blown air which would have possibly caused me breathing problems. We therefor found a good low mileage 2014 745 which was going in for part exchange and managed to acquire it for £34k, £9k above our original budget but better resell value.
 
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David72 said:
Depreciation – clearly an mh is a depreciating asset, but roughly how much does a well-cared for mh depreciate? (yes I know the obvious answer is “how long is a piece of string?”) My big worry would be rapidly losing a huge chunk of the cash.
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I bought a 2000 motorhome 5 years ago for £15k, it was a reasonable price at the time, there was another that I just missed at £16.5k. All the others (of the same make) I've seen for sale since have been £17 -£23k, so don't assume deprecation.

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Our first MH cost about £5,000 and was already 30 years old (a HymerCamp 64). It was great and did us proud for 3 years.

We've upgraded to a 23 year old (~1996) Hymer E700 class A. It's in excellent condition and many parts of the engine are still shiny (only ~60,000KM). That cost us £20,000 and will, I hope, do us for many a year.

Some say that the mid-1990's to mid-2000's Hymers are the best made and I would always recommend looking at one at your budget (and other makes). There are loads of layouts to choose from.

Don't be scared of the age. If it's been looked after then it'll have many years left, and depreciation is very slow, even at that age. Yes, put aside money to fix problems and get things working the way you want (such as solar panels). But this is true of any age van (even brand new!).

£20,000 would get you a nice MH with plenty of choice. Go to a second hand MH dealer with loads of stock and go and sit in them all. It'll really help. Oh, and pay attention to payload and if you have a C1 on your licence.
 
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I would be looking for a private sale secondhand high-end quality e.g. German quality at 5-10 years old and reserve £2K as Jev above says. Then you should find something within your higher £30K budget, which will not cost much in depreciation nor repairs if the mechanical side has been serviced.

I have posted before that we bought privately a N&B Arto('A' Class) at 6 years-old and 16,500 miles 10 years ago for £27.5K, and I doubt our depreciation has been much more than £5K, and repairs other than consumables very little(£1,000?), because of quality build.

Now you might have to go for an older MH than that at that sort of price, but they are there, and the quality ones last - ours has. So we have had 10 years for approx. £6,000 capital cost + running costs which are about the same for all MHs.

I think there is not a British-built one I would buy at that sort of age.

Of course there are lots of MHs at £20K incl. older Hymers etc. and some very dubious lower-quality. I would if swapping now spend the extra for quality, as it probably would save you money.

Geoff
 
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NorthernSands said:
Our first MH cost about £5,000 and was already 30 years old (a HymerCamp 64). It was great and did us proud for 3 years.

We've upgraded to a 23 year old (~1996) Hymer E700 class A. It's in excellent condition and many parts of the engine are still shiny (only ~60,000KM). That cost us £20,000 and will, I hope, do us for many a year.

Some say that the mid-1990's to mid-2000's Hymers are the best made and I would always recommend looking at one at your budget (and other makes). There are loads of layouts to choose from.

Don't be scared of the age. If it's been looked after then it'll have many years left, and depreciation is very slow, even at that age. Yes, put aside money to fix problems and get things working the way you want (such as solar panels). But this is true of any age van (even brand new!).

£20,000 would get you a nice MH with plenty of choice. Go to a second hand MH dealer with loads of stock and go and sit in them all. It'll really help. Oh, and pay attention to payload and if you have a C1 on your licence.
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Can you get parts ok for a 25 year old van?
That would be my concern, all the commercial variants are long gone
 
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Are first mh cost £37000 kept for 3 years then traded for new got £34000 for it

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Yes, I've looked for parts and all available. Can still get parts for the 1986 Ducato!

The A-Class means little to no original body panels are required, and several manufacturers used the same base van and just changed badges, so there really are loads of parts available. Truly not a problem nor concern.

Our engine is also the older mechanical injection pump type. It might be less refined and less powerful, but far less to go wrong and will last for a very long time if serviced regularly.
 
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Oh, and in Europe you'll still see the commercial variants of older Ducatos and so on still on the road .
 
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Don't suppose it will be of much interest to the vast bulk of Funsters but nearly 12 years ago I bought a 1987 Hymer 660S for £13,000.

For the last few years I have lived in it fulltime.

I have done 80,000 kms (ish) in it.

Slow and steady... a joy to own and use.

I have no idea what I could sell it for because it quite simply is NOT FOR SALE.

20190812_180053.jpg



JJ :cool:
 
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JJ said:
Don't suppose it will be of much interest to the vast bulk of Funsters but nearly 12 years ago I bought a 1987 Hymer 660S for £13,000.

For the last few years I have lived in it fulltime.

I have done 80,000 kms (ish) in it.

Slow and steady... a joy to own and use.

I have no idea what I could sell it for because it quite simply is NOT FOR SALE.

View attachment 342174


JJ :cool:
Click to expand...
Those old Merc Hymers are awesome and built to last. I'd want one if travelling far and wide.
 
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20 to 30K means you'll get a great van no doubt. You just need to be a little careful with your selection. Take a look at the Buyers Guide...Subscribers can download The Motorhome Buyers Guide for Free The Definitive Guide to Buying the Right Motorhome at the Best Price (y)

Any questions at all about prospective purchases just ask away. Best of luck, (y)

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I sold a 2004 Swift Kontiki for £24,000 and it was immaculate, it had £12,500 of extras on, OK they were used e.g. BBQ point, external shower and 240v but these things are a horrendous price to have a dealer fit like £399 for just the shower. My buyer got a fantastic bargain and you could to if you take your time, make a wish list of things you would like on your perfect Motorhome and then look around and find the best match, there will always be a little compromise but if for example you wanted a gaslow system and found a van with it already fitted, that is a £799 value to you.

As people know my van was only used once a year, it was kept dehumidified and that kept the interior immaculate, I guess also 6 weeks in the heat in France helped to ensure if there were any damp bits after winter they fully dried out but I never saw any. All I would say is look at detail, that lets you know if someone has looked after it, you could eat your lunch off my engine it was so clean, find an OCD seller ??

Good luck! I have just been through the same process although bought new, patience has delivered the most perfect Motorhome for our current needs.
 
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There are many very good Hymers around between £25k & £30k, coachbuilt and smaller A class... even a 12 year old Exsis will have a reversing camera and many will have covered far less the 50k miles.

8 year old looked after Hymer Vans sell for a little less than £30k are fitted with a few nice extras such as awnings, cruise control and reversing cameras and many have covered less than 25k miles.

Don't be too worried looking at vans at this price as there'll be room to haggle and overtime they'll cost you less in terms of maintenance.

Vans like this are always sought after on the preloved market so have strong residual value which with the new VED rates could become even stronger.

Keep on top of routine DIY stuff such as lubricating window seals, the odd squirt of WD40 here and there, a bit of hinge tightening and cleaning the waste water tank & pipes plus have proper gas and a reputable hab' checks and it'll easily give another ten years of good service.

Good luck!
 
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we have a 1986 hymer that we ran for ten years now handed to a family he is still running well in all the years he has cost me about £1500 including a respray as for other parts costs were next to nothing so in my honest opinion nothing wrong with buying good old bus just care and attention in running as for newer vans we upgrade to an autotrail worst thing we ever did nothing but problems damp gearbox problems never again lost a lot of money on that deal look for a good reliable older van.......................Ian
 
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Our experience may help. There's lots of good advice on this site and I'd certainly listen to most of it.
We bought a second hand Bailey for £30k odd from a dealer. Nothing wrong with the van except that, being newbies, we didn't realise what we needed rather than what we thought we wanted.
If I had my time again, I'd go for a Hymer at around £25k and have about £10k in hand to upgrade, repair and replace. I'd not buy a new van but this is very much a personal view.
We have learned to cope with any shortcomings and have a great time. Good luck and enjoy.
 
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A lot of MHs, especially British seemed to get a lot more modern looking around 2012, gone are the horrid soft furnishings and a bit more technology added too.

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David72 said:
I’m currently thinking about buying a first MH – too old for camper vans now. The budget is up to £20000, but having doubts about what you can get for that. I could go up to £30000, although I’m not sure how I would justify that to the missus. So I have two questions.
  • What is the difference between a £20000 and a £30000 motorhome – a two birth, nothing fancy? Is it worth paying 50% more? There are a lot for sale around £20000 that are over 15 years old. I’m guessing that the Nissan Primera I was driving 15 years ago went to the scrapyard long ago. Is an mh of that age a safe buy assuming I had an inspection?
  • Depreciation – clearly an mh is a depreciating asset, but roughly how much does a well-cared for mh depreciate? (yes I know the obvious answer is “how long is a piece of string?”) My big worry would be rapidly losing a huge chunk of the cash.
Click to expand...
I was very impressed when we bought our current m/h and the dealer gave me what we paid, to the penny, for our trade in after about 8 years of usage!

Wyn
 
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Having lived in France for 16 years I can no longer understand this obsession with depreciation. Depreciation only matters when you want to sell and if you don't sell it dos not matter.

Buy whatever you want and learn to live with your choice. Think before you spend your money and get it right in the first place.
 
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I had a budget of up to £30,000 and after looking at overpriced old vans in dealers I decided to buy a Brand new white van for £14500 and had it professionally converted to 2 berth with diesel heating/cooking,shower ,toilet Lagun table, WiFi!fresh and grey water tanks, for £15000, so brand new motorhome for less than £30,000, we love it to bits. It took a while to be converted but it’s as good as any proprietary panel van conversion costing £48000 or more.
 
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JJ said:
Don't suppose it will be of much interest to the vast bulk of Funsters but nearly 12 years ago I bought a 1987 Hymer 660S for £13,000.

For the last few years I have lived in it fulltime.

I have done 80,000 kms (ish) in it.

Slow and steady... a joy to own and use.

I have no idea what I could sell it for because it quite simply is NOT FOR SALE.

View attachment 342174


JJ :cool:
Click to expand...
We just sold our 1996 Mercedes based Hymer for 25% more than we paid for it in 2014, let’s hope our next yet to be found Hymer looks after our precious pennies as well.
 
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I love it and I have the brackets at the rear where bench sits/bed is and also 1 at the front so the cabin seats swivel around to it. So versatile and solid looking
 
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Otter Spotter said:
I love it and I have the brackets at the rear where bench sits/bed is and also 1 at the front so the cabin seats swivel around to it. So versatile and solid looking
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...and easy to move out of the way if you forget the HP sauce and need to get to the fridge.
Also doesn't require you to be a contortionist to get from front to back.
You didn't get it made by van bodies in Morecambe by any chance did you?

Graydo
 
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There are lots of older Hymers for sale on The Hymermarket on FB at very reasonable prices apparently they are very good vans. Take a look.?
 
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Graydo said:
...and easy to move out of the way if you forget the HP sauce and need to get to the fridge.
Also doesn't require you to be a contortionist to get from front to back.
You didn't get it made by van bodies in Morecambe by any chance did you?

Graydo
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No Buscon ltd in Burnley, but I found the table and asked them to fit. Agreed they are great, you are not knocking stuck off the table when you try to get out from the table.
 
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