I love MHs but, the price!! (1 Viewer)

[Julie and Charles]

What a super weekend.
Loved meeting Terry L on the MHF stand. No we didn't buy it Terry.
Lots of beautiful MH in this show also, lots of Tat.
Had second viewings of a few vans, looked closely at the quality of the build. Rejected a few on this alone. Surely I'm not the only person that wants good quality in exchange for extortionate amounts of cash.
The pre loved at the show had never been loved, apart from, a very good Auto sleeper Topaz on the loudhams stand. Immaculate throughout, 3 years old but, 45k!!!!
How!!!!!!!
Until I saw the price I was wanting to buy it. My hubby said, guess the price. I said 35k. I woke to the familiar scent of smelling salts, these are a handy addition to our MH viewing days out.
Wow these things are so expensive, more than the price of our last house.
We had a great day, climbing in and out of everything, learning what we can get for our monet, in our case nothing! We will continue looking and saving, I hope we manage to get one in spring. I'm chomping at the bit to get touring.
Lovely to meet some of you.
Bye for now
Julie

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Unfortunately motorhomes are expensive things and £35 - 40k for new or nearly new really is the bottom end of the market so at that price point you will be compromising on something, often build quality as you've discovered for yourself. You need to spend well into 6 figures to get to the real top end.

If you can't find anything you'd be happy to buy on budget and in the 1-3 year old range then I'd suggest looking older but higher quality. A 10 year old Hymer for example will usually be a far better van all round than a 2 year old (insert any budget brand here, I always get abuse when I suggest one ) model at a similar price.

 

[Cat53]

Oh! I see you are in Lincolnshire. Our first MH cost us £3500. Took us to Poland and back. Was very comfortable...but leaky. But it was a great way to try out Motorhoming to see if we could manage and if we still enjoyed the 'camping' lifestyle.

Good luck with your search.

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[Deleted member 29692]

Here you go if you need inspiration

Broken Link Removed

No I haven't got one. I wish though

 

[CazPaul]

I,m glad you've learnt that quickly.

But remember you can have just as a good a time in a £7000 DIY converted van than in a £100,000.00 van. They are only bits of metal/GRP after all.

Don't overstretch yourself financially.

 

[Julie and Charles]

I,m glad you've learnt that quickly.

But remember you can have just as a good a time in a £7000 DIY converted van than in a £100,000.00 van. They are only bits of metal/GRP after all.

Don't overstretch yourself financially.

The money is our biggest obstacle, as in, we hate debt, we see no point in borrowing too much as this will ruin our enjoyment.
I guess it's back to looking at the classified sections every time I brew up.
Fingers crossed we will find one. Failing that, I hope summer 2018 has d better camping weather than 17.

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[Just smiffy]

The pre loved at the show had never been loved, apart from, a very good Auto sleeper Topaz on the loudhams stand. Immaculate throughout, 3 years old but, 45k!!!!
How!!!!!!!

The previous owners were too busy being out and about in their van enjoying what it is supposed to do, taking you to lots of lovely places in comfort.... I would rather a van like that knowing it’s been doing it’s job then sitting in a garage being fixed all the time because it’s not being used.... please don’t take this as a dig at you because it’s not, it’s just that sometimes there are bad reasons why a Motorhome has low mileage and sometimes it’s a case of driving it around Europe or driving it to Spain and living in it for 8mths...

And besides 45k is just been run in...

Happy hunting, the perfect Motorhome is all about compromising...

 

[jongood]

You cant go too far wrong with a 2nd hand hymer, just have a really good look at it and drive it.

I gave the same advice to relatives who bought a decent 5 year old one used it for 5 years without any major expenditure* and then sold it for more or less the same price to buy a new Hymer.

* the only issue they had was when somebody's car parked without a properly applied handbrake crashed into it.

45k is not an issue, the base vehicles regularly do 200k+ I would be far more concerned about a low mileage one because it could well have been lived in.

Jon

 

[funflair]

Before we all go down the 45k is just run in route if you read the OP I think it is 45k £ not miles that is the issue.

Martin

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[Lenny HB]

Agree with @NickNic a lot of the budget ones aren't worth wasting your money on. I agree with others about second hand Hymers. If you really want a new van and don't mind a basic one take a look at Carado & Sunlight, budget vans built by the Hymer group. Don't have pay silly UK prices import one yourself from Belgium or Germany. We are on our 3rd new Hymer all self imported and have saved a fortune on them.
Agree with you about debt & borrowing, if we can't afford it we wait until we have saved up and can, don't believe in borrowing for cars & Motorhomes.

 

[Phillybarbour]

As said by others if you buy a good used van around 3-5 years and look after it you will loose very little money on it come the time you sell.

Build in a little interest if you borrow and it's still a good choice compared with conventional holidays given interest rates are so low.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Hi,

I think you may need to keep looking. Consider a self build or a second hand. A customer of mine has a 1986 Motorhome he bought for £4,000. They are Away every weekend, campsites or freecamping.

We have only ever bought one new motorhome, Sold it 18 months after we bought it for what we paid for it (less our added extras). But we bought it from a dealer at a very good price. They are like rocking horse so easy to re-sell.

But the three used ones, we got a cracking prices.

As an Example, a 17 month old Frankia, £117,000 new, we bought for £59,750. And they can be bought now for around £35,000.

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[JeanLuc]

My recommendation would be to buy a well cared for older German van. We have had our Hymer for 10 years now and it is still in good condition. Admittedly it was just 4 years old when we bought it so an equivalent today would still be rather more than you want to pay. However, there are loads of 10-15 year-old Hymers about if you take your time and choose carefully. They will give many more years of excellent service - just note the number of early 'brown and tan' Hymers still running the roads of Europe and they were built in the 80s and early 90s.
Other makes to consider are Euramobil, Knaus, Weinsberg, Frankia, Dethleffs and Burstner, but my money would be on a Hymer.

 

[two]

Market forces dictate the prices (a bit like football) but you don't have to start with 'high quality' (which is mainly 'bling').
Get to know what type you want and focus on those. You will soon be able to value them yourself. You may find someone with a well-used van who is giving up. Upholstery can be changed quite easily, it's the functioning bits that matter more. If it's been serviced properly and looks as if it's been treated well (nothing hanging off) I'd start cheap and save the 'better' vans for later. It's what you do with them that matters, much more than what they are.
I think the European vans are better built than UK ones (cannot understand why) but their layouts are better suited to the their climate (less need to provide shelter form foul weather).
Best of luck with your quest.

 

[Richard n Ann]

My concern with these older vans is that underneath all the quality German or French habitation stuff is still an aging Sevel van..
In my opinion it's better to buy a more affordable budget brand for the same money and be assured of the Sevel's reliability and longevity.

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[Northernraider]

The previous owners were too busy being out and about in their van enjoying what it is supposed to do, taking you to lots of lovely places in comfort.... I would rather a van like that knowing it’s been doing it’s job then sitting in a garage being fixed all the time because it’s not being used.... please don’t take this as a dig at you because it’s not, it’s just that sometimes there are bad reasons why a Motorhome has low mileage and sometimes it’s a case of driving it around Europe or driving it to Spain and living in it for 8mths...

And besides 45k is just been run in...

Happy hunting, the perfect Motorhome is all about compromising...

I thought 45k was the price not the mileage

 

[Just smiffy]

I thought 45k was the price not the mileage

Last night .....

 

[Northernraider]

My concern with these older vans is that underneath all the quality German or French habitation stuff is still an aging Sevel van..
In my opinion it's better to buy a more affordable budget brand for the same money and be assured of the Sevel's reliability and longevity.

I can say that under my 9 yr old frankia you could eat your dinner off it, I viewed a 4 year old van with a third of the mileage mine has and underside was poor condition

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[Jands]

Basic rules,
Know how much you can afford, no point in spending too much and not being able to use it.
Make a list of "must haves"
Now look at what you can get.
Average mileage for age is good as it's being used not left sitting around.
I think newer budget is better than older luxury
Remember everything inside is replaceable, cooker, seat covers, mattresses etc.
Important bits are the engine and wheels, chasis and body, look for wear damage noise moisture etc.
Once out and about in the summer you will spend most of your time sitting on foldable canvas chairs anyway.
Good hunting.

 

[tacr2man]

Coat already on but dont discount American offerings at the smaller end for bang for your buck

 

[Julie and Charles]

I thought 45k was the price not the mileage

That's right, the price.
You can tell it was our first MH show, we are shocked at the prices.
It wasn't just us though, we spent time talking to people who were kind enough to point things out as they looked for their 5thMH.
Everyone was walking round stating how overpriced they were.
I think we will take on the majority of the advice here and look and focus on pre loved, learn what we can expect from our budget.
Many thanks for all your valuable advice funsters.
Julie

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[duffs]

We cannot afford the high priced ones, I'm really hoping that when we are looking there is a Hymer out there with our name on it around 9-13k, keeping back 3k for emergencies as suggested on here.

But i'm still very excitable just looking at them all

 

[Rob and Val]

@Julie and Charles, Have you considered a bespoke conversion? You could buy a very decent second-hand van for about £10,000 and get a professional company to convert it to exactly how you want it. Not sure of the conversion costs but I'm sure someone on here will know.

 

[Julie and Charles]

We cannot afford the high priced ones, I'm really hoping that when we are looking there is a Hymer out there with our name on it around 9-13k, keeping back 3k for emergencies as suggested on here.

But i'm still very excitable just looking at them all

Me too.
This group has directed us towards Hymer too, I've had a quick look on line this morning however, I've noticed that they are very wide. 3 meters on some. I need to find a slimmer model. This MH will have to be a car replacement too, we can't afford two vehicles.
So it's looking like a Hymer research day. *jumps up and down with excitement *

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[funflair]

Me too.
This group has directed us towards Hymer too, I've had a quick look on line this morning however, I've noticed that they are very wide. 3 meters on some. I need to find a slimmer model. This MH will have to be a car replacement too, we can't afford two vehicles.
So it's looking like a Hymer research day. *jumps up and down with excitement *

Everybody wants a Hymer which just keeps pushing the price up "other well built vans are available" the width will be around 2.3 metres which won't be 3 metres even with the wing mirrors, height around 3 metres though.

Martin

 

[Lenny HB]

Me too.
This group has directed us towards Hymer too, I've had a quick look on line this morning however, I've noticed that they are very wide. 3 meters on some. I need to find a slimmer model. This MH will have to be a car replacement too, we can't afford two vehicles.
So it's looking like a Hymer research day. *jumps up and down with excitement *

Think you need to go to Specsavers 3m really. 3m would be ilegal on European roads.
Older Hymers were 2.27m wide, 2007 on most are 2.35m wide, new models the Exsis(from 2011), the Dynamic Line and the ML are 2.22m wide, the older Exsis on the Ford chassis and the Van on a Ford are 2.22m wide.

 

[MC 55 FUN]

That's right, the price.
You can tell it was our first MH show, we are shocked at the prices.
It wasn't just us though, we spent time talking to people who were kind enough to point things out as they looked for their 5thMH.
Everyone was walking round stating how overpriced they were.
I think we will take on the majority of the advice here and look and focus on pre loved, learn what we can expect from our budget.
Many thanks for all your valuable advice funsters.
Julie

Another consideration to bear in mind is to think how much use you'll make of a Moho, I'd suggest most folk that are still working full time get, say , 5 weeks annual leave in addition to bank holidays & weekends, this equates to a maximum of 147 days use per year, which soon reduces if, for example, alternative holidays are taken, illness prevents use, or any number of other factors, such as simply wanting to do something else.

Example : A £40k Moho will cost you £272 + fuel, v.e.d. insurance, site fees etc, per day of use in the first year if used for a maximum of 147 days, this rises to £400 + per day for just 100 days use in the first year, of course the cost reduces the longer the Moho is owned & used & you do own a gradually depreciating asset.

In short, Moho ownership is a joy to many, however a not inexpensive lifestyle choice i.m.o.

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[JeanLuc]

My concern with these older vans is that underneath all the quality German or French habitation stuff is still an aging Sevel van..

Or in the case of my Hymer, a Mercedes Sprinter van. These routinely cover 250,000 miles which is more than most motorhomes will get near.
Having said that, the Ducato has a good reputation as a solid workhorse.

 

[duffs]

Can I ask about the Pilote Galaxies, similar to Hymers in shape.

And also the hymers with the luton look, are they as good as the A class Hymers please?

 

[tonyidle]

Or in the case of my Hymer, a Mercedes Sprinter van. These routinely cover 250,000 miles which is more than most motorhomes will get near.
Having said that, the Ducato has a good reputation as a solid workhorse.

My last van was a Tabbert FFB - A 6M A class. It needed its first minor chassis welding at 20 years old. It spent its first 10 years being lived in close to a beach which expained the minor chassis rot. The welding cost me £50 & was done by my MoT garage. It was Fiat-based. My current van is 2005 Hymer with no chassis corrosion.