Is buying an ex hire vehicle a good idea (1 Viewer)

[chenderson1965]

Hi.

My wife and I are looking to buy our first motorhome. We’ve done lots of research and narrowed down our criteria including spending time at our local dealer looking at different options and configurations etc. I think we know what we want and have a pretty reasonable idea of the market and pricing.

We have found a dealer called Goodmans in Waltham Abbey who have a range of 2018 and 2019 ex rental Sunlight and Dethleffs vehicles for sale at what appear to be very attractive prices. The 2018 vehicles have around 15,000-20,000 miles and the 2019 vehicles around 10,000-13000 miles. They come with a two year guarantee (I haven’t seen the details of this yet and clearly that would be something to look at very closely). They also say that any damage internally or externally which you find after they have been retired from the rental fleet they will repair or replace for free.

I’m wondering what the downsides of buying an ex hire vehicle might be. If it were a car I would worry about it having been thrashed but for a motorhome I guess that’s a bit less of a risk (although I guess you can assume that the miles will have been “harder miles“ than a privately owned vehicle). I guess they may also be bits of damage either internally or externally but, as I said, they say that they will put anything like that right at no cost.

Does anybody have experience of buying an ex hire vehicle? I’d obviously be particularly interested to hear if anyone out there has bought expire from Goodmans and what your experiences were.

What else should I be looking out for when checking out an ex hire vehicle? Even though it’s coming from a dealer with a warranty I think I’m inclined to pay for an AA mechanical inspection. What other risks or issues might there be that I need to look out for?

Thanks a lot.

Chris

 

[pagey]

What does that mean please?

Euro 6 with a dpf filter need at times to be driven at mid range to high revs to
Clean the filter known as regeneration

 

[pagey]

Moving on this thread I bought mine from goodmans when it was 6 months old back in 2017 with 7000 odd miles ,it has been perfect not a problem at all its just had its 4th damp check with very low readings I would buy an ex rental again but if you don't know the pitfalls of motorhomes take a knowledgeable person with you

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[gpat]

Can you tell me any more about this. I’ve got a number of quotes and never been asked this question. Where/how did you come across this?

Thanks

I am a little sceptical about whether this is true. Is being an ex hire vehicle recorded for purpose of HPI? I don't think so

The previous owner will be shown on the V5 though

However if the insurer doesn't ask the question you have no obligation to tell them. The question may be hidden in "Has the vehicle been used for racing or reward" in which case you should declare it but I wouldnt expect any issue

I would buy an ex hire one if the price was right. The Sunlights and Sunlivings (Adria) are very sturdy

Buy a new mattress (which we do anyway)

 

[Gromett]

The one thing I would say because I lost £2500 in transaction of one at Justgo on a 2020 T590 is
when you go and view an ex fleet, they will put pressure on by saying other buyers are coming to view, make sure you get the reg number on the motorhome your looking at because if you go back to view again they all look the same and if you are of my age it can be very confusing.
i stupidly put payment down and due to financial circumstances had to pull out lost the money.
Also it seems unfair that even when you put money down they can still hire the vehicle out till you can collect it. Can anyone tell me if this is legal? Because when I went to view the second time the table was badly stained, cupboards stuck and spice rack looked worn. I rejected this vehicle but they still held me to contract. Make sure you are diligent when first you view check everything over and make sure you take reg number.

Worth reading these.

Can I claim back a non-refundable deposit? - Which?

Only in certain circumstances can a business keep your deposit or advance payments, or ask you to pay a cancellation charge.

www.which.co.uk

And from the Governments site directly.

Cancelling goods or services

www.gov.uk

Seems to me that this is an unfair contract term and would be overthrown by a small claims court.

The business continued to earn revenue on the van after you placed the deposit.
The business is able to sell the van for the same price.

Their losses are practically none existent.

A reasonable fee of say £25 or even £50 to cover the hassle would seem reasonable to me.

I would suggest talking to a local solicitor, a lot do free surgeries when you can get 5 minutes or so for them to have a quick look and give initial advice.

I suspect, the small claims court would be the direct route after giving the company enough notice and making clear what your next steps would be and on what grounds.

Please NOTE: I am not a Lawyer, but have been through small claims court a few times on both sides of the fence. As a representative of a company, the court was very much on the customers side and nailed me pretty hard. My boss was a tight twat and sent me do handle them.
I learned a valuable lesson from that, which I used gratefully when I started my own company later. Give the customer the refund immediately they ask and only ever deduct JUST the base amount you need to cover your real expenses not any made up ones.