Motorhome madness. Is it slowing up?

[Jim]

The US RV Industry Association reports a shipments slide of 36% on last year. They report that numbers are returning to pre-pandemic levels. Expect similar reports here as we have completley mirrored their situation.

With more motorhomes for sale, we should see some competition and prices should fall. That said, while numbers of motorhomes sold return to pre pandemic levels, there are lots of reasons to believe we'll never see pre-pandemic prices again.

 

[The Wino]

I think we might see increases on new vehicles that reflect the increase in cost of components used in motorhome manufacture rather than the big increases due to supply and demand. It's all up in the air with mortgages looking likely to rise a fair bit as some could sell the motorhome as unnafordable in which case secondhand prices could fall!
Who knows I wouldn't fancy betting on it.

 

[ontheroadagain]

I think prices will remain high for another year due to the limited supply of new and good second hand vehicles.
After that, as the number of motorhomes available increases, I feel that prices will need to drop or dealers will struggle to sell them.
A few years ago you could buy a good quality new van for £60K. That van will now likely cost £90K plus.
With the increased cost of living there will be a very limited number of people able (or willing) to put that amount of money into a leisure vehicle.

 

[Otter Spotter]

Went past Richard Baldwins yesterday and they had around 30 vans on display whereas 10 weeks ago when I last went past them, only around 6 to 8 so there is something happening, most of the increased numbers were made up of 2nd hand vans, so I assume that some of these will be part ex for new ones, so supply may be easing.

 

[Stealaway]

Went past Richard Baldwins yesterday and they had around 30 vans on display whereas 10 weeks ago when I last went past them, only around 6 to 8 so there is something happening, most of the increased numbers were made up of 2nd hand vans, so I assume that some of these will be part ex for new ones, so supply may be easing.

I once bought a second hand Burstner from them. Never again.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[gus-lopez]

All prices are completly out of hand. there is far more work ina MH than the electric chassis cabs i was looking at & amazed that anyone could think 40k+vat for an incomplete & unknown brand was worth that amount? Or 68k+vat for an empty tin box? Dreaming

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

With interest rates rising ,those with mortgages could soon be selling their motorhomes to pay for the higher interests and also rising energy costs,the fall in the pound will also likely increase the price of deisel and petrol, there were long queues at my local tesco for fuel with prices slightly higher than a couple of days ago.

 

[Otter Spotter]

I once bought a second hand Burstner from them. Never again.

Funny you should mention that, when we started looking for a van 4 years ago we visited Baldwins and was really put off by a really old school pushy salesman, he must have started his career with Del boy and got the sack
We liked the look of one van but it had faults which he dismissed as no problem he would just knock £100 off the price!
We cleared out quickly and the rest is history

 

[Lenny HB]

With interest rates rising ,those with mortgages could soon be selling their motorhomes to pay for the higher interests and also rising energy costs,the fall in the pound will also likely increase the price of deisel and petrol, there were long queues at my local tesco for fuel with prices slightly higher than a couple of days ago.

The majority of Motorhomes particularly new ones are bought by semi-retired & retired people so I can only see that having an effect on the budget end of the market.

 

[Stealaway]

Funny you should mention that, when we started looking for a van 4 years ago we visited Baldwins and was really put off by a really old school pushy salesman, he must have started his career with Del boy and got the sack
We liked the look of one van but it had faults which he dismissed as no problem he would just knock £100 off the price!
We cleared out quickly and the rest is history

I did a review on here about them a few years ago.
See if you can find it?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[SpeedyDux]

High end MHs will be hard to shift by 2024. In 2010 due to the Credit Crunch and ensuing recession I heard that the resistance price point was about £70k which in those days was a new 8m tag axle luxury MH. What would be the equivalent price now of such vehicles? I really haven't been looking at those for a long time ... still waiting for that Euromillions jackpot ...

 

[Theonlysue]

This will sort the boys from the men!
Good traders still have business.

 

[The Wino]

This will sort the boys from the men!
Good traders still have business.

I'm not sure it always works like that. Do dodgy dealers do any worse than good ones? The fact we still have dodgy ones sadly suggests no.

 

[Feltwell]

A lot of folks retiring now will not have final salary or annuity based pensions, they'll have been on defined contribution - and pension pot values have been hit hard, mine has certainly dropped - though I'm still at least 5 years away from accessing it. Taking a big chunk out using the 25% tax free option will look a lot less attractive.

With the cost of living going markedly up and predictions that it'll get much worse, plus all the turmoil from the recent Government tax cuts, I can see a lot of people deciding now is not the time to invest a lot of money into what is a luxury item. They'll either go for cheaper vans or not at all.