NEC Motorhome Show let down

Paul and Kate

Paul and Kate

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Any body else think that this show is starting to struggle a little.
No real deals and the sales reps we have spoken to have said it's been a difficult week for sales as the new VED rules and the pension pot money has started to bite.
Only been here an hour and contemplating going home fetch the mh and have a cheeky one nighter
 
No idea,sorry. Never been,unlikely ever to go. Too many people=my idea of hell. I’d rather go and sit under a tree.:giggle:

If you’re not in the mood....yes,go out in the van,it’s a nice warm sunny day here.
 
We went yesterday, left just after 2pm, did find some chairs we liked but in the end decided to wait. Speaking to one of the accessory sales people (a relative) he said it is the worst show yet, people not only aren't buying, but they are not even looking the way thye used to.
 
We haven't been, this year but went for a mooch round the Travelworld Anniversary Event at Stafford, yesterday. We were talking to a couple who had come down from Scotland to the NEC, hoping to look at new Hymers. According to them, the show had been very disappointing, with only three Hymers on display. They had ended up driving to Travelworld, who have certainly got loads in stock. The salesman told us that trade was very brisk :unsure:.

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We wandered around the NEC earlier in the week and found it uninspiring. Fortunately, we had gone to look at cycle racks with electric lifts, these we were able to see and play with. I read A&S Cycles were unhappy at being excluded from the electric bike demo area, no hardship, it was being used as a kids racetrack, hardly attractive to anyone wanting to try and with money in their pockets.
 
I cannot envision attending a MH show. Even when I had a boat and went to the Boat Show(in Earls Court), it was only for three reasons

1 To buy the odd accessory

2 To say in a loud voice on a stand 'Does this part often fail?' If it was one that did, they often had a stock behind the stand and came back and thrust some on my hand FOC and with a look that said 'Now get lost'

3 More importantly to bump into friends from all over UK and some from abroad, plus those I had arranged to meet in the Guiness Tent - more than once we were thrown out by Security at closing time. Good Pilot friend (ex-ATC) and his ATC mates from Heathrow ran that bar for years - hand over a tenner, change came came back as ten £1 coins, very naughty. He sadly died just before Christmas.

Is there any similar atmosphere and meeting/drinking point at NEC, or any other MH shows?

Maybe not the drinking because one needs to drive to NEC, unless on site, whereas London one could get there on Public. The atmosphere changed when they moved the Boat Show to Docklands and I went only once - dead, so Southampton took over.

Come on let us have your Show stories.

Geoff
 
Paul and Kate said:
Any body else think that this show is starting to struggle a little.
No real deals and the sales reps we have spoken to have said it's been a difficult week for sales as the new VED rules and the pension pot money has started to bite.
Only been here an hour and contemplating going home fetch the mh and have a cheeky one nighter
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Yes we decided after our last February visit, which was to buy our e bikes, that we wouldn’t go again as unless there was a purpose it wasn’t worth the effort, We still go to the October Show as this is much larger and we treat it as our last trip out with MH for the season. We stay 3 nights and have a stopover for a few nights at Cambridge on the way up and stop somewhere else on the way home.
 
DuxDeluxe said:
Same here. The only good thing about last time I went was meeting with GJH and Debs



Ooooh.... I remember that. Good old days many years ago
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Blimey David that seems like a long time ago!

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bigguspeckus said:
The "pension pot money"???
Gonna make maself look like a rite stick dweller again,,, but would you explain the "ppm" to a sad old stick dweller please.
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A few years ago a lot of people were taking the a cash sum and spending it.
A few people that we know did just this and spent it on mhs. Did this give the industry a false sense of security.
 
We went on Tuesday, wasn’t looking to buy, as taking delivery of our new van next month, just fancied a day out. Only spent a couple of hours there. Got absolutely fed up with salespeople pounching on you before you even had a chance to look inside a van. Hate that, will probably leave the Feb show in future and just go to the Oct one.
 
I've been trying to do a deal via phone. Totally insulting exchange price so given up. The salesman will probably ring me on Monday after he realises they've had a bad show. Another dealer promised to ring me back 3 days ago, still no call.
I'll just advertise it on Fun. To good to give away.
 
wiljoy said:
I've been trying to do a deal via phone. Totally insulting exchange price so given up. The salesman will probably ring me on Monday after he realises they've had a bad show. Another dealer promised to ring me back 3 days ago, still no call.
I'll just advertise it on Fun. To good to give away.
Click to expand...

Link to advert please - in case I have not seen it.

Geoff
 
wiljoy said:
I've been trying to do a deal via phone. Totally insulting exchange price so given up. The salesman will probably ring me on Monday after he realises they've had a bad show. Another dealer promised to ring me back 3 days ago, still no call.
I'll just advertise it on Fun. To good to give away.
Click to expand...
We found the price offered to us insulting last time we went and they were happy to let us walk away. As has been said previously by someone, the dealers have been spoilt and they need to come down to earth and realise that we are not as stupid as they like to think. All the time I have control of my money I will decide where, when and how much I spend.

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Are all the dealers at the show still trying to entice new sales, by offering that £4K "Show Discount" across the board off RRP figures, on all new vans?:rolleyes:
From experience, if there is a next time, we will visit only the good rep dealerships, by checking out their websites/reviews and discounts regularly.

Go well tooled up by reading the last edition of Jim MHF Magazine, giving strong tips on how to negotiate a sale with the dealer.
I thought I was pretty good being in sales for most of my life, but even I picked up on some points/ideas that I had forgotten, angles I had not thought about.
Its so hard to maybe walk away from that big shinny thing that you feel is a one off deal when it actually isn't, so play it cool, take your time, but dont take the mickey either with your offer, you have to work as do the sales person to meet at a sensible fair to all deal.
Then all parties should be happy, and you should save a decent amount of money on the overall package.
LES
 
icantremember said:
Do you just use it on the outside of the gimp suit David, or inside as well to help you get in and out of it?:whistle2:
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Brian, you told me several times to never ever use leather for gimp suits. You recommended nice sweaty slippery moist PVC :rofl:
 
As you know,retired from motor homing now no need to go and TBH, didn’t miss it

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We went today, the parking was totally diabolical - sent to South car parks and everybody was being funnelled into the same car park - cars, vans and motorhomes all trying to park in the same place, Mark managed to get us onto the end of a double row along the entrance road which was very easy to get out of, but I did notice that where some motorhomes had managed to shoehorn themselves into a regular parking space for the width they had cars so tight to them that I'd be surprised if people could get in or out of the doors for either vehicle.

I was going on a fact-finding exercise so Mark stayed in the van with the dogs and I had no issue going to straight to Hall 1 on the bus and then in with hardly any queuing, in and out of the 8 vehicles on my list, again hardly any waiting time to get inside, checked out showers/washrooms, beds, fridges, storage space, comfort of dinette and on to the next.

Got my 8 down to 3 plus 1 I hadn't originally intended to check out. I got right down to Hall 5 and back again as I wanted to find some chairs we'd seen in October but the stand wasn't there (lucky really as I couldn't have carried 2 chairs anyway) and I was back in the van just over 2.5 hours after I'd left it.

It was heaving with people in the narrower walkways, but there were definitely less people actually looking in vehicles, caravans or tents.
 
I think the February show is doomed. It's a very poor relation of the October show. There's nothing new, Hymer don't bother with it, whereas in October they take a complete hall. Add in the fact that it's half-term week, so lots of families just there for a day out with no intention of buying and it's no great fun.

If you're in the market for a Hymer, as someone else has mentioned, Travelworld usually run a simultaneous event.
 
A Motorhome Show without camping. How pathetic is that. If the NCC were bothered, they could negotiate a camping area, there are loads of carparks empty. NCC are useless.

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