Please convince me it's a good idea... (1 Viewer)

[YorkshireLass]

Okay, I introduced myself as a newbie yesterday after a very exciting morning looking at motorhomes.

We think we've found one suitable for us, a new Rollerteam 500, and the dealer appears to be doing offering a good deal. £29k for the van, CAT 1 alarm/ immobiliser, canopy, radio/CD, 15" LCD tv/dvd/freeview, 2 mounting brackets, aerial and gas bottles. Our budget is 30k, so we're a little under.

I posted on the rollerteam and a current owner was kind enough to give us his opinion, which wasn't too cracking (but much appreciated) which sort of made me panic a bit.

I then realised it's a hell of an investment into something that we know absolutely nothing about. Hubby is convinced it's the only way forward for us to be able to enjoy some family holidays, and I know he's right. He's a keen paraglider and his idea is to mostly "wild camp" (I think that's the right term!) where he can fly. We also have family in Poland and Slovakia so we were planning on going over there too (saves the problems of who to stop with and living in other people's houses).

THEN, my parents who'd originally agreed that we could store it at their house (they have a large garden!) are being awkward about it saying, well what happens if they decide to move - erm, as far as I was aware they weren't planning on going on anywhere fast - think the fact we're planning to spend such a large amount of money has freaked them out?? :shout:

Oh dear, sorry for the really panicky rant, but it just all seems too much and is freaking me out. I really really want to do this, but please can someone reassure me and give me some advice??

MANY MANY thanks

 

[superk]

Hi
There are thousands and thousands of motorhomers all over Europe so there must be something enjoyable in it.

The freedom is tremendous - go where and when you want. Don't like it - move on. Love it - stay a while longer. Sea or mountains the choice is yours.

As to your purchase its a very individual choice and the danger is rushing in then realising its not what you really wanted. Also motorhomes are complicated - a house on wheels - and can and do go wrong - at the front and inside. It's a buyer's market there are loads to choose from so you don't have to hurry.

Ask if anyone can recommend a dealer in your area. Do you have motorhoming friends who can help.

Have you been to a big dealer or show and in and out of loads of motorhomes without a thought of buying then go home and your preferred arrangements and make might come to you? Would it be worth hiring one for a long weekend then you will find out which arrangements you like and don't like and how you get on?



Keith

 

[YorkshireLass]

Hi
There are thousands and thousands of motorhomers all over Europe so there must be something enjoyable in it.

The freedom is tremendous - go where and when you want. Don't like it - move on. Love it - stay a while longer. Sea or mountains the choice is yours.

As to your purchase its a very individual choice and the danger is rushing in then realising its not what you really wanted. Also motorhomes are complicated - a house on wheels - and can and do go wrong - at the front and inside. It's a buyer's market there are loads to choose from so you don't have to hurry.

Ask if anyone can recommend a dealer in your area. Do you have motorhoming friends who can help.

Have you been to a big dealer or show and in and out of loads of motorhomes without a thought of buying then go home and your preferred arrangements and make might come to you? Would it be worth hiring one for a long weekend then you will find out which arrangements you like and don't like and how you get on?



Keith

Keith - many thanks! My blood pressure started to come down quite significantly as I read through your post. Your suggestion to go to more dealers/shows is a really good one. So far, most of my research has just been done on the t'internet in terms of size (as compact as possible), seatbelts for the kids, and competitive pricing. I think we may be hurrying in that we're so desperate for a holiday and that I'm sick of being a paragliding widow and being left behind!!

Maybe we need to slow down and do some more research. Is anyone in a similar position to us and what do you have?

Thank you

 

[Digger Driver]

29K is a lot of money!
Why not hire one for a week and see how you feel about it?
Personally i would buy one a couple of years old!
That way you should still get most of your money back if you decide you don't like it!

 

[andyman]

Why not hire one see if you like it. If you have doubts I would certainly hire one first. We caravaned for years and bought a Autotrail Apache 700SE last year and we love it. It's so easy to move sites and if we decide to have a weekend away at short notice, it takes less than an hour to sort the house out load up and go.
It's a buyers market so haggle hard.

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[YorkshireLass]

29K is a lot of money!
Why not hire one for a week and see how you feel about it?
Personally i would buy one a couple of years old!
That way you should still get most of your money back if you decide you don't like it!

Thanks Digger Driver! To be honest, there doesn't seem to be that much difference between new and a few years old, which is reassuring in terms of the level of depreciation, BUT as you rightly say, it's a lot of money, hence the panic.

What we've found is that we seem to be quite limited with some of the older models in terms of the seatbelt arrangements and the fact we have to have them for the kids. If it was just us, we'd happily buy something older and much smaller, but we're a bit stuck now!!

One of the other reasons for buying new is that we want to hang on to it for quite a while, so it seems to make sense to have our own MH from new. Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way??

 

[YorkshireLass]

Why not hire one see if you like it. If you have doubts I would certainly hire one first. We caravaned for years and bought a Autotrail Apache 700SE last year and we love it. It's so easy to move sites and if we decide to have a weekend away at short notice, it takes less than an hour to sort the house out load up and go.
It's a buyers market so haggle hard.

Thanks. My hubby is totally convinced by it and wants to live the dream, and I was until my parents started being awkward and someone suggested that our dream MH might not be all it's cracked up to be!!

It really is the ideal solution to my paragliding widowness and to getting out of the city for weekends and making the most of our time with the little ones.

I suppose whatever you buy there is always going to be a risk - new or used. My hubby bought a brand new motorbike and we had loads of problems with it, and I've seen a post on here with somone having problems with a brand new Lunar MH.

All these posts are staring to reassure me...

Thanks!

 

[Digger Driver]

Whatever you decide!
If your excited by the idea of motorhoming you will have a blast when you start doing it!
I have never had so much fun!

 

[YorkshireLass]

Whatever you decide!
If your excited by the idea of motorhoming you will have a blast when you start doing it!
I have never had so much fun!

Thanks! I am really excited, I suppose it's natural to be nervous???

 

[Digger Driver]

Thanks! I am really excited, I suppose it's natural to be nervous???

Wait till your first night wild camping when you start hearing strange noises!

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[Wildman]

As you are intending to wild camp I suggest you make allowence in your budget for extra leisure batteries and solar panels to recharge them. Make sure the van you buy has room to add extra batteries. Are you ok with building a bed every day or do you need a van with one permanently made up. Diesel or Petrol/LPG, will it run on biodiesel if a diesel. What if your parents do move where will you keep it. What will it cost to store. All thoughts you should have had by now. Best bet is to buy a cheap secondhand van first spend at least one summer getting used to being in a van and make a list of the points that you really would like. Then search dealers etc to find your ideal van. One a couple of years old low mileage will have had any problems sorted by now. And you lose that initial devaluation that happens when you try to sell a new van. Get a habitation check done before buying. You can buy a great checklist book from this site to help you along and make sure nothing is forgotten.
Don't rushout and buy the first you see. Currently a buyers market with great deals to be had. Good Luck.

 

[YorkshireLass]

As you are intending to wild camp I suggest you make allowence in your budget for extra leisure batteries and solar panels to recharge them. Make sure the van you buy has room to add extra batteries. Are you ok with building a bed every day or do you need a van with one permanently made up. Diesel or Petrol/LPG, will it run on biodiesel if a diesel. What if your parents do move where will you keep it. What will it cost to store. All thoughts you should have had by now. Best bet is to buy a cheap secondhand van first spend at least one summer getting used to being in a van and make a list of the points that you really would like. Then search dealers etc to find your ideal van. One a couple of years old low mileage will have had any problems sorted by now. And you lose that initial devaluation that happens when you try to sell a new van. Get a habitation check done before buying. You can buy a great checklist book from this site to help you along and make sure nothing is forgotten.
Don't rushout and buy the first you see. Currently a buyers market with great deals to be had. Good Luck.

Thanks! Some really good points to think about here. I've got a list going now to discuss with hubby and this calm voice in my head saying "SLOW DOWN!"

How does storage work then? To be honest we never thought we'd have issues with this as my parents have never said anything about moving, so we just assumed our MH could live there ad infinitum. Big bump as we've come down to earth!

 

[lindyloot]

Hi Yorkshirelass, we are fairly new to Mh'ing we spent the best part of 3months looking around all the dealers in our area. Hubby knew the type of layout that would suit us , we started off with a price in mind but ended up spending more. If you are buying new you have to pay vat, we went for a very low mileage second hand one, no vat and the depreciation you would loose in the first year plus all the extras added by the previous owner ment we had ourselves a bargin.
I can honestly say it is the best purchase/investment we have made , the freedom to just drop everything and go off somewhere for the weekend ( animals as well) is such a tonic I would recommend it to everyone. The only draw back we had was where are we going to keep it? We are in the process of having alterations done outside to enable us to keep it at home, at the mo our friend has very kindly said we can park it at his farm untill the building work is finished:thumb:
Lin

 

[Wildman]

Storage local to me is around £10 per week in a carpark and more in a covered barn. Not sure where you could look but it does need thinking about. Having read the reveiw on your proposd van the warrentee issue would ring alarm bells with me. Second hand would knock £8-10k off the price payes for a lot of remedial work should it be needed. I prefer Mercedes base vehicle, good for 650,000 miles. Mine is a 1981 and has never needed welding needs thinking about. Most vans have 4 belted seats so a wide choice for you out there.

 

[Terry]

Hi Y/L, firstly you need to do a lot more homework There are good bargains out there :thumb: but some people want as much for a 2nd hand van as a new one Hiring one is a good investment to try what you want / do not want :thumb:Spend a few weeks looking a 2nd/h prices and remember what the seller wants and gets are very different oh: Layout is important in the way you wish to use it ? ie lounging or perhaps sat bolt upright at say the dining table You will have to make some compromise but trying out will minimise this for you Prices for storage vary from say 300 to 500 a year if you need to go down that route.If you go 2/h check EVERYTHING this also applys to NEW! Too many horror story's but at least new you stand half a chance of a fix :thumb: 2nd/h it is down to YOU or :thumbersonaly I would go for one a couple of yrs old / (independently checked if you are unsure)provided it was good value.GOOD VALUE being the key :thumb:That way if you do not like it you can always flog it without too much loss :thumb: perhaps even turn a small profit :Cool: On a new van you will loose 20% as you turn the first cnr We have gone from 2 birth to 4 B to 6 B back to 2 B Good luck on your search :thumb:
terry

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[roverman1]

buying motor home

Okay, I introduced myself as a newbie yesterday after a very exciting morning looking at motorhomes.

We think we've found one suitable for us, a new Rollerteam 500, and the dealer appears to be doing offering a good deal. £29k for the van, CAT 1 alarm/ immobiliser, canopy, radio/CD, 15" LCD tv/dvd/freeview, 2 mounting brackets, aerial and gas bottles. Our budget is 30k, so we're a little under.

I posted on the rollerteam and a current owner was kind enough to give us his opinion, which wasn't too cracking (but much appreciated) which sort of made me panic a bit.

I then realised it's a hell of an investment into something that we know absolutely nothing about. Hubby is convinced it's the only way forward for us to be able to enjoy some family holidays, and I know he's right. He's a keen paraglider and his idea is to mostly "wild camp" (I think that's the right term!) where he can fly. We also have family in Poland and Slovakia so we were planning on going over there too (saves the problems of who to stop with and living in other people's houses).

THEN, my parents who'd originally agreed that we could store it at their house (they have a large garden!) are being awkward about it saying, well what happens if they decide to move - erm, as far as I was aware they weren't planning on going on anywhere fast - think the fact we're planning to spend such a large amount of money has freaked them out?? :shout:

Oh dear, sorry for the really panicky rant, but it just all seems too much and is freaking me out. I really really want to do this, but please can someone reassure me and give me some advice??

MANY MANY thanks

i was in the same frame of mind when we decided to get a motor home as we were used to hauling a caravan. so we decided to give it a go. we spent nearly all our savings £10.000 on a second hand fiat ducato from barrons of york its in brill condition for her age and we have never looked back . i would go to a reputable dealer to buy thou at least you get a warranty. best of luck. ps you can always put camper in storage when not in use .