Removing accessories before sale

[Peppadog]

For medical reasons, we are downsizing our 2007 Hymer A class to a PVC. I plan to leave the twin Gaslow, the roof mounted motorhome wifi, as they might enhance the offer and would, at best, leave a skirt mounted gas filler. And probably the PWS rear bar with tow hook.

But what to do about the three year old E&P levellers? They cost over £5k and can be swapped over for £1500. I know it makes the van more attractive, but I’m thinking £34k with it and £30k without it.

Which one would you buy?

 

[Winger]

I’d go with transferring. A dealer will not allow for add ons in his price and £1500 to switch its a no brainer as your used to them and would be a must have add on

 

[Lenny HB]

Take them off and still sell it for 34k.

 

[Two on Tour]

The E&P levellers will make it more attractive against the same van of the same value, but will they attract an extra 4k, plus will someone that has not experienced having levellers and only having used ramps and is happy with ramp be prepared to fork out the extra.

 

[Mikeco]

I would take everything off that you can, still got the plates we took out of an Autosleeper many years ago.

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[Peppadog]

I’ll be selling privately, on our classifieds etc. not to a dealer. Unless they need stock badly and pay well, which I doubt now.

 

[Minxy]

Why let stuff go that you'll use again? Take out/off Gaslow, wifi and tow bar if you can do it easily as the next purchaser might not even want them and they won't add much to the price, if anything at all. Definitely take off the levelling system as even if you end up not using it yourself I'm sure someone would be interesting it buying off you.

As a general rule accessories don't add much in value to a MH, they may make it more appealing to some but that is likely to be a very, very small proportion of buyers.

 

[Larrynwin]

I would take off the levellers because of their value and no change to appearance but I never remove accessories of lesser value especially if the exterior is degraded eg removing satellite dish etc.

 

[Al n Val]

I was told by my px dealer to strip off everything i’d had fitted as they couldn’t warranty any of it
So that’s exactly what we did including the levellers, it was stripped bare and I mean bare, even taking the unused spare wheel

Gaslow, solar, tv’s, levellers, battery display, victron stuff, maxview dish, aircon, you name it I stripped it

 

[Minxy]

I would take off the levellers because of their value and no change to appearance but I never remove accessories of lesser value especially if the exterior is degraded eg removing satellite dish etc.

I take off as much as possible but ONLY if it didn't affect the base vehicle by leaving big holes etc unless they could be rectified/made good without causing issues for the new owner.

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[lorger]

But what to do about the three year old E&P levellers? They cost over £5k and can be swapped over for £1500. I know it makes the van more attractive, but I’m thinking £34k with it and £30k without it.

I might be missing something, if they cost over £5k and you take them off. You then sell the van for £4k less and pay £1500 to transfer them, thats a total of £5500 they've cost you to remove them. If you leave them on you gain £4k for the van which means a new set will only cost around £1500.

 

[jockaneezer]

If you're selling to a dealer, remove everything as the dealer will tell you "they won't make any difference to the value", then later, when you see their for sale advert, you'll notice they're asking top dollar as "it comes with loads of extras."!

 

[Peppadog]

Yes, you are missing the nearly £6k a replacement set up will cost for the new van. The quote of £1300 + vat to remove it includes re-fitting it all onto my new van. Fortunately, the installers, and E&P agents - Courtside Conversions in Tiverton, Devon - suggested he install it all in a way that leaves no trace if removed. It was a great job, so I'm very happy to use them to swap it over for me.

Generally. The advice here is clear, take everything off that doesn't leave a hole in the van. So thats what I'm going to do.

Many thanks all.

 

[Soycd]

I’ll be selling privately, on our classifieds etc. not to a dealer. Unless they need stock badly and pay well, which I doubt now.

I think you might be pleasantly suprised at current trade in prices. We got a very good price for our 2018 PVC when trading in for a new Adria PVC. I've got the option of selling privately but can keep hold of the van until the new one (hopefully) arrives in June for the same trade in value, as long as I don't stick too much mileage on it. In terms of the extras, I'd take off whatever I could. We have habitation aircon on our current van and I don't think we would have got less for the van had it not been on. The only reason I've not taking it out and put the roof window back in is the new van is coming with aircon.

 

[lorger]

Yes, you are missing the nearly £6k a replacement set up will cost for the new van. The quote of £1300 + vat to remove it includes re-fitting it all onto my new van. Fortunately, the installers, and E&P agents - Courtside Conversions in Tiverton, Devon - suggested he install it all in a way that leaves no trace if removed. It was a great job, so I'm very happy to use them to swap it over for me.

Generally. The advice here is clear, take everything off that doesn't leave a hole in the van. So thats what I'm going to do.

Many thanks all.

Depends how old they are, as you could end up with brand new ones with full warranty for a few hundred pounds.

sell van for £30k then pay £1500 to remove and refit total from sale is £28500
sell van for £34k then pay nearly £6k for brand new set with full warranty, total from resale of van is somewhere between £28k -£28500 depending what nearly £6k is. I know if they are more than 3 or 4 years old I'd be going for the new ones.

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[Bramidan]

On a simple approach, if you want them on your replacement van,then as long as in good condition and technology has not made the item obsolete, keep them.

If you are simply stuck in the thought, well I paid £x for them so I want that money back, unless the new purchaser stumps up, you could be faced with the cost of removal and them cluttering up your personal space, plus you’ve then got to sell them on.

Sometimes it’s easy to overthink these things, whatever you do regarding your choice, after the event don’t listen to the choir saying “should have done this etc etc.

I guess you’ve enough on your plate with having to downsize without constantly trying to second guess yourself.

Obviously just my own view and not necessarily based on money.

 

[Peppadog]

Thanks lorger and Bramidan.

The levellers are over three years old now. But not used much during the lockdown period of course. They are very good and reliable. With only new pipework, brackets and an adjustment to the rear legs needed apparently, they are an easy swop from Alko based Hymer to the Ducato PVC. I don't want to be without them ever again if I can avoid it. They are more than levellers. They leave the van rock steady in all weathers, like in a building. They allow me to leave the jack at home knowing I can easily lift a wheel, or a whole side to get it off etc. And they provide some actual and visual security by being visibly impossible to drive away (you can still steal it if you get it started actually as, unless you disable the handbrake safety switch, they go up automatically as soon as you let it off!!). Remember, the original installer agent is doing the work, they will check they work perfectly.

I see above about dealer trade in values being very good. In fact the Adria Twin we looked at on Saturday before going to see the van we are buying (a Sunlight Cliff 600) was a dealer buy in, they did not supply the replacement. Just bought it for stock. Its an option, but the sales person who showed to to us, when asked, indicated they would add about £8k to a buy in as a screen price. To allow for an repairs / discounts or whatever. I'm sure the mark up is based on a percentage of value. They have big overheads to manage and need that much I guess. So I hope to pitch mine above the buy in price, but well below the dealer selling prices. That is what the seller has done to the van I'm buying if I have worked it out correctly.

 

[Whitebirdyman]

If I were thinking of selling privately through the classifieds on Fun, I don't think I would have posted about all the stuff I am removing. A person buying, doing due diligence, will look back at forum posts to try to identify if you have flagged up any problems over the years and they might be put off buying by seeing the amount of stuff that has been removed.

 

[Peppadog]

Fair point.
Its only the levelling thats coming off so far. Hopefully as they trail back, they will find how I re-sealed the roof light and added stuff that can't or won't come off as well.

I would not only put it on here though of course. We have learned from renting our holiday home in Poole that when we parted with 20% commission to a well established local agent, it went out much more, both from their site, through booking.com, airbnb etc. with many more weeks rental and much higher income.

In fact. If the Hymer was not so old (2007), I would consider keeping the old girl and renting it out next year. If we hate the PVC before it sells, maybe I could do it the other way round, and rent that out? I couldn't believe the number of vans available to rent on the dealers forecourt where we looked at the Adria last weekend. Must have been fifty at least, big and small. All logo'd up with the company name.

 

[L' Hobo]

Yes, you are missing the nearly £6k a replacement set up will cost for the new van. The quote of £1300 + vat to remove it includes re-fitting it all onto my new van. Fortunately, the installers, and E&P agents - Courtside Conversions in Tiverton, Devon - suggested he install it all in a way that leaves no trace if removed. It was a great job, so I'm very happy to use them to swap it over for me.

Generally. The advice here is clear, take everything off that doesn't leave a hole in the van. So thats what I'm going to do.

Many thanks all.

Take it off. The next owner will never know it had levellers unless you tell them.

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[nicholsong]

As far as the Gaslow is concerned you can take t off and fill the hole in the skirt with a dummy filler which Gaslow sell for this purpose.

 

[Peppadog]

As far as the Gaslow is concerned you can take t off and fill the hole in the skirt with a dummy filler which Gaslow sell for this purpose.

Thanks. I didn’t know that.

 

[Al n Val]

As far as the Gaslow is concerned you can take t off and fill the hole in the skirt with a dummy filler which Gaslow sell for this purpose.

or you can just get a round 50mm vent cover from B&Q for £1.49 which is a perfect fit for the hole that’s been leftover and available in black, white, grey and brown

 

[Plumberz]

Yes dealer only offering me same low price cos thats what the little book says that they all go off. So take off the extras.

 

[Beacons]

We were told by the dealer where we changed our mh to take all out we could as they would as they hadn't fitted and couldn't guarantee .we took the
Inverter . & leisure batteries which we fitted into our new mh the batteries have only needed to be changed after 5 years.the inverter still going strong I even took my wall bin out its the third van it's been in it all costs to replace especially if buying same again .

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[funflair]

We must be a bit different to most as we left everything bar the EFOY in/on our last van when we sold it privately, I guess we could have taken a few bits off and saved a couple of £ but then a lot of the stuff wouldn't have gone on the van anyway, we left E&P jacks, TV, inverter, microwave etc etc.

Might have been different if we had traded it in, but most of the stuff wouldn't have gone back into the new one anyway.

 

[haganap]

I’ll be selling privately, on our classifieds etc. not to a dealer. Unless they need stock badly and pay well, which I doubt now.

I would leave everything on. Gives more chance of selling and avoids awkward questions.

Just raise the price to reflect your extras.

 

[Peppadog]

The sentiment lately is, if selling to a dealer (there is no trade in opportunity as I have already replaced it with a private purchase) take it off. If selling privately, leave it on.

If the van was selling for £80k plus, I think it more likely I would leave the E&P levellers. But a £30k van, in percentage terms, its too much money to load partially into the price.

In fact I’ve just booked it in for removal. Coming off a week on Friday, going on the next one on the Monday/Tuesday following. The rest is relative low value but desirable, so most will stay.

Thanks again for your opinions.

I would leave everything on. Gives more chance of selling and avoids awkward questions.

Just raise the price to reflect your extras.

That’s the debate. I personally don’t think extras add much if any value, just make the van more attractive to buy. That’s why I decided in the end to take the levellers off. Too much value to give away, and too much value to load up the selling price.

 

[j8snl]

I would leave everything on. Gives more chance of selling and avoids awkward questions.

Just raise the price to reflect your extras.

When I was in the market back in August for our almost new Burstner, we seen a couple around similar price points.

Went to dealer to look at a 21 plate with 1400 miles on and was really surprised to find the following still attached:

1. Gaslow system with crash protector including European adapter kit
2. Two completely full Gaslow 11kg bottles
3. Roof mounted Smart Compact Wifi Antenna including the cupboard mounted Huawei matching router and yes with a still working SIM card
4. One Avtex 24" Smart TV in bedroom
5. One Avtex 22" Smart TV in lounge
6. Sentinel S7 tracker

Bizarrely the led spotlights from the power rail were missing, but cost me £55 for two versus what the above would have cost.

We bought it

 

[Coolcats]

For medical reasons, we are downsizing our 2007 Hymer A class to a PVC. I plan to leave the twin Gaslow, the roof mounted motorhome wifi, as they might enhance the offer and would, at best, leave a skirt mounted gas filler. And probably the PWS rear bar with tow hook.

But what to do about the three year old E&P levellers? They cost over £5k and can be swapped over for £1500. I know it makes the van more attractive, but I’m thinking £34k with it and £30k without it.

Which one would you buy?

Personally I would think that a motorhome that has the accessories would attract a higher selling price than one that is stripped.

You say the levellers are 3 years, that's 3 years of use and as you rightly point out £1500 to swap out, if your investing in a newer MoHo and intend to keep it for a while then personally I would just get new levellers with the warranty, £1500+£4000 = £5500 and will buy you the new ones.

I understand why some people want to strip out 'extras' but a good salesman or if you where selling direct could tot up all the extras and point this out to a potential buyer (eg £15K's worth of extras they are getting for say £5K sound like a bargain to me) So personally I would offer the MoHo at a higher price.