First Motor Home - New or Used

[Scubadude59]

Would you buy a New Motor Home or buy a used one, this will be our first Motor Home

Looking on the lines of a Autotrail Tracker FB - will be touring all Europe

Going to the NEC show in October - so any advice really appreciated

 

[davidathomas42]

And there the VAT

The VAT doesn’t disappear just because it’s used. If demand is high the price remains high.

Everything has VAT added into it when new and that’s the price. Saying it’s worth 20% less a day later is not correct. It’s worth the same minus a touch for paperwork.

If there are 20 exact same vans on the forecourt then yes why would you pay the same money for something used even a few days. But it there is only the one for sale and it’s sought after why would you wipe 10-20-30-40k off the price just because the vat went to the government? It was still paid and part of the value.

 

[JRC]

I bought my first, and still the same, N&B Arto at 6-years old after a lot of research. I have now had it another 14 years and it has done all I wanted, which has been from Scotland to Mediterranean, Pyrenees to Eastern Greek islands.

It cost me, buying privately, half the price of what it cost new. Figure it out for yourself.

My advice would be to buy a German MH S/H at just a few years old and it should last you as long as ours and I anticipate many more years out of ours. I am not sure if it would be the same for an Autotrail, just from comments on MH forums.

So far my depreciation has been about £8K in 14 years, so in real terms say double that, so just over £1K per year.

We bought ours new 10 years ago. It's also an NB Arto. It had niggles - new delivery and they hadn't secured the battery terminals and such. Good job we got RAC commercial membership free that 1st year! Customer service for new NB's great AT THE TIME - once they've got your money - that's a different story. Not all dealerships are the same and we eventually got ours sorted hence we kept it. Smashing piece of kit, quality, but then it's German made. At the time we could have bought an Arto for the Belgian market, more basic interior (navy colour) rhd, but really liked the layout and size. What a mistake! With a bit more about us, we could have had exactly the colour interior we liked by changing the table and upholstery. We bought new and have added spec to it but we could have had the same by buying 2nd hand and thinking it through. Sadly, its now for sale as previously said on another thread, my husband has failed his 2nd medical (it's 5t and we're both over 70). A lovely thing to drive. So, my advice is go 2nd hand and cost out what you can change to make it exactly what you want.

 

[Hymerboy]

When I decided to get a moho I wanted Mercedes running gear, left hand drive and automatic. I ended up with Fiat, rhd, manual, however been delighted with it and the only regret is it's not auto.

 

[Speve]

If you decide on an Autotrail FB Tracker just make sure you have enough payload we had a new one in 2013 and loved it however we had it uprated to 3850 which we could just about get everything in for a long trip down to Spain however in the end we had to part company with it as we could not uprate enough to fit a towbar so that we pull a trailer and ended up going to Hymer A class.
good luck with your search

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[Barchetta47]

Not so sure about that. Bought our first one brand new 2 years ago and we were pretty sure what we needed. Fixed rear single beds and a large garage for bikes. Quite simple really.

2 and a bit years/22000 miles of travelling and we're very happy. No intention to change it

Only took 2 months from first looking and taking delivery aswell. My only regret is buying brand new. Had a lot of issues that needed fixing . 2nd hand might have been a better route.

In the end as others have said it comes down to knowing what you really want. We bought our first motorhome after extensive research which produced a list of must haves, for us it was A Class, twin sofas, separate shower, good payload (850kg), solar, gaslow, good size kitchen, large fridge/freezer and bike rake for two bikes. In the end when looking around we found the compromise of a rear fixed bed made most lounges too small so the drop down bed over the cab worked for us, when we get older it might not!

In the end we looked at several designs that met our criteria and our search only lasted three months. We bought second hand as our budget was sub £30k and some things have gone wrong but less than I anticipated. A new version of ours, which Burstner no longer make, from manufacturers such as Laika or Frankia is north of £120k which we can’t afford. So we are probably stuck with the one we have.

Luckily we managed to get most things right in our first motorhome which we have had for 5 years, 55k miles and 700 plus nights. So if you do your homework you might get lucky first time.

 

[BobbyJ]

Last week at the Malvern show a couple who were looking to buy their first Motorhome spent the weekend going around asking owners if they could have a look around there’s. They had an idea of size and weight requirements so they didn’t need to view the thousands that were there and most people including us are only too happy to show their pride and joy. Probably better than any Motorhome show. Personally I’ve had 8 second hand campers over 30 years, they’ve all been foreign mostly cos I want a garage. Most of them we’ve had to travel long distances to get buts that’s ok.
good luck with your search.

 

[Tony50]

When I decided to get a moho I wanted Mercedes running gear, left hand drive and automatic. I ended up with Fiat, rhd, manual, however been delighted with it and the only regret is it's not auto.

I wanted a 160 which was then dropped,got a 140 bhp ( bit worried about power )on 9 speed proper auto on 3500 kgs, quite pleased with it, not a racing car , does go up and down through the gearbox at slightest hill but, very smooth in operation, and more comfortable ride than the 4.4 tonne we had before.

 

[Martist]

I suspect that you will probably change your first motorhome when you have some experience of it and understand better what you really need. In that case it's probably better to buy second hand now and buy new when you replace it.
Edit: I see someone else said the exact same thing before me!

 

[cyberyacht]

Like Martist we had an Accordo (Marquis) 125, swapping to a Carthago Compactline 138 after two years. Both, however were 2016 and second-hand, the Carthago having slightly higher mileage at the time of 15K. Although happy with the Marquis, the Carthago was my 'dream machine' and gave us a few extras like bigger garage, tanks, double floor and that little bit more space.

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[RobinE]

Got a bit of experience on this subject as we have had 3 new and 4 used since 2003 and can't say there have been any real issues with any of them. 4 Burstner, 1 Knaus, 1 Swift and 1 Hymer. Maybe we have been lucky, maybe German quality played a part, maybe because we were careful to buy from dealers with good reputations
So my view is that it is more important to buy the right van than whether it is new or secondhand.
We know exactly the van that we want, but all of our vans have been a compromise against that ideal, mostly due to size and budget, but also down to my impatience, ie what's available on the forecourt.
Earlier this month we decided to end this merry go round and order a new Hymer, built to our exact specification, knowing that it will be at least 12 months until delivery, but being sure it would meet our ideal forever van.
But when I contacted Lowdhams to initiate the process, serendipity came into play. They had just taken in a 2022 van with the exact spec we want plus a bit more we don't. Not yet put on sale and about £25k saving on just announced 2024 prices for the van we were going to order.
We will be changing over next week......

 

[Tony50]

Got a bit of experience on this subject as we have had 3 new and 4 used since 2003 and can't say there have been any real issues with any of them. 4 Burstner, 1 Knaus, 1 Swift and 1 Hymer. Maybe we have been lucky, maybe German quality played a part, maybe because we were careful to buy from dealers with good reputations
So my view is that it is more important to buy the right van than whether it is new or secondhand.
We know exactly the van that we want, but all of our vans have been a compromise against that ideal, mostly due to size and budget, but also down to my impatience, ie what's available on the forecourt.
Earlier this month we decided to end this merry go round and order a new Hymer, built to our exact specification, knowing that it will be at least 12 months until delivery, but being sure it would meet our ideal forever van.
But when I contacted Lowdhams to initiate the process, serendipity came into play. They had just taken in a 2022 van with the exact spec we want plus a bit more we don't. Not yet put on sale and about £25k saving on just announced 2024 prices for the van we were going to order.
We will be changing over next week......

Never had a problem with drains on my British Auto-Sleeper .

 

[RobinE]

Never had a problem with drains on my British Auto-Sleeper .

Sorry, don't understand, I must be missing something?

 

[Tony50]

Sorry, don't understand, I must be missing something?

You said " maybe German quality " I just pointed out that in our case we have no problems with drains on our British motorhome, I have had several different foreign Motorhome none faultless

 

[RobinE]

Ahhh got you, a lot of folk on here seem to knock UK build design and quality, I had no quality or reliability issues with our one and only UK Motorhome, that's why I said maybe.

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[Tony50]

Ahhh got you, a lot of folk on here seem to knock UK build design and quality, I had no quality or reliability issues with our one and only UK Motorhome, that's why I said maybe.

I have had issues with all our caravans and Motorhomes, but , then I look through Motortrade eyes. Some suggest they never have faults , like the guy said his Hymer had no faults and his wife came and said what about water ingress

 

[VXman]

You said " maybe German quality " I just pointed out that in our case we have no problems with drains on our British motorhome, I have had several different foreign Motorhome none faultless

My 'German quality' van has had a dozen problems and generally I'd say the build quality is poor. However, it;s they only motorhome I've ever owned. I have nothing to compare it to. Maybe my expectations are too high.

 

[Tony50]

Luckily we was booked to go to a outside show this month, I made appointment to have faults corrected at the factory service facility,stayed there overnight, faults and some electrics moved so I could reach them, absolutely done to our satisfaction,great polite service.

 

[Live Life Now]

Don't mess about, just go for it., you know it makes sense. Live life now

 

[Didda]

Would you buy a New Motor Home or buy a used one, this will be our first Motor Home

Looking on the lines of a Autotrail Tracker FB - will be touring all Europe

Going to the NEC show in October - so any advice really appreciated

We only had my pension to send, yes, the whole blinkin' lot! So, we wanted new. I hate leaving home, so I wanted it to be my HOME. It is, we love it.
But I spent 2 years looking in every motorhome that we passed, asking damn fool questions on a number of unbelievably helpful Facebook forums and Motorhome fun, of course!
We realised that our driveway limitations meant a campervan was our only option, so the final 18 months were spent whittling down the options and layout...
Finally, with a decision made to buy a Dreamer, we went to the October NEC show in 2019, searched everywhere, and were talked into a Rapido V68 by the amazingly helpful, and friendly and amusing, team from Wokingham Motorhomes. They were right, no regrets! So, one sad, anally-retentive, happy newbie with a new van, known as The Camel (don't ask!). He has just had his first MOT. So not new anymore but we are attached to hm and I think that he may even see us out, into our dotage.
He looks after our daughter and family, too.

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[Tony50]

We only had my pension to send, yes, the whole blinkin' lot! So, we wanted new. I hate leaving home, so I wanted it to be my HOME. It is, we love it.
But I spent 2 years looking in every motorhome that we passed, asking damn fool questions on a number of unbelievably helpful Facebook forums and Motorhome fun, of course!
We realised that our driveway limitations meant a campervan was our only option, so the final 18 months were spent whittling down the options and layout...
Finally, with a decision made to buy a Dreamer, we went to the October NEC show in 2019, searched everywhere, and were

talked into a Rapido V68 by the amazingly helpful, and friendly and amusing, team from Wokingham Motorhomes. They were right, no regrets! So, one sad, anally-retentive, happy newbie with a new van, known as The Camel (don't ask!). He has just had his first MOT. So not new anymore but we are attached to hm and I think that he may even see us out, into our dotage.
He looks after our daughter and family, too.

Great Dealer, although we dealt with the company when Martin ran the Motorhome side back in 2009

 

[Machbuster]

Would you buy a New Motor Home or buy a used one, this will be our first Motor Home

Looking on the lines of a Autotrail Tracker FB - will be touring all Europe

Going to the NEC show in October - so any advice really appreciated

I have had three motorhomes, all new. After 12 years am still learning, and have not got the ideal one. However I would recommend to buy a used one, and if you buy privately, you will save quite a bit although it wont be with any warranty. Difficult to recommend anything as we all want different things, but wish you good luck. It's a lovely way to travel and see the world, and the Continent is so full of beautiful sights, food and much more.

 

[Kevin R]

Would you buy a New Motor Home or buy a used one, this will be our first Motor Home

Looking on the lines of a Autotrail Tracker FB - will be touring all Europe

Going to the NEC show in October - so any advice really appreciated

I would suggest first hiring a MH and jot down what pleases you and your dislikes. You can then go shopping for a MH armed with what you’ve discovered after a couple of weeks hire. It’s a worthwhile investment.

 

[Scubadude59]

Thanks for all you advice- Take delivery of a 2017 AutoTrail Tracker FB 2.3 150HP Multijet 2 - 3850kg next month