How do folks afford motorhomes

[martin2603]

Price of M H s is one thing, I see that Mercedes have just launched their latest 600mile range EV. Hate to think how many zeros there are on its purchase price!
I’ll stick with the MH .

 

[PaddyM]

Hard work and good investments , of all sorts , my Rolex GMT II has appreciated more than gold in the last 20 yrs , we are about to order a new iH motorhome at zero cost due to part ex of a vehicle , selling a classic sportscar and investments maturing . Hard work is the key .
Not one penny of £100K will be borrowed or from our purse .

 

[mitzimad]

Hard work and good investments , of all sorts , my Rolex GMT II has appreciated more than gold in the last 20 yrs , we are about to order a new iH motorhome at zero cost due to part ex of a vehicle , selling a classic sportscar and investments maturing . Hard work is the key .

hard work isnt the key luck good education privilege all play a part if it was down to hard work there would be a lot of low paid people with motorhomes

 

[mitzimad]

Twi=o things have sprang into my mind reading this thread
1 all vans perform the same function they get you out away from the goggle box
2 all the wealth in the world is no good if you dont have your health

 

[Feltwell]

Working stupid long hours as a professional Civil Engineer for nearly 40 years didn't earn anything like enough to buy a motorhome and wouldn't have had time to use it much anyway. It didn't help that I never got paid a penny in overtime in my whole career (I was stupid enough to go the career route rather than start working for myself at an early age). Used to be very envious of the local businessmen out on the golf course Friday afternoon whilst I was stuck in the office getting stuff sorted for the weekend shifts.
Luckily we always spent any spare time and cash on DIYing houses (and cars) so that has accumulated over the years into lots of knowledge of property and mechanical repair. So sold up, paid off the mortgage and bought the moho, moved into it and ended up buying a much cheaper dooer upper property as a project and hopefully investment.
A few bits 'n' $h1ts of pensions will hopefully pay the bills once the savings run out.

That rings bells. I started out as Civil Engineer, working on sites for main contractors - like you, as staff, no overtime. It was when I realised that my chain lad(*) was taking home more than me with his overtime that I jacked it in to do something else! That, and the realisation that as someone in my early 20's, the guys doing the same job at a higher level who were in their mid-40's were all divorced and many had a drink problem due to the lifestyle that came with the job.

"Chain lad" - usually very young and unqualified on a short term contract, so called because back in the day when distances were measured with chains, they held the end of the chain! They work for & with an engineer on site, hold targets when surveying or setting out, hold the end of tape measures, etc etc.

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[two]

If you think motor homing is expensive, don't bother with boating.

 

[chaser]

This thread has diverted a bit but when folks are going on about hard work and that doesn't always mean a lot of money and I wouldn't mention it if others hadn't and only saying , I worked farming at least 12 hours a day 365 days a year for thirty odd years and still got nowt apart from never doing a job I didn't love, never bored or fed up but never any money, some years did all those hours to end up with less than I started with, but always happy with my lot.
And I was always glad to work for other farmers for nowt of it was something I liked doing like driving tractors all day.
Now I might be crackers for not going for big money but I have never charged anyone more than I would like to pay myself, I have always been happy with my life and helping my kids any way I can.
But money, no I ain't got any.

 

[Jamesh]

This thread has diverted a bit but when folks are going on about hard work and that doesn't always mean a lot of money and I wouldn't mention it if others hadn't and only saying , I worked farming at least 12 hours a day 365 days a year for thirty odd years and still got nowt apart from never doing a job I didn't love, never bored or fed up but never any money, some years did all those hours to end up with less than I started with, but always happy with my lot.
And I was always glad to work for other farmers for nowt of it was something I liked doing like driving tractors all day.
Now I might be crackers for not going for big money but I have never charged anyone more than I would like to pay myself, I have always been happy with my life and helping my kids any way I can.
But money, no I ain't got any.

But happiness in buckets and a Renault pvc to boot!

 

[Feltwell]

With my eldest child at 9 years old, I came to the realisation that if I didn't do something soon the kids would fairly quickly reach the age where they no longer wanted to go away with Mum & Dad. We had a trailer tent - it was great, but so much hassle to put up and take down it was only getting used once a year.

So caution was thrown to the wind and £19k that I really shouldn't have spent was spent on a 7 year old motorhome. It's now 16 years old, still seems to be worth more than I paid for it, which is daft - something I didn't bank on. We've had some great times in it, even though we've not used it as much as we probably should have. Eldest is now 18 and no longer wants to go away in a MH with Mum and Dad, 2nd offspring is now 16 so rapidly approaching the same, youngest is 12 and still likes going away - in the next few years I can see a MH more suited to a couple than a family will be on the cards.

Could I have spent more on a van? Of course, but it would have meant getting a loan. Would we have enjoyed it any more? No, in fact possibly less because we would have been fretting about it more. Do I think others who have spent more have done the wrong thing? No - it's personal choice, and I am fortunate in that I'm able to fix most things myself so I'm happy to take an older van and keep it for a good while.

I've been looking at PVC's and what has struck me is the used prices are so high, it almost makes sense to buy new and get more life out of it. That goes against the grain for someone who's always believed in letting others take the high initial depreciation on any vehicle!

 

[hja]

Both worked on average to good salaries, no overtime, saved (dont smoke or drink a lot, or go out for meals - our choice), paid off mortgage, downsized, pension pot, son's inheritance. Bought caravan years ago (worked out cheaper than renting a static thro' eurocamp or equivalent, but then pat-xed for the next etc. Final caravan part exed for first motorhome. Dont have a luxurious life style, & van didnt cost £100k (more like £60k).
BUT by and large we are happy with our lot, certainly dont care what sort of vans others have - except curiosity for the very old, very posh or unusual.
People on sites are either friendly or unfriendly - nowt to do with their van.

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[EuroTrotters]

I have only just come back to this thread, I wasn't disparaging anyone , folks have what they want, just saying how do people have that sort of money spare?
That 11 grand engine repair would be out with me, not got anything like that spare, I would just have to scrap it, but how can you do that with a 100 grand motor?
But obviously I couldn't afford it in the first place.
I am not pleading poverty, all I have is tied up in houses and land and I wouldnt have any intention of selling any of them for a tin can on wheels.

A lot of people get big inheritance

 

[Gents]

To Each His Own!!!
Had a MH, got fed up with looking at all the scratches from going down country lanes, already had a high top transit in top dolar condition, low mileage, sold MH, converted transit, Drive away awning, Swivel seats, Double bed, Shower, Toilet, small cooker, micro,Fridge. £6K of quick replenishing lithium batteries, Solar panels, Inverter (but we eat out mostly so no washing up etc), now go anywhere, park more or less anywhere. ( parked 20 yds from beach Lyme Regis, last week).
Have hook up but don’t need it, don’t get ripped off for electric.
Has all mod cons, cruise control, drives like a car. Whole lot stands me in at £13K, including conversion, so far, since 2010. Not Luxurious, but have all that at home. Retired, can do Monday to Thursday any weeks that we want. Suits us. Never intend selling so not concerned about a few Chinese or scratches here and there. Cheap fun, & still manage to squeeze in 2/3 Static holidays each year. The biggest bonus is, no sleepless nights worrying about it being pinched or damaged, and not getting to any location that we choose.

 

[TM59]

I have only just come back to this thread, I wasn't disparaging anyone , folks have what they want, just saying how do people have that sort of money spare?
That 11 grand engine repair would be out with me, not got anything like that spare, I would just have to scrap it, but how can you do that with a 100 grand motor?
But obviously I couldn't afford it in the first place.
I am not pleading poverty, all I have is tied up in houses and land and I wouldnt have any intention of selling any of them for a tin can on wheels.

Chaser
You have answered your own question. Sell a house and some land and you can afford what you want. Start a new thread "Chaser does Europe in his new Morello Palace".

 

[MarionK]

Buy what you can afford then become a FTL like me, what you save in site fee's pay's pays for the van.

FTL? Faster than light?

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

We cannot afford campsites rallies are to expensive generally, but we do like to travel what we save on site fee's means we can eat out a few times. We had a bank loan to replace our old van which was becoming troublesome, took everything out of the old van then refitted it into the new van, which kept the cost down. We have nearly paid of the new van now, we have done Portugal twice 3 months at a time then made homeless for 6 months during the pandemic in the new van. So the van has helped enormously and couldn't imagine not travelling as to cost I would say £50 per week plus fuel including deprecation for the van, l cannot imagine the deprecation of some motorhomes and I realise some are in positive equity at the moment but over the years it has not always been so. Each to their own we like the travelling and meeting people from all walks of life, we have met Swiss diamond dealers to people surviving on Internet fee's, it's about getting out and about meeting people and different cultures in whatever you can afford. Stay safe everyone.

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[Podney]

Interesting that you say more people pay cash now, with the surge in sales over the last couple of Covid years I would have thought buying on finance would have gone up.
The tradition market used to be semi retired & retired people so tended to be cash sales.

“Cash” and cash are two different things!!

Using money from a pension fund is borrowing tomorrows income to use today.

Equity release is just another name for a mortgage.

Secured loan is just a personal loan,secured on a property.

So…it depends where the cash comes from.

 

[Southdowners]

I have only just come back to this thread, I wasn't disparaging anyone , folks have what they want, just saying how do people have that sort of money spare?
That 11 grand engine repair would be out with me, not got anything like that spare, I would just have to scrap it, but how can you do that with a 100 grand motor?
But obviously I couldn't afford it in the first place.
I am not pleading poverty, all I have is tied up in houses and land and I wouldnt have any intention of selling any of them for a tin can on wheels.

If you have land and properties then you must be relatively wealthy. Everyone has their own priorities in life. You choose to keep your wealth ‘tied up’.

 

[bigtwin]

Using money from a pension fund is borrowing tomorrows income to use today.

But not if it is a surplus and not required to provide tomorrow’s income. It is simply a liquidation of an invested asset.

Ian

 

[Rosemary1]

hard work isnt the key luck good education privilege all play a part if it was down to hard work there would be a lot of low paid people with motorhomes

Personally I would say luck and hard work is the key. Doesn’t matter how hard you work if you had bad luck such as long term illness etc but hard work is definitely a key component especially if you dont have a privilege background. I don’t think you can become well off enough to afford such a large leisure item without both if you didn’t start off with money. Oh and as someone else said, if no kids it makes it alot easier.

 

[Folkranger]

As you can see there is no one answer. When we were young we scraped a living with old cars and tents then second hand caravans because it was a cheap holiday. With hard work and good luck our income increased and when the kids moved out our expenditure decreased so we improved our cars and vans and saved what was left for retirement all this leaves us comfortable but not rich. We can now indulge ourselves more, and why not. I know of friends who had better paid jobs than us and spent everything they earned. They now have no savings or investments to fall back on.

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[steve69]

I think I must be in a different world than some on here, we have had various threads recently of people buying motorhomes for over a hundred grand and having all sorts of problems, and recently in a current thread someone breaking down in France and it's going to cost 11 grand to put it right, these figures are totally alien to me, I couldn't afford more than £5000 to either buy or repair a van , where do these amounts of money come from.

There's no such thing as a "poor" motorhomer. Although there are a lot of very tight ones. That's why they have the money in the first place

 

[Clive Mott]

77 and still working.
Often had 3 jobs at the same time.
Start by being the best you you can and work up from there.
Determination and luck also play a big part.

 

[Gents]

Hi Chaser, I have dealt in property all my life, the only time they are of any real value is if you buy at 20% under market value , improve, & sell on or let.
They have very little fun value, more like heart ache value. Buying is probably the most stressful thing done, in any lifetime. and when you do sit down and work out how much your property is worth to you, the answer is very little until you down size and take out some capital.
I paid 10k for my first , and sold it for 49, 10 years later, if I hadent used the profit for other things, I wouldn’t have counted it as much. (Whatever you amass for that future, which you may or may not have anyway, is worthless).By the time you take all the selling and buying cost, plus the fact that, on average over the last 40 years, the buying power of a pound has practically halved in value many times, then you see the true value.
The buying & selling process in England or Wales is defo bad for one’s health.

Now, taking what ever profit you can, and enjoying it in a nice MH, would probably enhance your life, if a MH is what floats your boat, but staying home to maintain your property, that is time wasted.
Oh’ yes and there is no Capital gains or inheritance tax on enjoyment.
Enjoy, Enjoy Enjoy. A life without fun memories is oh so boring!

 

[Lenny HB]

We can now indulge ourselves more, and why not. I know of friends who had better paid jobs than us and spent everything they earned. They now have no savings or investments to fall back on.

Sounds just like us and some people we know.
One of our neighbours in a conversation one day said to me "all right for you you've got loads of money" then pointed out our Motorhome saying saying "what did that cost 40 grand. Nowing full well he earnt far more than me my reply was nope, 60 grand and we have an 80 grand one on order. He smoked and drunk a lot probably where most of the money went.
We don't smoke don't drink much at home but do when away in the van.

When you look at what a lot of people spend on cars they could easily afford a Motorhome if they bought cheaper cars and kept them longer.
Our car is a Kia Venga bought it new but its 10 years old now, we could afford to buy a new car but would rather spend the money on a Motorhome & using it.

 

[Lenny HB]

Using money from a pension fund is borrowing tomorrows income to use today.

Would agree with the rest of your post except that bit. Annuities are poor value unless you can guarantee you are going to live to a very old age, better to take the cash.

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[Pausim]

Good fortune (luck) is my explanation. Growing up when there were job opportunities with good pension schemes. Then years of house price inflation and economic growth. Being in the right place at the right time for promotions helped and moving around the country when there weren’t the right opportunities. Hard work? I probably didn’t work any harder than many other people. With hindsight I can see I made some good decisions but some of that could have been luck. The one thing I didn’t do was sacrifice pension and future security for big bucks in my pocket.

 

[Russ M]

What a ridiculous and insulting initial comment. Nobody should have to justify how they can afford their Motorhome.
This thread should be removed by admin please

 

[jako999]

I feel I’m lucky I’ve worked hard and invested well but I’m still working class and se everyone as equal it’s not about what you can afford or what you have it’s about how you look at and treat other. Yes we all need money but nothing will buy happiness, I’m not jealous of the super rich the more you have you can buy anything and that makes life boring. It took me some time to work this out but I’m glad I did it was like a restart but I still don’t get that exited when I buy thing which is why I just don’t buy a lot these days and don’t want the latest everything anymore.
Thanks

 

[Lenny HB]

What a ridiculous and insulting initial comment. Nobody should have to justify how they can afford their Motorhome.
This thread should be removed by admin please

Just your opinion everyone else is happy to post on here.

 

[SueMS]

Had several motorhomes, never a brand new one. Never had a brand new car either, just not interested in buying new. We both worked really hard all our lives, had pretty well paid jobs, haven’t lived an extravagant lifestyle so this is how we afford motorhomes. Having said that, I wouldn’t pay £100k for a motorhome. When we first started with motorhomes I used to be envious of all the brand new vans on site, but ours was paid for, suited our needs perfectly & was comfortable what more do you need? Buy a motorhome you can afford & that suits your needs in terms of layout and size and enjoy it!
We have just put down a deposit on a (second hand) motorhome, downsizing so this will be our final van, it’s the most expensive we have ever had, but now we are retired it’s time to spend & enjoy our savings.

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