How do you pay for yours?

[Bognor Saint]

Contactless!

Ian

Being that there is a £30 limit for contactless payments you must have got a bargain!

 

[bigtwin]

Being that there is a £30 limit for contactless payments you must have got a bargain!

I wish!

But see this:

But was it your contactless.

Mine, plus .... oh, the list is too long to name names!

But, if you don’t already know, the £30 limit doesn’t apply if you use Apple i-pay (I pay for everything! lol)

Ian

 

[Minxy]

Now let let me think ...

• 1st one (Autosleeper pop-top) was paid in cash as it was cheap as it needed lots of work
• 2nd one cash (an old ambulance to convert)
• 3rd one (Elddis MH) was cash with a 'loan' of £2,000 from my Mum for a couple of months so we could get the MH then as it was a bargain being sold privately - had we waited we'd have paid at least £5,000 more for the same one from a dealer
• 4th one (Swift MH) was PX and cash savings
• 5th (Rapido MH) was PX and cash savings
• 6th (Rimor MH) PX and cash savings
• 7th (Chausson MH) PX and cash savings
• 8th (Autocruise PVC) PX and cash savings
• 9th (Globecar PVC) PX and cash savings
• 10th (Globecar PVC) was cash savings and a £20,000 short-term loan from Mum which was paid back when we sold our 9th one privately

We never took bank etc loans out for them an if we hadn't been able to get the cash together to buy we wouldn't have changed as no-way would I take on out for something like this. I feel sorry for those who take out the finance loans at dealers as they don't realise that when they come to sell/change it they have to pay off the existing loan with a penalty for doing so early which really adds to the cost.

We've only ever had one of these 'vehicle secured' loans and that was on a car but even with the early repayment fee the loan rate was still way below what we could have got elsewhere, since then it's either been 0% finance deal with no penalty, a non-vehicle secured loan from a bank, or pay in cash. Now we are fortunate in that we have cash to buy stuff without having to look at loans, unless of course the deals are so good they'd beat the cr@p rates that banks etc are giving! Work the system people!!!

 

[nicholsong]

Minxy

!0 MHs in how many years?

Geoff

 

[Nasher]

I bought my first one for cash, I was gassed in it and had both my Rolexes and thousands in cash stolen

I bought my second, bigger & better one, with the insurance pay out

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[Neckender]

We’ve had 6 Motorhomes in 13 years all paid cash for, and the last 4 were bought new.
No pockets in shrouds.

John.

 

[Nosmo King]

Just to extend this a little bit....

I know there’s a huge enjoyment element to this activity that’s probably not financially measurable, and here it is..... but

What does ownership cost in terms of depreciation etc. Not so much maintenance/ fuel etc but actually owning the beast, using it for however many weeks a year then trading up / selling / getting out etc.

For me, £5k a year is quit reasonable. I’m new to this though!

 

[nicholsong]

Just to extend this a little bit....

I know there’s a huge enjoyment element to this activity that’s probably not financially measurable, and here it is..... but

What does ownership cost in terms of depreciation etc. Not so much maintenance/ fuel etc but actually owning the beast, using it for however many weeks a year then trading up / selling / getting out etc.

For me, £5k a year is quit reasonable. I’m new to this though!

I think it depends on whether you are alculating on a new MH price or secondhand.

For example out N&B Arto was bought seconhand nearly 10 years ago for £27,500 and I think it has lost only £10,000 in those 10 years. The biggest percentage of the depreciation would haave been borne by the prevois 3 owners in the 6 years prior, which could have been £5k per year.

N&B MHs do seeem to hold there value quite well, but other marques which are of less quality may deteriorate a bit quicker so the rate of depreciation will be proportionally higher.

Geoff

 

[Minxy]

Minxy

!0 MHs in how many years?

Geoff

Since late 1995, so just over 23 years ... more info below if you want to have a read!

Late 1995: Commer - H reg 1990 (second-hand)
Aug 1997: Ambulance - C reg 1985 (second-hand)
May 1999: Elddis - H reg 1990 (second-hand)
Sept 2001: Suntor - FE51 PEO 1
May 2003: Rapido - FN03 CUX
Feb 2007: Rimor - FJ56 YPM
Apr 2010: Chausson - WA10 AGZ
Aug 2012: Accent - FX12 DCF
May 2015: Globecar - FX15 RRZ
April 2018: Globecar - WFZ 8708

Long story .... we didn't go down the usual 'route' to getting a motorhome and although we'd hired one sometime in the late 80's it hadn't been a good experience as I was ill for most of the week so we never hired again (it was very expensive too!).

Fast forward a good few years to the early 1990s ... hubby used to have a Bond 875 microcar before we got married and he fancied having another many years later so we bought a Bond Mk E Estate minicar which we used to go to car rallies/shows in, taking one or two dogs with us who stayed in the car whilst we went in a B&B. This was okay but we found that we missed out on a lot of the 'fun' on a campsite at night - sitting round the bonfire and chatting into the wee small hours - something you can't do when you have to be back at a B&B by 11.00 pm ... and the expense of a B&B too. The solution was to get a tent and all the gear which was great but bl**dy cold (and I really FEEL the cold) so after a year or so I was reluctant to keep doing it.

By late 1995 a few of our microcar owning friends had started to get motorhomes we decided to scrimp together the money to buy something ... it took a while mainly because every time we saw something that was within our price range by the time we rang it had been sold. One lunchtime we bought a copy of Auto Trader and saw a 1970 Commer Autosleeper conversion (pop top) advertised for a set price (part of an estate) about 30 mins away - the chap selling it could only ask the fixed price, no more, no less, because that was what had been stipulated by the executors, but he'd made the condition that the FIRST person to get there and pay a deposit would get it. Fortunately we managed to get permission from work for us to go there and then to see it - as we got there a chap had beaten us to it and was crawling all over it ... our hearts sank as thought we'd missed it ... it turned out though that he was just being 'nosey' ... when we looked back to the gate we'd entered there were roughly 10 people waiting there to come and look at it ... so we quickly told the seller we'd have it! We knew it hadn't been run for a long, long while and would need a good bit of sorting out but it was going to be ours!!!! It was original and virtually mint inside, and had only had very, very minor touch up work on the paint outside with just the one owner from new. We had to get it taken to a local garage on a low loader and left it with them for months to fit the work in when they had quiet times to keep the cost down, eventually we got it back in a usable state by Easter 1996 and we used it many times - it was great and even towed our microcar on a trailer all the way up to Scotland without a murmur!

Although we loved the Commer we found it was a bit tight for us and the dogs (the bed was less than 4ft wide for us and a couple of dogs!) so in August 1997 we bought an ex-ambulance which we converted over winter ... I did the planning, making furniture, installation of it all etc and hubby helped with the electrics and other odds and bods ... but hubby kept the 'home' - running, cooking, cleaning etc whilst I was out in the cold (and getting high on the varnish fumes!) ... hard work but I loved it (we sold the Commer in spring 1998 to a chap who'd always admired it at the car shows). Our very first trip away in the newly converted ambulance was to Germany in April 1998 for an international microcar meet (without the Bond though) and everything worked! Yay!!!!!

As we had 5 dogs (rescue/not wanted ... don't ask!) we had to rely on hubby's dad to come and stay at our place to look after 3 of them and took 2 with us, so our time away was very limited. After a while we ended up with just 4 dogs then at Easter 1999 within the space of 15 days we went down to 2 dogs ... whilst we never wanted to lose our dogs (old age) this gave us something we'd not had before ... the freedom to go away in the camper WITHOUT having to have a dog-sitter. So later in 1990 we therefore decided to get a 'manufactured' motorhome so we could use it all year round and after a lot of trailing around found one locally - an H reg (1990) Elddis Autoquest 320D - the chap had been trying to sell it for ages but lived out in the sticks so no-one would go look at it, consequently we got it for a better price than we ever thought we would which was a massive bonus to us!

As we enjoyed our MH holidays more and more we decided to get a newer one (with power steering!) so on 11 September 2001 we swapped it for a Swift Suntor 590RS which we had quite a few problems with so in May 2003 we got a Rapido 709F which was brilliant at only 5.53m long with a fixed bed! After nearly 4 years we changed in Feb 2007 to a Rimor Sailer 645TC at 7.23m!!!! Sublime to the ridiculous!!! We had it for 3 years before getting a 5.99m Chausson Flash 04, then decided to take the 'risk' of getting a PVC so bought an Autocruise Accent in August 2012, before changing to a Globecar Familyscout L in May 2015 which was longer with an L-shaped lounge. It was great but we found we didn't use the L lounge as much as we thought and I had difficulty getting in/out of the bed at times, so last year (April 2018) we bought a Globecar Campscout with twin single beds and a half dinette which has proved to be pretty much the perfect layout of us … no more scrabbling over hubby to get in/out of the bed and if he gets up during the night he doesn't disturb me ... oh and the dogs love it ... due to the 'steps' they don't have to 'ask' to be let up on the bed ... they just get up themselves!

If it hadn't been for the microcar I don't know if we'd have got 'into' motorhomes at all ... now though although we don't do microcar rallies any more there's no way we'll part with our camper ... not a chance!!!

 

[The Wino]

We never finance any vehicles as its daft unless theres an interest free deal and no discount for cash option. I suspect a lot are bought on finance but very few by people who have looked at the true cost.

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[Louis]

We never finance any vehicles as its daft unless theres an interest free deal and no discount for cash option. I suspect a lot are bought on finance but very few by people who have looked at the true cost.

I would suspect that those buying through finance, would have looked at the interest rates, and the total cost of the loan. However, if finance is the only option available to them, the total repayments would not come into it, it’s if they can afford the repayments for the term.
Like many on here, I would never buy a new motorhome, not even a car, that is losing too much.

 

[Lenny HB]

What does ownership cost in terms of depreciation etc. Not so much maintenance/ fuel etc but actually owning the beast, using it for however many weeks a year then trading up / selling / getting out etc.

For me, £5k a year is quit reasonable. I’m new to this though!

First van bought new had it 6 years depreciation £1800/year, sold it privately.
Last van bought new had it 3 years depreciation £2000/year, traded it and got 20% off new van on a factory order.

Don't see the point of buying S/H when with a new van on a factory order you can get exactly what you want and the depreciation is low enough not to worry about.

We now spend around 150 nights away in a year, nearly all in mainland Europe, that would cost over £10k in hotels and food/living costs would be a lot higher.
Having a van makes complete financial sense to us.

 

[Steve and Denise]

Well I won the LOTTERY! And with the £10 I won that was now a grand total of £20 with my savings, Anyone selling a very cheap van

 

[Louis]

Well I won the LOTTERY! And with the £10 I won that was now a grand total of £20 with my savings, Anyone selling a very cheap van

Yes I’ve got an A40 , will that do ?

 

[wasp]

In my time I have had mainly campers the first a Transit Danbury with a pop top, then a Bedford CF Self build( not by me tho). A VW Danbury pop top, I The got into debt for the Buccaneer Clipper which I had for 10 years and finally the Fleetwood Jamboree. Which has now gone. I have had great fun over the years and met many people and travelled a few miles

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[BobtheBass]

2014. Bailey 625. Lovely motorhome with a bed we just couldn’t get comfy in. Traded in after a few months for a loss of about £8000 for a new Bailey 745. We really liked this van but bought two folding electric bikes that we thought would fit in the van "somewhere". Wrong. Traded in at a loss of about £8000 again after 12 months. Bought a Chausson 718. Loved it until we went on our first aire and I had a poo on the toilet for the first time. To my abject horror I didn’t fit and couldn’t use the loo. Took it back to Highbridge to see if the bathroom could be modified, they said no but also said "you’re not the first person to complain about the loo on this model!".....

They did me a really good trade in on a 717 Chausson with a much better loo which we intended to keep for a long time ( we lost about £6000 I think it was on the deal), but after a year or so I saw and fell in love with a Carthago C-Tourer and spent another £25000 or so. Lovely, lovely van, kept it for two years with no idea of changing until Sue got a rare form of cancer and had two major operations which left her unable to climb into the high single beds without pain so we looked at low singles. Found an incredible deal at Becks on a Hymer 668 so bought it at last years Peterborough show, extra cost to change £15000. We are delighted and this on IS a keeper!

So five years swapping and changing, losses= £62000 + the original £44000 for the first Bailey, all paid for with our pension lump sums (now all gone). Not sure who thinks motorhoming is a cheap way of going on holiday but it sure isn’t for us!

 

[Snowbird]

I have only ever payed cash, and when I say cash, I mean the folding stuff, not bank transfers. I remember buying a van from a German who was a retired bank manager and although my son had a Euro bank account and I offered to do a bank transfer before flying out to pick the van up he refused, insisting on cash. Before retirement my world revolved around cash in the days when cash was king, things are now much different and if purchasing anything over £1000 with cash, people think of you as some sort of drug dealer or criminal. Many, many years ago my grandfather would wander around with anything up to £2000 stuffed in his front button down trouser pocket just in case a deal came along. I have forgotten how many houses I have owned over the years,and have never ever had a mortgage. Its only in recent years I have had a credit card, simply because I found it impossible to hire a car without one. We now live in a world revolving around credit with many not interested in how much they can earn but only interested in how good there credit rating is. The crazy part about it is that if I went to my local Mercedes dealer to buy a new Merc it would be impossible as I have zero credit rating as I have never had any and he would not except £40000 in cash. The world has gone mad .

 

[Jands]

I worked hard starting up a import/export business it was exhausting but eventually turned the road and started making big profits, each month would save £1000 to put towards my MH fund, the markets took a crash in the 90s and lost everything.
Undaunted I started an office cleaning company, employed 50 workers cleaning some of the major companies. Started up my fund again. Unfortunately due to the recession many of these companies closed or relocated so due to the loss of work the company closed.
Again being undaunted I wandered the streets musing at the possibilities of starting up again.
I saw a black bag on a street corner, looked like it fell from a vehicle. Luckily it had the owners name and address on it so being honest made my way to his house, only a mile away, interested to what it held I opened the bag, it was full of £50 notes, around £60000 a quick rethink and went straight to the MH dealer.
That is how i paid for it, a mixture of hard work and luck.

 

[rangi]

Always paid cash, never bought new.

Only every had 1 thing on Time Payments, a Lawn mower. It was when the interest rate on our mortgage shot up to 23.something%, we struggled a bit.

Always thought about publishing a recipe book "100 ways to cook Rice & Mince" because of that.

So I bought a mower and went mowing peoples lawns for extra cash, paid the mower off in 6 weeks I seem to remember.

 

[Nosmo King]

Some great stories there, thanks for sharing. Particularly liked yours minxy girl!

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[The Wino]

I would suspect that those buying through finance, would have looked at the interest rates, and the total cost of the loan. However, if finance is the only option available to them, the total repayments would not come into it, it’s if they can afford the repayments for the term.
Like many on here, I would never buy a new motorhome, not even a car, that is losing too much.

I think the analagy is wrong . Motorhome depreciation is on a totally different level to cars. We bought ours new 5 years ago for 38k. I might be misleaded but would have thought on a private sale we would be very unlikely to lose more than 10k and at the right time of year a lot less what would a new car at 38k be worth now?. To me vehicle finance is a mugs game like leaving a balance on the credit card at the end of the month

 

[The Wino]

I think the low depreciation is the reason there are no lease deals. Typically you are left with a final payment to own the vehicle but they try to sell you another lease keeping on monthly payments. With motorhome values being so well retained its likely no-one would start another plan. The other thing that would put me off buying on finance is that a typical 3 yr old m/h on finance would including interest cost the same as a new one outright.

 

[Jagtazman]

got 20% off new van on a factory order.

Wow that's quite a saving. Was that at an indep garage or dusseldorf show?
Yours is LHD ain't it and imported yourself?

 

[busbuddy]

i started with big american stuff because my entire race crew used to sleep in it and i was young and stupid throwing money everywhere, after a nasty divorce i got a 70s vw campervan but as my daughter got older i needed hairwashing facilities so i went to germany and brought back a vw coachbuilt and the subsequent sale of that paid for my current van

everything has been bought with cash (ive not had a bank account for 20 years) and if i had the money i would have no problem buying new

 

[Zigisla]

Only had one MH and that was bought from savings brand new. This would have depleted me completely so I took out a loan for a few grand so I had some spare for extras. In the three years we have had it, @eddievanbitz has had the rest of my cash.
Wouldn’t change it or our situation for anything. Well maybe a better lottery win than @SteveandDenise

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[G-RMPS]

Part-exchanged first van and topped up by selling a half-share in my plane. Flying time doubled (fly with flying partner now), and insurance/hangarage/maintenance costs halved.

 

[Lenny HB]

Wow that's quite a saving. Was that at an indep garage or dusseldorf show?
Yours is LHD ain't it and imported yourself?

Dusseldorf, Belgium dealer 3rd van we have bought from them. LHD and self imported, never bought a van in the UK.
We did do very well on this van and a very good trade in price £12k more than UK dealers offering. Normally only get 15% discount.

 

[BobtheBass]

Always paid cash, never bought new.



Always thought about publishing a recipe book "100 ways to cook Rice & Mince" because of that.

Someone’s beaten you to that sorry! When we first married in the seventies the only cook book we owned was "101 recipes with mince" and we used it nearly every day!

 

[haganap]

Cash for Motorhomes and cars don't see the point of paying interest on a deprecating asset. If people waited until they could afford things the country & it's people would be in a lot better state.

I can not agree with this one bit. 15 years ago we bought our first motorhome. Our Kids were 7 and 5 and we borrowed 20k to buy it from a bank over 10 years. After 3 years we sold it for 16 bought an Adria for 22k and borrowed the difference for our second van still over 10 years. 3 years later we bought a bessacar 765 for 32 k and sold the adria for 22k again borrowing the money and staying within the 10 year period. Nearly 5 years later I sold the bessacar for 25k and bought the Rapido for 47k this time borrowing the 20k over 7 years. after 2 years I sold it for 39 and got my N&B for 63k borrowing an additional 20k over 5 years.
so 1 year in to the payment, 4 years to go and the MH will be paid off and I have the van I have always wanted. I may keep it I may not but my whole point is this.

If I would have listened to your advice and put the money away £300 per month I would probably be entering in to my second/third year of motorhoming. It would have taken me 7 years to get the money together for my first one.

My kids would have been grown up and missed out on all the things we could and did do when they were younger and travelling with us. You cant but time but in my case you can borrow for it.

Borrowing is about responsible borrowing, never borrowing more than you can afford comfortably and ensuring that you don't borrow more than the net worth. I owe about 15k on my motorhome, I am pretty sure that its worth at least 3 x that and with now no mortgage to pay and plenty of money in the bank and investments to cover any major problems I am glad I spent the years travelling and meeting people than I did saving religiously.

 

[Louis]

I can not agree with this one bit. 15 years ago we bought our first motorhome. Our Kids were 7 and 5 and we borrowed 20k to buy it from a bank over 10 years. After 3 years we sold it for 16 bought an Adria for 22k and borrowed the difference for our second van still over 10 years. 3 years later we bought a bessacar 765 for 32 k and sold the adria for 22k again borrowing the money and staying within the 10 year period. Nearly 5 years later I sold the bessacar for 25k and bought the Rapido for 47k this time borrowing the 20k over 7 years. after 2 years I sold it for 39 and got my N&B for 63k borrowing an additional 20k over 5 years.
so 1 year in to the payment, 4 years to go and the MH will be paid off and I have the van I have always wanted. I may keep it I may not but my whole point is this.

If I would have listened to your advice and put the money away £300 per month I would probably be entering in to my second/third year of motorhoming. It would have taken me 7 years to get the money together for my first one.

My kids would have been grown up and missed out on all the things we could and did do when they were younger and travelling with us. You cant but time but in my case you can borrow for it.

Borrowing is about responsible borrowing, never borrowing more than you can afford comfortably and ensuring that you don't borrow more than the net worth. I owe about 15k on my motorhome, I am pretty sure that its worth at least 3 x that and with now no mortgage to pay and plenty of money in the bank and investments to cover any major problems I am glad I spent the years travelling and meeting people than I did saving religiously.

Absolutely.

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