I may need t learn a new language

[Rex Mac]

Hi everyone,

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read what may be a long and tiresome post.

I have a simple question to ask – How on Earth do you manage buy a motorhome?

I have read the guides here and in other locations, but I have yet to find myself in a position to utilise the information they have provided me with.

A little background information for you – We opted to buy a motorhome on my retirement in order to travel around the UK and Ireland. During my working days we were fortunate to have been able to visit many countries and furthermore we were always able to incorporate extended breaks in these places as an extra curricular holiday. We have visited so few places in our own country it seemed quite right to explore a little more at home.

We initially decided to set our budget at 70k ((GBP) inclusive of kitting out) which, to us seemed to be a reasonable starting point.

To date we have visited three dealerships, (I will not name them since they may not have the ability to see this post and as such will have no right of reply.) Here is where I am clearly going wrong.

Dealer #1 – We identified two vehicles of interest from their website. Each on the same chassis but just a slightly different layout. We called and booked an appointment to view both options at an agreed time.

On arrival (at the agreed time) only one of the vehicles was available for viewing. The Salesperson I booked the appointment with was in the building but too busy to see us immediately and would talk to us as soon as he was able to. 45 minutes later we left. The Guy who I booked an appointment with was probably still playing “virtual golf” or some other game and simply couldn't drag himself away from his fun.

Dealer #2 – Once again we identified one vehicle of interest. We booked an appointment to view our chosen chariot.

Guess what? - The guy we booked the appointment with didn't show up. No explanations given, nobody knew where he had gone. It seems he just evaporated and no-one else was interested or even cared that we might be interested in putting some cash into their pockets.

Dealer #3.

As before, appointment booked in advance. We turn up in a timely fashion. The sales guy has gone AWOL and nobody knows when he will be back. The rest of the team really are not interested at all that I might want to buy something.

Obviously, I am clearly lacking in my communication skills. How on earth do you talk with motorhome dealers?

 

[roadwarrior]

firstly, whats with thr grammer police ?? get a life will you ...
now Rex, indifferance is the curse of the british - and at the risk of sounding like an advertising i can at this time recommend a dealer - of course it depends where you are and how far you want to travel, but i am in the midlands and bought a van from quite possibly the best motorhome sales place i have ever been to down south in Southampton, the vans are spotless and the service is outstanding - especially aftersales.
I have never bought a van from a sales place before having always bought private as like most here we are usually disappointed. Having said that having just looked at their website im not sure they have anything left - my van was in my opinion underpriced for 1500 miles on the clock so i snapped their hand off frankly and its likely others did the same - i did make enquiries and that are well regarded locally so it wasnt that i got lucky it seems

 

[Vipar]

I recommend AMC at Little Dicker Hailsham near Eastbourne. Very polite owner and staff, cafe just up the roadyummy

 

[Just smiffy]

More than some of the morons on here.

Are you calling me a moron...?

 

[dodfloss]

The quality of salespeople in many trades is appalling.
With sales of motorhomes going through the roof this year, individual buyers are just a drop in the ocean and salesmen have become order takers rather than sales executives.

In the motor-trade, this was also the case from the late-nineties when PCP finance deals were introduced and the customer pool expanded exponentially.
I spent a few years selling cars in that era and, having come to it from an unrelated professional sales background where the customer is actually listened to, I found myself considerably outselling the “veterans” within a couple of months.

I agree, I was in sales years ago, my manager told me you have two ears and one tongue, use them wisely.

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[roadwarrior]

https://www.viscountleisure.co.uk is the place i neglected to mention, but with the covid going on and the staycation van sales going mental it looks like they have sold out and put up the shutters for a while.

 

[roadwarrior]

vis a vis thr 70k you have, i would advise buying an older van to start with for say 30/40k and getting the feel of what you want - front lounge/garage/rear kitchen, drop down beds ect.. every van is different and it is considered wisdom that you need 3 goes at it before you finally decide where you want what and who you want it built by ect.
Dont think you will buy the first one and it will be perfect for you - vans are like women, all different

 

[Northernraider]

vis a vis thr 70k you have, i would advise buying an older van to start with for say 30/40k and getting the feel of what you want - front lounge/garage/rear kitchen, drop down beds ect.. every van is different and it is considered wisdom that you need 3 goes at it before you finally decide where you want what and who you want it built by ect.
Dont think you will buy the first one and it will be perfect for you - vans are like women, all different

Im on my 11th

And looking to change again

 

[Billylyne5]

I have to agree, buying a Motorhome is possibly one of the most frustrating and prolonged purchases I’ve ever tried to make, it’s more complicated and takes longer then buying a house

 

[tacr2man]

Are you calling me a moron...?

Why ask that , is your name "Gordon"

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[peterc10]

Due to the situation with C-19 there is a shortage of motorhomes available on the market, both used and new.

I visited my regular dealer for a service last week, usually they a stock of around 80 - 100 new and used mohos but currently has absolutely none.

This must be a very frustrating situation for salesmen.

Brian, we were there last week as well, for MOT and final damp check and spray. Also has a coupe of things that needed fixing. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and when we turned up and saw the empty lot we thought they had closed down! The only motorhomes parked were ones that were in for work to be done. We stopped overnight on their forecourt and Steve sorted us out by lunch time Wednesday so we could scuttle back to Kent in time for lockdown!

 

[pappajohn]

We made a special trip to Brownhills (as was) to view three vans.
Eventually corralled a sales man and asked about said vans.
His reply.... I don't know where you got your list but we don't have any of those...
My reply... Got it off your website last night mate.
His reply.. . Silence, with a red face.
Since then of course Brownhills have had a major shakeup.

 

[icantremember]

Brian, we were there last week as well, for MOT and final damp check and spray. Also has a coupe of things that needed fixing. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and when we turned up and saw the empty lot we thought they had closed down! The only motorhomes parked were ones that were in for work to be done. We stopped overnight on their forecourt and Steve sorted us out by lunch time Wednesday so we could scuttle back to Kent in time for lockdown!

Hi Peter, we were there for the same reasons plus engine service and usually we stay overnight but this time I took our moho in on the Friday and collected it on Monday during which time we had a courtesy car to take home.
I found the lack of motorhomes in the yard quite spooky and just hope they come through this nightmare.

 

[Kilroy]

Sincere apologies for the messy formatting. I wrote the original in Open Office for proof reading, copied and pasted it into the forum not realising there might be a formatting problem.

Sorry for the mess.

No problem with the formatting for me...perfectly reasonable & clear.
I have been looking at purchasing my first MH for around 6 months ....but due to covid have not been able to see anything at all of interest.. In the meantime I have bought a house and sold a house..which felt much more straight-forward!
Best of luck

 

[Kilroy]

No problem with the formatting for me...perfectly reasonable & clear.
I have been looking at purchasing my first MH for around 6 months ....but due to covid have not been able to see anything at all of interest.. In the meantime I have bought a house and sold a house..which felt much more straight-forward!
Best of luck

...oh, and, shopping with a similar budget to yourself, I did call by phone two large well known dealerships in UK to make appointments to see vehicles they advertised as "in stock".
As I was willing to travel from ROI I was clearly a serious potential customer. I was underwhelmed to say the least by the attitude of the sales persons I spoke to: "not really bothered" is probably the kindest way to describe it. And beyond that, one of the 2 vehicles of interest in one dealership wasn't actually in stock, or definitely for sale either!
Meh!

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[Rex Mac]

Many thanks for all of your replies. All of you are the bees knees, willing to pass on your experience regardless of my poor choice in editing format.

Owing to all of you (without exception) I have garnered some extremely valuable information so please accept my sincere thanks one and all.

You are a great bunch of people, Thank you so much.

 

[Rex Mac]

Many thanks for all of your replies.

vis a vis thr 70k you have, i would advise buying an older van to start with for say 30/40k and getting the feel of what you want - front lounge/garage/rear kitchen, drop down beds ect.. every van is different and it is considered wisdom that you need 3 goes at it before you finally decide where you want what and who you want it built by ect.
Dont think you will buy the first one and it will be perfect for you - vans are like women, all different

Thanks for your input. I may have neglected to inform that in the years BCGU (before children grew up) we towed a box around behind whatever my employers deemed suitable for daily use. From the limited number of vans we have so far seen one felt specifically suited to us. Exactly the same layout as our last touring box.

We walked in and felt "right at home" such a shame there wasn't a competent sales guy around to negotiate a deal with.

Thanks again everyone, you guys are the best.

 

[roadwarrior]

Im on my 11th

And looking to change again

im scared ask whether thats women or vans ..........

 

[roadwarrior]

i have been thinking about the indifferance by salesmen, there was a time when salesmen would pounce like demented Rottweilers, and it was learned that we dont like the hard push so now they feign indifference, or maybe took away their incentive bonus ............. there is definitely something to it though.. i recall someone saying he went to a bentley showroom somewhere and they were the most stuck up arseholes imaginable and of course none owned one and were simply salesmen on shit wages and yet they thought they were superior to the people that did.. laughable but true.
i remember a few year ago the wife decided she wanted new double glazing throughout the house, and i called a famous company called Sa****yle, and told them we wanted some windows .. WE rang THEM !!!
so they sent some idiot round who insisted on spending 2 hours bullshitting us with spiel. i told him i WANTED the windows , so stop messin about and give us a price , oh nooooo cant do that.. after 2 hours i booted him out the door and reported him - a few days later his manager appeared and sorted us.. makes you want to cry dont it ??

 

[Rex Mac]

night nighty roadwarrior.

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[bexleyjohn]

Hi Everyone,
After 30+ years of caravanning we decided to change to a Motorhome. First purchase (brand new, Spanish) was from a very big dealer with outlets all over the UK. They were very helpful, gave a reasonable trade-in for my caravan but then when problems began things weren’t so good.
After just over a year of frustration we bit the bullet and changed Motorhomes and bought another new van (German) from a dealership in Halstead - the van is superb, the dealership first class and ALWAYS helpful, attentive, knowledgeable and polite.
Have had our Motorhome 4 years now and so very glad we found a great unit with a great dealership.
By the way - hello Vipar - we’re in Bexley too.

 

[PrettyandFluffy]

The first thing I would advise is that hire a motorhome and spend a week or so in it. You will quickly realise what you like and don't like in terms of layout etc, this can save an expensive mistake.

 

[Ken Hall]

The reason we chose to purchase our motorhomes in Europe is exactly that UK motorhome dealerships, besides being greedy are completely inconsiderate of their customers. Some years ago we visited what claimed to be the largest motorhome dealer in the country (oddly enough having shrunk from 6, to one branch it's telephone answering message still claims as much) and we were told that the model we wanted was not in the UK, but that they would get us one to look at. OK we said and were ushered into the "deal Office" and asked for a deposit. For what I asked and was informed that if we wanted to see the motorhome we had to agree in advance, to buy it. WHAT!!!! spend £30K+ on a product you haven't seen. What planet were they on. So started our trend of going over to one of Germany's largest Hymer dealerships to find EVERY model of EVERY vehicle available for inspection and ourr model at £15,000 less than the equivalent UK dealership price. We agreed a deal and if you want to read how easy it was to import, just look at my article in MMM December 2018.

I know the conditions are changing with Brexit, but I'll be writing again in the new year. I have a friend in the HMRC VAT office and will have news of import and price changes as they occur, so keep watching my posts. European dealers still want to do business with UK motorhomers.

Ken

 

[funflair]

Many thanks for all of your replies.

Thanks for your input. I may have neglected to inform that in the years BCGU (before children grew up) we towed a box around behind whatever my employers deemed suitable for daily use. From the limited number of vans we have so far seen one felt specifically suited to us. Exactly the same layout as our last touring box.

We walked in and felt "right at home" such a shame there wasn't a competent sales guy around to negotiate a deal with.

Thanks again everyone, you guys are the best.

Don't forget that a motorhome is quite different to a caravan even though first impressions they might look the same and the same layout can feel reassuringly familiar, the big difference is that you don't have the car on the front for transport, in our years before motorhome we also dragged a wobble box around but when changing to a Motorhome we went for a completely different layout to compensate for not having the storage space of the tow vehicle for our bikes and things. Yes we chose a garage model and would not even contemplate a MH without.

Martin

 

[lochness]

Whatever you do, don't pay a non refundable deposit. In my enthusiasm to buy my first motorhome, I did that with a dealer in the midlands. Had the vehicle inspected and it was a mess. Backed out but lost my deposit. If you do decide to pay a deposit, make sure that it is fully refundable.

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[Shrimp]

Good way of putting a relatively new member off posting guys, well done!
If we are going to start criticising everyone’s way of writing/spelling and punctuation, we will all get paranoid about it and not post!

 

[Landy lover]

Strangely we had a very similar experience when we were looking to buy our American 5th wheel caravan - like you I will not name the dealers as I know at least one has passed and its now 10years ago.

We had looked around at different ones and seen that the 3 suppliers we were interested in would be at the NEC show. We went to the first one to have a good look around and went to the first one to look around only to be challenged by someone with the attitude of a bouncer who stated you wont be coming in to look around unless you are buying one. Well after an exchange of unpleasantries we decided that we were no longer interested in that make come hell or high water. On to the next one we looked around the outside and went inside to have a look - mildly interested so approached the salesman who was sitting in front of an enormous TV who told me to shut up they are just about to score !!! OK I get they must get stacks of , tyre kickers at a show but really. So we walked away from that one. Went on to our final one and had a look around found it interesting. Had a good conversation about weights etc and I ask if it was feasible to tow with a crew cab land rover 110 or did it need a longer vehicle. He advised he did not know but would look into it for me and promptly went to another conversation with out taking details. We walked away totally bemused and decided we may have to rethink out plans. We enjoyed the rest of the show and went home.

Subsequently we went to a Warner's show and all the 5th wheels were on display again, we passed 2 by and as we slowed by the last one the salesman caught us and said you are the folk who asked about a land rover - yes you can and explained the mods needed.

So we were lucky and ultimately bought one but I do feel for the OP when you are trying to part with your hard earned to have some fun and relaxation in you retirement years you do expect them to treat you with a bit of respect and interest AND in the OPs case actually attend appointments or advise cancellation

 

[TonyEmm]

Sincere apologies for the messy formatting. I wrote the original in Open Office for proof reading, copied and pasted it into the forum not realising there might be a formatting problem.

Sorry for the mess.

Hello and welcome!

I’m reading on an iPad.. and had no issues at all reading your post!

There are still dealers around that want to serve you.... my budget was rather less than yours but once we’d tracked down the layout we wanted, we drew up a shortlist, called the first dealer that we thought offered the best option and made an appointment to view.
The place was officially closed but was doing individual appointments. It was a couple of hours trip each way but worth It. 2-3 hours after arriving there, we were the proud owners of our first Rapido. (Had 2 Hymers before). We ordered extra work which was carried out in good order.

We’ve had some warranty issues which they were a little tardy with but I think that was down to availabilty of parts from the factory due to both Covid 19 and the fact it clashed with the French holidays.

I would use our dealer again and I’m happy to recommend Simpson’s Motorhomes of Great Yarmouth. https://simpsonsmotorhomes.co.uk/

 

[Ian Bosman]

I managed easy enough. I’m reading on an iPad.
How come posters get no complaints when they post a solid multi line block of text but a post that is split into logical sections - all be it with extra spaces - gets pulled up?
Remember rule 1 and what ever # the rule is about tolerating other people’s grammar.

As for the OP’s problem spending money at a dealer, it must be bad luck. Or currently a sellers market
Do persevere with your quest to buy a MH and with posting at MHF

Hear, hear. Let us be tolerant and as a friend of mine often says to people, if you have unpleasant things to say then do not say it.
The spaces and the layout seems to me that the writer was reflecting a traditional form of writing that many in a hurry, me included, I confess, forget. The scourge of texting on mobile phones changing our language?

 

[Ian Bosman]

Hello and welcome!

I’m reading on an iPad.. and had no issues at all reading your post!

There are still dealers around that want to serve you.... my budget was rather less than yours but once we’d tracked down the layout we wanted, we drew up a shortlist, called the first dealer that we thought offered the best option and made an appointment to view.
The place was officially closed but was doing individual appointments. It was a couple of hours trip each way but worth It. 2-3 hours after arriving there, we were the proud owners of our first Rapido. (Had 2 Hymers before). We ordered extra work which was carried out in good order.

We’ve had some warranty issues which they were a little tardy with but I think that was down to availabilty of parts from the factory due to both Covid 19 and the fact it clashed with the French holidays.

I would use our dealer again and I’m happy to recommend Simpson’s Motorhomes of Great Yarmouth. https://simpsonsmotorhomes.co.uk/

Our motorhome we have we just turned up and had a good look around and in those on show and then sought out a salesperson to do the deal. Obviously dealers who cannot be bothered get customers who cannot be bothered and they are likely to be not bothered with after sales as well.

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[minesapint]

I found it easy to read. Welcome.

Rex Mac, do not apologise for an excellent article, with excellent spacing.
Welcome to the forum.