Is it really worth owning a motorhome?

Itsmcb

Itsmcb

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My van is off the road for a while for an engine repair. It's getting a little old for European touring so I've been looking at newer vans. Minimum of £20K and up for something we like.
Yesterday I had a look at motorhome hire. Lots to choose from. I can fly to Beziers for £60 return from my local airport and hire a 7m fixed bed almost new van at the end of September for around £800 for 10 days. That includes insurance, breakdown cover, cleaning etc etc. It would probably cost that in ferry, diesel and tolls to get to the south of France.
OK, if you spend lots of time in your van, multiple weekends and the odd long trip it might be worth buying but for the occasional weekend and maybe a couple of weeks away a year maybe not.??
 
Itsmcb said:
My van is off the road for a while for an engine repair. It's getting a little old for European touring so I've been looking at newer vans. Minimum of £20K and up for something we like.
Yesterday I had a look at motorhome hire. Lots to choose from. I can fly to Beziers for £60 return from my local airport and hire a 7m fixed bed almost new van at the end of September for around £800 for 10 days. That includes insurance, breakdown cover, cleaning etc etc. It would probably cost that in ferry, diesel and tolls to get to the south of France.
OK, if you spend lots of time in your van, multiple weekends and the odd long trip it might be worth buying but for the occasional weekend and maybe a couple of weeks away a year maybe not.??
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It very much depends on the individual situation. There is no real answer apart from that, really; we all have different perspectives and priorities
 
Very much an individual thing I think.

There's also an opportunity cost question. As I have a van there are things I can consider, horizons that are opened, which I wouldn't do if I had to plan a rental.

Now that we are here, how about this weekend there? Should we delay the return by a few days to take in that area?
 
It does make sense versus hotel and rent a car.

I was working our outgoings for this trip and roughly 200 in diesel either way. 50 in diesel pottering about. 20 in gas and if my solar was working free for camping and 250 for the ferry. So 720 for anywhere between one and 12 weeks.

For us (still employed but get loads of leave) purchase makes sense but the Beziers hire is a tempter for those who don't have the time. We would miss the bikes and battery anxiety though !
 
suavecarve said:
It does make sense versus hotel and rent a car.

I was working our outgoings for this trip and roughly 200 in diesel either way. 50 in diesel pottering about. 20 in gas and if my solar was working free for camping and 250 for the ferry. So 720 for anywhere between one and 12 weeks.

For us (still employed but get loads of leave) purchase makes sense but the Beziers hire is a tempter for those who don't have the time. We would miss the bikes and battery anxiety though !
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My van is off the road so we were looking at hotels or apartments for 10 days as that's all the holidays we have. I struggled to find anything reasonably nice in a decent area for less than £1500. Then we would need a car so probably another £200 or more. Plus it's not really practical to drive that far south and back just for a 10 day trip. 🤷
 
Itsmcb said:
My van is off the road for a while for an engine repair. It's getting a little old for European touring so I've been looking at newer vans. Minimum of £20K and up for something we like.
Yesterday I had a look at motorhome hire. Lots to choose from. I can fly to Beziers for £60 return from my local airport and hire a 7m fixed bed almost new van at the end of September for around £800 for 10 days. That includes insurance, breakdown cover, cleaning etc etc. It would probably cost that in ferry, diesel and tolls to get to the south of France.
OK, if you spend lots of time in your van, multiple weekends and the odd long trip it might be worth buying but for the occasional weekend and maybe a couple of weeks away a year maybe not.??
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I couldn't have afforded Norway for 6 weeks if I didn't have the motorhome. It would have been extortionate staying in hotels for that amount of time. Then there's cooking for yourself instead of eating out. Again saved a fortune in Norway.

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Itsmcb said:
That includes insurance,
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I can't really see how that can include full insurance. It might include basic insurance ,even when hiring a car it includes'insurance' but if you wish to be covered for everything so that you have no worries whatsoever then that is at least another 250 pounds. If you wish to use your own 'yearly excess cover' that you can get for 40 quid/year then the renting company will block a minimum of 1500 pound on a credit card as they will not wait for the ecess insurance to pay but want paying immediately-
So I can't see a MH company including fulll "walkaway" insurance for that money?
 
they are expensive and can certainly be more expensive as holidays compared to other types. But then they can be cheaper. It depends on how you use it really. we are all different.

We got ours early. Was originally planning on doing so when I retired. But the boss developed an issue with flying which meant she couldnt anymore. We had done a few cruises. so decided, what the heck and got the van.

best decision we made, love it, even though we dont get away as much as we would like.

but do get roughly 2 one month holidays a year and a few weekends. And Drax rally of course. (y)(y)

as we generally only use sites but move on every 2 or 3 days and will use toll roads if more convenient. Its not the most frugal way to use the van. But we are glad we have it and enjoy our holidays.

mind you, if I was restricted to only a couple of 2 week holidays then I think we would have waited until retirement.
 
Yes but, my checked luggage bill will dwarf the standard airfare. Scooter, kayaks x 3 paddles, and all the other boating paraphernalia.
Cycles, x 2. Seasonal clothes, entertainment.Etc Etc.
Mike.

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Like many things in life, if you use what you have it’s worth it, if it sits around it’s not worth it. For us motorhome life is a big part of our lives. When that stops happening we’ll sell it. Soon off to Ireland for a month, now that would be expensive if you had to hire.
But for now it’s just right.
Phil upmetank
 
A thou
Itsmcb said:
My van is off the road for a while for an engine repair. It's getting a little old for European touring so I've been looking at newer vans. Minimum of £20K and up for something we like.
Yesterday I had a look at motorhome hire. Lots to choose from. I can fly to Beziers for £60 return from my local airport and hire a 7m fixed bed almost new van at the end of September for around £800 for 10 days. That includes insurance, breakdown cover, cleaning etc etc. It would probably cost that in ferry, diesel and tolls to get to the south of France.
OK, if you spend lots of time in your van, multiple weekends and the odd long trip it might be worth buying but for the occasional weekend and maybe a couple of weeks away a year maybe not.??
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A thought provoking post but, while we have our present motorhome (3.5yrs old), we will continue ownership. But, if we start to have problems with it we may consider your idea.

Only difficulty we see is age and hire/insurance.
 
Van stays home for 3 weeks Dec/Jan
Flights hotel and hire car usually cheaper than van on boat and travel down south.
Cost in time and travel sites just didn't add up for me as a solo traveller.

Backpack flight hotel last year less than £1000

But everything is booked direct. It can be cost effective. It helped getting on train from home so no airport parking ...that's the killer :mad:
 
gus-lopez said:
Which got me thinking? :unsure:
If I had one pound in 1971 I now need 14 pounds to have the same spending power.SO ,why when I had 5 weeks holiday back then do we not get 70 weeks now?:giggler:
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Probably because they would not fit in one year, shame that.

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We love the freedom of owning a motorhome we can just jump in and go we have our own loo and bedding and familier things around us ,as we still work our motorhome is also our car as we have a works car full of our tools so we dont want to empty it each time we go out.Just sitting on sea front with fish and chips we can pretend we are on holiday. :Grin: :Grin:
 
You wanna try telling these 3 that their mobile dog bed is being flogged? 😳


IMG_20240830_010948.jpg
 
£60 flights are probably more like an average of 150-200 and hiring a MoHo for 10 days I would expect to be more like 1500-2000. But like all things with Motorhomes the numbers will never stack up. Hiring though does overcome many other things like avoid some long and costly drives to get to a far off destination, no storage of van needed, no maintenance fees and upkeep etc so it can easily make sense.
 
I know it sounds silly, but once you have bought a motorhome many on here quickly get a very personal attachment to it. I know I have. It becomes one of the family. Even though I under-use mine (only about 3 or 4 odd weeks away in any year) I wouldn't be without it. The most expensive holidays I ever had probably, but I don't care. It really is a home-from-home wherever you are.

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The mental health value of knowing that I have a vehicle which is set up for me, so that I can cook, eat, relax, sleep in a way which I know will be successful is priceless. 💷 💷 💷

If I were to calculate the "per trip" cost of each motorhome holiday then it would work out eye-wateringly expensive; so I don't!

Like Dinosaur I will do a spur-of-the-moment trip and just go out for lunch or tea in the van, or take advantage of unexpected nice weather and have a cheeky one-nighter, both of which which can be just as restorative as a few days away.
 
It’s all horses for courses and what you are used to. Hiring a fly drive motorhome is, in my eyes at least, going to be limited by your suitcase so not something I would consider for a one or two week break. But that’s my opinion and we are all different luckily.
My opinion on the cost or rather the return on investment of motorhome ownership is probably more similar to others already in this thread. I bought a motorhome for the freedom it would afford me even though I don’t get the full benefit of time because I am still working. To get better « value » or « ROI » like others I use it for impromptu trips where I could quite easily have taken the car. I like to think that I am too posh to 💩 in public conveniences is a good enough excuse*.
Some friends suggest that it doesn’t give me freedom because I am limited by time and distance. They can have a week in Turkey where as I would only get as far as Troyes.
But I counter that argument with a motorhome makes memories without planning and preparation or effort. It’s loaded with bikes, hiking gear, riding gear, kayak & SUP so we can turn our hand to anything, anywhere. And it’s on my drive so come Friday night, if there’s nowt on the 📺 we can feed the 🐈 and 🐴 and pootle to a pub stop. There’s £80 in taxi « savings » straight away, or to look at it another way, a « free » supper.
However the lack of use has I will admit, been the reason why we have not upgraded or just swapped our now 7yr old Bailey for something newer. But if my was in someway no longer available to me (crash,burn, theft) then I would buy a replacement at the drop of a hat and use the above excuses to convince myself that it was all worth it.
PS I hope that you get your van sorted Itsmcb

* Note: I am in no way, shape or form posh!
 
Itsmcb said:
OK, if you spend lots of time in your van, multiple weekends and the odd long trip it might be worth buying but for the occasional weekend and maybe a couple of weeks away a year maybe not.??
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A motorhome is perhaps not the ideal choice if that’s its planned usage pattern.

barryd said:
If you only have a few weeks a year to use it then it's a bit of a waste of a motorhome.
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Agreed. To get the best benefit from them they need to be used often.

Gaston aires said:
Like many things in life, if you use what you have it’s worth it, if it sits around it’s not worth it.
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Indeed. 👍

Ian
 
If you’re off to a faraway place and only have a couple of weeks it’s probably worth hiring rather than driving. Whilst some have driven to Norway or Iceland if you fly your immediately on Holliday at the destination to enjoy two weeks or so in a MoHo.

Is owning a MoHo worth it, buy one for £100k keep it for say 6 years sell for £80k

Let’s assume you have had 30 nights away and call it 4 weeks so that’s 180 nights that would equate to £111 per night in a motor home or £1,400 for a two week break sounds like good value to me

So is a Motorhome with it oh yes 😀😎☕️👍👍
 

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