Off to Germany to collect our van!

Sort by date Sort by votes
sallylillian said:
Gerry have you a comparison to best UK deal offered. Discount, free options, etc.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid not... during my preliminary enquiry to several U.K. Dealers there was little hint of a discount.. it was a pretty much 'take it or leave it' approach to list prices. And that ended my interest.
However lets say, optimistically one could have secured a 10% discount (which I couldn't) that would have been Approx £5k, so I would still have realised a £6k saving. I also forgot to account for the Thule awning and Alpine stereo which are in my final German invoice but not added to the UK Prices. That's another £1k saving on top, bringing it to about £12k saving.

So going to Germany has saved approx £7k over a 10% discounted U.K. Dealer, if you could get that discount out of one.
 
Upvote 0
gerry mcg said:
I'm afraid not... during my preliminary enquiry to several U.K. Dealers there was little hint of a discount.. it was a pretty much 'take it or leave it' approach to list prices. And that ended my interest.
However lets say, optimistically one could have secured a 10% discount (which I couldn't) that would have been Approx £5k, so I would still have realised a £6k saving. I also forgot to account for the Thule awning and Alpine stereo which are in my final German invoice but not added to the UK Prices. That's another £1k saving on top, bringing it to about £12k saving.

So going to Germany has saved approx £7k over a 10% discounted U.K. Dealer, if you could get that discount out of one.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I had a similar experience, after a lot of pushing, and I have been negotiating for all of my business life, I was begrudgingly offered 5%!! Off the Euro price list

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
gerry mcg said:
I'm afraid not... during my preliminary enquiry to several U.K. Dealers there was little hint of a discount.. it was a pretty much 'take it or leave it' approach to list prices. And that ended my interest.
However lets say, optimistically one could have secured a 10% discount (which I couldn't) that would have been Approx £5k, so I would still have realised a £6k saving. I also forgot to account for the Thule awning and Alpine stereo which are in my final German invoice but not added to the UK Prices. That's another £1k saving on top, bringing it to about £12k saving.

So going to Germany has saved approx £7k over a 10% discounted U.K. Dealer, if you could get that discount out of one.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I had a similar experience, after a lot of pushing, and I have been negotiating for all of my business life, I was begrudgingly offered 5%!! Off the Euro price list
 
Upvote 0
The German dealer gave me 5% discount of € price straight up without asking. He openly said they have a 10% margin on the vans and they split this with the customer, who gets a 5% discount and the dealer takes a 5% margin profit.
I didn't push for more as I felt I was being talked to straight up and I was already making a big saving over UK prices so he was pushing at an open door for getting my business.

I really dislike having to haggle... I appreciate an open, honest, "best deal for you and me" attitude. The dealer has to make a profit in the deal somewhere.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Sorry it lost the last part .... so that was the UK dealer who offered 5% then did a calculation of exchange at their non negotiable in house rate which was 7% worse than I could get from HiFx. Like you I got a better deal straight off the bat in Germany, opening gambit was -15%!
 
Upvote 0
I guess different marques have different margins 15% is super!

I used HiFx for my money transfers and they were superb. I hedged money at pre-order brexit rates 6 months ahead of when I wanted it and only paid a 10% deposit, so I held the 90% balance in my account until it was due in Jan 17

Edit
If you use HiFx, you don't even need to have a euro account. You use their one, so I bought my euros, they hold it in their euro client account and you then set up a transfer from their euro account to your recipient's euro account direct. And the full amount arrived in the dealer account within a couple of hours with no fees deducted. Exchange rate is much better than using your bank.
Really highly recommended.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
gerry mcg said:
I guess different marques have different margins 15% is super!

I used HiFx for my money transfers and they were superb. I hedged money at pre-order brexit rates 6 months ahead of when I wanted it and only paid a 10% deposit, so I held the 90% balance in my account until it was due in Jan 17

Edit
If you use HiFx, you don't even need to have a euro account. You use their one, so I bought my euros, they hold it in their euro client account and you then set up a transfer from their euro account to your recipient's euro account direct. And the full amount arrived in the dealer account within a couple of hours with no fees deducted. Exchange rate is much better than using your bank.
Really highly recommended.
Click to expand...
Pretty much the same experience, I did find later when I had an additional amount to pay that it pays to shop around some of these exchange players too. I also had the dealer supply some stuff FOC, and fit some of my supplied kit for a small "cash" payment!! If you have the time to negotiate then its worth the effort, but I did find the Germans were hitting out of the park to start with so not much left on the table!!
 
Upvote 0
Similar with Belgium dealer, give you a good price to start with anything else you can negotiate is a real bonus.
Last 2 vans saved around £12k on each buying in Belgium over UK best price. Once UK dealers know you are getting quoted abroad they often refuse to quote, I wonder why.

Saving around £25k on the van that's on order as we have a LHD van to trade, people just don't realise how much more you get for trade in's, in Germany & Belgium. The trade in price accounts for half of the saving as can get £12k more my van than in the UK.

You get loads of people on forums who say don't buy a LHD it's harder to sell you will get less for it, total popycock, far easier to sell a LHD and you can get a lot more for it if you part ex.
 
Upvote 0
Lenny HB said:
Saving around £25k on the van that's on order as we have a LHD van to trade, people just don't realise how much more you get for trade in's, in Germany & Belgium. The trade in price accounts for half of the saving as can get £12k more my van than in the UK.

You get loads of people on forums who say don't buy a LHD it's harder to sell you will get less for it, total popycock, far easier to sell a LHD and you can get a lot more for it if you part ex.
Click to expand...
I agree but only if you sell it in mainland EU etc, not in the UK which is where most MHers buy and sell.

I think it would be useful if those who have bought abroad could give details of where they bought from, I am willing to produce a detailed list if the info is sent to me.
 
Upvote 0
Minxy Girl said:
I agree but only if you sell it in mainland EU etc, not in the UK which is where most MHers buy and sell.
Click to expand...
We wouldn't have a Motorhome if we considered buying in the UK, we can't afford the UK dealers prices and don't like the dealers attitude of most of the ones we have spoken to.
Personally I know more people that have brought abroad than in the UK.:ROFLMAO:
 
Upvote 0
Lenny HB said:
We wouldn't have a Motorhome if we considered buying in the UK, we can't afford the UK dealers prices and don't like the dealers attitude of most of the ones we have spoken to.
Personally I know more people that have brought abroad than in the UK.:ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
I realise that but a lot of people either can't or don't want to buy abroad ... anyway, can you let me have details of where you bought from please for the list I'm compiling.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
We used the same Belgian dealer as Lenny HB on forum member's recommendations. After going to 2 Motorhome shows at the NEC and speaking to dealers there and at their premises we realised that they were generally not too interested in selling us what we wanted and constantly tried to sell us whatever they had in stock. We went to our nearest Hymer dealer in the U.K. on 3 separate occasions, a round trip of 250 miles, we had the money in the bank and they still wouldn't budge an inch on price.
So we took a holiday in Belgium and Germany to speak to dealers there..chalk and cheese is the phrase. Long story short we saved 17% on the best price offered in the U.K. for the model we wanted, ok it's lhd and has no oven but a few months wait and a factory order would have solved that for a couple of thousand more euros, the imminent Brexit vote made the decision for us and we don't regret it at all. LHD in the U.K. with a wide vehicle makes it easy to judge your distance from the kerb, we have an audible alarm for the other side of the vehicle which increases in volume as the gap gets narrower....but even she's getting used to it now...:D2
May be its a little different at present due to the currency exchange rate but I don't see UK motorhome manufacturers easing prices.....:whistle:
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Minxy Girl said:
I realise that but a lot of people either can't or don't want to buy abroad ... anyway, can you let me have details of where you bought from please for the list I'm compiling.
Click to expand...
Hi Minxy, the other Gerry bought the van from here Link Removed. Same place I picked mine up from a year ago this week. Before buying from them I called round every Uk dealer and told them exactly what I was getting and how much for, the closest anyone got was about £10K more but that was for a 2014 model so technically 2 years old and old style Fiat. Due to the exchange rate at the time I save a good few pounds more than Gerry and have been super pleased with the service I have received from the German Dealer.
I used Moneycrop for my deal which was very similar to the one Gery got at Hifx. If anyone is thinking of doing this I'd say go for it and feel free to ask questions if needing help
 
Upvote 0
i can only thank this forums members for pointing me in the direction of Beglium , The UK dealers that i spoke to gave very little in negotiaion ,i specked the van same in both countrys and the price in europe was 95k euros ,they wanted 94k pounds for the same van in the UK , even at todays exchange rate thats a saving of 16k , the whole importation process was relatively easy with the guidance of this forum, handy to know that you get better trade in prices on the continent if you have a left hand drive ,now trying to remember where i put the old speedo insert :LOL:
 
Upvote 0
Minxy Girl said:
I realise that but a lot of people either can't or don't want to buy abroad ... anyway, can you let me have details of where you bought from please for the list I'm compiling.
Click to expand...
Send me a PM tomorrow to remind me, brain dead with jet lag at the moment, just gone to bed. Night night.
 
Upvote 0
Its not always like that in the UK though. I saved over 18% on the list price of a new RHD well specced Hymer in the UK because the model I wanted had been hanging around in their stock. I suspect I could have saved a little bit more by importing, but nowhere near enough to make it was worth the hassle. I was lucky because they had the model I wanted with all the extras that I also wanted.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Minxy Girl said:
I agree but only if you sell it in mainland EU etc, not in the UK which is where most MHers buy and sell.

.
Click to expand...
Thing is there are lHD dealers of cars /vans in the midlands that sell nothing else but lhd & have done so for 40+ years . & at a premium to rhd. I use to deal with them years ago when the only advertising was Exchange & mart
 
Upvote 0
gerry mcg said:
Edit...
I redid my calculations based on the UK 2017 pricelist and we saved £10,968.44 or 19.2% over an equivalent spec UK van. (y)
Click to expand...
I was wondering whether the £/€ malarky had scuppered the benefits of importing but clearly not!!
Hopefully acquire something next year once we have somewhere to store a van...
 
Upvote 0
BMStewart2004 said:
I was wondering whether the £/€ malarky had scuppered the benefits of importing but clearly not!!
Hopefully acquire something next year once we have somewhere to store a van...
Click to expand...
It has to some extent. I bought my € at pre-order brexit exchange rate of 1.28. Had I had to buy the van today at HiFx spot rate of 1.1401, it would have cost me an extra £4500, so the saving would have been around £7,500 (13%)
That is assuming the UK dealers don't increase their prices to maintain their own profit margin.
 
Upvote 0
I understand that, last year, Hymer fixed the exchange rate for British dealers buying their new stock at 1.24 euros. For this year's new stock, they have set it at 1.11 euros. That has the potential to have quite an effect on the British new price - unless the dealers are able to absorb some of that price rise? :unsure:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
gerry mcg said:
It has to some extent. I bought my € at pre-order brexit exchange rate of 1.28. Had I had to buy the van today at HiFx spot rate of 1.1401, it would have cost me an extra £4500, so the saving would have been around £7,500 (13%)
That is assuming the UK dealers don't increase their prices to maintain their own profit margin.
Click to expand...
In my case as I'm trading my van it offsets the currency fluctuation as I only have to find €10,700 although the VAT could vary a bit but not enough to worry about.

The first van we imported in 2008 exchange rate was 1.45 when we paid the deposit, when we paid the balance it was 1.25 cost us an extra £7000 but still saved £12000. Current van it was 1.17 when we ordered and 1.26 when we paid saved another £2000.
 
Upvote 0
In 2012 when we bought our last boat (German built), we bought from the UK distributer but negotiated using the Manufacturers Euro pricelist, agreed to use the exchange rate quoted on the day we placed the order and paid in Sterling.
The UK pricelist used the same numbers but the dealer had just swapped the € sign for a £ sign which is pretty normal for boat sales....

It came in about £6k more than the best price from a euro dealer but would have cost us in excess of the £6k to have a lorry collect it and deliver to the UK plus transportation insurance and cost of a crane to offload back here in the UK.

I realise that boats are different as there is no LHD/RHD issues, but I wonder if there are any enlightened UK dealers of euro-built motorhomes that would be prepared to do the same kind of deal rather than lose out completely.
 
Upvote 0
bellabee said:
I understand that, last year, Hymer fixed the exchange rate for British dealers buying their new stock at 1.24 euros. For this year's new stock, they have set it at 1.11 euros. That has the potential to have quite an effect on the British new price - unless the dealers are able to absorb some of that price rise? :unsure:
Click to expand...
At the Dusseldorf show we were told that Carthago had put the rates for 2017 at 1.18 €/£ - whether that's right or not who knows.
 
Upvote 0
BMStewart2004 said:
At the Dusseldorf show we were told that Carthago had put the rates for 2017 at 1.18 €/£ - whether that's right or not who knows.
Click to expand...

I suspect the fixed rate only related to the dealer stock order and compilation of the current UK pricelist, I would be surprised if the manufacturer had fixed the rate for the entire year as it would be in their interest to allow the UK distributer to buy at the rate in place on the day of order.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
BMStewart2004 said:
At the Dusseldorf show we were told that Carthago had put the rates for 2017 at 1.18 €/£ - whether that's right or not who knows.
Click to expand...
At Dusseldorf a UK Carthago dealer offered me a price to change £45k, this was for a Carthago that was a few grand cheaper than the Hymer we ordered. The Hymer by the time we have imported and paid the VAT will cost us £20k to change. UK dealers are just too greedy. Again the rip off trade in prices come into play they were offering £40k for my van compared to my Belgium Hymer dealers trade in offer of £52k.
 
Upvote 0

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top