Financing a motor home

ericbanner

Hello all

I am seeking advice on the most cost efficient way of financing a motor home I would like to purchase for my family. The motor home in question is £45,000

Here are some details regarding my personal circumstances that I hope may make any much appreciated advice easier to offer.

I am married (myself 30, my wife 27)
We have 2 children age 6 and 2
We own our home (no mortgage), property value £230,000
We have around £10,000 in credit card debt
Monthly income is £4,800 after tax

Ideally I would like to consolidate all the motorhone and credit cards in to one debt however I'm not sure if this is the best option.

As far as I am aware there are 3 options

Finance offered by the dealer (cannot consolidate credit cards)
Remortgage for £55,000
Bank loan

Any advice would be enormously appreciated

Many thanks

fred246

Have you had a motorhome before?
What size are you looking at?
I have had a caravan for years and have studied at length the pros and cons of caravans and motor homes.
Given your profile I would have thought that buying a nice big family car that you can enjoy and use all year round together with a nice family caravan could be a better option.
Large motorhomes can't be parked anywhere and are a nightmare. You wouldn't use them as a second car.
Small motorhomes are small when you are trying to live in them as a family.
Motorhomes have to be insured, pay emissions tax, MOTs etc. Seem a lot more expensive to keep.

fred246

Just to make it clear. I am not totally against motorhomes. If you were a retired couple with 6 months to wander round Europe I would say get a small motorhome.

DKLS

There are some pretty good lease deals on the VW camper at the moment, might be worth checking out as another option.

ericbanner

Hello

We have not owned a motorhome before, for the kind of travelling we intend to do I believe a motorhome would be more practical, travelling Europe in the summer holidays etc. also away most weekends

In terms of size one I looked at was 7.4m length

We have a drive we could park the motorhome on so parking not an issue.

I have considered that road tax, insurance, breakdown cover would need to be factored in to the cost.

Many thanks

fred246

OK so when you travel round Europe with your family are you going to stay on sites with swimming pools, water slides, tennis, evening entertainment, crazy golf, pedalos or are you going to park in laybys?
Assuming you go for a campsite are you ever going to leave it? Are you going to tow a car behind your motorhome? How are you going to get the shopping. If you go to a town where are you going to park it?
Will it fit under height barriers?
If you arrive on a site how are you going to level it? You don't want food and hot drinks landing on your children.
We stayed on a campsite in France last year and the couple next to use had just bought a large motorhome. The site was miles from anywhere and there was no public transport. They couldn't do anything. They were really frustrated.

ericbanner

Based on your information I can now see the benefits of having a caravan, this is a new venture for us as a family.

We are going to look today at another motorhome/caravan garage, I will now be looking at both.

We did briefly look at caravans yesterday, I wonder what would be the best way to finance a caravan based on my current situation, say a £20,000 caravan.

Mercdriver

With a caravan, you'll have to make sure you have the right driving codes on your licence. I'm a very late starter to driving, to tow anything, I'd need to take another test. I'm not sure when the change came about...

fred246

Remortgaging is going to be the cheapest option but you do risk losing the home if you lose your jobs.

fred246

Good point Mercdriver. I am so old I didn't have to take an extra test. Towing is easy but looking back I think a bit of training isn't a bad idea. Driving a large motorhome isn't easy either.
The only other comment i make to couples is this:
Are you both committed?
Camping and caravanning is great if you both work at it and want to do it.
If one of you really wants to go to hotels and really doesn't want a motorhome or caravan then think again.

ericbanner

We have both discussed in depth, both our parents own motorhomes and we enjoy trips away with them. The kids love it, it's great to get them out and about.

Im led to believe I will need to take a trailer test for a caravan to the tune of about £400