Campernomics?

k6chris

At the risk of plagiarizing the title of another well known thread, I am curious of the economics of owning a campervan vs either a tent or B&Bs? Emotionally I love the 'freedom of the open road idea' and it would make last minute weekends away easier to arrange, but the miniature accountant sitting on my left shoulder keeps tutting and pointing out things like insurance, MOT and servicing costs! What are peoples experiences of owning and using a campervan? What is the breakeven point in terms of usage?? How do I get rid of the miniature accountant??!

elsien

Win the lottery.
I am also hankering after one but the only ones I can afford are quite old. Which may be ok if I were mechanically minded and able to do a lot of any required work but I'm not. And not enthused enough to try to learn.

Jackmydad

We've looked at them, and talked about them, and made various sharp intakes of breath at the prices.
Nice, but it seems a lot of expense unless you really do use it all the time.

fred246

Caravans are far superior. No insurance, servicing or MOT costs. The same comforts as a campervan though more spacious. When you get to the site you leave it and then have a car to travel in. You can level a caravan easily. No need to leave half your belongings on a pitch with a 'motorhome lives here sign'. No need to try and park your kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms in tiny National Trust car parks.

fred246

We have friends who bought a motorhome and go away with us so we know the problems. It cost 8x more than our caravan. They are always asking our running costs. Zero, zilch, none. When I mentioned you couldn't level it they wanted a £4k hydraulic system. Now they want to tow a car behind it because they can't leave the site when they get there. How much does it cost to keep your caravan on the road Fred? NOTHING.

k6chris

fred246 wrote: »

Caravans are far superior. .

Unfortunately I would need the campervan to tow something else, so the caravan option does not work...unless I put a tow hitch on the back of the caravan......:eek:

agrinnall

fred246 wrote: »

Caravans are far superior.

But make you hated by every other driver who is not a caravanner themselves.



I doubt if there is any economic case for a campervan unless you sell your home and live in it. So it's a heart over head decision to buy one - I did, when I took 6 months away from work, and even though I used it a lot it still cost me more than just staying in B&Bs would have done (but did let me stay in a few places in the Highlands and Islands where there were no other options).

knightstyle

We have been pondering the same thing. SIL had a camper van but after a year sold it as she could not get into local car parks, she used it as a second car when not camping in it. She has now gone back to a caravan.
We always camped in tents when younger and loved it, best way to see things is wild camping. however old age meant we went for a folding camper and now a caravan!
So what do you need to tow? If another car why?
Our Dutch friends have a caravan with a large door at the back, they put their motorbike in it and use that when they are camping.
How about hiring one to try it out?
Money? Well they are expensive but buying wisely means depreciation is low. Fuel costs are high though, wonder when the new electric VW will arrive?

warehouse

fred246 wrote: »

We have friends who bought a motorhome and go away with us so we know the problems. It cost 8x more than our caravan. They are always asking our running costs. Zero, zilch, none. When I mentioned you couldn't level it they wanted a £4k hydraulic system. Now they want to tow a car behind it because they can't leave the site when they get there. How much does it cost to keep your caravan on the road Fred? NOTHING.

The difference is a caravan looks very silly on the road whereas a campervan looks uber cool.

Nebulous2

We've done most things possible. Small tents, big tents, folding camper, new caravan, old caravan and self-build campervan.

We haven't done a decent motorhome though, but have plans to do so when we retire. Spend all winter in France / Spain / Portugal from October to March.

Advantages over a caravan include not having to use sites. An aire at 3 euros a night is possible if you are self-contained. We cycle, so if we are close to a town we can leave the motorhome on site and bike in.

Like everything else you ever buy there are a series of compromises. You weigh up the pluses and minuses to make your decision. I want a garage to keep my bikes inside. My wife wants a fixed bed. Fortunately the two go together. A lot of motorhomes now have rear raised fixed beds with a decent garage underneath.

A word of warning. They can be the biggest white elephant ever. Taking all the costs into consideration; I'm convinced a lot of people are paying over £1000 for each night they actually sleep in it.

We wont because we'll use it. When we first bought an expensive caravan we managed over 60 nights in it the first year, with a busy job and a squad of children in tow.

fred246

Nebulous2 wrote: »

Advantages over a caravan include not having to use sites. An aire at 3 euros a night is possible if you are self-contained.

Our friends quote £3k a year running costs. You always get someone who says spend £50k on a motorhome and £3k a year so you can avoid campsite fees and park in laybys and aires instead of spending £20 a night on campsite fees. Of course you can park a caravan in all sorts of places but whether you would have a nice holiday parked up in a layby is very questionable. The aire in the town where our French friends live is always full and people queue for hours for a space. We just go to the municipal campsite which is far nicer. It might cost a few pounds but it's dwarfed by our savings from not running a motorhome.