Buying a Camper Van

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Stubod said:

..interesting debate, we were going to get another caravan when we retired, but after months of looking we gave up, they all seemed so big, and I didn't fancy having to buy a bigger car to tow it. Then thought about a camper/moho, but keep thinking about the negatives around what to do once "on site", as we like to get out and about to see things. (ie pitch caravan then go off to various places). In the end we are thinking about just going B&B / hotels instead. Would be interested to see any financial "break even" points?

There are quite a few small light caravans about, I have a 650kg Eriba Puck, which is slightly too small really, I have to use a toilet tent with it, but the next one up comes with a small toilet cubicle/bathroom. You do need the toilet cubicle really, as the fees on a site with decent washing/toilet facilities are high, and they are usually crowded, wheras with a toilet cubicle you can stay at the tiny pitches on farms, which are obviously cheaper, and there are less screaming children about.

(Yes I can use the toilet in the tent, but it is a pain taking it down, as it invariably rained and there is a soaking wet tent to store and then dry out again at home.)

I don't do B&Bs as most don't want The Dog

Ibrahim5

In the last 15 years our caravan has depreciated £250 per year. Admittedly current prices boosted by COVID. Call it £300 per year with repairs. We used to rent static caravans for £120 per night. The same site was £30 with our own caravan. So saving is £90 per night. So 4 nights per year in the caravan would be more than break even.

ian16527

Ibrahim5 said:

They both depreciate slowly but the motorhome has much greater annual running costs. MOT, tax, insurance, servicing, expensive mechanical repairs. The caravan running costs are negligible. A couple of tyres every 7 years.

It depends on how old your van is, and whether you want to keep the warranty up. It costs £800-900 pa to insure, service and store my caravan. Tyres are recommended to change every 5 years due to sidewall cracking. 
Motorhomes will cost a fair bit more, but caravanning is not a cheap way of holidaying when you factor in the initial cost of the van. We have one because we have a dog and its not hotel/B&B friendly

Herzlos

Ibrahim5 said:

It will be interesting to see what happens to prices. They are sky high at the moment for both caravans and motorhomes. For current owners it's amazing that they are selling for the same price now as you paid 5-10 years ago. Will there be a big drop in prices when international travel re-opens?

I think it might take a couple of years to go back to normal; it'll take a while for demand to catch up and staycations will stay pretty popular whilst people are reluctant to go abroad.
I wonder what longer term impact covid will have though; particularly with the increase in people working from home. I was going to buy a cheapish caravan to turn into an office, but the only one I've seen for sale under £5k was built in 1987.

tommyedinburgh

In 2017 I bought a bog standard VW T5, 2007, 2.5tdi with 125,000 miles on the clock. It has been owned by a local printer firm and had been serviced every 6 months regardless of the mileage. It was onto its second service booklet, invoices there to back it up.

I stripped everything out the back and re lined the ply and carpeted the walls after insulating it. I then had a company in the midlands fit a rock and roll bed and another company fit units and a worktop. I cut out and fitted two windows and sorted some electrics in the back. I worked on it like a madman to get it done quickly. My total outlay was just over £6000. We went 3 day drips in it then one weekend away camping where we discovered it was too small. Decided to put it on Gumtree for £10000 and sold it for £9600 to the first person who viewed it - easy money!

The problem now is the price of vans has skyrocketed! I would love to do it all again.

Ibrahim5

ian16527 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

They both depreciate slowly but the motorhome has much greater annual running costs. MOT, tax, insurance, servicing, expensive mechanical repairs. The caravan running costs are negligible. A couple of tyres every 7 years.

It depends on how old your van is, and whether you want to keep the warranty up. It costs £800-900 pa to insure, service and store my caravan. Tyres are recommended to change every 5 years due to sidewall cracking. 
Motorhomes will cost a fair bit more, but caravanning is not a cheap way of holidaying when you factor in the initial cost of the van. We have one because we have a dog and its not hotel/B&B friendly

Insuring a caravan isn't mandatory as it is with a motorhome. Third party cover whilst being towed is provided by car insurance so the insurance just covers the cost of the caravan. I used to insure ours and never paid over £100. You have obviously bought a new caravan which was expensive so are now paying main dealer servicing costs for the warranty. It's a game like buying a new car. DIY servicing is easy. Even if you pay for servicing most people wouldn't get it done that often. I always laugh when people sell a caravan with 'full service history". It's not like a car that needs regular oil changes. Missed service stamps are of no relevance. Can be kept on the drive or pay for storage if you'd rather. Anyway owning a car and a caravan is MUCH cheaper than owning a car and a motorhome. So caravanning CAN be done really cheaply. If you are worried about the initial cost of a caravan I would suggest you never look at the initial cost of a motorhome.

lordmountararat

Meeting a tractor on a Devon single track lane in a motorhome is difficult enough. Just try it towing a caravan! Two cars both towing caravans meeting is even worse and backing up becomes a nightmare.

BOWFER

Ibrahim5 said:

 If you are worried about the initial cost of a caravan I would suggest you never look at the initial cost of a motorhome.

47 posts in and no-one has yet explained to me why motorhomes cost so much more than a caravan.
Adding a £19k van base to £25k worth of caravan shouldn't equal £75K, but it does....
Even allowing for a lot of labour, it's an astounding price difference.
Forget about what they're worth in X years, forget about the car-to-tow-the-caravan argument.
Just a simple explanation as to why adding an engine and gearbox to a £25K caravan suddenly trebles price.
Someone...please?

AdrianC

BOWFER said:

47 posts in and no-one has yet explained to me why motorhomes cost so much more than a caravan.
Adding a £19k van base to £25k worth of caravan shouldn't equal £75K, but it does....
Even allowing for a lot of labour, it's an astounding price difference.

It would be.
If it was true.
Which, if you remember, I categorically showed you it wasn't.

I showed you a link for brand new Swift motorhomes starting at about £47k.
The van it's built on has a list price of about £33k, but you can get them new for about £27k - albeit without all the options that people expect in a camper (metallic paint, alloys, nice stereo, climate, etc etc).
The same manufacturer's caravans from the same supplier start at £20k.

BOWFER

AdrianC said:

BOWFER said:

47 posts in and no-one has yet explained to me why motorhomes cost so much more than a caravan.
Adding a £19k van base to £25k worth of caravan shouldn't equal £75K, but it does....
Even allowing for a lot of labour, it's an astounding price difference.

It would be.
If it was true.
Which, if you remember, I categorically showed you it wasn't.

I showed you a link for brand new Swift motorhomes starting at about £47k.
The van it's built on has a list price of about £33k, but you can get them new for about £27k - albeit without all the options that people expect in a camper (metallic paint, alloys, nice stereo, climate, etc etc).
The same manufacturer's caravans from the same supplier start at £20k.

I'm looking at the Swift website now and even their compact (code for comically small) motorhomes start at £51205.00
Decent size ones are from £67445.00
This tallies with what I've seen at the motorhome dealer in Perth.
Decent motorhomes are £70K+