Buying 2nd hand van now - am I crazy?

dilby

Hi all - I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand puegeot/boxer for a camper conversion and am only to aware of the high cost of 2nd hand vehicles at the moment, caused largely by the lack of supply of new vehicles (although various other factors at play). A few people have suggested I'm crazy not to wait, predicting that by summer's end there'll be an influx of vans available 2nd hand from those who bought them in the summer. However I'm not sure I agree as these vans will generally be campers not blank vans. I also can't see the price of used vans dropping before xmas as there's no signs that supply is close to being met, and there's only a limited pool of used vans. I was curious though to hear other people's thoughts; of course there's no way of knowing but would you bet that used van prices continue to go up or drop? Thanks!

Stubod

...simple answer...yes....?

dilby

Stubod said:

...simple answer...yes....?

Thanks - so you expect prices to go down by xmas?

motorguy

dilby said:

Hi all - I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand puegeot/boxer for a camper conversion and am only to aware of the high cost of 2nd hand vehicles at the moment, caused largely by the lack of supply of new vehicles (although various other factors at play). A few people have suggested I'm crazy not to wait, predicting that by summer's end there'll be an influx of vans available 2nd hand from those who bought them in the summer. However I'm not sure I agree as these vans will generally be campers not blank vans. I also can't see the price of used vans dropping before xmas as there's no signs that supply is close to being met, and there's only a limited pool of used vans. I was curious though to hear other people's thoughts; of course there's no way of knowing but would you bet that used van prices continue to go up or drop? Thanks!

You're not going to get a van bought and converted in time for using this summer now anyway, surely?

I do think demand will drop off after the summer as we start to get back to "normal" RE: foreign holidays.

I think you'd be buying at the peak of the market and end up using it in a period when the market has by then dropped.

All IMHO

AdrianC

My money's on dropping.

dilby

Thanks all - yes I'd be spending around £17500 in total, and be aiming to convert over next few months, and use a little over winter but yes not in time for this summer. I'd rather have it earlier so i can spend more time on it so if it did drop i guess it'd have to be by a fair bit to warrant the delay.

onlyfoolsandparking

Well having spoken to a few dealers recently, even they are saying prices are crazy at the moment and can only see prices going up (sighs)

Of course I'm not gonna take just the dealers word/s for it I'm not naïve but having explored the market on the model I'm after it does appear they are only going one way. I think it's like anything in life 'you pays your money and you takes your choice' that still applies imo.

Having literally (an hour ago) just secured the vehicle I want at a fairly decent price of 8500 I'm faced with a long drive up to Scotland BUT there's at least 3 vehicles down south which are the same spec I've landed but with slightly better mileage/s (not that that bothers me with it being a diesel)  and these vary from 10K-12K so deals are still out there but It's taking effort. 

Goudy

I don't think it's the best time, but it's not unthinkable.

Ok, you are paying over the odds for the basic van to start with but if you convert it properly, you would be adding value that it should keep far longer than the basic van would.

Also, who knows what next summer will look like, more virus mutations, more travel bans, more staycations? Who knows.

I'm considering the same thing, I think some of the London NHS Trusts are all thinking of dumping their diesel powered non emergency patient transport vehicles before the ULEZ starts, the one I work for has a very nice fleet of LWB & SWB Sprinters which would be easier to convert than a plan builders panal van.

dilby

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Well having spoken to a few dealers recently, even they are saying prices are crazy at the moment and can only see prices going up (sighs)

Of course I'm not gonna take just the dealers word/s for it I'm not naïve but having explored the market on the model I'm after it does appear they are only going one way. I think it's like anything in life 'you pays your money and you takes your choice' that still applies imo.

Having literally (an hour ago) just secured the vehicle I want at a fairly decent price of 8500 I'm faced with a long drive up to Scotland BUT there's at least 3 vehicles down south which are the same spec I've landed but with slightly better mileage/s (not that that bothers me with it being a diesel)  and these vary from 10K-12K so deals are still out there but It's taking effort. 

Yeah thats the situation im in - I have shortlisted a load of potential vehicles and I'm seeing them drop off one by one with very few coming onto the market. I have the filter criteria set up on various websites and maybe 1 new van comes for every 5 that go, and that new that comes is higher than the ones ive filtered. I dont want to buy after xmas as that doesnt leave me a lot of time to convert to camper in time for spring; doable but id rather have more cushion.

Car_54

motorguy said:

dilby said:

Hi all - I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand puegeot/boxer for a camper conversion and am only to aware of the high cost of 2nd hand vehicles at the moment, caused largely by the lack of supply of new vehicles (although various other factors at play). A few people have suggested I'm crazy not to wait, predicting that by summer's end there'll be an influx of vans available 2nd hand from those who bought them in the summer. However I'm not sure I agree as these vans will generally be campers not blank vans. I also can't see the price of used vans dropping before xmas as there's no signs that supply is close to being met, and there's only a limited pool of used vans. I was curious though to hear other people's thoughts; of course there's no way of knowing but would you bet that used van prices continue to go up or drop? Thanks!

You're not going to get a van bought and converted in time for using this summer now anyway, surely?

I do think demand will drop off after the summer as we start to get back to "normal" RE: foreign holidays.

I think you'd be buying at the peak of the market and end up using it in a period when the market has by then dropped.

All IMHO

I suspect the proportion of vans bought for non-business use is small (or even negligible), so the end of summer will have no appreciable effect.

caprikid1

"Well having spoken to a few dealers recently, even they are saying prices are crazy at the moment and can only see prices going up (sighs)"

No dealer is going to tell you to wait are they ? They have stock bought at a high price they need to sell at the high price, every man and his dog are buying blank vans to do camper conversions, as soon as they have a had a few rough nights sleep and Greece is open again they will be straight on ebay.