Buying 2nd hand van now - am I crazy?

onlyfoolsandparking

dilby said:

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.

I think if something falls within your budget or close to it and it's 100% the spec you want then just go for it. My budget was 8K but that soon became impossible and so I had to recalculate. Just cannot/could not get the spec vehicle I wanted for 8K and so I accepted that and having now just paid £8500 I'm happy to live with my choice. If (and imo it's a big if) prices drop in next few months and I see that, well what real difference is it gonna make to me, none I'd say. 

I've done all that filtering and shortlisting, I was getting emails every other day with new vehicles but they were mostly 12-14K, yes it disheartened me a little but it didn't fool me either, patience is the key and if your adamant you don't want to buy after Xmas, well your already answering your own question, happy hunting.  

AdrianC

Car_54 said:

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.

It's a double-whammy, though. Or triple, even quadruple.

Supply of new is constrained.
Businesses being reluctant to change to new vans.
Lots of people buying vans for courier etc work.
Lots of people buying vans for conversion.

There's stories of people selling 3yo vans for more than they paid new.

motorguy

Car_54 said:

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.

Yeah i might have stepped to far ahead there.  I "assumed" he meant he was going to do that because of the high prices of already converted vans, but re-reading it, yes you're right there wont be any change in van demand over that timeframe

Herzlos

Everyone wants a camper over the summer, particularly with lockdowns.

Will they be as excited about van life in October, when the wife is complaining about it taking up space on the drive? Or once lockdowns  are over and they can go back to Spain?

This seems like the worst time to try and buy a van for conversion. You're likely buying at the market peak, and you're not going to get to use it this year anyway. Wait a few months and you'll probably start seeing loads of abandoned conversion projects appearing on the market, with at least some of the work already done for you.

onlyfoolsandparking

caprikid1 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)"

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.

You missed the part where I said I wouldn't take the dealers words OR I'm not naïve. You could be right regarding all the conversions going on Ebay when costa del sun opens up again. 

dilby

Herzlos said:

Everyone wants a camper over the summer, particularly with lockdowns.

Will they be as excited about van life in October, when the wife is complaining about it taking up space on the drive? Or once lockdowns  are over and they can go back to Spain?

This seems like the worst time to try and buy a van for conversion. You're likely buying at the market peak, and you're not going to get to use it this year anyway. Wait a few months and you'll probably start seeing loads of abandoned conversion projects appearing on the market, with at least some of the work already done for you.

Thanks - yeah I agree with you but in all honesty I don't want someone's half finished project, I'll be converting this one with a specific plan in mind, so it's really the base vehicles only that I'm after

fred990

Yup it's bonkers. I've got a lwb transporter, bought at a few months old from vw, alloys, metallic paint, aircon, the blingy version. Seven years old now with 23k miles, unmarked and I've been getting offers of £4k less than I paid for it! 

oh_really

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)

Prices will increase if individuals are daft enough to pay them.

onlyfoolsandparking

oh_really said:

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)

Prices will increase if individuals are daft enough to pay them.

Well yes that could be true I guess, thankfully I'm not one of those individuals.