Motorhomedepot

Pudsey Bear

Pudsey Bear

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What do you think of them as a franchise, as a way of buying and selling Motorhomes, your experiences of them if selling or buying, are these sort of sales agencies good or bad for us as private buyers and sellers?
 
Only my opinion, and i've never used them.

If selling, it saves having to deal with tyre kickers/time wasters, but you will have a brokerage fee to pay.

If buying, i would have thought, because they're brokers, you won't get any greater guarantee than if your buying privately.
 
I asked them a few leading question on a possible buy on Saturday, not had a response yet.

My feeling is they increase the prices of Motorhomes.

From speaking to people who have used them, that ask what you would like and then put it on the market at what they think it is worth, and like estate agent they have you for 90 days so even if you sell it to a neighbour, they still get their commission, if it is still for sale towards the end of the 90 days they pressure you into either reducing the price, ot taking out another 90 days.

If you are a buyer it isn't very good either, they don't negotiate much, some vans they keep at their bases, I have been to Mansfield twice now, by appointment to view a van, first time the van was a right mess inside, and the outside was covered in dents and scratches, none of this was in the pictures on Ebay, I asked and was told "the owner gave us the pictures he wanted us to use" so misrepresentation could be a word I could possibly use, the second time I quizzed them on the condition of the van, was it clean, was there any damage, was there any damp, all was fine, not so when I got there, it was dirty inside and out, looked like it had just come back off a 2 month trip, and it was damp underneath, so I feel trust is a big issue with at least one of their bases.

There is not doubt that they provide a service for old folk or people who cannot be bothered to show you around, I went to view one up in Stranraer a few years ago, the van was green with mossy slime it'd been stood for so long, they had used holiday pictures in the description on Ebay, it was dirty from dogs and smoking, it was damp underneath, the owners said they felt they had been forced into signing up with them, a lovely old couple who had jsut become to old an infirm to use it, it had been stood for 5 years unused, when they decided to sell via Motorhomedepot.

I think I have a phone video somewhere of the first van down at Mansfield, I took it to show Liz how bad it was and why I didn't buy it.
 
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I knew nothing about Motorhome’s or dealers before we bought ours earlier this year. I saw a couple on MHD that met some of what we wanted but not enough to actually go and view so no contact myself but realised what the setup was.

I have grown to realise dealers of most things do not have your best interests at heart and some are downright crooks. Because of this I just looked until I found what I thought was the right van, offered them what I was happy to pay and bought Casper. It was a trade dealer so wasn’t much different to buying at auction except you could go look and try stuff first. Maybe not an advisable way to do stuff but it worked out okay for us.

Bit long winded but you know Motorhome’s so should have a better chance of getting a good one than me, you just need to find the right one. I did spot some on MHD that were or had been up privately, if you find one of those yo7 co7ld speak with owner but they may be worse than a dealer.

Good luck with your search anyway :)
 
That is one of the issues, you can't easily speak to the owner to get a better feel of how the van was used or looked after, just some faceless bod who wants to make a deal.

In their favour, they rang me an hour ago, I didn't expect that, so a hard sell when all I requested was pictures and a few details via Ebay, I asked them to respond via Ebay, they didn't, but via my private email instead.

I asked for the Reg to HPI and MOTinfo it, they didn't give me that, but I did see it on a pic of the V5 it's an X reg seems to check out ok, but I think I'll pass on it, not sure I want a van that old again or not.

this is it

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142087018@N04/sets/72157670896955587#
 
If you're considering buying through MHD with all of the caveats of a private sale but no legal dealer safeguards, while paying dealer prices, you're far better off buying privately.

If you don't want to take that risk, and feel you need the backing of a dealer, albeit at a price, in case things go wrong after purchase, then give them a wide berth.

I personally know enough people that have had trouble, from minor to extreme to know that if MHD had the only motorhome in the world available, I still wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

YMMV.
 
They are basically estate agents, just after your money with no risk, they come round, value the van, or ask what you want, tie you in for 90 days, then take a few pictures and put it on Ebay for 3 months, and other sites, Ebay is £60 for 3 months, I do the same thing but pay no one.
 
We bought our van through MHD near Inverness and it was a good experience; our agent was very helpful and informative, and rectified all known problems to our satisfaction, we would be happy to recommend them, however I am aware that some colleagues have recently not had such a good experience from the same location, so perhaps something has changed, change in management or bonus structure or something?
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Great, but you paid over the real price for it.
Click to expand...
Who can say what the 'real price' is though PB? I always set my own value for something and if I can get it for that then I am happy. If you have a choice of the make/model you ar looking for you can get a feel for what they are worth at that time but thats all really and even then there are variables. Anything is only worth what you can sell it for if you look in monetary terms
 
As you say you look at the meerkat, it could also be that they undervalue the van and put it on at market value, they get their money you have been robbed, either way they are being paid to do something most people could do themselves.
 
Real question here, is there a guide that gives what motorhome prices should be? Something like Glasses or Parkers?
 
I believe there is a guide, but unlike Cap etc, you never get access to it, Motorhome depot will likely have an inhouse one from all the sales they do.
 
geoffvalenti said:
If you're considering buying through MHD with all of the caveats of a private sale but no legal dealer safeguards, while paying dealer prices, you're far better off buying privately.

If you don't want to take that risk, and feel you need the backing of a dealer, albeit at a price, in case things go wrong after purchase, then give them a wide berth.

I personally know enough people that have had trouble, from minor to extreme to know that if MHD had the only motorhome in the world available, I still wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

YMMV.
Click to expand...
Makes sense to me, never understood what the positives were.
Enough firms out there want to buy them sure there’s always a reasonable deal to be done if u really don’t want hassle of selling privately.
 
I tried to use them a couple of years ago. Lots of promises to come and see the van I wanted to sell, but they never turned up.
So, I put the van on eBay myself and it sold next day.
But, for months, I kept getting phone calls and emails saying they were ready to list my van for sale, despite me constantly telling them it was sold.
 
Hi, this is my first post, so I've got my tin hat ready! ?

Last year I approached MHD in Farnborough as I wanted to sell my 12 year old Hymer A Class. Having received several derisory p/ex offers from various traders (based on a £60K purchase), I was greatly impressed by the professionalism and friendliness shown by Mark Anderson and his team. After my initial call, Mark made an appointment to come and see the van. He took 200+ photos of the van and asked me lots of questions about it. He was very interested in the large amount of accessories on the van that meant it could be used off-grid virtually all the time. Then the all-important valuation! He thought he could get me £6000 above the the highest offer. I signed up for 90 days and prepared to wait ....... Less than 2 weeks later, the van was sold and the money in my bank account. I was then able to negotiate a good deal on another Hymer as I had no p/ex to complicate matters. I do accept that others may not have had such a good experience with MHD as a company, but all I will say is the franchisee is the critical feature, get a good one and the deal becomes so much easier.

I have no affiliation with Motorhome Depot, or its employees. I also apologise for the length of this post!

Hymergeddon
 
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