Prices off the scale on motorhomes.

Pudsey Bear said:
I bought my selfbuild back last year for £6k and sold it a bit later for £16k the market is bonkers, I'm in two minds to sell our latest van and not bother for a couple of years, but my fitness is not great now so no idea what it'll be like then so not sure what to do.
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Bear faced robber, LOL well done you.
 
I have to pay market prices, I think I should have put it up at £22k as that is what my buyer sold it for 3 weeks later.
 
There is a Dealer who is a member on another Forum, and he reckons that £8k mark upon the Selling Price is needed to earn enough to stay in business. Our own purchase involved an Engine Service and Cambelt Change [say £500 at cost], a new Satnav [£294], a new Fridge Panel [£269 including fitting], a new Leisure Battery [say £100 at cost], a toolkit, a tube of tyre gunk, a 180w Solar Panel, MPPT Controller and Vanbitz Relay, a Fridge Vent replacement, a Pre Purchase Inspection [£100] and a couple of other minor items that took 2 or 3 hours workshop time to resolve, so there was probably a little over £2k needed to bring Brunhilde up to standard, plus the cost of dealing with my phone calls and emails ...

Steve
 
The usual is 6 to 8k that allows you to give 2 away or over allow on px to meet some buyers expectations.
Workshop costs VAT wages bills etc and most dealers have the stock on stocking plans with the bank so bank charges also.
 
marchie said:
There is a Dealer who is a member on another Forum, and he reckons that £8k mark upon the Selling Price is needed to earn enough to stay in business. Our own purchase involved an Engine Service and Cambelt Change [say £500 at cost], a new Satnav [£294], a new Fridge Panel [£269 including fitting], a new Leisure Battery [say £100 at cost], a toolkit, a tube of tyre gunk, a 180w Solar Panel, MPPT Controller and Vanbitz Relay, a Fridge Vent replacement, a Pre Purchase Inspection [£100] and a couple of other minor items that took 2 or 3 hours workshop time to resolve, so there was probably a little over £2k needed to bring Brunhilde up to standard, plus the cost of dealing with my phone calls and emails ...

Steve
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Before I bought my current Autotrail Motorhome (Privately), I had a deposit down on another Autotrail at a specialist Dealer. The price of the other one was around £5k more, but was a 2.8L Frontier Mohican rather than a 2.3L Cheyenne (so higher cost), was a couple of years newer (so worth more), and had a lot less miles on it (worth more).
I had a snagging list on the Mohican than included floor fixing (delamination), new passenger seat, replacement of a window (cracked on screw mounts), replacement skylight (locking mechanism broken), replacement tyres (bit old) and some cosmetic stuff. I would think that would have been in excess of £1k (especially with the skylight and seat) to sort, making it maybe £4k more for a bigger, better specified and newer Motorhome.
The Dealer had no problem with getting these things sorted out (and also offered some money off if I did some of the work myself) and I would say would be a fair uplift generally over the Cheyennes price, especially considering what I have also spent to bring the Cheyenne towards the Mohican spec (Alloy Wheels and a GVW upplate for example).

So was the Dealer Price on the Mohican especially keen? Or did I pay way over the odds for the Cheyenne as a private sale? (I actually think a little bit of both at least - I knew the Cheyenne was at the top of the price range for that model/age/miles but so well cared for I was ok with that).

(PS. I didn't proceed with the Mohican as the prep work was dragging on too long due to staffing issues (Covid) and parts availability (a common story in 2020), so I looked for other options and found the Cheyenne.)
 
The problem currently is certain dealers are panic buying. They are offering way over retail in some cases. When the market turns and it will. Some will be left with a large headache. I remember a time when insurance companies would not insure you much over retail so not sure how they are checking this now.
 
I’m sure it will all calm down at some point. But you have to follow the market. It is a difficult business to be in currently.
 
We did quite well out of the rising market after getting rid of the loan on our first van, all but one we made a decent profit on them, usually 3-4k each time, but only because I bought them right in the first place and watching the market was Lizs job and she spotted some really good ones, I lost count of how many we sold working our way up and paying for our hobby, otherwise we'd not have been able to afford it. I just wish I'd got into it a lot sooner as I really enjoyed buying a wreck and making it good, then selling it on and moving up.
 
There will be loads of van back on the market with the new clean air charges.
We are looking at vans at the moment to go back full timing.
Anything over 2.3 litre we looked at have to pay charges..
 
wildebus said:
Despite the name "depot", isn't Motorhome Depot just a go-between Buyer and Seller and the motor remains at the sellers location and they have to be around for the keys, etc.?
never used them for anything but that is my understanding.
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We did buy a motorhome via MH Depot. It was pretty painless but the MHD guy wanted to be the person showing off the MH on behalf of the owner.... who was standing in their drive watching proceedings. After the second time he went to the owner to clarify one of my questions I decided to direct enquiries to the owners and got more satisfactory answers. To be fair I was diplomatic and the MHD guy was not too put out LOL.
 
Pretty much what we do. Difference is we know about the products we sell. Anyone can be a broker for MHD if you have a spare 30k to buy a franchise. But seems to be working for them.
 
I would never deal with piggy in the middle, always cash in hand with the seller at their home and name in logbook as they wont shaft you because of reprisal, the Irish 2am door knock.
 
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