Brainwashed

[howie]

Can anyone really justify the huge amounts of money we now spend on motorhomes. Enjoyed this way of life since I was a child, where summers spent under canvas made this the only way to take holidays and enjoy the great outdoors and all it has to offer.

I,m not saying that todays motohomes do not offer good value for money, or that we are not entitled to spend our cash in anyway we choose, but we are so used to figures such as £30,000 or £40,000 + being bandied about that we might be in danger of accepting this as quite normal and forgetting exactly what we are getting back in return. Each to their own of course, but these are huge sums of money in anyones book, and regardless of the enjoyment we all get from our chosen pastime perhaps its time to sit down and really see if such an outlay is worth it.

[malc d]

howie - 2007-11-24 10:34 AM

 

Can anyone really justify the huge amounts of money we now spend on motorhomes. Enjoyed this way of life since I was a child, where summers spent under canvas made this the only way to take holidays and enjoy the great outdoors and all it has to offer.

I,m not saying that todays motohomes do not offer good value for money, or that we are not entitled to spend our cash in anyway we choose, but we are so used to figures such as £30,000 or £40,000 + being bandied about that we might be in danger of accepting this as quite normal and forgetting exactly what we are getting back in return. Each to their own of course, but these are huge sums of money in anyones book, and regardless of the enjoyment we all get from our chosen pastime perhaps its time to sit down and really see if such an outlay is worth it.

 

 

I agree it's a good idea stand back and take a critical look at where your money goes now and again, and what you get for it.

As far as motorhomes are concerned I think it depends on how often, and for how many years you use it.

A £30,000 M/H used for 10 years is £3000 a year - so how does that compare with other kinds of holiday,( and it's still worth something at the end of ten years).

If you keep changing, which a lot of people seem to do, it must cost a lot more.

It's all down to individual priorities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KD]

justifying spending money is a funny complex subject

 

we have just purchased a 50 inch plasma tv and upgraded our sky contract eztra £10 per month for hd and another £10 for sky multy room so the kids can watch cartoon network while i watch football. this making our monthly contract to over £60, to justify it i told myself we only go out once a week. £60 a month amounts to £2 a day and unless you drink in a weatherspoons you cant even get a pint of lager for £2, that satisfied me

[J9withdogs]

Although I didn't spend a huge amount on my motorhome, I would also have to add the cost of kennelling the dogs (which I wouldn't want to do anyway) to the cost of my holidays.

 

It's horses for courses however much you spend, and depends on your lifestyle as much as anything.

 

(In my humble opinion - we don't want any more wars breaking-out over this subject *-) )

[michele]

Wow your sky is cheap mine £89 at the moment .Oops thats without HD

[kelly58]

We bought our 1st motorhome last Dec but I can honestly say we feel it was money well spent we have had a brilliant time this last year visiting places in France and at home ,met some relly nice people ,so what price do you put on pleasure, the two of us have never smoked so we call our pleasure spending our fag money . I always say each to their own we all have different values and needs if you can afford it do it .

[BGD]

I raised this subject in a "Why Buy New" thread a while ago, and it turned into an excellent bitchfest, so it'll be interesting to see how this one goes.

 

For the record, I personally totally agree with Howie - I reckon you can get FAR better value, in terms of "bangs per buck" by buying a decent secondhand MH rather than brand-new; and have loads and loads of dosh left over for other enjoyment as well.

 

B-)

[Guest Le Thou]

As I see it the issue of second hand against new is not the point but why does anyone have to justify spending money or in some cases the banks money? Does it matter, you could be dead next year, heaven forbid, so if you can afford it and it means the kids or taxman doesn't get as much inheritance then do it.

Lifes too short to worry about , just do it!

[malc d]

Le Thou - 2007-11-24 2:13 PM

 

As I see it the issue of second hand against new is not the point but why does anyone have to justify spending money or in some cases the banks money? Does it matter, you could be dead next year, heaven forbid, so if you can afford it and it means the kids or taxman doesn't get as much inheritance then do it.

Lifes too short to worry about , just do it!

 

 

 

 

I like the idea of spending ' the banks money ' instead of mine.

I only wish I knew how to do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KD]

michele - 2007-11-24 12:25 PM

 

Wow your sky is cheap mine £89 at the moment .Oops thats without HD

£89 a month what chanels do you subscribe to ;-)

[Guest peter]

BGD - 2007-11-24 1:25 PM

 

I raised this subject in a "Why Buy New" thread a while ago, and it turned into an excellent bitchfest, so it'll be interesting to see how this one goes.

 

For the record, I personally totally agree with Howie - I reckon you can get FAR better value, in terms of "bangs per buck" by buying a decent secondhand MH rather than brand-new; and have loads and loads of dosh left over for other enjoyment as well.

 

B-)

I totally agree BGD. Our 7 Yr old Rapido cost us 18K and is almost like new. We will be getting our full money's worth out of it, as we intend to keep it for a fair while. If it ain't broke, don't replace it. :D

[flicka]

Agree they are not a cheap item, but then most of the most pleasurable things in live are the most expensivve.

We have Skied for 30 years until 2 years ago (but going again this coming January - YIPPEE :-D :-D B-) :-D Looks like suberb early season snow base building up.) We are just as excited as when waiting for delivery of the M/H.

They are expensive, but we get a great deal of enjoyment from them.

Regarding the cost of Motorhomes, to replace my Honda Accord Tourer would be very similar in cost to our Bessacarr E410, bought in October 2006 - (outgoing model so made sure we get a very good deal)

Which represents best value for money to Me - NO CONTEST the Motorhome - Engine = same size , 3 feet longer, Fuel cost penalty 5 MPG

Vercitility - incomparable.

[bigal55]

as above, leisure activities are expensive, i go diving, 3wks ago, gas,boat, petrol,etc cost£100+ for 15mins on the wreck, thats £400 an hour, the m/home is cheap. bruce you must have thought your thread was dead. i think i will start a new one "why do woman like shoes" like this thread there is no logical answer

[twooks]

Just Do It!

Whatever turns you on, as long as you don't hurt anyone or betray your values - and you can pay for it without mortgaging the grandkids!!

You really cannot plan for the future - so go get 'em NOW, for tomorrow you die, or develop a disabling disease, or someone blows you up or cuts you up or otherwise prevents you from fulfilling a dream.

This may only be one of many practice runs - or it could be your only shot! - but you've know way of knowing - so go get 'em NOW.

 

B-)

:D

[Tony Jones]

Here's how it worked for us (or at elast, how we justified this enormous extravagance to ourselves - no-one else gets a vote!):

 

Previous van (Hannibal) 1989 Transit, home conversion (someone else's), bought in April 2000 for £3500. Took it to France nearly every summer since then, sometimes beyond (Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy).

 

Enormous (to us) legacy earlier this year. What shall we spend it on? Not nearly enough to buy a house (to get us out of tied cottage!), but every other idea was for things we'd have forgotten all about in 5 years time.

 

So - time to part with old faithful Hannibal - who hasn't got long left anyway - and go shopping, big time, for a van which will see us well into retirement and beyond. Results in March!!!

 

Tony

[Guest Syd]

Buying new is not for me because depreciation in the first year of a vehicles life is just too great for me to swallow

[Tomo3090]

I work it out like this.

 

For: Travel, meeting people, freedom from "normal life", just the 2 of us, seeing places and things we would never see by going on a "normal" holiday.

 

Against: High initial outlay, depreciation, servicing.

 

Judgement: I LOVE IT! Well worth the money!

 

There is some guilt when I see documentaries where people are forced to live on a pound a week or entire families of 15 live in somwhere the size my van, but I am only human and help my conciense by deciding that their lives wouldn't be improved if I sold the van, so I help out with charities and indignation at politicians who could help but don't.

[howie]

Never my intention to question whether its right or wrong to spend this sort of money on a motorhome, or to even suggest it might involve issues of morality or guilt as far as others are concerned. Its our money and lets spend it as we see fit, but what did prompt me to open this thread was how motorhome prices have risen in the past few years to where we are now spending small fortunes on their purchase. £40,000 for a van conversion, no problem, and I was just wondering if we realise how much we are paying out, and how this cash could be put to other more usefull or productive uses perhaps.

[LordThornber]

Howie, a great thread and very interesting reading. As for spending your money on other items, consider this. I watched my local football team, home & away for 20 years. When I stopped attending in 1995, each match was costing in the region of £15 just to get in. Bear in mind that's just to watch, no pie, pint, coach fees. For 90 minutes entertainment.

 

Fast forward to the van. Depreciation approx £6000 (max) over 4.75 years. Average number of nights away for us p.a = 60 so 285 nights equates to just over £21 for 24 hours use.

 

No I am not counting diesel, site fees, servicing, insurance etc because that's not where I'm coming from. But don't forget the football match was for ONE person. The van could have been for anything up to 5 or even 6 persons, 2 as it happens.

 

Now before the "how do you compare those two?" merchants start tapping away at their keyboards, remember what Howie asks about other ways of spending your money, that's where I'm coming from.

 

Van 1 Blackburn Rovers 0

 

Martyn

[KD]

LordThornber - 2007-11-26 2:00 PM

 

Howie, a great thread and very interesting reading. As for spending your money on other items, consider this. I watched my local football team, home & away for 20 years. When I stopped attending in 1995, each match was costing in the region of £15 just to get in. Bear in mind that's just to watch, no pie, pint, coach fees. For 90 minutes entertainment.

 

Fast forward to the van. Depreciation approx £6000 (max) over 5.75 years. Average number of nights away for us p.a = 60 so 345 nights equates to just over £17 for 24 hours use.

 

No I am not counting diesel, site fees, servicing, insurance etc because that's not where I'm coming from. But don't forget the football match was for ONE person. The van could have been for anything up to 5 or even 6 persons, 2 as it happens.

 

Now before the "how do you compare those two?" merchants start tapping away at their keyboards, remember what Howie asks about other ways of spending your money, that's where I'm coming from.

 

Van 1 Blackburn Rovers 0

 

Martyn

my only argument there would be to question the depreciation figures, or your van couldnt have been alot to start with

[LordThornber]

K&D, I've edited my post, sorry I'd made the van a year older than it is!! Still only comes out at £21 for 24 hours though. For your interest, the figures are these

 

Purchase price Mar 2003 £28000

 

Current value Nov 2007 £22000

 

Martyn

[KD]

good look getting the value when it comes to selling i have just sold purchased £24500 march this year sold £20000 friday £4500 in 6 months

[BGD]

K & D -

 

I may be wrong with regard to MH's, but certainly with cars, the depreciation curve is steepest at the front end, and then tails off as the years go by - still falling, but by lower monetary amounts each additional year.

The percentage drop may be roughly equal each year, but in each additional year it's a percentage of a smaller monetary amount (if you see what I mean).

 

I'd guess that the same would be true of the resale values of an MH as time goes on.

 

Which for me is a very good reason to buy one a few years old, now ready- loaded with all the bolt-on and placed-inside extras that the first owner will probably have paid big money for, and that if buying new you'd have had to fork out to buy and then have installed on top of the original MH price.

Additionally, if 2 or 3 years old, the initial "snagging/teething" problems which many people seem to experience when buying new will have (hopefully) all been rectified.

Also, if the MH was a new model 2 or 3 years ago, there should now be a fair amount of information in the public domain about how lots of owners have found it to perform in the "real world" of long-term ownership, rather than maybe just a glossy brochure or pre-production demo model.

 

My money's always gonna be on a newish secondhand MH rather than new, thus leaving me plenty of money still in the bank to spend on enjoying it and all the other things I enjoy in life too.

I'll alaways be happy to let someone else take the initial massive depreciation hit, sort the MH out, and add lots of extra goodies, before I then buy it from them.

 

So Guys 'n Gals, do keep buying new please; that'll help to ensure a healthy supply of great second-hand MH's, at lower than otherwise prices, for those of us who'd rather not buy new when we come to change ours.

 

:-D

 

 

 

 

[KD]

the problem selling 2nd hand when we are talking about big money people want to buy from a forecourt for obvious safty reasons,

so unless you sell much cheeper or you find someone who really knows his onions, the chances are as with me you will end up selling to a dealer

[LordThornber]

The figure I posted is realistic. A colleague of my wife retires soon and he recently offered us £22000 to prise the van off us.Despite it not being for sale.Im sorry that you have been clobbered for so much but in such a short space of time I am not surprised either.

 

Martyn