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Guest abdarlow

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Guest abdarlow
Hi to every one my name is alan i am sixty five and not as yet a owner of a motorhome, my wife and been married fourty seven years and never had holidays abroard and only one or two here for one reason or another, we are thinking of trying to find a motorhome with a value of perhaps below twenty thousand pounds, the limit is incase we do not take to this sort of hobby, we thought this may tie in with our other comitments such as going away on friday morning returning late sunday night,we have never been in a m,home as yet , and would be gratefull if any one could let us know about the places you park and the costs or charges, is power available on sits , do you stay on farms etc, any extra costs we will expect to incur, this will help to aviod any mistakes or suprises as we have no experience in this field, sorry if i have gone on to much, alan .
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Alan

Welcome to the forum.

I very positive way of getting the information to help you. There is a lot of experiened Motorhomers on here and I sure you will have loads of questions when the responces flow.

It's a great way to get away at weekends and for longer periods as well.

 

Initially I would suggest you have a look around a few dealers to get a feel of what's in the market regarding layout and type of Van.

The different styles may be a bit confusing at first, Van conversion, (high or pop-up roof), Coachbuilt (luton above cab or low profile) "A" Class or American RV

Then hire a motorhome for a short period, you don't need to travel far. A Caravan Site near to your home would suit to get use to the van. and it's benefits/limitations. This will also help you list your priorities, must have's', would like and don't want.

If you have decided on any of these point, it would be advisable to put them in another post on this thread, so members can focus on your requirements.

It may sound a bit flipant, but not intended - get a copy of MMM also.

Getting a motorhome that turns out not to suit you £20k is a lot of money if you get the wrong one.

Flicka

 

I

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hi alan flicka's advice is spot on look at different motorhomes layout's, if it is just you & your wife maybe you want a layout with sofas for relaxing. or if it is for travelling with children or grandchildren then you want a dinette type with forward facing seat belts. fixed bed or overcab? the choice is endless. probably best to hire a few different types for a short time each.

hope this hasent caused too much confusion , & welcom to our world (lol) ;-)

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Guest abdarlow
Thanks for your quick reply, buying MMM is the reason i joined this forum it is probley the best value around for mags, any way we are thinking of going to the show at newbury we are the kind of people that never look beyond the scope of our purses therefore we will be looking at second hand at the moment, what we do not want is to make costly mistakes made to many in our lives, the reason behind a m,home is we have seven ponys, a dog, two cats, and eighty fish, and a grandaughter who we take to school all week the only time we seem to be free is after nine am on friday until monday eight am and we thought it would be nice to get away, we live in a nice area four miles from stratford on avon, i am going on to much, so i will say goodbye for now; alan.
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First thing I'd suggest is to buy a copy of "Go Motorhoming Europe", and then sit down and read the lot! 

Not generally in bookshops, but follow this link to the website  www.go-motorhoming.co.uk.  It is an extraordinarily informative book about motorhoming, the types of vans available and what their descriptions mean, what to expect from them in terms of usability, and the types of places you can stop and what they are called.  This one book could save you from some very expensive mistakes!

I would add that subscribing to a magazine such as MMM, which doesn't just feature "flavour of the month" new vans, will give you large amounts of information for reference and background.

After you've done that lot, no doubt prompted by what you've read, have a good, long, hard think about where you think you want to go, for how long at a time, what you think you'll do in terms of sitting in the countryside, sitting on a beach, visiting towns and cities or major attractions, whether you would intend eating out a lot, or using your on-board facilities, how you feel about using campsite showers and toilets, and all those kinds of things.  That will give you a framework for the kind of vehicle that will probably best suit you.  Remember that motorhomes, in general, are best suited to mobile holidays.  That is to say, one tends to arrive somewhere, explore it, and then move on.  If you decide that you'd prefer to just go to one place and remain there for much over a week, you may find a trailer caravan is better suited to your needs.

When you've done all that, it will be time to start serious looking for the type of van you think will work for you.  Your biggest problem, as you may already have discovered, will be too much, rather than too little, choice!  Hope this helps (the book will!).

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What I've gleamed is that you:

 

- will need to get wherever you're going pretty fast as time is very much of the essence due to your other commitments

- you don't appear to have any experience at all of caravanning so you'll be on a steep learning curve regarding equipment, set-up, quality, types etc of motorhomes.

 

I'd be interested to know why you are thinking of a motorhome, rather than, say a caravan (shut up all those on here who are now spitting feathers for me saying this!(lol)). You really need to know why you want one, and the best way to do this is to think about how you intend to use it, only then can you decide what will be suitable for you in terms of layout, size, equipment etc. Once you've thought through this please put your findings on here and I'm sure we can help if you still think that a motorhome is right for you.

 

However, based on what you've already said and assuming you really do want a motorhome, I'd certainly suggest a smaller motorhome rather than a larger one, maybe a van conversion, that way you can use it to tootle around and not be stuck in one place as can happen with some larger motorhomes where parking etc can be more difficult.

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Alan

My advise for total newcommers always the same, go on a campervan holiday, I can recomend New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. You can hire in UK also, but why not kill two birds with one stone and have a first holiday abroad at same time as finding out about campervans.

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Guest peter
Alan I suggest you forget about a Motorhome and go away to Hotels for the weekend. For the simple reasons that you have already stated yourself. I am not trying to put you off, but you have to consider how long it would take to spend the 20K you are considering spending plus the running costs. If you could get the use out of it, then I would say go ahead.
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Alan,

 

Being new to motorhomes myself, I would strongly support what has been said about doing the research first. We spent a year thoroughly examining many options before taking the plunge. Bear in mind that if you were investing the £20K through a financial adviser that person would have to be qualified to give advice, subject to regulation and backed by the FSA's protection arrangements. Motorhome sales people, with the best will in the world are there primarily to sell, so you must do your homework and never buy in haste or on impulse. People do and they sometimes get it very wrong and then sell at a loss.

 

We had caravanned before so we knew much of what to expect. As you have not the advice on hiring and trying out the lifestyle first is important and I would urge you to do so.

 

Remember a hidden cost is loss of income from the investment you could make elsewhere, say £1000 pa - plus running costs and depreciation and you could be looking at around £3,000 per year just to have the van sitting on your driveway - that's a lot of weekends away in guesthouses or quite a few in very good hotels. So do you really need a motorhome when your domestic commitments will chain the van to your drive for 5 days every week?

 

If you decide a motorhome is for you then good luck with the search. Do make full use of the experts on this site and of the "search" facility, I did and it worked for me.

 

Bob

 

 

 

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