StuartO Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Several times the OH and I have contemplated changing our MH but after a while (and sometimes looking at a few) we end up deciding to stick with what we've got, a 2006 Hymer B674. Most recently we looked at swapping for the Mercedes chassis versions for Hymers of the same era but they lack the clever double floor arrangement which ours has, and have a smaller showering space (for the horizontally challenged) because they don't use the clever 'swing wall' bathroom feature we've come to love. More modern MHs seem cramped to us, as the designers have crammed more and more into the available space, even though they are more stylish and make very imaginative use of feature-full led lighting. And of course we would be spending a significant amount of money to "upgrade", especially if we bought from a dealer and traded ours in. But it's really the relatively cramped feeling or the loss of really useful under-floor lockers which puts us off changing because if we put the effort into selling privately or on commission we could get a decent deal. yet the motorhome market (unlike caravans) is said to continue to be an expanding market. Lots of people clearly do like the newer models, if not us. So we've continued to spend money on good preventative maintenance and come to terms with the need for fixing the occassional problem as things wear out or break with a 13 year old MH, even though these days I'm more inclined to pay someone to fix things whenever practical. This year I had to climb onto the roof to re-attach a broken rooflight to get us home, which involved parking close to a small building to climb up, since I didn't have my telescopic ladder with us. I think you really do need to be a bit resourceful if you tour far from home in a motorhome, which is of course what they are for. So I feel sorry for the motorhomers who don't know one end of a screwdriver from another because even with newish MHs, jobs will need doing sooner or later and you simply can't rely on motorhome dealers to keep the workshop capacity to fit you in quickly. Some are even picky about making non-customers of theirs wait as a matter of policy or declining to work on MHs over 10 years old altogether, which I encountered recently. Some mobile caravan/MH mechanics are very good but some don't seem to be. Motorhome maintenance is a shortage area. I'm not really complaining because we have ended up content with our 13 year old Hymer and I'm also pretty content with the spares and mechanical assistance I can get hold of when necessary, even though I do sometimes have to shop around. And we have covered all the ground we need to cover as far as accessories are concerned and I really wouldn't look forward to starting with a new MH and a blank canvas again. I suppose this post is rather a long winded way of saying thank to contributers to this Forum for providing such a feast of ideas and reference material to help me deal with problems which crop up on tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bounty hunter Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Stuart Have to agree with you as we have a 13 year old Carthago, which we have owned for 8 years, on an Iveco chassis which has just failed it's MOT. Most of the problems are age related and while it may cost us £1500 for repairs it is still cheaper than changing vans as the minute you drive away from dealer you lose up to £10K which is a lot of repairs for the vehicle we love. We have decided to keep it until we either downsize or give up but hopefully that's a long way off. In the 8 years we have owned this van our friends have bought 6 vans and don't understand why we haven't done the same. They currently own a Tag axle Hymer which is their forever van but so were the previous three. Our van has everything we want in a motorhome and can honestly say we have not seriously looked at other motorhomes with a view to changing. This is the longest we have owned any motorhome with 6 years being the average time of ownership. Like you we also have had a lot of help, suggestions, advice from this, and other forums, over the years which we are truly grateful for. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 When we brought the current van I said we'd keep it for ten years then look for something new, unless we spot something better beforehand, well it's eight years and in that time have never shyed for looking at other vans but never seen anything we would prefer, but never say never, as Robin has peeked our interest in other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 My thoughts on this are that we bought the one that suited us at the time, we did look at the newer market as the years progressed but all were never as good as our original choice. More decorative yes and appealing to the more modern person whose practical abilities are less skilled but they all lacked 'our ways' We did sell it due to poor health plus local traffic problems. There is an underlying trend in modern society that new is better, it often is but equally its not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Our last three coachbuilts have been Auto Sleepers. back in 2015 when we were looking to change we spotted an Elddis autoquest 115 (sunseeker) we were looking at another A S of similar size but I thought that there is to much bling these days, admittedly the Elddis is dated in comparison but all the better for it in my opinion. Less to go wrong with filling up with water not having to pump it into the van, simple control panel that dosen't start pinging in the middle of the night saying the waste water tank is full and having to take the panel apart to reset it. Fifteen thousand pounds cheaper than the AS and a proper spare wheel as well. I know that there are some short comings in comparison but for me, it isn't anything that I can't live with. Four years old and still happy with it. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 The first time we looked at replacing our current MH was when it was about 5 years old, so about 8 years ago. We'd paid £52K for our LHD import (about £8K less than the UK list price and £2.5K less than we could persuade the then UK sole importer to sell us the same thing) and five years later we were offered £30K against the new equivalent B674, which was then priced at £80K, so we were being invited to spend £50k to update and this was not tempting. More recently a new equivalent to ours would have a list price of around £110-120K but you can buy a low mileage pre-registered (2018 plate) LHD import for around £75K and the trade-in value of mine against those was said to be about £25K, which would be equivalent to only 50% depreciation over 13 years - but what sort of depreciation will Hymers bought new this year in UK suffer over the next 13 years? (Incidentally I reckon our 2006 Hymer B674 would sell privately for over £30K so depreciation could be as low as 40%.) New prices have continued to climb in real terms over the years (probably because the MH market is not yet saturated in UK or in mainland Europe) but this cannot continue indefinitely. Prices of used MHs in Germany have kept up well too, so there is less opprtunity these days than there used to be to gain substantially by importing a used MH personally from Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thai Bry Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 Like most people on here have commented, we have had our van from new for the last 12 years. We have looked at other vans in that time, and have made up our minds that the van that we have does meet our needs, and no matter how enticing the new vans are we have decided that the van we have is ideal for us. The only thing that we have missed - and was a feature on our old Hymer B584- was the folding shower. Our current shower has what I would call the "Star Trek" type of circular shower arrangement. Apart from that we have got used to our van, and if things need doing to it, we get on with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyExsis Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 That is a very good post Stuart and useful also to newcomers who can consider an older van with less bling, but with quality materials and proven with the knowledge that future depreciation will be lower than a new vehicle and may help towards added maintenance. Admittedly some might not want the inconvenience of the odd repair or replacement parts, especially if you can afford new. We have looked to update to a PVC for several years, but find that the space and practically that our little 2006 Exsis SG, which we have owned from new, offers is unbeatable and there are perhaps a dozen of us who have owned the Exsis for 10 years plus.....and many of us now in our 70's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 StuartO - 2019-06-18 10:22 AM Several times the OH and I have contemplated changing our MH but after a while (and sometimes looking at a few) we end up deciding to stick with what we've got, a 2006 Hymer B674. Most recently we looked at swapping for the Mercedes chassis versions for Hymers of the same era but they lack the clever double floor arrangement which ours has, and have a smaller showering space (for the horizontally challenged) because they don't use the clever 'swing wall' bathroom feature we've come to love. More modern MHs seem cramped to us, as the designers have crammed more and more into the available space, even though they are more stylish and make very imaginative use of feature-full led lighting. And of course we would be spending a significant amount of money to "upgrade", especially if we bought from a dealer and traded ours in. But it's really the relatively cramped feeling or the loss of really useful under-floor lockers which puts us off changing because if we put the effort into selling privately or on commission we could get a decent deal. yet the motorhome market (unlike caravans) is said to continue to be an expanding market. Lots of people clearly do like the newer models, if not us. So we've continued to spend money on good preventative maintenance and come to terms with the need for fixing the occassional problem as things wear out or break with a 13 year old MH, even though these days I'm more inclined to pay someone to fix things whenever practical. This year I had to climb onto the roof to re-attach a broken rooflight to get us home, which involved parking close to a small building to climb up, since I didn't have my telescopic ladder with us. I think you really do need to be a bit resourceful if you tour far from home in a motorhome, which is of course what they are for. So I feel sorry for the motorhomers who don't know one end of a screwdriver from another because even with newish MHs, jobs will need doing sooner or later and you simply can't rely on motorhome dealers to keep the workshop capacity to fit you in quickly. Some are even picky about making non-customers of theirs wait as a matter of policy or declining to work on MHs over 10 years old altogether, which I encountered recently. Some mobile caravan/MH mechanics are very good but some don't seem to be. Motorhome maintenance is a shortage area. I'm not really complaining because we have ended up content with our 13 year old Hymer and I'm also pretty content with the spares and mechanical assistance I can get hold of when necessary, even though I do sometimes have to shop around. And we have covered all the ground we need to cover as far as accessories are concerned and I really wouldn't look forward to starting with a new MH and a blank canvas again. I suppose this post is rather a long winded way of saying thank to contributers to this Forum for providing such a feast of ideas and reference material to help me deal with problems which crop up on tour. 13 years old.......Is that all! :D ........ Horace clicks 30 next year B-) ........and he's been our full time home for almost 4 years ;-) ...... Best decision I never made not getting into the regular upgrading rut :D ........ I'd prolly still be working full time instead of traveling full time if I had 8-) ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 The most probmatical factor is age and spares both for a vehicle and habitation maintenance. The former may just be a money matter if you can get parts, the latter is probably more difficult if you have to chop out a fridge or heater unit to carry on living. The older the mhome there is more leeway to make it yours rather than a factory clone. The difference in depreciation between the two is probably minimal. Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charleydog Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 Stick with it. our first serious m/home was a burstner with a 2,8 slugger engine, twenty years on and ten machines later, we have a chausson 630.on a ford lump,which has been in twice for the injector problem, Now going in for a service at nine thousand miles.(£330) as the service required light is showing on the dash every ten miles with a substantial loss of power when showing,which is, in my opinion, a danger to us occupants. Will be very upset if not sorted. Our old Fiat did not miss a beat in six years. >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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