Hello and advice :)

[kmoorman]

Hi there,

 

As this is my first post I thought I'd introduce myself first.

 

My name is Kieron, I live in Sussex, and I'm interested in buying a Motorhome.

 

As a child my parents had numerous vans, starting with a Bedford with the pop up roof and hammock style beds for the kids, through a number of coachbuilt ones. As a family (of 4) we had some brilliant holidays in them, from weeks in Cornwall, and Scotland to trips to Spain, France and Denmark.

 

So, armed with those memories, and now having 2 kids of my own I am drawn to the idea of getting a van of my own and letting my kids enjoy it as I did.

 

I've been looking at vans for a few weeks now, as well as reading MMM (and other similar magazines), but i'm not really any nearer to working it all out.

 

I've been told that for a family of 4 you really should be looking at a 6 berth to avoid having to turn the dining area into a bed every night. So, armed with this info, I've been looking at models such as the CI Carioca (the one with the fixed bunk beds at the back) and the Hymer C524.

 

Another factor is cost - I can't really afford to go beyond about 15-17k in terms of purchase price, so new models are really out of the question.

 

So, am I looking in the right area in terms of models? Or area there other ones that I need to consider?

 

All advice for a complete newbie (as an owner) accepted.

 

Cheers, and hello

 

Kieron.

 

P.S. We're toying with the idea of hiring one for a week in August (for a holiday in Ireland) to see what they're like - good idea? :-D

[ROON]

Hi Kieron, As a newbie myself I can't help on vans ..... I bought mine on impulse buying having wanted one for years but not really knowing the different ones.

 

I just want to welcome you to the site and say that you can make lovely friends here if you want to, or just get good advice ..... so you have already made a good choice. Going on holiday renting one .... yep brilliant idea.... give the children a taste of what is to come and something to be really excited about and to sit and talk with you both about their ideas of what is needed in the van .... you know, like, games, balls, etc :-D

 

I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell you more about models. Joy

[kmoorman]

Hello Joy,

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm really excited about the whole thing. The only down side of renting in Ireland is that we won't have much luggage capacity on the way out (Ryanair) to take out the normal essentials for a motorhome holiday (football, frisbie, fishing rods etc).

 

But it will give us a chance to see what it's like.

 

Another consideration I'd not thought about is childseats... my kids are 2 and 6, so the configuarion need to allow child car seats to be fitted.

 

Anyway - good to be here :-D

 

Kieron.

[maryowlgirl]

Hello welcome, I am not qualified to say which Motorhomes are the best mechanically etc but my advice is to go to one of the Motorhome shows.

 

By doing this you get lots of suppliers in one place and can look at your leisure, get prices and make a good deal.

 

We did and are really pleased with our Motorhome now and love going out in it.

 

[kmoorman]

Thanks for the advice again Mary - I'll check out the nearest show.

 

On the subject of rental - I've done some investigating rental in Ireland around the time we might be there (mid August) and there appears to be little availability, unless we want to pick it up from Dublin!

 

Anyone know of rental companies in Ireland that I can try? (or is it easier to keep Googling for it?).

 

Actually - it might be cheaper to buy on - take it on holiday and find out of we like the idea! After all, the quotes I've seen are about £1350 for a week's hire in Ireland!

 

Cheers

 

Kieron.

[LordThornber]

Hello Kieron & welcome to our world..

 

Renting? A good idea but it will only provide you with some of the answers to your questions. There is no "right" way to choose IMHO.

 

This is what we did:-

 

Bought a well looked after VW T3 for £3k. Loved it to bits as we'd always been tent campers and it seemed like, (was), heaven. We bought it on the basis that even if we didn't like it, (the lifestyle), we weren't going to lose a mint.

 

Flogged it 10 months later for £2800 and bought a brand new Swift Mondial high top van conversion. As we camped all year round we eventually grew tired of the lack of room available to us when stuck in the van in winter.

 

Kept it for 3 years and bought a AutoSleeper Nuevo coachbuilt van. Much better, (for us), for year round camping with the extra room.

 

We've never regretted buying and learning the way we did, particularly as you read the horror stories on here about folk losing goodness knows how much money because of not putting some thought into the buying process.

 

A particular fave of mine is those who sell after X months of ownership, bleating that they "don't like it stood on the drive" for X months of the year whilst they are working. Bizarre.

 

What did they think van ownership would give them?

 

Instant retirement?

 

 

Good luck, and happy camping

 

Martyn

[maryowlgirl]

mmm someone told me at one of the shows that they had decided to buy an older van to tour with as it was less money to buy a decent van than to hire one.

 

Having said this it was their experience and I don't know about this personally.

[MandyAndy]

Hi, We have the Roller Team 600g it is great for bigger families, it has excellent space in the garage, seat belts for 6 which 2 of them in the back could take child seats. Doesn't have the bunks though it has fixed bed back and front.

 

Friends of ours hired the 656 from a company in Derby for 2 weeks and we took them over to France with us. They loved it so much they came back and got the Roller Team 700, within 6 weeks they had it brand new on their drive. The 700 has the bunks like the 656 but has seating for 6 people too along with a better sized shower room. The seating arrangement is excellent for them as the children can have the little table to themselves without having to clear everything away in order for them to all eat. They are renting this out already and have got bookings well into August as it is such an ideal van for families.

 

That price for hiring does sounds quite high, I am sure they paid around £1200 for the 2 weeks .

 

Try Geof Cox in Derby for a second hand or new as he has the CI and the Roller Team, they are both made by the same company.

 

Hope this helps a little

Mandy

[twooks]

welcome to the madhouse :D kieron

 

re van, suggest you check out as many dealers as you can and go to some shows.

Insist on climbing all over the van - checking that cupboards close and any bed making is feasible at 11 at night after a long drive / hearty dinner.

 

def suggest you get more than 4 berth - and make sure that seat belts are ok for what you want and kids can be nicely separated and easily got at :D

 

hiring is expensive - and you shouldn't take too much of a loss if you buy and then sell fairly quickly after [although all kinds of terrible things could happen to the market with fuel rises - ] would still expect turbo deisel to be best option despite cringing differential prices at the pump

 

if you do decide to rent to try - I would say try somewhere reasonably local, visit at many sites as you can and chat to other MH owners - we can all bore for the galaxy on the topic of our 'vans

 

B-)

 

PS - don't forget that the 'van will be great for days out as well, you've got your own loo, brew facilities, some where to clean the kids off, and feed them in comfort

[Tony Jones]

Hi Kieron, and welcome.

 

Since your childhood experience included both a "pop-up" and coachbuilts, you'll have some idea of the differences between them. Bear in mind too that, like cars, they all keep getting bigger as the years go by!

 

You don't say whether you'll need to use the van as a "main" or "second" car, or just for hols, trips etc, but since you've started looking at 6-berth jobs I guess you're not planning to use it for everyday transport.

 

As to the 6- or 4-berth question, it's not just the bed-making business (most of them are pretty straightforward nowadays). If your trips are in warmer climes, you'll "live" outdoors most of the time so a 4-berth is fine for 4 people. But if you're in the UK (& Ireland come to that) you'll want SPACE inside during the day - probably more than is usually allowed for in a 4-berth, so again a 6 would be better.

 

Another point to watch with the big wagons is payload - some of the budget models skimp on this by using cheaper, lower-rated versions of the base vehicle. It's no good having plenty of travelling/living/sleeping space for the family, if you can't legally carry the stuff they need to take!

 

Layout for travelling can be as important as when you're standing still. Depending on the age and temperament of the kids, you may want them where you CAN reach them, or where you CAN'T hear them squabble - you can't have both! (We once had a rear-lounge coachbuilt, and rigged up an "Action Man" toy phone set as an intercom, so they could buzz us when they needed us, but we didn't have to listen to them all the time!) But safety-wise, as long as they've got forward-facing seats with 3-point belts, you should be OK using standard car child-seats.

 

Your £15-17K budget should be fine as long as you don't mind going for a vehicle a good few years old. Most of us look after our motorhomes, so even an old one can give you many years of service (we've just bought our first-ever new vehicle, after running older campers and motorhomes for most of the last 20 years!).

 

Whatever you end up buying, I'm sure you'll enjoy it - and so will the kids!

 

Tony

[Mel B]

Hi Keiron ... just a few thoughts which may help:

 

Child seats - make sure when you get to the point of picking a particular van that the child seats will actually fit, safely and securely. Not all vans will take them depending on the way the seatbelts are fitted and whether they are 3 point or lap type belts. Also be aware that when going round corners a child seat can tip sideways it is it placed on the inner part of a dinette seat (ie not near the window) so you may need to think about how you'd stop this happening to avoid your child ending up dangling off the edge! 8-)

 

Layout - whilst there are a lot of layouts to choose from, you'll find some larger vans, such as the Elddis 400 with an overcab bed, double seat dinette (ie two 2-seater settees facing each other with a table between) and a rear nearside seating area that also makes up into a bed as contender. This should be in your price bracket. Make sure that you are okay sleeping either in the overcab or on the downstairs bed - try it out - you've grown a bit since you were a kid and it might not be as pleasant in the overcab! :$

 

When will you use it? - Think seriously and realistically about how much use you're going to be able to make of it - are you, for example, both free at weekends (ie not working) so that you can get away on a Friday and return on a Sunday? If not, then when would you use it? Would you use it for your holidays all the time or do you intend to take 'non-motorhome' holidays as well. Although the cost of hiring may seem a lot, if you're not going to be able to use it much other than for a couple of main holidays then you'd probably find renting a much more sensible proposition.

 

How will you use it? - Will you go to one place, ie a campsite, and stay there for a week, or will you do a bit of travelling round? If the former, then, I hate to say it, but a caravan might be more suitable. If the latter, be sure that your kids will be content to travel around like this - what you thought was great many years ago and what kids think now could be quite different.

 

Running costs - Don't forget the cost of insurance, road tax, etc, etc plus servicing and fixing the bits and pieces that need repair every now and then. Some people forget about these things - ring up some insurance companies and find out what it is likely to cost you and see if it is still feasible for you to buy the size/type of van you're considering or whether another type might be more financially viable. :-S

 

Driving it - I assume you would be happy to drive a large vehicle? Be careful that you are within your permitted licence restrictions as well, if you passed your test since 1997 check that you are okay to drive the vehicle you want to buy. Also make sure that your partner is happy to drive it as well, even if most of the driving is left to you, it is a good idea for the other person to be able to drive it in case you are out of action (ie ill ... or had a little bit too much of the Irish stuff!). :D

 

Hiring - there are various companies that hire 'vans out - you could consider hiring one here and taking it across to Ireland on the ferry instead of hiring there, it might work out cheaper but even if it is the same or a little dearer, at least you can then take your bits and pieces (including the kids toys, bikes etc) with you. What about hiring one here instead for a weekend to see how you get on? The outlay wouldn't be anything like as much as it would be for a week in August and it would give you the chance to see what you think without committing yourselves to a long holiday and a lot of money, especially if you then decide it's not for you.

 

One note about Ireland ... it rains ... a lot ... that's why it's called the Emerald Isle! Be prepared to get wet at some point and make sure you take waterproof clothing, boots/wellies, when you go, there's now more miserable than squelshing around in the cold rain!

 

 

[Ranger]

Hi Kieron, can't really add much to all the sound advice already passed on to you on here, so here are a few of the mistakes that I have made over the years. I had one front wheel drive poor to no traction on wet grass, coach built type built with ali sheets screwed to wooden frame with ali beading and sealant screwed over all the joints, sooner or later they leak and the frames rot. Too big an overhang behind the back axle, some can be 80% of the wheel base, back axle can be easily over loaded. Try and find one with about 50% of the wheel base. Luckily I never had a Fiat, Citroen, nor Pugeot (read the posts about these).

[Kate1881]

Hi Kieron

Welcome, And good luck in your quest to find your motorhome, we spent hours,days,weeks even yrs searching for ours in the end we realised we had been sat in the motorhome of our choice for well over an hour chatting to some other would be buyers. We decided that it was the one for us and it being 2 yrs old this July is still loved to bits.

 

As for you hiring one, Yes great idea but hire one over here and drive to Ireland, We have a really good ferry deal going to Belfast in August ( to a party) If you travel mid week with Stena they give you a discount so our cost is now only £211.00 return. And I am going to allow Tony to drive our Motorhome onto the ferry ( Have I chickened out of this YES)

 

I very often take my Grandson's ( one at a time) we are fortunate not to need child seats now, but I have also heard of them falling sideways if not in the window seat.

Take the child seats with you when you go and view any and try them in before you decide to Rent or Buy.

 

When you get sorted stay in touch on the forum, it is full of wonderful interesting information.

 

Dont for get to wave

 

Kate

B-)

[kmoorman]

Thanks to everyone for the very useful advice.

 

To answer some of the questions, in no particular order:

 

We don't intend to use the Van for normal day to day use, but neither of us work at weekends, so we will try to make use of it as much as possible at weekends for short trips (Isle of Wight, New Forest, West Country etc).

 

I'm not a big one for setting up in a single location, so I don't think a caravan would be for us; especially as we'd like to try a 2-3 week trip to France or Spain in the next couple of years.

 

As far as the trip to Ireland is concerned, I've discussed it with my good lady and we've agreed that it would be easier to get one in this country and take a couple of extra days to get over to Ireland - it will give us a better all round picture of how suitable the van is to our plans (including get onto a off a ferry!).

 

I do hope the kids will enjoy the whole experience, be it initially in Ireland and beyond - that's yet to be tested yet!

 

As far as models are concerned, I'm going to try and visit a few dealers in Sussex this coming weekend to have a detailed look at the different models available and see which configuration we'd like to hire for our trip.

 

It's all very exciting isn't it :-D :-D

 

Cheers

 

Kieron.

 

P.S. - I passed my driving test before 1997, so I should be ok from a licence perspective.