Motorhome depreciation

[Guest pelmetman]

Our camper is 20 years old this year and it got me thinking about depreciation, in a purely academic way as we inherited the van and as it is a family heirloom we have no intention of selling.

I still have the original bill of sale from Marquis for £20,600 on the 13/10/1990.

 

I have seen for sale Travelhomes in rough condition for less than £4000 grand and nearly £10,000 on forcourts.

 

As ours is in very good condition with low mileage, I would expect it to be about £8000 as a private sale, which works out about £630 a year.

 

I am begining to think as they have been around this price for a while, that depreciation wise it may have plateau'd.

 

You never know in another 20 years it might be worth what my father inlaw paid for it (lol)

[tonyishuk]

Thats good. Usually when depreciation is mentioned there is a whistling nose

 

 

Its either the price falling like a stone off Beachy Head.

 

Or

 

Seller sucking his teeth when told the P/ Ex price !

 

Rgds

[Mel B]

Interesting, we got a PX price for our Rimor of £25,000, the dealer has it for sale for £28,995, taking into account that they'll have to probably give some discount on it when they sell it, plus a warranty, I don't think that the PX price we got was bad, certainly more than others offered by a long way.

[hallii]

Having bought and sold a few VW campers over the years it seems to me that when they reach a certain age they do not have a "book" price, even if motorhomes never really have a book price anyway. Maybe they have when they are new to say, 2 or 3 years, then after that it is very variable.

 

20 year old campers are only worth what someone will pay, and someone will pay a lot more for a good one than for a wreck. I have bought campers needing a bit of TLC and DIYd it myself, then used it for 4 years and sold it for more than I paid for it!

 

Hang on to it for a few more years it, will become a classic, the sky's the limit then!

 

Hallii

 

 

 

 

[flicka]

Hi Dave

I think you will find the big difference will be condition of the Van that determines price more than age one Vans are over (say) 10 years old.

A cherished van in good condition and with no or little rust, will command a lot higher price that a Van that has been well used & not looked after. There will also be a lot in between these two situations.

 

Again purely academic, I applied UK RPI to the cost you posted & it comes up at £35k for 2010. IMHO you have a lot of van for that money at today's price.

Which also suggests new Motorhome prices have gone up well in excess of inflation over the last 20 years.

[silverback]

Flicka, and the chocolate lab,

thats very interesting the rpi thing raised my eyebrow somewhat...basically the manufacturers are ripping us off cos its getting popular (!)

i know technology has moved on and that but i bet the stuff in the old van is solid wood(not necessarily wood in that sense but wood) where as today they go for light weight stuff, do you think that will last?

my van is 2001 but the innards are wood and it looks like new cos off it

i also have a celica GT 1997in mint condition, but at the end of the day its worth nowt to anybody else but to me its worth £10.000 see where im coming from,

keep odd of it

jonathan

[bobalobs]

In 1990 sold a 1985 VW Holdsworth Villa 2 with 30000 miles on the clock for £8000. The buyer kept it for 17 years and a further 80000 miles before selling it in need of a little Tlc for £3000. Within weeks whilst at a "Vanfest" a sticker was left on the van offering £4000 cash!

When I sold the van I made a small profit having bought the van at trade (long story) but my purchaser lost £294 per annum. Compare that to the depreciation on a modern van let alone your average modern car!

[LordThornber]

Interesting stuff. Just out of curiosity, I've been looking at asking, (please note, asking, not achieved), prices for vans similiar to ours, an '03 Nuevo.

 

Off the top of my head we paid about 28K for it new, having received 21.5K for our traded in van that 3 years earlier we'd paid 23.5K for.

 

If you're keeping up, 2K depreciation in 3 years, we were happy enough.

 

Back to today, Nuevo asking prices seem high (to me), ok we know about Autosleeper residuals being high, but I've seen private and dealer asking prices of between 22K and 26K.

 

Say I choose a middle ground of 24K and sell at 23K equates to 5K depreciation in 7 years. We're not selling or looking to but I'm quite comfy with that, and I wonder how much of an effect the X250 gearbox saga could be having on residuals.

 

Pondering over with for now 8-)

 

Martyn

[flicka]

LordThornber - 2010-05-01 9:05 AM

 

 

and I wonder how much of an effect the X250 gearbox saga could be having on residuals.

 

Pondering over with for now 8-)

 

Martyn

Hi Martyn

Looking at the prices for 2007 onward Fiat/Peugeot?Citroen based Motorhomes in magazines and at dealers, it does not appear to be having much impact. (accepting that the advertised price is not necessarily the Sale price)

[cheetahdavie]

Everything has a price?

Me..I come cheap!!

Everything has a value,but its not always that which the seller hopes for..its that which the buyer is willing to pay!!

Doesnt matter how clean//how new //what extras//if the buyer wont pay//you dont sell.

I attended Peterborough and wanted a newer/different layout "Van"..saw many I liked /haggled [i love a good haggle]..I still have the vehicle I went there in.[it still meets my basic needs]Ignore the sales pitch..if offerred less than you want/need walk away.Never accept the offer on the window..I am currently looking for an A class around 56 vintage but no more than I am willing to pay.I will now attend other "shows"..haggle..no hurry..I know what I will pay..but it will not be what the seller wants???

 

[LordThornber]

flicka - 2010-05-01 8:05 PM

 

LordThornber - 2010-05-01 9:05 AM

 

 

and I wonder how much of an effect the X250 gearbox saga could be having on residuals.

 

Pondering over with for now 8-)

 

Martyn

Hi Martyn

Looking at the prices for 2007 onward Fiat/Peugeot?Citroen based Motorhomes in magazines and at dealers, it does not appear to be having much impact. (accepting that the advertised price is not necessarily the Sale price)

 

Hi John, I was referring to pre 2007 models, (i.e. ours), in that perhaps the gearbox saga is helping the residuals to be higher than they normally would be.

 

I've no idea whether they are or are not, it was just a pleasant surprise when I saw the asking, (repeat, asking, not achieved), prices for our model. I certainly didn't expect to see so many advertised at 21K plus for a 7 year old vehicle, damn good van and manufaturer or not.

 

 

Martyn

[Guest Merlin1]

pelmetman - 2010-04-30 4:31 PM

 

Our camper is 20 years old this year and it got me thinking about depreciation, in a purely academic way as we inherited the van and as it is a family heirloom we have no intention of selling.

I still have the original bill of sale from Marquis for £20,600 on the 13/10/1990.

 

I have seen for sale Travelhomes in rough condition for less than £4000 grand and nearly £10,000 on forcourts.

 

As ours is in very good condition with low mileage, I would expect it to be about £8000 as a private sale, which works out about £630 a year.

 

I am begining to think as they have been around this price for a while, that depreciation wise it may have plateau'd.

 

You never know in another 20 years it might be worth what my father inlaw paid for it (lol)

 

 

I think you're right. I can't remember exactly but looking in the back issues of MMM, my 1996 VW Autohomes Merlin cost around £22,000 new yet they still seem to be offered at between £12,000 and £15,000 in some cases which is pretty good considering you can pick up something like a 2000 Swift Sundance for a similar amount. So I'm in a similar situation to you.

I guess some vans just seem to depreciate a lot less. As has been said, condition and also base vehicle has a lot to do with it, even rarity. From what I remember, the Travelhome was a well built and much admired van but probably becoming rarer now even though there's still a fair few about. With the Merlin, they didn't make that many to begin with and I think the model was only built from 1995 to early 1997.

[Tony Jones]

When discussing used vehicle values, you also have to bear in mind that the "PX" may not be all "PX." Some of it may well be taken out of the margin on the vehicle you're BUYING, ie a discount disguised as a PX.

 

If a dealer quotes you a PX price BEFORE you start talking about what your next van will be, that's probably a true PX value. But if he already knows what you're looking to buy, his calculations will include not only how much he wants your van (and what he can sell it for) but also what sort of deal he wants to do on the new one.

 

Back in '91, we traded in a real wreck (1978 Glendale on Transit, badly treated by earlier owners) which we'd bought two years previously for £1600. He offered us £1000 for it, but only after we'd shown interest in a much newer van, with an HP deal!

 

Doesn't make any difference to the bottom line of the deal, BUT when you come to sell the SECOND van, expect more depreciation, as its real value when you bought it was less than the top line of the invoice!

[Brian Kirby]

Hope this won't sound too blasé - not intended to. However, motorhomes are expensive toys, and running them is also costly.  No-one needs a motorhome, it is a luxury that one chooses to get, or not.  I fully agree that it is pointless paying "over the odds" - or selling below them - but, within a range of prices, surely what one wants is this or that van, and not just a cheap deal.  Given this, worrying over depreciation (I accept the OP was not worrying) is a bit pointless.

The determining factor on how much the van costs to buy (manufacturer's price, and condition, apart), is its popularity as a model, and the same will influence its PX value at trade-in.

If you want to reduce depreciation you need to buy the products of one of a very small group of manufacturers, and then select the most popular models from their ranges.  This will involve compromise on layout and other preferences, and the initial cost will almost certainly be higher relative to the age, and condition, of the van than for other makes/models.  However, when the time comes to change, its loss in value will be that much lower.

Surely this is part of the appeal of, for example, the Hymer A class vans.  They cost a lot to buy, but they depreciate more slowly than most others.  On the other hand, spend the same amount on a "cheapie" initially, and the percentage depreciation is likely to be far higher over the same period of time.  But if you prefer the cheapie, and are not much enthused by the Hymer, you have a choice.  Get the Hymer and congratulate yourself on how little money it is losing, or get the one you like and congratulate yourself that it is better value, because you actually like it and it gives you more pleasure.

IMO, there is no such thing as "motorhome" depreciation (apart from that they all depreciate :-)), because the differences between makes, and models, are just too great to generalise.