Dilemma

[Petra]

I have a Chausson Flash 08 and have had it for two years, it has done 20,000 miles all over Europe and with not a bit of bother. My dilemma is that it is now out of warranty. Do I change it? I have seen an Excel 640 which I like the look of but have never had a British van before. Will I miss the half dinette, where do you put the junk which you normally put on the table and where will I put the dog who normally sleeps in his basket under the table. We fancied a change of layout and fancied a change of van but will I be selling a good van for a load of trouble?

[BGD]

OK Petra - Honest reply?

 

Why on Earth are you thinking of selling after only two years?

That sounds nuts to me.

The depreciation hit would be utterly enormous.

 

Surely, if that MH suited you well enough two year ago for you to invest many many tens of thousands of pounds in it, I'm struggling to think how it can be so ill-matched to your needs now that you're prepared to throw away maybe 10 or 15 thousand pounds in depreciation costs.

 

20,000 miles for a commercial vehicle (and that is what the mechanicals of your motorhome are) is absolutely tiny. Really. The thing has hardly been run-in yet.

It's tried and trusted. You know its quirks. You've no doubt added bits and bobs to get it just the way you like it. You know its service history.

 

Maybe look at it the other way round: if it's reliability you are worried about, consider that for a couple of hundred quid you can have cover such that if it breaks down anywhere in Europe it will get fixed/repatriated.

If, by some utter fluke the entire engine blows up or seizes, it might cost 2 or 3 grand to have another unit fitted.

Those actual and possible future costs need to be balanced against the absolute certainty of losing say 15,000 quid by trading it in now.

 

 

Seems to me that from an accounting point of view, and from a common sense point of view there's no case for selling it so young.

If it was me, I'd get my moneys-worth: I'd keep it for the next ten years, and put another 150,000 to 200,000 miles on it.........mostly racked up by travelling around mainland Europe where the weather is such that you spend most of your time outside the MH anyway when parked up.

 

 

Just a personal view..........

[Guest JudgeMental]

Why sell a van if you are happy with it, different if you are not......

 

Presumably you are talking about the chassis warranty? Has it had the Fiat gearbox fix (if it a fiat :-S) and if yes, it it behaving itself?

 

water ingress warranty with a coachbuilt is important IMO, and that should be for another few years?

 

we are trying to downsize to a panel van as kids dont come with us any more, I want a van I can use more, and parking will be a problem when we move.......

 

I certainly would not change it for a British budget job just because of layout, unless I had money burning a hole in my pocket, and was feeling lucky...Are you feeling really lucky?:D

 

EDIT: just saw Bruce's contribution, and while not advocating keeping same van for 10 years *-) I feel that I am losing a lot on mine after 3.5 years (15000 miles) my fault for spending over £6k on extras.....I wont be doing that again! :-S

[Guest Tracker]

Personally speaking I prefer a van out of warranty as I am then free to have work or servicing done by whoever I want and not whoever they want.

 

Yes I know all about the freedom to use any other garage for servicing as long as genuine parts are used but that in itself can create issues in the event of a warranty claim - but that's another tale!

 

Why not get yourself a decent recovery and breakdown rescue package - RAC Arrival via the CCC is one of the best in my view - and if and when it ever breaks down simply have it recovered to your home or a garage of your choice - or the local agent if far from home?

 

Before so doing, there are after market warranties available along the same lines as you would get if you were buying seconhand and it might be worth contacting your supplying dealer to see if thety will offer you an extended warranty? You might have to have a service and habitation check first but it would no doubt be a heck of a lot less painful than shelling out for a new van?

 

The cost of any out of warranty repairs is likely to be a hell of a lot less than the cost of buying a new van, and even if you kept your two year old van three more years and then compared it's value then with the value then of a three year old van bought new now there would still probably be a huge savings when you take the net depreciation into account?

 

By the way surely an 08 van would have had three years warranty from new?

 

On the other hand if you feel more secure with a manufacturers warranty around your van and the money is not an issue - just go for it and change vans!

 

No doubt someone else will be very happy to get your old van at a considerable savings over new!

 

By the way - does it reverse uphill OK!

[Mel B]

What has been said above is pretty much spot on. Changing any van before it's at least 3 years old is just money down the drain, the PX value you'll get now will be virtually the same as you'll get in another year's time.

 

I'd only advocate changing if you really, really, do NOT want the layout you have or have major issues. You can get extended warranties, your original dealer will probably be able to sort one for you if that's what you want. When we had our Rapido it only came with a 1 year warranty, but we haggled with the dealer and they added an extra year's dealer warranty, which, when the fridge played up at 15 months, was great as we didn't have to shell out £100 to get it fixed. But, when it ran out of warranty we didn't bother renewing it, and instead put money aside for 'emergencies' etc, which we never needed. Same with our Rimor, it had a 2 year warranty and we never worried about it when it ran out.

 

What I would normally suggest, however, is that you get it serviced/checked just before the warranty runs out so that it anything is a bit 'iffy' it can get sorted, but as your's has already run out that's not an option.

[Petra]

Thanks for the replies.

 

There are couple of other factors to take into account. Our depreciation costs are not as high as most peoples as our vehicle is VAT exempt due to my wifes disability, so have only lost a couple of grand over the two years we have had it. Our supplying dealer went bust and the first question we are always asked when we go anywhere else is Did you buy it here? The vehicle is LHD as we used to spend more time travelling abroad but now we have to spend more time in the UK. We were concerned that the gap between new and old would get bigger and when we were talking to dealers everyone but Chausson dealers were giving us a relatively good deal. We would have bought another Chausson but they are just not interested in taking our van, and they are not going to import the 08 next year.

 

Yes it does go uphill backwards without needing any fixes. Whether this is because LHD vans did not have any problems, we dont know.

 

Peter

[Poppy]

Look closely at the Excels.Yes they have some nice layouts etc.but the load margins are nothing wonderful and look at catches and locks.

[Guest pelmetman]

When we inherited our van over 18 years ago, my parents who had always been tuggers decided to change to a high top camper (Autosleeper) :D

In the following years they changed to automatic coachbuilt (autosleeper)

Another coachbuilt (Compass) A Class (Pilote) another A class (Rapido) had that 6 months Mother could not see the telly 8-) Finally A Class Hymer which we managed to get him to sell before he killed himself or somebody else.

 

The old man now lives in Spain moaning that he's got no money left *-)

 

So in my opinion if it works why fix it :-D

[ips]

No were within the original post does this gentlemen mention money. If he can absorb the depreciation or in this case wont incurr any then the question is simple not everything is about money.

 

So in answer to your question there is a lot to be said for keeping something that you no is reliable etc etc however you have obviously got some issues with the van and or its layout so IMO you will never get that thought out of your head so you may as well change it now,if nothing else you will enjoy the nice feeling of buying something new with your hard earned cash. Nothing like bit of retail therapy,if of course you can afford it.

 

As for if you will miss the dinette etc etc, well you will soon find out and if it doesnt work then you will just have to buy another one in a couple of years. :-D

[flicka]

Hi Peter

From your last post, it apears that the main reason for change is that you have a LHD & don't intend to use the Chausson on the continent anymore, so I assume you want a RHD.

For you the positive thing is that the Flash 08 layout is available from many manufacturers and you should have a wide choice of vans while retaining the same layout or mirror image with the habitation door on the nearside. IMHO if your wife is disabled habitation door on the nearside would be beneficial, (My wife is also disabled & I would not want to get her out of the van into the traffic.)

If you only need 2 belted seats have a look at the Elddis Autoquest (or the Marquis Majestic dealer)special, Swift Sundance/Bessacarr E400, Autotrail Excels, Swift Escape ranges.

nb some have side facing lounge seats in front.

With our Autocruise Sportstar, my wife uses the front bed & I use the high level rear bed above the garage, which takes her wheelchair & mobility scooter. So that although only 6m long, may also be an option.

[Guest pelmetman]

ips - 2010-10-03 7:24 AM

 

No were within the original post does this gentlemen mention money. If he can absorb the depreciation or in this case wont incurr any then the question is simple not everything is about money.

 

:-D

 

My old man used to get the VAT back as he is classed as disabled, still seem'd to take a massive hit each time he traded in :D

 

As you say not everything is about money I would rather be away enjoying myself than working (lol) (lol)

 

 

[rolandrat]

Petra,

If you are thinking of an Autotrail Excel you need to take a close look underneath first, because it is fitted with the webasto water and blow heating system it is full of visible silver clad trunking that really should be boxed in and because of the amount there is there is no room to mount a spare wheel. The overall appearance of the Excel range is very good but you need to do serious homework first. I met a guy at a rally who was complaining that his heating system wouldn't get hot and was noisy so I had a look underneath and saw that a length of trunking was hanging loose but was impossible to fix as some parts seemed to be missing, he also wanted a spare wheel fitting but when I told him there wasn't any room he was very concerned. Autotrail produce some very good motorhomes but I think on this occasion they need to review the trunking system on the excel range.

[Petra]

Thanks for the replies. Yes I guess it is best to stick with what I know. New motorhomes are always nice though! I think I got carried away at Lincoln show.

Peter