used prices

[hammer]

I am hoping to buy a 2nd hand motorhome but the prices are sky high. Vehicles that might have been £30k pre-covid now seem to be almost £40k.

Obviously that is a supply and demand issue - both with new vehicles and many people buying into the 2nd hand market.

 

Does anyone think that high prices are here to stay, or is it likely that by next summer (2022), hopefully the worst of covid will be behind us and a lot of people who bought motorhomes in 2020 will realise that they rarely use the vehicle as they can once again fly away of a package holiday etc and will try to offload it?

I guess that several people who bought in 2020 will also become worried about their job security

Or.. perhaps many of the people who bought motorhomes last year will keep their vehicle as they realise that it is a much more civilised way to holiday than flying!

 

I can't really afford to buy at current prices, so does anyone with a crystal ball have any thoughts on future prices/demand? (do you also have this weeks lottery numbers?!)

[rayc]

Motorhomes I have bought in the past appear at dealer prices to have no depreciation in the years they have been on the road.

A new Chausson bought in 2009 for £32000 and a Rapido bought in 2011 for £44,000 are now at very similar prices in dealers adverts to what I paid for them.

[Hans]

A Motor Home Is Not A DINKY TOY. But Well Engineered. They drop the first years about 10 percent a year and become stable after that.

[hammer]

DINKY TOY?? 8-) . Really not sure what that means?

To rephrase my question: in the last 12 months, used motorhome prices have rocketed. Do people think that is the new normal, or is the market overheated because lots of people have recently bought motorhomes (covid/staycation) but will look to offload them in the future.

 

Normally motorhome depreciation is minimal (apart from brand new vehicles) - this year has been far from normal, so can anyone see prices reducing in the next 12 months as covid restrictions hopefully ease?

[Geeco]

hammer - 2021-01-14 8:26 PM

 

DINKY TOY?? 8-) . Really not sure what that means?

To rephrase my question: in the last 12 months, used motorhome prices have rocketed. Do people think that is the new normal, or is the market overheated because lots of people have recently bought motorhomes (covid/staycation) but will look to offload them in the future.

 

Normally motorhome depreciation is minimal (apart from brand new vehicles) - this year has been far from normal, so can anyone see prices reducing in the next 12 months as covid restrictions hopefully ease?

 

In Australia prices of used MH's have also increased over the last year.In our case it is a shortage of base vehicles from Fiat, MB etc along with local factory shutdowns stopping the habitation build process. Additionally with our national borders closed for holiday travel overseas people are taking the opportunity to travel locally. The money saved on overseas travel can be put into a MH purchase. That adds to higher demand, coupled with limited stock the prices go up. This Covid thing will not go away soon so my guess is prices will maintain inflated levels for at least 2 years.I have just sold a 6 year old Auto-trail and purchased a new Adria taking advantage of a strong used market along with a run out model new vehicle.

 

On the subject of "Dinky Ttoys" every boy my age in AU had a collection of these die cast zinc car models. They were owned bu Meccano based in Liverpool and stopped producing around 1974. Meccano was grand dad lego!! Sounds like Hans & I are of that vintage. cheers,

[mtravel]

Geeco - 2021-01-15 7:27 AM

... Sounds like Hans & I are of that vintage...

Put me in there too, even if between Dinky and Corgi Toys I preferred the latter.

 

Max

[ham]

I have a 2007 van, dealer as offered me £14000.( against new van). The van is in good condition and been stored in a garage since new. 70k on the clock, past every Mot serviced annually . Interior fabric refurnished professional.

I walked away as he had exactly the same van and year on display for £28000.and i knew he paid the previous owner £18000.

I have had an offer of £22000. Privately.

But at the moment can not get a date for when a new van would be delivered, one dealer quoted January 2022 and want my van now.

[StuartO]

There has been a huge "staycation" increase in interest in caravanning and motorcaravnning during the past year and since the staycation feeling is likely to last at least another year, and only so many new MHs can be afforded and built, prices of used MHs are likely to stay high for the next year or two.

 

New intrants to motorhoming tend to buy older vehicles so even those have probably got more expensive, even if they are too old for dealers to want to bother with. Even old wrecks will be resurrected by handyman types as a way of getting into motorhoming.

 

So for a cautious newcomer on a budget, these are not times to expect lots of real bargains to be available.

 

If you can afford it go for a German-built motorhome in the £10,000 plus range which has a good engine/chassis (i.e. base vehicle) and does not suffer dampness anywhere. Everything else you can fix/improve as necessary if you have DIY skills, otherwise you will need to acquire some. I'm a big fan of Hymers and there is a very active Facebook Page called Classic Hymers and another one called Hymers for Sale. The best-built Hymers ever were built around 1993-1995 and they have perfectly acceptable layouts, even if they are under-powered and lack "garage" facilities. If you have somewhere to park/store a MH at home that helps and I suggest you look at the B585 and B694 layouts, among many others.

[longtemps]

I tend to think that prices will drop in 2021. The reason is that many newbies who have entered the market in a flush of relief to try to escape the restrictions of Covid, will soon come to realise that motorhoming is expensive and can be very problematic. It is not quite the free and easy, park where you want experience that the brochures and marketing portrays. I think that when the penny drops, many will become available on the second hand market.

It takes a certain mindset to persevere with this wonderful hobby. It can drive you mad with frustration, but after 20 years of motorhoming I say, I hope you hang on in and ignore the bumps in the road, but I do fear that many will not.

[Derek Uzzell]

It’s perhaps worth mentioning that “hammer" is not new to motorhome ownership, having bought in 2017 a 2012 Ducato-based vehicle (I don’t think the make/model has been revealed in earlier postings).

 

So his enquiry in this thread's original posting is not a ’newbie’ one, just asking for opinions about the future of UK motorhome prices.

 

[HymerVan]

Having been a motorhome owner for 17 years and having toured in nearly every European Country my van has turned 400 miles in the last 16 months almost entirely in the pursuit of domestic duties and has never been on a campsite in that time.

We do not feel ready to plan tours to Europe (nor indeed do regulations allow) and we are concerned that the sheer level of demand will make it difficult to use our van in the UK.

Already before Covid the pleasure our travelling the West Coast of Scotland and Skye has been all but destroyed by the "success" of the NC 500 route. A convoy of 15-25 Italian Motorhomes and a single road is not a good combination. At best the spontaneity we crave will not be available even in the off season. So it will probably be 2022 before we begin to use our van properly again. It is sad to have lost two years use (which as our own years advance is significant).

But that is totally insignificant compared with what others have suffered and we feel especially sorry for children whose education has been disrupted and for young and aspiring businesses which will not survive.

 

I had thought that if things were back to normal early this year that there might be a surge of second hand vehicles in 2022 when the impulse buyers of 2020 discovered that Britain does not provide a free (or even welcoming ?) environment for our hobby. However I am not so sure that will happen and even if that surge does take place the genie is out of the bottle as regards the numbers of vehicles and aspirants to ownership.

 

Whatever happens I think that staycations are.........here to stay......(pun intended) !

[Barryd999]

In 2020 I had hoped to buy a newer van over the winter, thinking that after the spring and summer surge there would be a glut of used vans on the market but as the OP observes its not worked out that way. It now looks as if 2021 wont be much different to 2020 so perhaps the market will stay the same this year also. I guess though it will also depend on what happens with the economy.

 

If we cant get away this year safely over the channel I dont see the point in keeping our van. It might be best to get the few jobs it needs done and sell it in the spring for the maximum price possible then bide our time until next winter and hope prices have come down. However there are two issues I see with that. Mrs D will probably want to use it even if its just in the UK and then there are the complications of showing people around your van in the middle of a pandemic. Not sure how that would work safely. Just let them get on with it I suppose.