Now I am a confirmed hater of all things camping, but becoming interested in the whole campervan/motorhome thing…

I have no excuse really, but working as a freelance means I have many weeks with no work or at least no work except finding work. I also have a dream to follow a number of stages of the TdF and a determination to do similar with this year’s Tour of Britain.

So should I rent a camper for the tour of briatin week or buy a cheap one and try to convince the familty that we can use it all summer and of course whenever the fancy takes us?

And what is the minimum that is worth spending? I know I can pick one up for a couple of grand, but will I regret it? I run an old golf which cost that amount and has been fantastic, but are there particular issues with camper vans of a certain age?

Thanks for reading to the end of my warblings, assuming you did…

Rent one for TOB, though cheap vans are out there I fear the experience of a rubbish one could/would put the family off.

Got a 2005 Adria Twin which will be for sale in August. Bit more than a couple of grand, mind. dccbysea@gmail.com for specs and pics.

Cheap campervans are horrible, cheap caravans are far better. Renting campervans costs a fortune.

but are there particular issues with camper vans of a certain age?

Carbon Monoxide poisoning !

Seriously, if you buy one with any gas at all, get it professionally checked, and find out about useage and safety etc before you use it.

A close friend almost lost his wife and kids (not being over dramatic) and his wasn’t even an “old” camper.

dave360 – how “much” more? sounds expensive…

molgrips – caravan is definitely not going to happen

tinsy – knew somebody would be sensible against all the odds on this forum

caravan is definitely not going to happen

Why? You’d get far more for your money.

I looked at it a few years ago and £2k bought something that might make it to a Festival, then to a scrappy. 10x that for something ‘not old’, inbetween it ws like car’s, lots of initial depreciation from £20-£30k, flattens out to about half that in 3 years, then falls off a cliff again between 80k and 120k miles.

+1 what tinas said. They were asking four or five grand for a crapped out shitty fiat van with a tiny crappy manky miniature caravan on the back. Nuts.

TINAS, have you ever seen a caravan parked at the side of the road half way up an alp as the tdf swings by? No, nor have I…

Buy my campervan if you like 1983 VW t25 aircooled 4 berth Hightop and its had a gas check this year !

£3300

TINAS, have you ever seen a caravan parked at the side of the road half way up an alp as the tdf swings by? No, nor have I.

The caravanners have all un-hitched their vans and driven their cars up there 🙂

Bear in mind that if you’re buying a camper now, particularly from a dealer, you’re likely to be paying top dollar as prices fluctuate through the year reaching a peak in the summer.

For what you want to do it may be worth looking at the guaranteed buyback schemes some dealers have – residuals on decent vans are such that a lot of them offer will offer to buy back at up to 70% of the purchase value even after up to 12 months use – far cheaper than hiring but still relatively risk free.

sprocketjockey that sounds interesting as an option to the sensible rent one for a week and try it idea…

I have heard that the depreciation on motorhomes is so low that you can buy a new one on like a 25 year loan, pay small payments, and then when you sell it it’s worth enough to pay off the balance. So you’re effectivley leasing it for £120 a month or whatever it works out as. Cheap.

Browse your local gumtree then take a look at several, make up your mind. We bought our first for £7k, sold 3 years later of £6k. It was an 8-year old Iveco self conversion, great to see what we liked and what we didn’t.

sprocketjockey that sounds interesting as an option to the sensible rent one for a week and try it idea…

Only really worth doing the buyback if you’re going to keep it for a longer period of course.

With regard to depreciation I’m not sure on the larger motorhomes but our T4 Westfalia is valued at around 9.5K now – we bought it privately 5 years ago for 11K and have put on around 30,000 miles and spent probably over 100 nights in it since then.

Captain – £12.5k
Like this but in white: http://www.kentmotorhomes.co.uk/vehicle/399/2005-Fiat-Adria_Twin

We bought a 7m 5-berth motorhome for £6500 May 2012, sold it for £7000 May 2013.
Did work on it, engine work and bits inside like new covers and water pump etc so it probably cost us £500.
We used it lots as a family, and had some great holidays.

HOWEVER!!!! It was a 1991 Renault Trafic based mtorhome. Parts are getting scarce and I spoke to a friend who pointed out that his caraven could be as old as the hills and it didn’t matter. Whereas if the engine on our elderly (but very low mileage) motorhome expired, we’d have a rather large ornament on our drive worth sod all and not much more than sod all if we sold it in pieces. I got cold feet and it went. I loved it and when our kids leave ome we’re getting another one and we’re going round Europe, but if I were to get another old one, id make sure parts are readily available…

Dave360, looks lovely, but way out of my price range I’m afraid