Pitfalls of buying/owning a sub £10000 motorhome?

We’re thinking about getting a family motorhome, coachbuilt, 4+ berth for year round holidays and weekends away with the kids. It seems a funny market with lots up to and over 10 years old still attracting high prices (mid teens and up), so I was perusing the budget end on ebay.

Does anyone have any advice on buying really old (ie 15 years plus) motorhomes? Do the conversions/bodywork/appliances etc wear out. What to look for/any tips appreciated. Examples I’ve been looking at include this one, which has plenty of bids on already so price can’t be too far out?

Any help much appreciated!

The in-laws bought a ”bargain’.

It leaks, electrics are pretty dopey and it randomly drains batteries. oh and it has a sat nav that doesn’t have b-roads.

Apart from that it’s great…

….filled with confidence- thanks!

if you know hat you’re looking for, or have a friend that does, you can get a cracker for 10k. It’s knowing what to look for in each type…

IMHO I would aim for something German like a Hymer or Hobby as the quality tends to be better. The Brit built stuff doesn’t seem to age well.

When your traveling in Europe you see loads of Dutch and German Hymers that are plenty old enough to be in your price range…..

if you know hat you’re looking for

That’s why I’m asking silly questions on STW!

Take someone with you who know what they’re doing. Buy with your head not your heart. There are some great bargains out there but for just a little bit more, i.e. £12-15k you get a lot more.

Older Hymer A-class vans can be had for a steal if you’re willing to have left hand drive. They’re generally built like tanks, and although they’re often a bit funky looking inside, generally wear better than the newer stuff.

We’re on our 5th motorhome and wouldn’t be without one. The kids love it.

Hymer-tastic

That’s why I’m asking silly questions on STW!

yeah, but each motorhome will have it’s own little problems…. there will be forums for all the big makes, start reading 😀

Buy a VW Transporter for a little bit more and use it more

Cheers Hora but wife has ruled that 2 adults plus 2 kids for 2 weeks in uk weather=more space than a transporter required. She’s fixed on coach built.

There are some bargains, just need to shop around a bit more. Couple of things I would be mindful of are;
1. Get a habitation check done before you buy – its like a motorhome mot, where they check for dampness, check electrics and gas, waste., fridge etc
2. Mileage is not an indication of use, and in particular low mileage. The base vans are designed to cope with high miles, it’s just unfortunate that you can’t get any objective measure of how long it’s been lived in.
Good luck, shop around and see as many as you can.

If you are going over to the Continent then you may possibly find getting breakdown insurance for a vehicle over 10 years could be more expensive

Beaware that due to all the flooding this summer there wll be a lot of water logged ones doing the rounds.

Smell for damp, look in the bottoms of cupboards and under mats for silt or mud.

As above because theyre based on van chasis with van engines , mileage has little to do with the price,its the body work and underneath as well as inside you need to look at.

Also think about storage a lot of new estates ban large vans, and your neighbours may not be happy with a travelers van on the lawn.

Then there is insurance for 52 weeks per year,even if you only use it weekends, plus petrol or diesel costs,and site fees.

Have a read of some motorhome mags.

Thought about converting something yourself?

My LWB transit would squeeze 4 people, but if you bought a jumbo or XLWB sprinter/crafter then you could make a 4 berth fairly easily.

Minus the labour its MUCH cheaper than buying a coachbuilt. Do a good job and you will at least get the money spent back. Does take a long time mind and cost more than I thought, but £10k is a reasonable budget.

DAMP. This will be the killer, and after that rust. Everything can be fixed, but major structural work will cost a lot.

You MUST get a damp check. Be prepared for older vehicles to be fuel hungry and power poor compared to modern offerings.

If you can find a vehicle with evidence of annual habitation checks and any work done to rectify faults, then that would be a great place to start.

Check everything works properly on all power sources applicable. This could be 12V, 240V and gas for the fridge. This will take time, and any seller who isn’t prepared to do this has something to hide.

Think carefully about the format of layout that you want. Look at new vans at a dealer to get an idea of what is available.

Be prepared to walk away from a A LOT of vans.

BTW: A VW Transporter is useless for a family of 4 in wet weather.

I paid £6.5k for a 1990 VW T15 hi top Autosleeper (well known British brand) about 5 years ago. 3.5k on a full respray and new lowered gas dampers and springs. 500 on some alloys off a granada Scorpio and new tires.. I sold it to pay for my wedding and got back £7k. I probably would have got 4-5k without the work I had done, but it sold within 24 hours on a VW website. Having a VW it’s kinda expected you will do something to make it stand out. They used mine in show when they wanted to have a camper for every year they had made one.

Don’t rule out a hi top. I used an awning with mine that could sleep 4 along with 4 in the van. If you’re in one of the camping clubs you can stay on a site with toilets / showers so you don’t really need anything more than an elsan. Camping and Caravan club membership is about £35 per year. Also means you won’t have the damp issues of a coach built.

Insurance doesn’t have to cost the earth if its from a specialist and they will include breakdown cover normally that includes overseas. I paid around £350 fully comp with euro breakdown cover and agreed annual mileage.

There are loads of places that offer storage. I used one about 20 miles from home that was dedicated to storing campers and caravans and it cost about 100 every 3 months. It was secure and had CCTV and didn’t invalidate my insurance.

Easy to get bikes on the back with a thule rack (came with the van) and great for trips away, festivals or just ‘why don’t we camp somewhere this weekend’ unplanned stuff.

Send me a PM if you want any more info.

Sleeping 4 and accommodating 4 are completely different – a VW van doesn’t come close to a motorhome for home comforts.

Not suggesting there’s more room. As one of the earlier posters said you can potentially get more everyday use out of a VW or a n other panel van conversion.

The awning I had came with a seperate double sleeping area but could still seat plenty around a table and the high top stored loads when travelling.

Although I stored mine elsewhere after a while you can at least fit a van on the road or drive and not be subject to p**ded off neighbours who think you are robbing their sunlight. Given the room and a bit more cash I might recommend a coach built but if it was my £10k I would consider a van first as you will be more likely to get something newer and less likely to have issues with rot, damp or both.

IMHO neither comes close to offering true ‘home’ comforts. I would not want to do more than 2 weeks at a time in a coach built either.

If of course you are the owner of a rot and damp free coach built you got for £10k having moved up from a van then I defer to you. 😉

Anyway it’s all about different opinions eh?

I love campervans, but for a 10k budget you have a choice of:

a) Old low spec coachbuilt with high risk of remedial work needed.
b) A nice modern caravan.
c) Self build panel van conversion (Approx £5k for the van and £5k for the diy conversion.

For £10k I think the sensible option would be the caravan.

I know but 48 weeks of the year it will be ‘in your/neighbours’ way

Hire?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221084473595?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_991

Worth the extra 7k?

You’d get a good car/caravan combo for £10,000.
With the caravan theres no big servicing costs,no mot,insurance is optional,no road tax and the flexibility of having a car when you go away.The motorhome would have a lower tech engine so less miles per gallon and packing would have to be pretty good to stop everything rattling on anything but motorways.For up to £10,000 it would be a caravan for me every time(and i’ve had quite a few).

Some observations:
Fendts and Hymers have a custom rear axle that can often fail around 12 yrs. I met some swiss in Andorra who had this problem and they could not find a replacement anywhere in Europe. There was a month lead time which basically trashed their holiday plans.
Hymers are expensive, I cant imagine you will get much for 10k. My mate really wants a hymer, has a budget of 20K but has to look at 12yr old ones. Also apparently, pre 2000 the engines are not that good.
If you are happy with LH drive, there are better deals to be had on German ebay. I met a guy this summer who had an awesome Merc truck conversion which he picked up for 12K euros in Germany.
VWs may be cool and trendy but they are really expensive for what you get and they would be way too small for a family of 4 (especially if the weather is bad). You would need extra tents for the kids and would lose all the flexibility that you should theoretically get from a camper.

Only problem with a camper is that you have to put everything away if you need to drive anywhere.

I considered one for a long time but along with the tax/ins/mot, it was the deciding factor that made me opt for a caravan instead.

+1 elzorillo.
After touring Scotland a couple of years ago in a rented coachbuilt the other half refused to go camping ever! We looked at motorhomes in a similar budget to you and came to the conclusion that we were better off with a caravan.
For that sort of money you can buy one will all the kit from someone privately or one with a guarantee from a dealer.
We spent two weeks in cornwall including 2 days of complete washout this summer; warm, dry and plenty of space. The caravan is stored 3 miles away in secure storage which reduces the insurance by virtually the same amount that it costs.