Deal or no deal ???

[herbenny]

As we are going to spending the coming weeks even months looking for the right motorhome for us. I was intrigued to know if many of you went through dealers when you purchased your Campervans/Motorhomes. What your expereinces were and also what would be reasonable requests and expectations to ask from a dealer i.e one particular dealer only offered 3 months warranty etc. I would at least expect to have a year to start off with. Also is it acceptable to go in at much lower offer than advertised, or do you think they would tell me to take a run jump ?? Any tips advice would be well appreciated............ We have to get this right this is a big big decision for us, (as it was probably for you all) ...and we really cant afford to make any mistakes. Not really had much to do dealers as we have always saved for our cars in the past etc......

Thanks in advance

Jac:wave:

 

[n brown]

i always make my own,but all dealers have a profit margin,their job is to make as much as they can,yours is to reduce their profit till they squeal with pain.always haggle,or to put it another way,always haggle.a pound saved is your quid,not theirs any more

 

[lotty]

the 1st van we bought we got through a private sale via Autotrader. Big mistake. He told us he was selling it because his wife couldn't get in and out of the bed, (it was a high level rear bed over a garage), he hadn't had it that long and didn't know how anything worked so couldn't show us! I think he was a car dealer who had taken it in px? So we spent months trying to get stuff to work and figure things out, some with success some not!
Our 2nd van (which is our current van) we went through a dealer. We wanted to part exchange the 1st van as i didn't want the hassle of trying to sell it private.
We got a good price for our px and were happy with the price of the new van. The new van was serviced and had 12 months tax, they gave us 3 years AA warranty and at handover they showed us how everything worked in the van.
On driving it home I noticed water running on the floor of the bathroom running through into the living area. so turned around and went back to the garage. They imediately came out and checked everything out and it turned out to be excess water from the toilett bowl from the cleaning. He said the cleaners were a bit water happy. Said he has had to tell them about this before. Never had a problem since so i believe them.

Whichever was you decide to go private or dealer, I would just say to look at lots of vans in dealerships/garages to make sure you know what layout you like best etc and when you buy, don't be affraid to ask questions. If it is a private seller and they are genuine they won't mind showing you things and answering questions.

Good luck
:goodluck:
Lotty
x

 

[oldish hippy]

when you decide on model and year then google it and see what else is out there then look at what you want and decide if you want to pay what he is asking if not then haggle.In the end they have two choices either accept your offer or not ,dont be afraid to put in a cheeky offer ,as they might have jacked the price to take a offer.and with motorhomes they probaly wont sell that many in the course of the year secondly what the service like and do they have there own workshop or is the work farmed out

 

[moonshadow]

We went to a small dealer and haggled hard. Got 3 months warranty which they honoured despite us going back with several problems in the course of 3 months. Check everything thatis supposed to open/shut, function etc we wished we had checked all of the roof blinds but found out too late that one was broken. We also googled to make sure we weren't being stitched up! Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 3270]

First of all be sure of the set up you want in the van, Get it right and the then spend hours checking that all is well and everything is working o.k and if you think the van is for you then offer to pay in cash you could get £3000 of or even more , best of luck wendy & keith

 

[mitzimad]

all vans will be a compromise somewhere as the perfect van hasnt been built yet

 

[tugga]

We bought our mh throught Brownhills in Newark. I did try to get some off the price but because we had something to part exchange they would not play ball, but we did get a good offer on our part ex - so courses for horses. We only got 3 months warranty officially, but we had a couple of minor problems after that date and Brownhills honoured them for us. We had a superb salesman Dan, who unfortunately is no longer there. We have always been very happy with our treatment by them, we found them to be fair.

My motto is - if you don't ask you wont get, so when you have found the van of your dreams, give it a go. You can always walk away if they wont play

Cheryl

 

[just jane]

First of all be sure of the set up you want in the van, Get it right and the then spend hours checking that all is well and everything is working o.k and if you think the van is for you then offer to pay in cash you could get £3000 of or even more , best of luck wendy & keith

I am pretty sure there is a limit on how much you can pay in cash, I once bought a car from a dealers and they asked if we wanted finance , we said no and they then said the remainder after the part ex of our previous car must be paid by bankers draft or cheque because money laundering laws prevented them from being able to accept that much cash.

 

[Robmac]

I think that most dealers will factor in a discount when they put prices on the forecourt, so when they do apparently give discount for cash, they are in fact selling for the price they had in mind in the first place. Of course then it is a bonus to them when people pay the asking price without question as some undoubtably do.

Dealer or private, ensure the vehicle is theirs to sell and no Hire Purchase agreement is outstanding on it and that it has not been insurance assessed as a write off in the past! (this does happen).

 

[just jane]

I have bought both my previous vans off ebay.

The first an unconverted Transit minibus which we bought unseen but at a bargain price and had very few problems with(despite the exhaust falling off on the way home).:lol-061:

The second(our present van) like Graths was from Brownhills(they had several on ebay with at least £3000 off the forecourt price), because it was from ebay we didnt get a warranty but they did give us a full handover and show us how to use everything and a folder full of manuals for all the appliances. We were able to drive over and look at it before we bid on it and we were happy there were no damp smells, it was a little tired and hadnt been valeted but it had a good feel about it. We were very happy with the price we paid and the service we got and still four years later see higher mileage vans for more than we paid.:dance:

 

[n brown]

i've never bought a motor off a dealer and never will.i trust them like politicians .i bought a car for my daughter recently,gave it a quick look,but its the owner i was buying.he was an honest guy and told me stuff about the car he didn't have to.good little car.did the same when i bought my van,started it but didn't even drive it.but had a good chat with the seller and thought him ok,haggled him down and bought it 2 years later still happy

 

[oldish hippy]

why not just buy a van and then get it converted to your spec surely there is enough peeps on here who are brillant at certain jobs and would do it that way you get what you want without having to make do just find a caravan interior you like and copy that

 

[Airecraft]

I would definitely buy privately next time. We saw our current van advertised privately but missed it. We paid an extra 15% to buy it from a dealer who, after agreeing an additional fee for fitting a ladder and roofrack, turned round after a 2 week wait and said he couldn't do it so I was left trying to sort it out myself. Far more hassle than a private buy.

 

[kimbowbill]

well i never saw mine or test drove it, lol, i had just sold my boat so had the cash, i saw her on ebay and put in a bid, i lost, however, a few days later the seller emailed me and told me the person who had won it backed out because the spec stated diesel and it was turbo diesel, the buyer didnt like the idea of it been turbo diesel, :scared: i new i was in a good negotiating position cos

1. i was paying cash.
2. it wasnt going through ebay, no commison.
3. he did not want the hassle of putting it back on ebay.
4 he had bought a caravan and need the cash.

I got the train to St Austell. the guy,John, who was a very nice man, took me to his house, yeah yeah, i know, i was stupid, but i was in love, lol, had a good look round the van, took her for a spin i was more than happy, we went into St Austell and transferred the money, it was a horrendous stormy night in oct, i went to the pertrol station, filled up and my card had been suspended, :scared: due to the large amount of cash gone, oh my, i was in a pickle, no money, no where to stay, no dogs for company and a dead mobile phone, anyway, stuck on the forecourt in St Austell the garage owner let me go, gave my name and address and promised them i'd send them a cheque, then i finished up staying in a lorry park on Bodmin Moor :scared: this was 4 1/2 years ago and never looked back.

 

[Channa]

Totally correct, a lot of the larger dealers prefer you to finance with them.

The reason is nothing to do with them earning finance commissions, indeed with the low interest rates at the moment its hard to achieve anyway.

The reason is they often fund the vehicles themselves on stocking plans,by introducing customers they can achieve more favourable terms reducing their cost base.

An added advantage to the customer is if the finance is hire purchase not a personal loan, the finance company also becomes liable for defects etc under the sale of goods act...

That initself can be extremely useful

The post re money laundering and cash is true...technically any balance over 10 k should be reported to the companies MLK and the police informed if there is suspicion.
All part of fsa regulations.

Channa