Poll: Wondering if I am using my motorhome enough to make it worthwhile owning it

How many weeks a year do you use your motorhome for travelling about the place?


  • Total voters
    103
  • Poll closed .
Jag har börjat undra om jag använder min husbil mer eller mindre än den genomsnittliga husbilsägaren (om det finns något sådant!) exklusive fulltimers av uppenbara skäl. Det verkar för mig att jag har en stor del av pengarna som sitter på enheten och gör ingenting för det mesta, förutom att kräva att jag ser till dess behov och håller den ren. Jag ifrågasätter om jag är dum (mer än vanligt).
Jag välkomnar dina kommentarer

Det finns en omröstning ovan som kan hjälpa mig att hitta svaret på min fråga!
Tack på förhand för dina svar

Så...........
Det varierar från år till år. Åker inte långresa varje år.
 
Yes, they can, but unless you do something really stupid like try to drive it is really very unlikely, they have to have a due cause or a suspicion at least, or half of this lot on here would be in the tower.
A chap i know was charged for drunk in charge even though he was fast asleep in the back seat.
Also had an uncle done for having the keys in his pocket, again drunk in charge, always hand the keys to someone sobber.
 
Apart from a few trips away. for us its an insurance because living on an island we can never be sure of getting back should the ferry find an excuse not to run - not a problem with the camper, but a major problem in a car. Also useful for transporting various bits of furniture and stuff. And just nice to have should we just decide on the spur of the moment to go somewhere, though with looking after grandkids and having 11 acres of land to maintain, not always possible.....
 
Apart from a few trips away. for us its an insurance because living on an island we can never be sure of getting back should the ferry find an excuse not to run - not a problem with the camper, but a major problem in a car. Also useful for transporting various bits of furniture and stuff. And just nice to have should we just decide on the spur of the moment to go somewhere, though with looking after grandkids and having 11 acres of land to maintain, not always possible.....
Our son and family who live on Guernsey used to have a VW camper for exactly this reason. They were forever getting caught out with Condor ferries (especially the high speed ferry) cancelling. We’ve been stuck on Guernsey several times with the car but no hardship as we simply go back to son’s house!!
 
I too, have polled our "normal" use ...as with others, it is sometimes curtailed by life, health, family etc particularly this year! But even when not going away the van is used to transport stuff, go out for days, spare bedroom etc. I reckon it is paying for itself. We had it converted from a new van in 2019, it is now worth more than the van and conversion. The fact it is parked there encourages us to go out for days even when not on long trips, as it makes a day out so much easier with loo, food etc all there. Eventually I suppose, we won't want to drive as much but would miss the ability to "take off" whenever we feel like it.
 
The cost benefit balance is a tricky one, but mostly a good secondhand motorhome will not lose much (if any) value,
[Snip]
assume 4.25% interest lost on its value (about £1,250).
Of course, it's not as simple as that.

With inflation running at about 10% having £30000 in the bank would earn interest at £1,250 a year but lose value at £3,000 per year.

If the motorhome doesn't lose value, and because it is exempt from CGT, it's a better bet than money in the bank.
 
We will soon hit 730 nights (equivalent to 2 years) - which has taken us 14 years. For us the beauty of the van is 'making it up as we go along', much, much easier than using hotels. Plus the flixibility of dates, unless a ferry is booked. Although we do eat out when we are travelling I can't imagine having to find somewhere to eat every evening when staying in a hotel. As to costs, not done the calculations but I would imagine better value (especially as it seems the van's value has not dropped much since we bought it) compared with other ways of travelling - Airbnb/hotels, meals, car-hire/own car, fuel, etc. Our year is somewhat fixed as our only child and her family live in Sydney where we are for 3 months of the year and they are here for 3 weeks - so thats 2/3 of the year left for van life. In 2023 it looks like we will do just two trips - 27 nights in Wales and 50 in Spain/Portugal. We would not be without our van.
 
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My van is my daily driver (lwb Sprinter) so mega miles, as for time away, maybe 5 weeks a year as a holiday home, probably 20 weekends away as a race van and as we live out in the sticks when going a night out in the town ah park the van in the yard at the morgue across from the work and ah can use it for an overnight stay, saves 45 quid taxi home...
 
I have begun to wonder whether I am using my motorhome more or less than the average motorhome owner (if there is such a thing!) excluding full timers for obvious reasons. It seems to me that I have a largish chunk of money sitting on the drive doing nothing for most of the time other than demanding that I tend to its needs and keep it clean. I question whether I am being foolish (more than usual).
I welcome your comments

There is a poll above which might help me work out the answer to my question!
Thanks in advance for your responses

So .......
Apart from touring the country it is great to attend events - rallies, race meetings etc. and sit in comfort eating a meal at the end ( or during the event) while the crowd disappears, to provide for a leisurely crowd free departure. While cost is in the equation, for me, quality of life is high up in the value of the ‘van.
 
Once you've owned a camper or moho and actually used it more than once or twice a year, then it's only if you aren't completely bitten by "the bug" would you be ever likely to ask this question.

Either that or you're a blinkin' accountant!!! 😲😵😵‍💫:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: 😎

I have never looked at our campers as a "financial asset". I understand that everybody's personal, financial and life circumstances differ, but what a camper is worth in cold £££ is (happily!) irrelevant to us now. Plus it hasn't cost us a massive amount of money in relative terms, so not an especially huge chunk of money "tied up" in it, especially with the high cost of most new things in today's world. And hopefully our latest "old" camper will outlive me. 🤞🤞🤞

Owning a moho or camper is the bee's knees to me, and in so many different, pleasurable and useful ways.

You can't put a £££ price on that.

If you're even asking yourself the question, and you're still physically capable of driving a moho/camper, and can afford to do so, then maybe the pastime is not such a big deal for you, and you are right to be contemplating the £££ "value for money" aspect and considering "getting rid"?

I have known many people over the years who have parted with things that gave them immense pleasure, but only because they've been forced to due to financial constraints (sudden change in circumstances - marriage, children, divorce, life in general... !).

But if you're not facing any of those situations, what's the point of the question...? 🤔🤷‍♀️
 
Once you've owned a camper or moho and actually used it more than once or twice a year, then it's only if you aren't completely bitten by "the bug" would you be ever likely to ask this question.

Either that or you're a blinkin' accountant!!! 😲😵😵‍💫:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: 😎

I have never looked at our campers as a "financial asset". I understand that everybody's personal, financial and life circumstances differ, but what a camper is worth in cold £££ is (happily!) irrelevant to us now. Plus it hasn't cost us a massive amount of money in relative terms, so not an especially huge chunk of money "tied up" in it, especially with the high cost of most new things in today's world. And hopefully our latest "old" camper will outlive me. 🤞🤞🤞

Owning a moho or camper is the bee's knees to me, and in so many different, pleasurable and useful ways.

You can't put a £££ price on that.

If you're even asking yourself the question, and you're still physically capable of driving a moho/camper, and can afford to do so, then maybe the pastime is not such a big deal for you, and you are right to be contemplating the £££ "value for money" aspect and considering "getting rid"?

I have known many people over the years who have parted with things that gave them immense pleasure, but only because they've been forced to due to financial constraints (sudden change in circumstances - marriage, children, divorce, life in general... !).

But if you're not facing any of those situations, what's the point of the question...? 🤔🤷‍♀️
Well, that's me told!!!
 
Although I record pretty much every item of expenditure on the Motorhome [don't include Breakdown Insurance and Parking Fees], I don't have to justify the expense, the frequency/infrequency of use, the when or the where. As long as we enjoy motorhoming, and as long as health limitations don't prevent us from clearing off as the mood suits, then anybody else's approbation/disapprobation matters not one iota. I want one of those retro screen visors, emblazoned with 'Sod the Expense, We're Here ...' :ROFLMAO:

Steve
 
When we moved house we had so much to do our camper was only used to give it a run as we had another vehicle. The plan was to just keep it but lack of use cost us discs and pads all round and a rear caliper so it was costing more to keep it through lack of use.
 
Maybe only 2 or 3 long breaks (7-14 days) in a year, but a quite a few spur of the moment weekend trips which would simply not be possible if it wasn't sitting on the drive ready to go.
 
I have begun to wonder whether I am using my motorhome more or less than the average motorhome owner (if there is such a thing!) excluding full timers for obvious reasons. It seems to me that I have a largish chunk of money sitting on the drive doing nothing for most of the time other than demanding that I tend to its needs and keep it clean. I question whether I am being foolish (more than usual).
I welcome your comments

There is a poll above which might help me work out the answer to my question!
Thanks in advance for your responses

So .......
I’m guessing we use ours a bit differently to most! It’s used often, pretty much year round but with the exception of a couple of trips a year elsewhere, it’s mostly only a few hundred yards!
We have a separate plot, with horses, and often spend long weekends down there…. We wouldn’t entertain a caravan as an alternative!

As a result, our 2009 Rapido 7095DF still only has 21,000 miles on it !
 
There is a large camper up the road a tad from my brother inlaws hoose, it sits pluged in almost all year and only ventures out for 2 weeks over the twelth holls & maybe easter for a week, that is the mindset of many here, ferkin daft if you ask me.
So far this week folk comming to by bits of me to build a van seen mine and wanted to buy.
lemur.png
 
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There is a large camper up the road a tad from my brother inlaws hoose, it sits pluged in almost all year and only ventures out for 2 weeks over the twelth holls & maybe easter for a week, that is the mindset of many here, ferkin daft if you ask me.
So far this week folk comming to by bits of me to build a van seen mine and wanted to buy.View attachment 121503
I’m sure with your Irish gift of the gab you could sell them an outboard for the back of their van, just incase😂🤣
 

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