New to Motorhoming

[slwatts]

Hi, I'm thinking of buying my first motorhome and wondered if there were any tips on what to look out for, what to avoid, as well as any recommendations on good first time buys.

Budget is up to £25k. Wish list would be looking for RHD with min 4 berths, lowish mileage, and swivel front seats. Also looking for something that will keep its value if I choose to trade in, in a few years time.

Any ideas?

 

[gjh]

That would give a pretty wide range, there will be lots of vans fitting those criteria.

When we purchased our first van (Autoquest) it was after looking at several vans but we were lucky, in a way, to get one which suited us because a number of our criteria turned out to be invalid in time. Before going to look for a replacement we used the experience of five years of ownership to draw up a checklist of essential and desirable features.

Our current Burstner met 18 of 19 essential features, which was more than any other van we saw. The only one it didn't meet was that it had blown air heating rather than a fire (which the Autoquest had) and we were a little wary of how much battery power would be consumed when off hook-up. However, we decided that we probably wouldn't find a van which met every requirement so went for it. It then turned out that the blown air system uses very little power and the solar panel (see below) replaces what is used the next day.

Our checklist can be accessed in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format Here. It won't suit everyone but may be a useful starting point as an example.

Graham

 

[LizziePope]

Hi slwatts and welcome to the Practical Motorhome forum.

 

[chirene]

I would not worry about low mileage. In fact I would be very wary of too low mileage ,, as that probably means it has stood around . Vans are meant to do high mileage as they are commercial vehicles Don't forget payload, if 4 people on board. Also does your lice allow you to drive over 3500? Why worry about resale? You will never make money on secondhand vehicles. Swivel seats, can be high for any one who is not very tall. When looking at any van , pretend to live in it, as some times you will have to, if it rains, and space becomes important, hence I would never have a fixed bed layout, as IMO waste of space, it takes little time to make beds these days If small kids then make shore that th child seats will fit, Important, as not like a car seat. one end will be open

Hope this helps, and good luck on your search