To upgrade or not.
morning everyone, newbie here.
im hoping to get a bit of much needed advice. We have a very old (1993), caravan which we purchased 2 yrs ago and have used it only 9 times since, just at weekends and only during the Summer. My husband has a Weekend hobby, so we don't really get that much opportunity to go away, plus we also go abroad once a year for a big holiday.
we're thinking of upgrading and have seen a lovely caravan that ticks all the right boxes, but I'm just unsure whether or not it's worth doing, considering how little we use our current one.
It would probably cost us about £135 a month in finance over 5yrs. It's very tempting to buy better, but our current one despite being dated and a few annoying things is clean, tidy and no damp, so is adequate, but only that.
i'd be grateful for any advice or suggestions, as ultimately the decision is mine as we'll be using my funds.
Thanks.
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Reading between the lines, it seems to me, that you are only thinking of changing it because of it's age. What are the annoying things that are wrong with it? Can you get them fixed.
I have just returned to the hobby after a 27 year break. We bought a very nice 2002 caravan last year with a view to upgrading if we still enjoyed it.
We do, but as time passes and the more I read on hear we are now looking to keep this one longer term. It has everything we need, everything works,is damp free and despite being over 14 years old it still looks like it's 4 years old. If I weigh up that we paid £5k for this one and to upgrade to something more modern we would be looking to pay £15K for something that just looks different but offers no more that our current one does it makes me, anyway, question why change it?
Hope my view helps with your dilemma.
Ian.
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We are motirhomers so slightly different. We bought our motorhome when it was 3 years old and are in our 11th year. It was immaculate when we bought it and still looks good despite a slight dink where a stonewall moved as hubby reversing . It needs the bonnet resprayed as the paint is peeling off 😲 and the decals are fading. We sometimes dicuss changing it, we use it far more than OP but reading threads on here wouldn't buy new and very carefully secondhand. It does exactly what we need it to do and we know everything is fine.
Why would you want to commit to debt for 5 years? I don't think I'd be happy to do that and would look carefully at outlaying a large sum of savings for something that is newer but not necessarily better than I already have to do the same job. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?
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Personally if my old caravan was fit for purpose I would keep it. We see so many vans and m/hs sitting in storage sites not moving from one month to the next that it seems like a total waste of money. However only you Mill can make up your mind.
PS Five years interest sounds a lot to me
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We did a similar thing, bought an oldish caravan, then upgraded to a newer, bigger model. However, our circumstances were very different to yours in that we are retired and use our caravan for mainly 2 week breaks for 7-8 months of the year.
I think if we were using it as little as you do yours, then we would have made do with what we had as there was nothing wrong with it, just getting on a bit (like it's owners!).
Alternatively, maybe you could do a less expensive upgrade if you really fancy a change?
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Almost certainly the older van will be better built than a newer model.
I'd save the money in Premiun Bonds instead of committing to 5 years of finance.
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an older van can always be reupholstered to bring it upto date, if thats what you want.....might seem like a new van....
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hi all
many thanks for taking the time to respond. since my initial question I have made a few decisions.
the van we were looking at upgrading to, which meant I would have to finance it, is now out of the equation. I decided and persuaded my husband that it just wasn't worth it.
to answer some of the questions. Yes, we would be upgrading because of the age of our current caravan. There are a few things that are wrong, (blinds keep getting stuck, tight squeeze in the van, front lock broken, pain putting the TV ariel up, damaged sky light covers, so all things fixable, but I think mostly we can't have a motor mover fitted and my husband isn't so confident when reversing. he's not bad, but it does cause a few curse words when he's reliant on me guiding him. furthermore I don't really like the current layout.
We are now looking at a van, which is more affordable and no finance involved at all.
I have also told my husband that we have to go away more than just 4 weekends a year plus a week in the UK.
In our current van we don't tend to go any further than 1-2 hrs away (we both work full time, and leave is precious), but I'd like to think that with a newer van we'll be more committed to going away more often and further afield.
I just tend to consider in great detail the cost of everything, whereas my husband tends to rush in!
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Would you use a newer van more? I am guessing your old van might have the Truma heating in it? I have done the rounds this year looking to go newer than my 2008. As has been said there are some awful stories about newer vans. Mine is a little worn in parts but everything works ok. I use mine a lot and am glad I didn't upgrade now.
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We used to use our caravan for about three weeks every year; one major trip to Europe and one or two weekends. When you work out the depreciation, insurance, storage, servicing etc. it probably wasn't cost effective but the children and ourselves enjoyed it so much more than expensive package holidays we always thought it was worth it.
Nobody can answer your question - it's heart not head - but bear in mind that caravans are very prone to damp and if you have a good one then it might be worth hanging on to it. Every one of the caravans we have owned had damp problems. The first eventually had to be scrapped due to damp and the latest (before the Motorhome) went back to the factory twice for damp repair.
Onthe other hand, if you upgrade it will be more exciting and you will use it more and enjoy it more.
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