Buying a new caravan
Hiya folks. I’m in the market for a new ‘van. I have my eye on a Lunar Clubman Si. The dealer has it up for sale at the standard retail price, around £26,000. I had a word about what they would give me for our 2008 Bailey Senator Arizona in P/X, around £6,000. I won’t be looking for a deal that involves accessories, as I already have pretty much everything I need. So, what kind of deal should I be looking for when it comes to price? I imagine there will be some room for manoeuvre given they are asking the retail price?
Cheers...Freddy
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The Practical Caravan surveys suggest that Lunars are not really any worse than the rest and from experience of one I do accept this. The leaky bit seems to come from the 2014 batch which did have a faulty roof seal but Lunar have replaced any that leaked under warranty. If buying a 2014 model you do need to make sure this has been done.
There was also a rumour saying one employee had been sacked following a check on his work but I cannot be sure if this is true or not.
My feeling is the offer is near enough right for a 2008 model although you will normally find if you push them you will do a bit better.
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The annoyance for me when we bought new was the delivery charge.
We bought from a dealer an hour from the factory, charged the same as if we had bought it in Scotland
I know theres an element of PDI in the delivery price, but it does seem steep, and some dealers do wave it.
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There are folk that have had a bad experience of every make of caravan. My bête noire was a Swift. My last caravan was a 2012 Lunar Clubman ES. I was initially interested in the Bailey range. Seating nowhere near as comfortable and. for the side dinette layout that I wanted front bunks were dissimilar lengths and not what we wanted to use as two singles. Used it for just short of 6 seasons. 700+ nights away, 130+ sites and, at a guess, 20K+ miles towed. No damp or structural problems. Replaced with the same again in December 2017 as after checking out opposition we found none as comfortable or providing two 2' 4'' singles from front seats.
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Thanks for the replies. I’m well aware of the ‘Leaky Lunar’ tag, but as said, lots of makes seem to suffer the dreaded damp.
Could someone please address the issue of the price the dealer is asking? Should I ask for their best price? Should I make an offer? If the latter, where would you pitch?
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be careful with our 2016 lunar ours was only two years old and was found to have 80 percent damp on the 2nd service and front windows bowed
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buying a caravan is really no different from buying a car, there are lots of videos on youtube on how to get the best deal.
always make an offer below what you really want want to pay as they will 'haggle' upwards.
I'm not sure if caravan dealers have quotas to fill like cars but if so go toward the end of the month
do the sharp intake of breath thing when they give their price, say I really like it but it's a bit beyond what I wanted to pay. Say that you want to trade but if they can come down some more, if they say no then leave your contact number and leave saying you have to see more more dealers tomorrow. (true or not you're not under oath).
Try and get any extras to seal the deal, the first free service?
Get quotes from surroundings dealers and quote them
Separate the trade in (You could also sell your van privately and get more for it) and finance (ie from different sources)
Also check the interest rates if applicable, the dealer can alter the rates
Let us know what happens
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I too have had a look at Bailey. The one that fits the bill is the Unicorn Vigo. Apart from anything else, the quality of the Lunar is much more apparent, to my eyes, especially the upholstery. Sure, the Bailey comes in at around £2,000 cheaper, and I would probably get a better deal on my Senator, but this will be my first new ‘van and probably my last. It needs to tick all the boxes. I haven’t researched, but on the face of it, German ‘vans are a bit on the heavy side for the layout I want, and I’m not sure about the styling, although the quality looks good.
Why does it have to be so difficult!
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I am not up todate with used prices anymore but when I was selling caravans we used to give "retail" against a NEW caravan (subject to inspection obviously).So have a look at forecourt prices for your present van,and that is what you should be looking for against the list price of the new van.Unfortunately some replies only reflect problems that the poster has encountered and these people are likely to be in the minority and in any event these issues will have been sorted under warranty !!!(in my opinion
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Decide how much you want to spend on doing the deal and suggest a figure a bit less than that to the dealer.
For example, if you’re willing to spend £10k on top of your p/ex van, then tell him you’ll pay with your van plus £8k. That will leave you £2k of haggle space.
Leave it to the dealer how he works out the figures because all you’re interested in is the price to change rather than what he wants for the new van and offers for yours.
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hi freddy if I was you I would go for a bailey that is what we have now and the build quality is far better and I think bailey fit a free mover but what ever you buy good luck
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Some people swear by Baileys, others swear at them and the same goes for all makes.
There have been some unfortunate tales regarding Lunars related on here but thousands of folk must be happy.
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Have you used Caravan Finder http://www.caravanfinder.co.uk
to see it there are similar caravans for sale and at what price?
There are usually dealers who are selling at below list price to shift stock which might give you some leverage with your dealer.
As an aside I am on my third Lunar, one of which was a Clubman, and no damp issues.
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Thanks for that. Yes, some good pointers, and I take on board what you’ve said. We’re a bit thin on the ground when it comes to Lunar dealers around here, as far as I know, so getting a competing quote might be out. Finance isn’t an issue. I do have in mind that I have a motor mover that needs to be taken off my Senator and refitted to the new ‘van, so a bargaining chip. I wouldn’t want to be messing around trying to sell the Senator privately, as I want to get the deal done smoothly, bearing in mind that I’d like to be able to take advantage of the summer season as much as possible, I retire in eight weeks 🙂
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Another David you may remember back end of last year I was on the lookout for anther 'van, ours being written off by a pothole 'bang'. I sought advice & you said you had ordered a Hobby. Having looked at virtually everything else we decided to go down the same route & pick up our 'new' Hobby next week Should have been yesterday but the weather was vile. Good luck with your new purchase.
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Don't assume that German vans are always heavier. The Knaus Starclass that we have just bought actually has a MIRO which is 10kg lighter than the previous Bailey Barcelona. It has all the 'bells and whistles' (other than a solar panel) which the Barcelona had but the build quality is in a different league. Where it does score is the payload which at 350kg is far more realistic than in most British counterparts. Agree, it does make it a heavier van, fully laden, though.
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If you want the Lunar and have no other dealer to compete for the sale just go to another dealer and get a quote for something similar in spec and price. If the offer is higher then go back with it and see if you can do better.
Trading in a caravan is exactly the same as with a car, you have to negotiate, haggle if you are good at it or if not just say no and tell them what you want and sit it out. We have spent several hours buying a car or caravan to get the deal we wanted even having had the cleaners sweeping round our feet before we got an agreement.
The offer of 6,000 looks pretty fair but I suspect with a bit of effort you could get a bit more.
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We used a dealer for price comparison which was over 200 miles away, we would never have bought from them but got offered a better deal than our local Lunar dealer. I told our local dealer whom we had dealt with for years the other offer even told them who it was, they bettered their offer buy 1.5k only 500 more than the long distance dealer. Job done took their offer, had a few leaking windows and new roof and delamination all fixed under warranty, it’s a really nice van not without its problems but a new Bailey before had to have a whole complete new side at 6 months old and a new Swift went back to the factory because of damp TWICE before being rejected by me.
They all have problems unfortunately, you have to go with what you want and keep your fingers crossed
Good luck
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