Hi all,
We're from N.Ireland and are planning a trip to the mainland in search of our first van. Although there are a few dealers on this side of the pond, choice is a little limited and prices a little steep.
What we fancy is a used european built coachbuilt, preferably a Hymer, Euramobil or Knaus although we'd probably consider a C.I as well. Budget in the low £20's.
We'd like some help in compiling a list of dealers to visit on a weekend visit to northern England, which I imagine could include anywhere from Birmingham to Blackpool. Which dealers would carry a good range of suitable vans, bearing in mind the need to see as many as possible over the course of a couple of days?
Also, are C-Class Euramobils a real rarity in the UK as I never seem to see many advertised second hand?
Hi
Good luck on your search,I`m in the same boat as you and I`m spending about ten hours a day on the net reaserching and visiting dealers as well.It`s good fun but does your head in as well.lol Think I`ve narrowed it down to two now though.hurray!
there are a lot of established dealers - plus some 'spin-off' second hand dealers - in the NorthWest.
Check out something like MMM for a list, but of the top of my head:
Todd and Marquis at Preston, plus Brownhills - Hymer just outside on way to Blackpool and Barrons at Coppull to the South.
or just search www.yell.com
http://preview..com/2l7pud based on Lverpool as a centre
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But it´s all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can´t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself
Ricky Nelson
The only thing I,ll say that if you but one miles from home and you need to go back with it , its a pain, we,re only 60 miles-£25 fuel there and back- but it gets up yer cuff, the charges for ferries etc, could outweigh any extra dealer costs, but have fun looking !
I had Brownhills, Lowdham and Danum on my list but Todds had slipped in under my radar and I didn't realise that Barrons & Marquis had depots in that area either.
This is starting to look like a very busy trip to the north!!
I take your point, Brian about the disadvantages of long distance dealing, but the choice over here really is quite poor, especially when it comes to continental vans, which were what I had in mind.
By the way, what kind of mark up do the dealers put on vans - should I be looking for a straight sale discount of £1k or £3k or what? (Bearing in mind that the budget is in the low £20k's)
First m/home we bought was a left hooker can,t see point now unless you always go abroad, went last year in our new van, twas not a problem , as to buying if you ain,t bothered about travelling, why not pop over to Belgium or Germany or even go on the german ebay for some idea of prices, it must be worth it as one chap brings them in on a regular basis, think he,s in norfolk.Or deal direct , the company who made ours has a web site, and from what I can gather, dealing direct would have saved us £7000 on new, less of course the costs and time going to and from Alicante .
Remember its only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.
Baldwins of Halifax (www.gbmotorhomes.co.uk), I.H Campers (www.ihcampers.co.uk) A1/M62 Knottingley are two close to M62 I can think of.We have looked at Lowdnhams at Huddersfield (Knaus) but ended up at Brownhills at Newark and got a Hobby Motorhome.This may be too far for you to travel,but these dealers are close to the main Motorway system. Good Luck.
Todds have agood website with plenty of pictures of the vans, it is also indoors so you can visit on rainy days but I think they are now closed on Sundays.
Marquis are fairly near to Todds too about 5-10 miles (from memory) and usually have a good selection. Their website is more of a national one but they of course have group stock.
We bought our first van from them and would certainly buy from them again. They seem to have some good deals at the moment. They were kind enough when we bought with nothing and gave us a hook up, gas bottles and toilet stuff.
Don't forget if you are buying with no part exchange to haggle for a discount for this.
Good luck and happy hunting
I wouldn't worry too much about long distance buying we bought in Gloucestershire and would travel further with the right deal(er)
we had a C class euramobil sport 695vb which we sold in november last year. we now have a euramobil 810ebl A class.i can thoroughly recommend them although as you say second hand ones in the uk are fairly rare. we are ex hymer owners and we prefer eura's to hymers as we find them more family friendly. unfortunately coming from the south i cannot recommend any northern dealers, however good luck in your search and do let us know what you end up with and if you need any advice
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Topic: In search of 1st van.
