Can anyone advise us on just how much we would roughly loose on a 15k van say that we traded in after three years? I'm guessing the VAT is a loss straightaway. Is buying new madness?
------------- Thistledown Easter
Nantcol June
Domaine du Verdon Castellane and Etoile d'Argens Frejus Aug
tricky one for us as we are limited in what we can tow and second hand vans with the right layout are like hens teeth. The brand new van we like was originally £16,300. Now down to £14995 and today been offered another £500 off taking it to £14445.
------------- Thistledown Easter
Nantcol June
Domaine du Verdon Castellane and Etoile d'Argens Frejus Aug
Why would anybody want to trade a caravan in after 3yrs unless their circumstances changed dramatically? Provided wheel bearings/brakes/coupling are serviced a 20yr old caravan is reliable to tow any distance you like.
Buying new is is only madness if you want to be cost effective. If you want to be cost effective an old caravan will do the job as well as a new one. Any caravan is just a box to sleep in.
Buying new caravan every 3yrs makes no economic sense, it is something you do for fun, because you like new caravans. Then the cost is meaningless. If you have the money & want to spend it thus then do that & be happy to do it.
If you worry about the amount of money you will lose then there is nothing to gain in paying that much when a caravan off ebay will do the same job for £2k.
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 17/9/2011Why would anybody want to trade a caravan in after 3yrs unless their circumstances changed dramatically? Provided wheel bearings/brakes/coupling are serviced a 20yr old caravan is reliable to tow any distance you like.
Buying new is is only madness if you want to be cost effective. If you want to be cost effective an old caravan will do the job as well as a new one. Any caravan is just a box to sleep in.
Buying new caravan every 3yrs makes no economic sense, it is something you do for fun, because you like new caravans. Then the cost is meaningless. If you have the money & want to spend it thus then do that & be happy to do it.
If you worry about the amount of money you will lose then there is nothing to gain in paying that much when a caravan off ebay will do the same job for £2k.
Have to agree with Tentz on this one , we used to buy a brand new van every 2-3 years but have decided that our present van which was new 19 months ago will be our last for at least 7 years providing its trouble free .
I know some folks change because the layout does not suit there needs and others because of constant faults , but there is an element in the caravanning fraternity who feel they have to "keep up with the Jonese's " and by doing so are losing money hand over foot by trading up in such a short time .
Quote: Originally posted by savanne1 on 17/9/2011
thanks, it must start to level out at some point
Indeed it does, I bought a 1988 Eriba for £2000, kept it for 3yrs & then sold it a couple of yrs ago for £2400.
I bet if you bought a caravan off ebay now for £1000 you could sell it next March for £1200. I would say after about 12yrs the value of a caravan is determined more by its condition than age.
Back to the original topic of the depreciation. It really depends on what caravan you buy. Like cars, some makes of caravan hold their value better than others. It also depends on how much of a rush you are in to sell at the end of the three years. It's as obscure a question as how long is a piece of string. The simplest way to estimate is to see what sort of price a three year old model of the otherwise same caravan is worth now. The odds are that the value will drop by around the same percentage over the next 3 years as that one did. This will be slightly more in actual cash as the new one today is probably going to be more than the one bought 3 years ago. To improve accuracy, you should use the pre VAT price as this technically is not part of the price. That is a tax you pay for the privalage of buying from as dealer; unavoidable with a new van. This goes for the delivery charge. You can write both of these off before you even take delivery of the caravan.
It occurs to me that if you are remotely interested in depreciation then you shouldn't consider a new caravan. You can save a fortune by getting one a year old.
We bought our 2003 car when it was 14 months old with low mileage, I dread to think what its worth now. We've lost most of its value so to us its not worth changing, we'll just keep running it as long as possible.
We've had our 2001 van 3 years now and we've probably lost about £500 to £1,000 on the amount we paid. Personally I'd be happy for someone else to buy new so that there are reasonable second hand ones coming into the market. As Tentz said, its only a box to go to sleep in, I'm not sure I'd spend loads for something that only gets used a few times a year.
Quote: Originally posted by neil and lena on 17/9/2011
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 17/9/2011Why would anybody want to trade a caravan in after 3yrs unless their circumstances changed dramatically? Provided wheel bearings/brakes/coupling are serviced a 20yr old caravan is reliable to tow any distance you like.Buying new is is only madness if you want to be cost effective. If you want to be cost effective an old caravan will do the job as well as a new one. Any caravan is just a box to sleep in.
Buying new caravan every 3yrs makes no economic sense, it is something you do for fun, because you like new caravans. Then the cost is meaningless. If you have the money & want to spend it thus
then do that & be happy to do it.
If you worry about the amount of money you will lose then there is nothing to gain in paying that much when a caravan off ebay will do the same job for £2k.
Have to agree with Tentz on this one , we used to buy a brand new van every 2-3 years but have decided that our present van
which was new 19 months ago will be our last for at least 7 years
providing its trouble free .
I know some folks change because the layout does not suit there
needs and others because of constant faults , but there is an element in the caravanning fraternity who feel they have to "keep up with the Jonese's " and by doing so are losing money hand over foot by trading up in such a short time .
I also agree with tents, IMO unless you are not worried about depreciation a new van every three years is great, I would only buy brand new if I was going to keep it for a long long time, we don't buy new cars or vans anymore , we bought a new car once and had to change it 6 months later as we had a baby, 1k lost virtually driving it of the forecourt , and if we wanted a brand new van we would more
than likely have to finance some of it, which we personally would never ever do, we like to know it ours, and also if you are finacing a van that depreciation would be even more scary!! if you are thinking of already changing a van you havnt got yet in three years, and are worried about the financial loss
perhaps second hand or sticking with what you have would be better.
Post last edited on 18/09/2011 00:05:56
Post last edited on 18/09/2011 00:09:22
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The road can be tough and rough,but what you put in you get back 10 x more.
Well, Yes! You lose more money if you buy new and change the van every three years. We have always bought new, but we do tend to hang on to ours for a while longer - then I suppose it becomes more economically viable. But, I have never pretended that owing a caravan was a cheap option - it's a lifestyle choice. If I could afford to change my van (or car, for that matter) every three years, then I would do it, I suppose. We've tended to hold on to our vans for about 10 years, except our last van which (many of you know) was stolen after about 20 months. That has sort of worked to our advantage I suppose. We now own a two year old van which we have had four years??!!
Well, Yes! You lose more money if you buy new and change the van every three years. We have always bought new, but we do tend to hang on to ours for a while longer - then I suppose it becomes more economically viable. But, I have never pretended that owing a caravan was a cheap option - it's a lifestyle choice. If I could afford to change my van (or car, for that matter) every three years, then I would do it, I suppose. We've tended to hold on to our vans for about 10 years, except our last van which (many of you know) was stolen after about 20 months. That has sort of worked to our advantage I suppose. We now own a two year old van which we have had four years??!!
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Topic: Van depreciation
