We bought our first caravan last year, to test if we liked caravanning..we do!
so we plan to buy a new one (probably a Lunar 544) within the next 12 months.
Apart from the delivery fee (approx £500) what else can we expect the dealer to come up with to try and add on to the price? Is there anything you think should be added at the time of purchase? What sort of times (on average) do you have to wait between ordering and delivery? etc etc Are dealer specials (different soft furnishings etc) a better investment than a standard caravan? do they hold their prices more?
They may charge extra for things like EHU lead and leisure battery which you may not want, if you don't want them then don't pay for them. A water pump is another possibility, but there are various types so your old one may not fit. Some dealers throw stuff like this in, others don't. You should discuss the finer arrangements with the dealer and definately compare prices.
If you are considering buying at one of the shows, remember that you could end up spending a small fortune going to the dealer in question to collect or any other issues you may have later. I know several people that have gone to shows armed with the telephone numbers of local dealers who have telephoned the local dealer from the show and had any show deal matched and in some cases beaten. So while there are some good deals to be had at the shows, they are also a good tool to use on your local dealers. You also need to consider part exchange values against your old van if you are part exchanging. I had one dealer at a show offer me £2500 for my old van in part exchange which was worth probably a quarter of that. Another dealer was prepared to sell me the same van for the same price without any part exchange, so the reality was the first dealer was just increasing his mark up on the new van by the amount he was offering on the old van.
If you want any extras, you should try to get them all worked in to the cost, you will find this works out far cheaper. If you want an awning for example, do the deal for the awning to be included with the caravan. It may increase the cost of the deal, but not by as much as it would cost to buy the awning separately. In order to clinch the deal on the caravan, a dealer will often throw all sorts of stuff in at cost to clinch the deal and keep you happy enough to come back each year for a service.
Dealer specials are normally a higher spec van, for example a Coachman Amara with some VIP trim or even a unique trim specific to the dealer fitted and rebadged as a dealer special. The price is normally slightly higher than the base van, but lower than the higher spec van. Whether this represents value is down to whether you like the changes or not.
Will you p/x your old caravan or try for a private sale?
You have to remember water, waste, battery, hitch lock, wheel clamp, awning etc. will they suit your new Lunar.
No p/x would improve your chance of a decent discount on your new Lunar.
I am not keen on dealer specials though they often are better value [more for your money], not sure if they would hold their price any better [if at all] than manufacturer's normal models. Others may know the answer.
Personally I have bought my last 2 new caravans from STOCK. You could phone the Lunar dealers to establish their stock levels.
Waiting for delivery can be tedious sometimes 2-4 months and often delivery dates are delayed.
If you have any queries regarding how long you would have to wait for delivery you can't always take the salesman's word as sometimes promises can be broken once you have parted with a deposit. You could always contact Lunar caravans customer service direct as I'm sure they would answer any queries you have regarding purchasing a new caravan from them and how long you would have to wait as sometimes they have caravans in stock depending on what your requirements are. I have provided a link but although there isn't a telephone number, there is an e-mail contact address and also a postal address. Hope this helps.
thank you, these are exactly the things I wanted to know we don't plan on part ex'ing our current van.
We did see a dealer special (cosmos) at the manchester show gone and loved that spec and finish inside compared to the standard quasar, but we also thought about the collection/servicing/issues and distance from the dealer (not in our area).
Dealer specials are marvellous, we've just collected our second. The first was a 2010 Swift Island Jura based on a Swift Charisma 230, the new one is a 2012 Sterling Cruach Benmore based on the Eccles Sport 514. They represent great value for money IMHO. Come trade in time we were as happy with the figure we were offered as we have been with any of our previous vans.
Sadly we don't have any Lunar based dealer specials in Scotland though I think Campbells are bringing their Cosmos models to the Glasgow show so they will be interesting to see.
One word of caution with the Quasar 544, we ordered a 2010 model in September 2009. We cancelled the order due to an ever changing delivery date and the very heavy ex works noseweight ... something in the order of 95Kg, far too heavy for us as our car had a limit of 75Kg. Pity as its a great van especially considering the weight.
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We bought our first new caravan at the Oct NEC show and it's a Lunar Conquest 556 which is effectively the Highbridge Caravans dealer special of the Quasar 556. Robe honest you should be thinking about what they are going to be knocking off the price or throwing in to clinch the deal! You shouldn't need to pay delivery charge the dealer should let go of that straight away. In terms of items to throw in you should ask for hitchlock as a minimum, 13 pin towing elecs conversion cable if you need it , or any of the options. My best advice would be to visit a few dealers first a see what theyll offer you for your old one then play them off against each other... The advantage of the show was that we went to 3-4 dealers doing this effectively to get the right price from our local dealer! You get some nice addition on the Lunar conquest special and in the end (given we bought early) the price we paid was about £200 more than retail for a std Quasar...,, I'd get yourself some tickets for Excel!
No problem....to be honest establishing an honest value for the PX is the key thing and of course even if you like the Lunar 544 why not visit Bailey, Elddis etc. to get a take on the PX value..........then ask someone from Lunar (not one of the dealer salesmen) which dealers have specials. For us we looked at Robinsons, Highbridge and Campbells. To be honest we discovered that the extras e.g. large Heki, shock absorbers, perspex panels in kitchen, LED downlighters, ext gas point and electric point etc. were STD on the dealer specials and the only thing that then differed were the fabrics. We just preferred the highbridge ones (and it was the closest dealer for us).
Just as an example of what can happen on the PX the first dealer we spoke to offered us 5K for our 10 yr old van.....when we spoke to Highbridge initially he started to say ours was only worth 3-3.5K at which point I said we'd already been offered £5K......he said I'll have to see what I can do, left our mobile number, walked off and waited (actually we chatted to Robinsons who were far more cagey). 15 mins later he was on the phone, offered us 5K (make sure you describe your PX van accurately!!) and said what could he do in terms of accessories.......so we told him, he said yes.........and we said that was great we'll think about it. Approached him at just after 4pm and said we were interested BUT could he throw in a couple of more things....no problem sir! deal done! took our PX down last week (no issues) and will be picking up our new van in two weeks time.
All the new vans we have had came with EHU cable and water pump, so I would not worry about them. Our first one did not come with a step, but our present one did, so that bears checking out.
As you already have a van, you will be keeping things like the Aquaroll and Wastemaster, waste pipes, step maybe, gas bottles certainly. Ask dealer for the correct connector for your bottles.
You will need a battery, it's not included, but you could keep your present one.
Hitch and wheel locks may well be different, awning too. These could be negotiating tools.
Dealer specials are good value. If no part exchange, I would be expecting a discount on the RRP.
Our new van will come with the EHU cable supplied. The basic model does not have things like alarm system, Al-ko wheel lock, jack, outside 240 volt socket, BBQ point etc. But we have ordered the dealer's special model, which comes with all these things pre-fitted. And no add-on delivery charge.
The answer is to really research your options before committing yourself.
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Topic: Buying new caravans
