[111154]

Hi guys, hope you’re well. Have recently subscribed to this forum as I am toying with the idea of buying a motor home to live in whilst I am working away from home 5 days a week. There is the potential for leaving it on-site, but I would rather not as the site is shut from 7pm-ish each night.

I have a whole host of questions, like what style (A, C… even RV?), how much they cost to run (insurance, tax, fuel, gas etc.), what sort of toilet is best, what make is best, engine size (and tuning perhaps!), reliability, how much space I can get and so forth.

Rather than ask a bunch of questions like that and you just ignoring me ( ) I just wondered if any of you guys could chip in with what your first impressions and any likely considerations I should be making.

I have a budget of £20k MAX. Not a jot more! I would ideally like to be spend between the £14-18k mark, as I would like to get a loan for this at £500 per month.

Any input would be massively appreciated. Thanks!

 

[madontour]

you don't say how far it is from work to home, and if you intend to use the motorhome to travel between the two as this will have a big impact on the running costs and your comfort.

There'll be an avalanche of condemnationation along soon for me saying this, but your best bet is to start with a caravan and simply leave it on a caravan pitch at the weekends when you go home. I've done it both ways (caravan and motorhome) so I speak from experience and I say this because:

You'll get a perfectly habitable caravan for around £5,000, certainly the equivalent of a £15,000 motorhome. You will probably be able to afford one where the bed can be left in place and still leave a sitting/eating area which is great when you get in from work in the evening.

By leaving the caravan on its pitch at weekends, you can travel from home to work in your car each weekend which will be much less stressful, especially when you are doing it every week. It also means much less packing and unpacking, which is a big help when you're living/working away. The extra pitch fees are easily accomodated because you'll spend so much less on the caravan than a motorhome.

If your existing car won't pull the caravan (and you haven't got a mate with a suitable car) then hire a van with a tow bar to site the van. You'll not be moving the 'van very often so it's not that much hassle. If you get lucky, a dealer might tow it to site for you in the first instance.

Finally, You'll learn loads about what you like and don't like about camping and 'vans, and then if you want to, you can trade the caravan for a motorhome confident you're getting something you'll like. Having bought a reasonably priced caravan you'll not lose much on the trade-in.

As I say I've done it with both a caravan and a motorhome and I found that when I was working away at a fixed location, using the caravan was much more convenient - like a second home. The Motorhome is better when I move from (work)place to place frequently.

Either way it beats the socks off hotels / b&b so go for it.

hope this helps

Mike

 

[bognormike]

Yep, I'd agree, a caravan would suit from the facts you've given. If you're based at one place, a motorhome couldn't be justified.

My motorhome is part claimed in the business because I use it to visit clients (two of which are 150 and 300 miles away), and it's useful to get to & from the client's premises. Of course we fit these trips in with a few days holiday as well :roll:

 

[wynthesurfer]

£500 per month loan, nuts !!!!

 

[DTPCHEMICALS]

You would also need Business use insurance.ie commuting.

Recent post on this subject.

Dave P (Insurance brokers dad)

 

[111154]

No, no, no... I'd rather eat my own shoe than buy a caravan. :lol:

Joke. Seriously though, I wouldn't know where to leave the caravan where it wouldn't necessarily need moving.

Ultimately I want to buy a motorhome anyway, and what will no doubt annoy you all is that I get an allowance that would pay for the loan to buy the vehicle. It saves the company money, and I'd be able to get something out of it.

So has anybody got any suggestions as to what is out there that's available? Sorry it's such a vague question, perhaps I should just come back and post possibles.

 

[DTPCHEMICALS]

I hope you are not an MP on the gravy train

Dave P

 

[111154]

No, certainly not!

 

[vicdicdoc]

Have you any particular requirements ? . . ie fold up bed / ready made bed etc; . . how many berths ? / length ? RV / coachbuilt / A class ? do you require an oven or just gas hobs ? - long bench type settee or smaller ? . . you can guess the list of options is almost endless, you'll need to make a list of your needs and look at the types/models available; don't think 'short term' - if you've got to live in it day in day out for any length of time then any shortcomings will drive you barmy . . one suggestion is go along to one of the motorhome shows & look at both those models on sale & the vans parked up visiting the show, I'm sure that in the majority of cases people won't mind you knocking on their door & asking questions.

 

[Fatalhud]

I use my Motorhome for work from time to time
I use a scooter to commute to and from site and book onto caravan and camping club or caravan club sites (prefer CL/CS sites)

A cassette toilet is best in my opinion as its easier to empty if parked up for a while

Fixed bed is a must because i'm to lazy to make one up each night :wink:

Alan H

 

[111154]

I'm certainly after a fixed bed, but not in the actual 'downstairs' cabin space. One of those A-class Hymer pull-down ones would be fine, as would one of those over the cab in a c-class.

Oven would be good, I'm sure I could make do without, but you can't just chuck a pizza on the hob can you!

Length, for the ones I was looking at was about 25 feet. Would this be too big and cumbersome to manouvre? It's a bit bigger than my estate...

I guess I need to know what to do with the waste, how much electricity/batteries I'd need (would not be hooked up to mains), how long the gas lasts (and how expensive it is) and any other advice as to maintenance and that kinda stuff.

I would like to check out the motorhome shows, but they'll be just for the new types wont they? Guess I should go and see some classifieds, but I dont want to just go to kick tyres and waste people's time.