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Newbie buying advice please

 No need to pay for advice on this site there is always lots of free advise to be had. !!!

I'm not sure of the dealers in Ireland, but if you have a large dealer near you it's well worth a visit. Not necessarily to buy from, but to clamber in and out of various vans to check layouts etc. That way you get a good idea of what will suit you best.

If you haven't found anything by October, I'd say the NEC is well worth a visit. You've got everything under one roof.

Hello mate,

Try caravantrader.co.uk might help you.

Michael

Hi Declan

Only 6 months into motorhoming ourselves

One thing I would advise though it to seriously consider a UK HM if your children are young as the door opens on the left (kerb side) where as Continental models open on the roadside, ours is around 7 metres long and is no trouble

Also if you are buying new or nearly new you may have to go backthe original place of sale for comform with the warranty conditions (and to validate the extended warranty

We bought an 8 month old MH last year, and ended up with a 4hr eachway trip to get some warranty work done.  Then found they did not have the parts all available, and we could not stay over more than one night.  They sent us the part and told us to get them fitted else where, we are now having trouble getting anyone to do it as the work was raised by another company

And yes folks for those of you who have had dealings with them its LAZY DAYS at MARKET DRAYTON

Hope this helps Declan

Angie

Suffolk

Hi declang

Dont think there is a legal thing re warranty, but Ci/Autotrail do insist 1st year is done at original dealer

Also we have found that dealers do not want to do warranty work or habitation checks unless you bought from them

I have rung about 6 dealers and they wont do it

So I think the moral of the story is buy close to home

Having a trip to Dublin in Sept, no husbands, no children, just me, 2 daughters, 2 future daughters in law and a friend thought that was a small reward for letting the men have 3 weeks in France in MH) Dublin beware

Angie

Suffolk

Hi Declan,

We have 3 motorhomes over the past few years and currently have an Autotrail Cheyenne 632, 5 berth which has a fixed rear double bed, a double over cab bed and also a single if you pull out the 2 sofas, it has a swivel passenger seat and more importantly for us it is only 6.48 metres long (21'3"). Our driveway is limited lengthways and widthways. I do most of the driving as hubby has bad back and gets uncomfy driving long distances and this is a breeze to drive, so far we have been away for 2 out of the 3 weekends we have had it.

We picked it up 3 weeks ago after lots of looking around with our "shopping list".

Our must haves decided on over the years were, a fixed rear bed, over cab bed, pavement opening side door (kids and dogs), enough storage internal and external, good sized fridge, an oven (our son has dietry requirements and you will be surprised how many newer type 'vans have very poor cooking facilities)

A short enough list but it took a lot of looking to find the one we have now.

The type of van you get will also depend on what kind of camping you want to do, microwaves, electric hotplates and/or ovens and large fridge freezers are all great if you are going to be using sites with hook ups, but hopeless if you plan to wild camp.

Also with small children you will want front facing seats with seatbelts and a little bit of floor space for them and you to move about while inside.

We did look at some of the pilote "A" class vans and there was 1 that was the right length but only 2 ring burner and small grill no oven and huger fridge freezer. We also found that the "A" class 'vans tend to be wider than the coach builts, again not suitable to get onto our drive.

We had to keep in mind storage of our motorhome as well as how we use it. While "shopping/looking" we went to shows, dealers and scoured the 'for sale' ads looking at all the availible types until we were almost brain boggled.

Keep a sense of humour when looking and have fun exploring as many 'vans as you can to get the best idea.

Happy Shopping

Tina