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id sell the new van get an older one an enjoy every min of having no finance probs, but can still have few cheap hols, and not sit at home wondering if you can afford to go away if you keep new van!!! better to have something than nothing, well thats my thought, we parked our 17yr old van next to someone with a brand spanker at easter and all i can say is it didnt bother me at all, i have the peace in knowing my van is all paid for and every holiday we have is excellent the van owes us nothing at all,

and the neighbours we had were wonderfull.

Having been looking for a 'newer' van for some time now, we have come to the conclusion that our 21year old has everything we want.  It has the layout we want, a cooker, fridge, cassette loo, gas fire, supplemented if needed by electric convector heater.  We have made the 'end dinette' into a fixed bed with memory foam mattress for comfort, and as for the rest, we have made it 'ours'.  We are not afraid of doing things to it if needed/wanted.  I would go for the older van, and keep caravanning!!

Best of luck whatever you decide.

Shirley

Quote: Originally posted by GAYNOR68 on 03/5/2010

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we parked our 17yr old van next to someone with a brand spanker at easter and all i can say is it didnt bother me at all, i have the peace in knowing my van is all paid for and every holiday we have is excellent the van owes us nothing at all,

 

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I'd just downgrade, I understand what you say about it not feeling the same once you've had a top end 'van but it's better than no caravan at all.

There are some cracking older vans out there, our first one (which was only 2 years ago) was a 1991 Buccaneer, we paid 1k for it and it was MINT, not a mark on it, the upholstery was like new. We only swapped it because we wanted a fixed bed & ended up with a 2002 Elddis that was nowhere near as special! That one lasted us for 1 holiday before we swapped it for the current one.

I don't know what your budget is but if you can afford a 2000 or newer they seem to be a lot more modern and have the Heki sunroofs which make a huge difference.

I'd happily 'downgrade' if it meant I could carry on caravanning!  Altho I don't think I'd see it as downgrading really, just changing.

We have a brand new van (fully paid for) & I don't seem to have developed any attachment to it.  It's just a van.  Gorgeous, but just a van.  I felt far more attached to our old one.  We've only been away in the new one once so maybe the attachment will come in time but I wouldn't be at all upset to have to sell it & get an older one again.  In fact I keep finding myself on ebay looking at cheap older vans.  No idea why.

Your other half sounds like mine ;)  I wasn't bothered having a 2ndhand 'van but he said if we are buying a newer one then he wanted a brand new one that came with a warrenty and free from damp or at least was covered under warrenty.  I fell in love with the Bailey Ranger when i saw it but i refused to buy it until we actually had the money to outright buy it.  I'd rather go away on holiday than sit and look at a brand new 'van knowing that i can't afford to go away in it.

At least he's realised that he's overstretched you and is being sensible in selling it or if he hasn't then you have to tell him that he has lol  What does it matter if its an old 'van?  It will take you to places just as easily as a new 'van would.  If we had to sell our caravan because we couldn't afford it and replace it with something older that we could afford then i'd do that. 

I don't know how much you will have left to buy an older caravan but the folding campers have loo's in them, not sure what year they were added but maybe he'd consider one of those? 

Hope it all works out well for you and that he changes his mind

Id definitely downgrade rather than do without. And you can still have the holidays without worrying about how you're going to make payments on the van.

Another thought, you said you had a baby? Which will soon be a toddler, and in a new van you would be constantly saying "dont climb on there, dont touch that" and worrying about sticky marks and wear and tear. With an older van, you will be more relaxed, and so will everyone else.

Go for it. Your child will look back and remember the holidays, not how new the van was.

I'd like to say that not everyone who owns a brand new van has borrowed money to pay for it.
I have a brand new (4weeks old) van that we paid for in full when we collected it. We also can go away in it knowing my van is fully paid for. We worked very hard to save up to buy it, I've always been brought up to believe if you can't afford it you can't buy it so please don't just asume everyone has to get into debt to buy the brand spanker parked next to you.
Sorry I hope this doesn't sound like I'm having a go

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yea it does sound like your having aq GO all i can add to this is i wasnt speaking about you, i was hoping to help the people out there that had got into debt for there van feel like they can down grade or change there van for an older one and not feel any worse about having one,

and i too was brought up the way you were not to get into debt but some times we take on slightly more than we can chew and i think its great that these peolple are doing the right thing and selling there much loved van and sorting there issues out!!!1

so FUOSA go for it and get your selves back on track and all will be sorted in the blink of an eye,

I'm not a caravan owner but having recently been looking at vans which would involve getting finance we have come to the conclusion that our 1997 Conway Countryman is just the best! . Its paid for and we've bought bits'n'pieces to make it comfy.

Your choice is either having no holidays (or maybe being able to afford one holiday a year) or buying an older caravan to have some good times in & getting out as often as you can.  Go for it!!

Homebird