Quote: Originally posted by Rob and Tina on 22/7/2023
I will tell you what ours costs from an approved workshop mobile engineer in Gloucestershire.
Single axle annual service, includes chassis, habitation, gas and damp test report £210,twin axle is £240.
Local dealer single axle £275 twin axle £315 + all the hassle of delivering and collecting. The prices vary from area to area but this will give you some idea.
Tina
We had a quote from P&B in Gloucester last year and they quoted us just under £300. Not sure of the other dealer in Gloucester. Our local AWS technician in Worcester charges us about £225 for a twin axle. Our dealer in Brean charges £285.
You have to take in to consideration if it's got a warranty you will have to take it back down South to get things fixed, assuming secondhand.
Of course this obviously applies to new vans as well.
You will need to weigh that in to the price difference and convenience factor.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
It could be to do with competition, maybe there is more south of the border.
We always recommend that people buy as locally as possible if you are buying from a dealer as It can be a real pain to keep taking it back to get any warranty work done.
Quote: Originally posted by Leebroth on 25/7/2023
Thanks Tina, yes that had been brought up if we had any issues, so its def a tricky decision when thinking of buying down south.
Have you noticed by any chance if Caravan costs come down the closer we get to Winter, or do they roughly stay the same all seasons?
Thinking if holding off till later to see if better deals come up, when sales start slowing down, whether it’s second hand or brand new from dealers?
Prices tend to drop in about Oct when people decide caravanning is not for them. However due to shortage of new caravans, prices have been high in the past.
With inflation and the mortgage rates at the moment we might find that people will need to get rid of their caravans and motorhomes (we are going to be selling our caravan shortly as we are looking for a motorhome) and used ones shot up around COVID with them costing more than when they were new.I have not seen much evidence that things are coming down in price and I have looked at prices over the years and don't think that they change much in price over the winter especially the ones with the most popular layouts.
Just going back on the purchase from a dealer down south which is cheaper.
If we purchased a brand new 2023 Swift Caravan, doesn’t the 10 year warranty allow me to have the caravan checked and repaired at ‘any’ Swift approved dealerships in the country?
It should work that way but it doesn't, because if they didn't sell it to you they don't want to know when it comes to warranty claims they might service it for you but don't expect them to, you would have to take it to the supplying dealer for any warranty work, but with warranty work they will want you to take it to them so they can look at what needs doing,then take it home again and then take it back usually about 6 weeks later for them to do the work. The 10yr warranty is only for water ingress, which again is a pain as you have to have annual servicing done and stick to anniversary dates or you lose the warranty on it. During COVID we had to get our caravan serviced twice in a year even though it had only done about 100 miles in that time, just to keep the warranty in place because that's what they wanted. Never again. Oh and don't expect them to do any work while you wait, you will have to leave it there and go back when it's done that makes it 3 return journeys.
Seems like more hassle than it’s worth, presuming brand new caravans may bring more fresh faults than a second hand. We may just buy close to us then if buying new.
If we are spending 26k on a brand new caravan, we will definitely buy local
We are looking at the step up from your caravan Tina, we looked at the Swift Major 6TD 2023 model which fits our needs.
Although if we buy it direct from Swift, I noticed there is no option to choose to add the Motor Movers, is this normal? If we buy one we will want this as an add on.
I don't think you buy it direct from swift, I think you go through a Swift dealer who orders it for you and the dealer will fit any extras that you want, unless you want ATC which is a factory fit. I wasn't offering you our caravan I was just saying, our caravan is a dealer special with so many nice extras it actually takes it up a level to a Challenger+ and we have had a few other extras fitted as well, we had a list as long as your arm of warranty issues all sorted now and so happy with it.
Most dealers won't take 13k on a cc but you can ask, as for 13k cash, again they do not really like taking that amount of cash most prefer bank tranfers it is always best to pay some on cc like the deposit, as you will have some comeback if things go wrong. Don't know if Scottish laws are the same as UK laws in these matters. you only pay in full when you pick it up after they have fitted all the bits you want like the mover, battery, gas bottle etc. It is best to ask them how they want to do it. Let us know what happens.
Quote: Originally posted by Leebroth on 26/7/2023
Sorry yes I meant 13k on CC and 13k on Bank transfer :)
Highly unlikely they will take £13 on a CC. We always pay a small deposit of £1000 using CC, then a huge deposit leaving about £5k to be taken on hire purchase over 3 - 5 years. That way if anything goes wrong, besides CRA 2015, you have the finance house on your side to sort out any issues with the dealership. We look on the interest paid as "protection" money.