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Our first one was instant, I found it on eBay and knew I wanted it before even going to see it.

The 2nd I didn't love, Hubby really wanted it & took me many times to the dealer to try & persuade me, I caved in & part ex/d our first one in tears, I put up with it for 1 holiday then swapped it for this one. Oddly enough it was the double dinette layout, I didn't find the beds comfy or big enough & it had hardly any worktop space.

The one we have now was a van we never dreamt we would ever be able to afford but luckily during Hubby's trips to Discover stalking van no 2 he'd become quite matey with the sales guy who when he found out they were closing the branch without notice or pay he gave us more than we'd paid for our van & sold us the new van for way less than Discover had bought it in for, he even threw in loads of goodies including a motor mover.

Wow Esther, what a stroke of luck. Funnily enough when we looking this afternnon I was telling OH how we had to get this right as I remember you telling me how you were on your third van in a year (I think it was a year!)

We've been looking for 3 weeks now and am getting disheartened too. We ideally want a fixed bed and long front seats to use as singles or double dinette but still must have long front seats. Double dinettes are hard to find, loads of side dinettes with end washrooms or two berths about. The vans with long front seats and fixed bed tend to be twin axle and too heavy for our Mondeo.

We've been to three dealers today, did the same on Tues and the same last week. Viewed two private vans this week, one was damp and stank to high heaven the other we liked but was overpriced, didnt sell on ebay and we are debating about ringing the owner and making him a more sensible offfer.

I'm still fed up with the lack of seller response to ads.

Funnily enough much less time than I imagined especially as we are always very exact as to layout and the quality of the van we want. Perhaps even more amazing to some posters we have always found what we required at the oft maligned Glossop Caravans!

When we wanted a used van they had (as ever to be fair) a huge stock of secondhand vans and when it was new, well we wanted either a Lunar or a Coachman and their deal was excellant.

I think a lot of it is about how many dealers you have in your local area and we have a lot which keeps choice up and price down and it is also about doing your research first and then bartering hard. I'm sure luck plays it's part too, but we've never had to look for more than a month before finding what we wanted.

We must have been really lucky.  Found our 1st van on our 1st weekend of looking altho we rang after loads only to find they'd been sold pretty much as the ads went live.  Finally found one that wasn't sold & jumped in the car straight away.  Be got there in the nick of time - as we were paying our deposit another couple were telling one of the other sales guys they wanted it!

Again, with the one we've just got, I'd been browsing online for a week or so then went down to Worcestershire to look at one.  Didn't like that one but did like another (now ours) at the same dealer.  Thankfully, he's a good dealer & I have a very trusting OH.  The 1st time OH saw the van was when we did the exchange

Quote: Originally posted by savanne1 on 18/3/2011

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The other we liked but was overpriced, didnt sell on ebay and we are debating about ringing the owner and making him a more sensible offfer.

I'm still fed up with the lack of seller response to ads.

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