Caravan purchase advice
Discussion
Hoping for some advice, for a while we have been thinking about buying a caravan and I mentioned it to my neighbour as luck would have it he said he knew someone that was selling one and would find out for me, well after a few weeks we had some info on it, my neighbour was told it was a Lunar Clubman about 6 or 7 years old only been used half a dozen times but not in quite a while and it has been dry stored, this all sounded great and the chap was looking for £4000 for it but said as it was a friend of my neighbour he would let it go for £3500!
It all seemed a little to good to be true and today we looked at it and found out it was.... That being said we are not dismissing it but would like some guidance on what it's worth?
It certainly looks as if it has not been touched in years except for being moved out for me to have a look at it and given a wash, inside looks okay but used more than six times!
The bad bits:
It's a 1988/1989 model so more like 16 years old than 6
there is a bit of corrosion on the tasteful brass light fittings, one of the window struts is broken, a low level light is broken, a window seal has dropped down on one of the windows, the cutlery draw is cracked, the tyres look a bit flat and cracked and in need of replacing, the cassette toilet has liquid in it :
, the water pipes will need replacing and finally the front gas storage cover looks to not fit very well at the top and will prob let water into that compartment. Other things I could not check today are corrosion underneath, brakes and there was no service history so therefore no gas safety certificate etc...
And the good bits:
Outside looks very straight and clean (well clean and a couple of very clean spots showing potential), it has a full awning and ground sheet (condition unknown), upholstery appears in good condition and looks like it will clean up well, does not look, smell or feel at all damp and we did look for it...
So how much is it worth considering the age and condition? It appears £3.5k is about fair money but most of the ones for sale for that sort of money are from traders and come with warranties, gas safety certificates and more than likely all of the little broken bits fixed, so what do I offer as it does seem a bit a gamble to me? I was thinking £2k as a cheeky offer and if not walk away, what do you think and am I missing anything?
Sorry pics are a bit crap
It all seemed a little to good to be true and today we looked at it and found out it was.... That being said we are not dismissing it but would like some guidance on what it's worth?
It certainly looks as if it has not been touched in years except for being moved out for me to have a look at it and given a wash, inside looks okay but used more than six times!
The bad bits:
It's a 1988/1989 model so more like 16 years old than 6
there is a bit of corrosion on the tasteful brass light fittings, one of the window struts is broken, a low level light is broken, a window seal has dropped down on one of the windows, the cutlery draw is cracked, the tyres look a bit flat and cracked and in need of replacing, the cassette toilet has liquid in it : , the water pipes will need replacing and finally the front gas storage cover looks to not fit very well at the top and will prob let water into that compartment. Other things I could not check today are corrosion underneath, brakes and there was no service history so therefore no gas safety certificate etc...And the good bits:
Outside looks very straight and clean (well clean and a couple of very clean spots showing potential), it has a full awning and ground sheet (condition unknown), upholstery appears in good condition and looks like it will clean up well, does not look, smell or feel at all damp and we did look for it...
So how much is it worth considering the age and condition? It appears £3.5k is about fair money but most of the ones for sale for that sort of money are from traders and come with warranties, gas safety certificates and more than likely all of the little broken bits fixed, so what do I offer as it does seem a bit a gamble to me? I was thinking £2k as a cheeky offer and if not walk away, what do you think and am I missing anything?
Sorry pics are a bit crap
1998/9 yeah?
I'll look up the book prices for you in the morning.
Dont go anywhere near it at 3.5k, 2k does sound more like it.
Whatever you do get it thoroughly damptested or buy a tester and check EVERYWHERE!
They dont call them leaky Lunars for no reason!
I'll post the book prices in the morning and what our tugging chaps say its worth.
I'll look up the book prices for you in the morning.
Dont go anywhere near it at 3.5k, 2k does sound more like it.
Whatever you do get it thoroughly damptested or buy a tester and check EVERYWHERE!
They dont call them leaky Lunars for no reason!
I'll post the book prices in the morning and what our tugging chaps say its worth.
nagsheadwarrior said:
1998/9 yeah?
I'll look up the book prices for you in the morning.
Dont go anywhere near it at 3.5k, 2k does sound more like it.
Whatever you do get it thoroughly damptested or buy a tester and check EVERYWHERE!
They dont call them leaky Lunars for no reason!
I'll post the book prices in the morning and what our tugging chaps say its worth.
Fantastic, thank you I'll look up the book prices for you in the morning.
Dont go anywhere near it at 3.5k, 2k does sound more like it.
Whatever you do get it thoroughly damptested or buy a tester and check EVERYWHERE!
They dont call them leaky Lunars for no reason!
I'll post the book prices in the morning and what our tugging chaps say its worth.
We have spoken before I think? Is your user name something to do with my local pub???
Agree with the above. Got to be worth a punt at £1.5-£2k if there's no damp, but it does need a grand spending on it (tyres, service, seals, pipes, bodywork etc). Don't forget to factor in storage fees, insurance etc to your costs - caravanning's not the cheap holiday many think it is. You could always stick the awning on ebay in the Spring to recoup a bit of cash (many caravanners just use a cheap / easy to erect porch awning instead nowadays).
We had a VW camper, then bought a caravan for the extra comfort & space. If I'm honest, I found caravanning too much of a faff, and most of the stress will be on the husband /dad in the family (hitching up, towing, manoeuvring, setting up, packing up, storing, cleaning, general maintenance, organising insurance etc etc). The other big problem for us was storage. Make sure you have a space on a storage facility close to home before you buy (unless you're storing at home) and budget £300+ pa. And if you're storing at home, make sure (a) it's permitted & (b) you've got some security as caravans are extremely attractive to thieves. And many people don't like storing at home as it's obvious when you're away for the weekend! We went back to a camper in the end, but it's horses for courses.
We had a VW camper, then bought a caravan for the extra comfort & space. If I'm honest, I found caravanning too much of a faff, and most of the stress will be on the husband /dad in the family (hitching up, towing, manoeuvring, setting up, packing up, storing, cleaning, general maintenance, organising insurance etc etc). The other big problem for us was storage. Make sure you have a space on a storage facility close to home before you buy (unless you're storing at home) and budget £300+ pa. And if you're storing at home, make sure (a) it's permitted & (b) you've got some security as caravans are extremely attractive to thieves. And many people don't like storing at home as it's obvious when you're away for the weekend! We went back to a camper in the end, but it's horses for courses.
Lunar Clubman 530/4 1999 (Must be a 99 as this was the first year they did them)
Cost new £13775 Trade £1675 Retail £3700
Bearing in mind the faults it has its really not worth so much, if it was free of damp and in full working order it would be worth £1500 if it was being sold to the trade.
With the issues its got and the time of year now even if its free of damp it looks like £2000 would be absolute top money for it.
It does look straight enough from the outside though and if you could nab it for somewhere under £2k and fix it up you wont be losing money on it anytime in the near future.
Make sure you check it for damp though and check in the hard to get to places like in the corners,where the floor and ceilings join the walls,down the side of the toilet etc,I recently took a 2003 Clubman in px and it was free of damp which we viewed as a minor miracle!
Check the shower tray closely for cracks too as you wont find a replacement easily.
Best of luck with it.
Cost new £13775 Trade £1675 Retail £3700
Bearing in mind the faults it has its really not worth so much, if it was free of damp and in full working order it would be worth £1500 if it was being sold to the trade.
With the issues its got and the time of year now even if its free of damp it looks like £2000 would be absolute top money for it.
It does look straight enough from the outside though and if you could nab it for somewhere under £2k and fix it up you wont be losing money on it anytime in the near future.
Make sure you check it for damp though and check in the hard to get to places like in the corners,where the floor and ceilings join the walls,down the side of the toilet etc,I recently took a 2003 Clubman in px and it was free of damp which we viewed as a minor miracle!
Check the shower tray closely for cracks too as you wont find a replacement easily.
Best of luck with it.
hornetrider said:
Not being funny, but if you want a caravan there's thousands for sale. Why restrict yourself to this one?
There's so many layouts you should go to a few dealers, poke around and figure out what works for you. Then go shopping!
Because it's cheap if I can get it for that price, if you look around (believe me we have) you will see that for around £3.5k you really don't get much, layout wise it's what we want so as far I can see why not? provided there is no damp it should turn out to be a good buy and as NHW said hopefully not loose me any money any time soon. There's so many layouts you should go to a few dealers, poke around and figure out what works for you. Then go shopping!
I'm going in eyes open, electrical is my thing and I like to think I know one end of a spanner from the other as well as knowing a chap who can do the gas testing for me.... Of course the seller may say bugger off then we will be back to square one andlooking around again.
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