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Thread ID: 121790	2011-11-13 22:04:00	Advice on buying a campervan please	John H (8)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1243379	2011-11-14 09:27:00	Have you done the maths on not buying anything at all but instead using your existing car and staying in cabins or motels? Offset this cost against depreciation and maintenance of some super mobile home. I'm not certain of the outcome myself, perhaps I'm just toying with your stress levels, or maybe its the best choice depending on how long and often you are in holiday mode.	Ofthesea (14129)
1243380	2011-11-14 10:00:00	Have you done the maths on not buying anything at all but instead using your existing car and staying in cabins or motels? Offset this cost against depreciation and maintenance of some super mobile home. I'm not certain of the outcome myself, perhaps I'm just toying with your stress levels, or maybe its the best choice depending on how long and often you are in holiday mode. Yes, good point, but we have looked at that. Many of the places we want to stay don't have cabins or motels because they aren't in townships (e.g. Lake Tennyson, Lake Heron, Ahuriri Valley). We wondered about just hiring a campervan - well, I did a mock booking for 5 days in a campervan in the off season and it was over $1k without paying for diesel and campground fees. You can't do many trips like that! SWMBO is fully retired and I am semi retired - we can take off almost whenever we like, even on the spur of the moment, if we have the right vehicle - anything would be better than just sogging away at home until we get carted off to god's waiting room. @pctek - bugger...	John H (8)
1243381	2011-12-09 21:57:00	I thought I should let you know the outcome to my request for your advice. We found a 1998 Ford Transit LWB campervan on TradeMe (2,500cc diesel), and it fitted our needs and budget, so we got it tested and it came up fine. It has 81,000 km on the clock, and we are the third main owner (ignoring dealers). It has never been a rental. Seems to have a good history, has a self containment certificate, and all the bits we need, including an awning (though I am not sure we will need it). We have had a solar panel fitted to the roof, which will help charge the two house batteries, meaning we will be able to free camp for a little bit longer than normal. The only thing I am not keen on is that a previous owner installed an electric heater instead of gas or diesel. This means we may be restricted to camping grounds in the winter, unless we decide to fit another heater (apparently they are expensive ). The price asked was fair, but we offered the owner less than that on the basis that we had to do a minor repair and replace the cam belt because it was due at 80k and hadn't been done. He came back with a counter offer, saying it didn't need to be done until 100km. The following morning he called to say he had done some research and found out it should have been done at 80k as we said, and said he would accept our first offer... How many of you have come across an honest vendor like that? So, thank you to all of you who gave advice. Our purchase is not as luxurious as a caravan Metla, but we don't need to sell our cars and get a bigger towing vehicle - overall I think this is a more economic option. We can also go to more out of the way places than I would be happy towing a van. Thanks again.	John H (8)
1243382	2011-12-09 22:51:00	For that price only buy a Ford Trader or Mazda Titan camper. Do not repeat DO NOT buy a Ford Tragic (Transit) or any Mitsubishi, Toyota,Fiat or VW. Isuzu Elf ok but check for rust in cab and dont buy the turbo engine ones.	prefect (6291)
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