Are prices due to crash?

[subthree]

I’m in the market as I said but cannot bring myself to pay more than I sold my previous Cali’s for!

Guess I could suck it up and pay the asking prices but looking at used prices I can order a brand new 23 plate Ocean for £67k which I’m guessing will be here late Spring which offers way better value than a 2020 T6 for £60k

For comparison, a neighbour just bought a 72 plate 6.1 Ocean (199/204ps) from Aberdeen for £75k. Not 4 motion.

 

[andyinluton]

Can you share who confirmed that order price of £67k please?

Drive the deal will do a 150 Ocean for £66,418 with no options.

 

[Elmo3]

I’m in the market as I said but cannot bring myself to pay more than I sold my previous Cali’s for!

Guess I could suck it up and pay the asking prices but looking at used prices I can order a brand new 23 plate Ocean for £67k which I’m guessing will be here late Spring which offers way better value than a 2020 T6 for £60k

Thing is, access to that sort of money gives you plenty of options. Stayed in a beautiful cottage in south Devon last week, looking straight out to sea. Stunning autumn sunshine, south west coast path at the bottom of the garden, car for trips out and a cosy log fire in the evenings. Not once did I wish I was on a campsite in the Cali. Fair enough if campervanning was cheap but it isn’t!

 

[66tim99]

Thing is, access to that sort of money gives you plenty of options. Stayed in a beautiful cottage in south Devon last week, looking straight out to sea. Stunning autumn sunshine, south west coast path at the bottom of the garden, car for trips out and a cosy log fire in the evenings. Not once did I wish I was on a campsite in the Cali. Fair enough if campervanning was cheap but it isn’t!

There's room for both. You'd be unlikely to book the cottage for a week, with 3 x 2 night stays in other places around Devon, but that's exactly what you could do on a 2 week break with a California.

 

[DevillBelgium]

There's room for both. You'd be unlikely to book the cottage for a week, with 3 x 2 night stays in other places around Devon, but that's exactly what you could do on a 2 week break with a California.

I get his point that it is not cheap to buy nowardays a california. I am struggeling myself to get the money in bank. ( it would help though if my appartement got sold) But yes, spending this amout makes you think twice.

 

[andyinluton]

Stayed in a beautiful cottage in south Devon last week, looking straight out to sea. .... car for trips out and a cosy log fire in the evenings. Not once did I wish I was on a campsite in the Cali.

Owning a Cali doesn't stop you doing that & then gives a lot more flexibility if you go out for the day. Somewhere to get warm or changed without having to go back to the cottage.

In fact we couldn't go in the car as our largest would struggle to fit 4 of us + dog + the amount of stuff that 3 women deem essential whenever staying away from home.

 

[calibeach76]

Well you can (I've tried it), but was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. The versatile Cali is the perfect jack-of-all-trades. And that comes at a price.

Being honest

Thing is, access to that sort of money gives you plenty of options. Stayed in a beautiful cottage in south Devon last week, looking straight out to sea. Stunning autumn sunshine, south west coast path at the bottom of the garden, car for trips out and a cosy log fire in the evenings. Not once did I wish I was on a campsite in the Cali. Fair enough if campervanning was cheap but it isn’t!

I agree 100% with this and perversely I can agree with the opposing views stated. I think the crux of it is this as follows. Lots of us have justified buying one as a jack of all trades vehicle that using a bit of man maths makes sense because any other big vehicle would also cost a lot or more than the Cali but owning the Cali gives you options. It really is a personal choice. Tbh we used our first Cali (Beach) far more as a family vehicle with the odd week or weekend away but as a versatile family car to also take to ski chalets and gites etc our last Cali a Coast proved far less practical as it only seated 4, the sink and hob were redundant to us and on reflection tion another well species beach would be better for us but the opposite will be true for many others. It really is horses for courses. HOWEVER. With prices as they are I'm more with Elmo3 on this because we have had some lovely cottages in spectacular settings, luxury accommodation and privacy. At the right price point yes a Cali can make sense to me but the combined cost of one and the fact that sites are overcrowded and now expensive makes it harder to justify against the other options available.this is a personal view and everyone's personal circumstances, desires are different but for us I'm glad we cashed in at the current prices even if they do hold out and we won't entertain buying back in until prices are closer to what we paid for a nearly new 68 reg Beach back in 2019. In the meantime enjoy whichever is your preference!

 

[Soton Campers]

Drive the deal will do a 150 Ocean for £66,418 with no options.

Is that the displayed price on the website or actually from the suppling dealer? Reason I ask is because the dealers don't always have to accept that price. The discounts enjoyed previously may not apply this year.

 

[andyinluton]

Is that the displayed price on the website or actually from the suppling dealer? Reason I ask is because the dealers don't always have to accept that price. The discounts enjoyed previously may not apply this year.

Thats the website price, I've never had a problem with them standing by it except one instance where we tried to get an order in the day before a suspected rise. There is no mention as to what happens in the event of price increases etc.

 

[reserves]

[

There is no mention as to what happens in the event of price increases etc.

I’ve heard that VW will *not* be guaranteeing prices.

 

[Elmo3]

There's room for both. You'd be unlikely to book the cottage for a week, with 3 x 2 night stays in other places around Devon, but that's exactly what you could do on a 2 week break with a California.

You could easily do this staying in different hotels / air bnb’s. A damn sight easier not having to pack up and unpack the Cali. If you can afford a £70K van, you can afford nice hotels. All depends on your requirements and personal preference of course.

We’d like to do another European road trip and I’ve got to be honest, preferring the idea of a comfy car and hotels etc than campsites. Maybe after 5 years of Calis they’ve run their course for us. Not spent a night in it this year, was very handy when moving house though!

 

[two-saabs]

Nah, it’s a van with a highly versatile interior that you can sleep, eat etc in………. can’t do that in a car!

This is what I was getting at

 

[two-saabs]

You could easily do this staying in different hotels / air bnb’s. A damn sight easier not having to pack up and unpack the Cali. If you can afford a £70K van, you can afford nice hotels. All depends on your requirements and personal preference of course.

We’d like to do another European road trip and I’ve got to be honest, preferring the idea of a comfy car and hotels etc than campsites. Maybe after 5 years of Calis they’ve run their course for us. Not spent a night in it this year, was very handy when moving house though!

I’d much rather do long drives in a Cali than any other vehicle

 

[reserves]

I’d much rather do long drives in a Cali than any other vehicle

I used to think that until I got an electric car, but that’s a whole other topic!

 

[2into1]

Value of Cali's aside, it was much more fun say 7 years ago when you could generally rock up to sites without booking, and with a C&C club membership, could pay £12 a night out of peak season for a grass pitch. It all seemed freer and easier then....wait for the sunshine, then go.

 

[Steve1]

Probably best if you all sell up and book cottages and hotels, makes more space in the campsites for those of us who do it because we like it

 

[Azteccamper]

Value of Cali's aside, it was much more fun say 7 years ago when you could generally rock up to sites without booking, and with a C&C club membership, could pay £12 a night out of peak season for a grass pitch. It all seemed freer and easier then....wait for the sunshine, then go.

Agree. Tbh I don’t give a toss what my Cali is worth as we use it for it’s intended purpose and love it. Just returned from an extended stay in France where we did just that - tour, pitch-up, enjoy, move on when we’re ready. All without fuss and paying €16-18 per night. Loved it.

 

[SusiBus]

[

I’ve heard that VW will *not* be guaranteeing prices.

VW no longer offer price protection. The price you pay is the current list at the point of delivery, less any discount you arranged at the time of ordering.
Discounts may soon disappear, because VW are altering the way dealers are paid for selling vehicles to cut out discounts and operations such as DtD.
So VW want it to be like Testla and Apple. The list price is what they want to make you pay. This is currently the situation with ID.Buzz orders

 

[Borris]

This thread is interesting in that it seems to split owners into two categories:
1. Those that bought a Cali to use as intended.
and
2. Those that bought into some form of short term ownership with a view to playing the market.
Personally I don't really care what individual owner's motives were when buying but I can't help thinking that there has been rather too many of the latter thus fueling the over inflated prices of late.

 

[Elmo3]

This thread is interesting in that it seems to split owners into two categories:
1. Those that bought a Cali to use as intended.
and
2. Those that bought into some form of short term ownership with a view to playing the market.
Personally I don't really care what individual owner's motives were when buying but I can't help thinking that there has been rather too many of the latter thus fueling the over inflated prices of late.

I‘d agree. With ours, an older T5, it doesn’t matter what it’s worth. We could keep it or sell it, makes no difference. New vans have been subject to a speculative financialised market. It’s only another £100 a month, so overpay on the list price to have it now etc. It’s been the same mentality with houses which is about to get real when mortgages are up for renewal. It won’t be a pretty sight.

 

[two-saabs]

This thread is interesting in that it seems to split owners into two categories:
1. Those that bought a Cali to use as intended.
and
2. Those that bought into some form of short term ownership with a view to playing the market.
Personally I don't really care what individual owner's motives were when buying but I can't help thinking that there has been rather too many of the latter thus fueling the over inflated prices of late.

I think there’s an extra split with those who:

1) bought coast or ocean as a camper and enjoy it

2) bought the beach as a main vehicle (like me), therefore the daily use is key to the overall value, and enjoy it

3) those who mainly bought because it seemed a good investment and/or an alternative type of holiday to hotels / flights

So for groups 1 and 2 the market value is not a deciding factor in past present or future actions, whereas for 3 is a major factor

None are wrong or bad! Just different, and why some of the logic for some just does not apply to others.

Case in point: my wife took the hull to Rotterdam ferry last night, and drove back to Zurich today arriving this evening. This was the perfect combination of not always sleeping in the van, motoring through Europe fully comfortable, all on one tank of fuel, whilst pulling over sometimes to use the Porta potti and have a cup of tea when needed, and a place to kip if the drive took too long.

For our needs, no other way of travel would have suited better

 

[Borris]

When buying our Calis, this current Beach is number 3, it was never our intention to use them exclusively as our only means of holidaying. That would be daft! We often go away on a whim staying in good B and Bs, some hotels, rented holiday homes, package holidays abroad, Warners Hotel breaks (holidays for those of us who have been " put out to grass") and last but not least camping breaks away in our wonderful Cali.

We need little excuse to drop everything and pop off somewhere for a change of scenery and our Beach is utterly superb at providing a warm, dry, private comfortable all year round home from home with all creature comforts. Yes, it cost us a King's ransom to buy new with all our specified options but it repays us in spades every time we use it. I don't care how much it's worth now as we have absolutely no intentions of selling it. It's worth more to us than just the sum of its parts or its mere monetary value. It is something very special indeed.

 

[Karlos]

Sounds like a good reason to sell the Cali!
We are in turbulent times. Very cheap money has gone and living costs are rapidly rising. There are people around who don’t think house prices will fall, despite mortgage rates which could easily be 3X come renewal time. I’d put folk who don’t think the price of a van will fall in a similar category.

Think we got out of ours too early but seemed the right thing to do at the time, hindsight is a wonderful thing. How's the Beach @Elmo3 I seem to remember that was a bit of a steal.

 

[Elmo3]

Think we got out of ours too early but seemed the right thing to do at the time, hindsight is a wonderful thing. How's the Beach @Elmo3 I seem to remember that was a bit of a steal.

Yeah, sold mine too early but the Beach (I wasn’t supposed to buy) was well priced so swings and roundabouts! It’s a great van, really love it despite having gone off camping to be honest. Has some front cowl bubbling so having that sorted out by a local classic car restorer in December (earliest he can do it). I‘m thinking of selling but for the sort of money it is, I wouldn’t find another so well sorted and because it’s not stacks of cash sat there, doesn’t really matter.

 

[soulstyledevon]

For the last 8 weeks, WBAC has valued my Ocean around the £46k mark. It dropped to £43k a few weeks back and rose again over the following weeks back to just shy of £46k.

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