Buying a Beach with extra seats to accommodate multi-generation family

[Countryoak]

£645 or thereabouts for first 5 yrs. Then it drops to £155.

I found this

 

[Countryoak]

I found this

View attachment 90913

Definitely not £645

 

[Countryoak]

£645 or thereabouts for first 5 yrs. Then it drops to £155.

Definitely not £645
£490 like the Coast and Ocean according to Parker’s guide

 

[WelshGas]

I found this

View attachment 90913

Yes, my mistake it’s £490 dropping to £155 after 5 yrs. However as far as I am aware Parkers have got it wrong for the Beach Camper. It is/should be registered as Motor Caravan unlike the Tour and so not liable for the Luxury Car Tax.

 

[Countryoak]

Yes, my mistake it’s £490 dropping to £155 after 5 yrs. However as far as I am aware Parkers have got it wrong for the Beach Camper. It is/should be registered as Motor Caravan unlike the Tour and so not liable for the Luxury Car Tax.

View attachment 90914

I didn’t realise it went down to £155 cheaper than a small van

 

[BusyLizzyBee123]

Thanks, this is all useful information gathering. Will this luxury car rate also apply to electric vehicles, like the ID Buzz? Just out of curiosity because that will fall into a similar price bracket.

 

[Countryoak]

I don’t know much about the Buzz someone on here may well know though

 

[Jdorling]

Might be worth noting that the tour is not identical to the beach camper, it’s doesn’t have either the pull out cooker and gas storage and it has no hook up either so can’t be plugged in to campsite electrics.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks, this is all useful information gathering. Will this luxury car rate also apply to electric vehicles, like the ID Buzz? Just out of curiosity because that will fall into a similar price bracket.

No.

 

[andyinluton]

No.

Yes

If not why not? Surely if the Buzz is over 40k it will attract the luxury tax.

 

[Kayleigh]

Yes

If not why not? Surely if the Buzz is over 40k it will attract the luxury tax.

“New cars with a list price of £40,000 or more (other than those that run solely on electricity) will pay an additional rate for 5 years from the start of the second licence.”

So the answer is no for a Buzz, assuming a list price of over £40k. It would be completely free for road tax.

 

[Tucker303]

I don’t know if the 3 seat bench comes with 2 or 3 rails but you will need 3 rails for the extra seats, I believe. It’s only about £90 to add it.

The Beach has 3 rails. The V5 logbook states number of seats including driver is 5.

An extra seat can be fitted but is not an option when you buy it. You may have issues with the insurance if you add one, given the V5 classification mentioned above.

 

[WelshGas]

The Beach has 3 rails. The V5 logbook states number of seats including driver is 5.

An extra seat can be fitted but is not an option when you buy it. You may have issues with the insurance if you add one, given the V5 classification mentioned above.

It is very easy to change the seat numbers on your V5c.
My 4Motion came with 5 seats on the V5c, and it doesn't even have the extra rail.

 

[WelshGas]

Yes

If not why not? Surely if the Buzz is over 40k it will attract the luxury tax.

Any All Electric vehicle is free of Annual Road Tax and Luxury Car Tax, at the moment.

 

[andyinluton]

Any All Electric vehicle is free of Annual Road Tax and Luxury Car Tax, at the moment.

Thanks had spotted that on the post about above. Hadn’t realised & thought they still paid the luxury bit.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks had spotted that on the post about above. Hadn’t realised & thought they still paid the luxury bit.

Not yet.

 

[oliversk_1973]

Hi everyone,

I'm very much enjoying being a part of these forums for all the advice and inspiration.

We are hoping to purchase a Beach with the 3-seater bench seat and an extra seat - so that we can get out and about with my elderly parents (who are on the verge of giving up driving for health reasons) and our young children (total 4 adults and 2 children). We also hope to use it as a camper ourselves, with just the children at times too. But I suppose really the primary focus is going to be having longer days out together (and making the most of it whilst we still can). But that those who need to rest etc can come back to the van to be comfortable, make tea etc.

Does anyone else use their van like this?

Also, I can't seem to work out how to get the extra seats to add on the configurator - or is this just a quirk that I'd be better talking to a dealer about. Would it be worth getting the 7th seat as well, for extra flexibility? I'd really appreciate hearing about others experiences.

It looks like we'll probably buy new, as there aren't really any about with extra seats.

Hi,

You need the Beach Tour, not the Beach Camper.

We took delivery of our new Beach Tour 2 weeks back, and we’re loving it. We added the 2 extra seats too for when we have guests come to stay.

You won’t get the pull out kitchen, plus it’s not classed as a motorhome, but it’s perfect for us.

We’re getting an after market EHUP fitted in a few weeks time.

 

[Tarquers]

Doesn’t help you much but elsewhere you can have a beach camper with 7 seats, I have even used ours, once!

If you go this route with elderly parents, consider that the extra seat restricts access to the rear for less mobile individuals, ie getting passed a seat in the door can be a challenge. If you put the seat next to the cooker, access is easier, but you lose the seat if using the cooker.

You may find better vehicles like the new multi van MPV easier to get in and out of, or carrying a step May help. Try before you buy?

 

[Camperfamily]

got a 3 seat bench 6.1 beach camper and just to add:
- defo comes with the rails you need to add two extra swivel seats
- updating the v5 was easy, got it back within a week of sending in February. No letter from VW needed, just a very brief letter from me and some photos
- updating insurance was easy too.
agree with earlier suggestion that best approach is to buy used individual seats separately.

@Winston Rumfoord would you mind sharing the key points of your letter?

I’m about to do the same - ie ask DVLA to update our Beach Camper from its current registered 5 seats to 7 seats

 

[Winston Rumfoord]

@Winston Rumfoord would you mind sharing the key points of your letter?

I’m about to do the same - ie ask DVLA to update our Beach Camper from its current registered 5 seats to 7 seats

Hey, sorry i am being lazy and copy and pasting a reply to someone who pm’d me about the same thing! Good luck!

Yes we have a beach 6.1 camper and managed to get one extra seat added to the V5 (I am pretty sure it would have been fine to add two).

I am really sorry I can’t find a copy of the letter I sent but what I can remember is:
- I copied the wording off a post I found on the forum.
- I remember the letter was very brief - so brief I didn’t think it would work(!) - about a paragraph long.
- I attached two photos of the inside of the van, taken from outside the sliding door. One photo worth the seat in, one with the seat out.

From memory the paragraph I wrote included something like:
- I have a VW camper van with rails as standard for fitting extra seats.
- I have bought an official VW seat and would like to fit it to the rails.
- All of this is factory standard and original intended functionality.
- Please can you update my vehicle records to reflect it now been a 6 seater instead of a 5 seater.
- Please see attached photos showing the seat installed and taken out.
It really was that brief! Just very polite and I think I stressed the point around this all being factory/standard functionality.

It all worked fine and I got the updated V5 back really quickly. Definitely within 2 weeks.

From memory there was no extra charge from the insurer - I wrote to the insurer we had at the time and they didn’t seem to care. Every since then I have just stated it is six seats (per DVLA) when applying for insurance and haven’t noticed any impact.

 

[Kayleigh]

@Winston Rumfoord would you mind sharing the key points of your letter?

I’m about to do the same - ie ask DVLA to update our Beach Camper from its current registered 5 seats to 7 seats

I thought all Beaches were classed as 7 seaters, obviously not.
My T6 with 2-seat bench is classed as a 7-seater even though that’s an impossible configuration without changing the bench!