For those who’ve done 10 year HP....

[Roc1]

The 10 year hp is the only way I can get a Beach, and as the monltly payments work out the same what I’m paying now on my Kombi (admittedly that would get paid off in 3.5 years), I kind of want to make the jump to getting a camper sooner rather than later whilst my kids are still young (11 and 7).

I just wondered, how many of you have taken out the 10 year deal with the potential view of trading the Cali in in say 5 years time for a newer one etc? I was thinking as they hold their value well it could be an option with hopefully little penalty.

I oringally was going to get the kombi converted but that’s going to be a good £20k on top of what I’m already paying, and a Beach looks like the perfect option for me.

Thanks!

 

[flying banana]

It's a tough one. I borrowed against my gaff. Costs me extra 200 sheets a month and I own the van outright. I borrowed 30 large as a further advance. Paid rest selling my car and savings. I thought the 10 year vw finance was too dear for me. Ws looking at 500 a month but if I had no mortgage I would still go to the bank first. They will lend you that much to buy a car. Good luck in your decision. The beach is awesome by the way... I had one.

 

[Alan Andrews]

You might get a better finance deal by going to bank or building society. Or even re-mortgage to get some spare cash.

Then with cash in hand can expect to get a better deal overall.

Consider buying nearly new. Look for van where VAT has already been paid.

 

[AlanC]

You might get a better finance deal by going to bank or building society. Or even re-mortgage to get some spare cash.

Then with cash in hand can expect to get a better deal overall.

Consider buying nearly new. Look for van where VAT has already been paid.

Years ago I was filming at a Volvo dealer on a corporate shoot. In casual conversation with one of the salesmen in the showroom, he let slip that they get very little commission from actual vehicle sales.
But finance was a very different matter.

I don't suppose that has changed much, as the sales teams always seem have some generous offer to get your custom.

When we bought our only ever new car back on 2006, we arranged a bank loan and paid cash for it. We didn't mention this to the salesman at the time. The only freeby was a litre of oil which the car never needed!

Buyer beware comes to mind, so do some thorough research. The dealer relies on you taking the easy route.

Alan

 

[MarkVw2017]

VW dealer fiance, versus personal loan versus mortgage. Personal loan i would say. Cheaper rates. I dont like the mortgage option. If you lose you job or money becomes tight, them extra payments could possibly mean the difference keeping or losing your house. Like you said, you have 2 kids, so the house is the most important thing for you and your family and a car/ holidays/ cali etc should never put that at risk. ;-) I have finance is on the cali, so if money dries up, they can just come and take the cali rather than my house.

I am in the same boat of you with 2 young kids and thought, should i, shouldn't i, should i, shouldn't I and then thought sod it and got one. Kids absolutely love, i love it, my wife loves loves it, friends, family and neighbors love it, even all the parents at school all love it. I have no regrets.

 

[Roc1]

Hello @Roc1 . We did the 10 year HP via VW and it Sounds crazy buying a car over 10 years but makes it much more manageable and if you do have some spare change, you can always over pay. I just saw a 10 year old cali for sale on a forecourt today for £32k. If you see a 10 year old £50k BMW, i bet you you wont see that on the same forecourt for £32k! Calis do hold their price very well.

VW dealer fiance, versus personal loan versus mortgage, personal loan i would say. Cheaper rates, but i couldn't get a £50k personal loan and VW just threw finance at me so I thought, hell yes. I dont like the mortgage thing. If you lose you job or money becomes tight, them extra payments could possibly mean the difference keeping or losing your house. Like you said, you have 2 kids, so the house is the most important thing for you and your family and a car/ holidays/ cali etc should never put that at risk. ;-) As my finance is on the cali, if money dries up, they can just come and take the cali rather than my house.

I am in the same boat of you 2 young kids and thought, should i, shouldn't i, should i, shouldn't I and then thought sod it and got one. Kids absolutely love, i love it, my wife loves loves it, friends and neighbors love it, even all the parents at school all love it. I have no regrets.

Thanks really helpful to hear from someone who’s been through the same dilemma! My view is, I'm paying about £540 a month for the Kombi and the Beach will be about that so I'm used to that outgoing. I didn't want it near my mortgage as like you want it as a separate entity, and worst case scenario, if I need to sell it back to VW hopefully the value will still be good.

 

[Wobble’s Mum]

We all know that finance deals are there to make the dealerships/banks money. We all know what it costs the consumer in interest, but not everyone is in a position to lay out so much cash at once which is how and why those deals exist in the first place.

None of us know what is around the corner. You might be able to take out the 10 year deal today, and your circumstances could change down the line providing an option to pay it off or re-finance for a cheaper deal later on.

Your kids are only little once. If you can afford the monthly payments, you won’t lay awake at night worrying what you’ve done, or be too skint to put fuel in the tank, then why not go for it? Make lasting memories with the little ones while you can, and accept the finance for what it is.

Good Luck!

 

[Ting Tong]

You might get a better finance deal by going to bank or building society. Or even re-mortgage to get some spare cash.

Then with cash in hand can expect to get a better deal overall.

Consider buying nearly new. Look for van where VAT has already been paid.

There was a post on here recently about peer to peer loans which might be a cheaper option.

A 42k van that’s vat exempt eg from a private seller is the same as a 35k+vat that’s not. Vat makes no difference unless you’re vat registered and so can reclaim the 7k vat but you then add vat when you sell it.

 

[ArunAlec]

There was a post on here recently about peer to peer loans which might be a cheaper option.

A 42k van that’s vat exempt eg from a private seller is the same as a 35k+vat that’s not. Vat makes no difference unless you’re vat registered and so can reclaim the 7k vat but you then add vat when you sell it.

Definitely worth a look at Peer to Peer Lending, I use them for savings.

 

[MarkVw2017]

There was a post on here recently about peer to peer loans which might be a cheaper option.

A 42k van that’s vat exempt eg from a private seller is the same as a 35k+vat that’s not. Vat makes no difference unless you’re vat registered and so can reclaim the 7k vat but you then add vat when you sell it.

This is a sticky point. Thr cali, is classed as a car not a van so if buy it via a vat business as a company car, you could reclaim thr vat buit as it would have to classed as a car, not a van a benefit in kind tax would have to be paid.
A 20% tax payer......

A 40% tax payer.....

Obviously, im not an accountant but if you do put it through a business, get some proper professional tax advice

 

[soulstyledevon]

Please don’t fall for the dreamy insta vanlife pics on the internet. A California is simply not worth the level of debt offered with these finance deals...!!!

If you can’t afford to buy the vehicle out right or at least the bulk of it. Then you can’t afford it.

You can get a similar experience for a lot less money. Plenty of vans out there which lend themselves to conversion at a fraction of the California’s cost.
I dare say for many. A small trailer like the swift base camp makes a lot more sense especially if you only camp now and again and typically stay at campsites.

 

[MarkVw2017]

Please don’t fall for the dreamy insta vanlife pics on the internet. A California is simply not worth the level of debt offered with these finance deals...!!!

If you can’t afford to buy the vehicle out right or at least the bulk of it. Then you can’t afford it.

You can get a similar experience for a lot less money. Plenty of vans out there which lend themselves to conversion at a fraction of the California’s cost.
I dare say for many. A small trailer like the swift base camp makes a lot more sense especially if you only camp now and again and typically stay at campsites.

I have to slightly disagree because who has 2 kids and has £45k saved up, defo non me.

One of the reasons people can justify buying via finance is the depreciation, or lack of it.
If they depreciated as much as a car, i dont think they would be as popular and even half decent conversions are extremely expensive.

 

[Roc1]

This is a sticky point. Thr cali, is classed as a car not a van so if buy it via a vat business as a company car, you could reclaim thr vat buit as it would have to classed as a car, not a van a benefit in kind tax would have to be paid.
A 20% tax payer......
View attachment 41494
A 40% tax payer.....
View attachment 41495
Obviously, im not an accountant but if you do put it through a business, get some proper professional tax advice

This is correct. I couldn’t even put my kombi through as it’s classed by hmrc as a car and would get stung for company car tax!

 

[Roc1]

I have to slightly disagree because who has 2 kids and has £45k saved up, defo non me.

One of the reasons people can justify buying via finance is the depreciation, or lack of it.
If they depreciated as much as a car, i dont think they would be as popular and even half decent conversions are extremely expensive.

Yep I’m one of the many that need finance to own a vehicle, always have done and so it’s a normal outgoing for me along with all the other bills. Have always paid out around £350 a month for a normal car and I guess a majority of folk with the popular pcp route will always have a car loan rather than owning one outright.

 

[Elmo3]

Avoid VW HP, it’s ridiculously expensive. Just look what it will cost you over 10 years... If you have to borrow (which I would question the merit of on a discretionary purchase), do so at the lowest rate. Offset mortgage is a good facility. The trick would be to over pay each month the amount you would otherwise have done so on the VW HP deal. You’ll shave years off the time you are paying it back and save thousands of pounds in interest charges.

If the worst happens you can always just sell the Cali, which will have no HP registered against it. This should service your mortgage for a good while. Personally, if I couldn’t buy it, I wouldnt have it, but each to their own.

 

[ArunAlec]

I have to slightly disagree because who has 2 kids and has £45k saved up, defo non me.

One of the reasons people can justify buying via finance is the depreciation, or lack of it.
If they depreciated as much as a car, i dont think they would be as popular and even half decent conversions are extremely expensive.

As you say the low depreciation makes financing a more acceptable option than if buying a car. However I would be concerned that with the move away from diesel and general environmental concerns that the depreciation figures may not remain so strong, particularly over a 10year period.

 

[MarkVw2017]

As you say the low depreciation makes financing a more acceptable option than if buying a car. However I would be concerned that with the move away from diesel and general environmental concerns that the depreciation figures may not remain so strong, particularly over a 10year period.

Suppose the diesel thing could be a problem if the market was flooded with electric campervans, but still not even one on the market yet so worrying about diesel campers is a very long way off yet.

 

[MarkVw2017]

This is correct. I couldn’t even put my kombi through as it’s classed by hmrc as a car and would get stung for company car tax!

Apparently, and please dont quote me on this, but the Kombi T32 is actually classed as a van as it can carry 1 tonne and if this is true, the BIK wouod be mich cheaper, But defo get some pro tax advice on this

 

[Roc1]

Apparently, and please dont quote me on this, but the Kombi T32 is actually classed as a van as it can carry 1 tonne and if this is true, the BIK wouod be mich cheaper, But defo get some pro tax advice on this

Yeah looked into it all with the accountant. Classed as a van by revenue and customs so yep can claim the vat back. Classed as a van by dvla. Classed as a car by hmrc so car BIK applies. So confusing and swear they do it to to catch people out!

 

[MarkVw2017]

Yeah looked into it all with the accountant. Classed as a van by revenue and customs so yep can claim the vat back. Classed as a van by dvla. Classed as a car by hmrc so car BIK applies. So confusing and swear they do it to to catch people out!

I totally agree! BIK and vans/ cars is sooo confusing. Thr kombi is classed as car, but thr vauxhall kombi is classed as a van :-0

 

[flying banana]

VW dealer fiance, versus personal loan versus mortgage. Personal loan i would say. Cheaper rates. I dont like the mortgage option. If you lose you job or money becomes tight, them extra payments could possibly mean the difference keeping or losing your house. Like you said, you have 2 kids, so the house is the most important thing for you and your family and a car/ holidays/ cali etc should never put that at risk. ;-) I have finance is on the cali, so if money dries up, they can just come and take the cali rather than my house.

I am in the same boat of you with 2 young kids and thought, should i, shouldn't i, should i, shouldn't I and then thought sod it and got one. Kids absolutely love, i love it, my wife loves loves it, friends, family and neighbors love it, even all the parents at school all love it. I have no regrets.

If I lost my job I'd sell the house and move into the van

 

[Amarillo]

If I lost my job I'd sell the house and move into the van

I didn’t lose my job and still moved the family into the van for a year. I count it as the best year of my life.

We are looking to borrow ~£40,000 for a hip to gable loft extension (two bedrooms and a bathroom).

Bank will loan £25,000 over 5 years at 3.9%; credit card will loan £11,500 at 0% over 12 months with a 3% arrangement fee. We only need to save £3,500. There really are some good deals out there.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sensisuperstar]

I didn’t lose my job and still moved the family into the van for a year. I count it as the best year of my life.

We are looking to borrow ~£40,000 for a hip to gable loft extension (two bedrooms and a bathroom).

Bank will loan £25,000 over 5 years at 3.9%; credit card will loan £11,500 at 0% with a 3% arrangement fee. We only need to save £3,500. There really are some good deals out there.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There’s a few who might suggest that if you don’t have £40k in savings you really should shelve the idea of a loft conversion and consider a tent instead ...seriously though, that must be one big roof to be costing £40k...three fixed price tenders minimum and get a contract too

 

[Amarillo]

There’s a few who might suggest that if you don’t have £40k in savings you really should shelve the idea of a loft conversion and consider a tent instead ...seriously though, that must be one big roof to be costing £40k...three fixed price tenders minimum and get a contract too

It’s a complex job. The loft is 1.85m high so the 1st floor 2.80 high ceiling needs dropping 20-30cm. The roof is not a simple hip roof. A neighbour with a near identical house has had the conversion, and I take my cost guide from what he says he paid. Planning is at a very early stage, but we’ve been thinking about it for years - even before we bought the house.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[soulstyledevon]

I have to slightly disagree because who has 2 kids and has £45k saved up, defo non me.

One of the reasons people can justify buying via finance is the depreciation, or lack of it.
If they depreciated as much as a car, i dont think they would be as popular and even half decent conversions are extremely expensive.

True, not everyone.
But I saved over many years and made do with a cheaper alternative. My first few vans cost a few thousand all in and didn’t saddle me with a lifetime of debt.

Sorry, I’m just very debt averse.
To me, it’s like selling your soul to the devil. I save hard, don’t buy any unnecessary stuff and patiently wait until I’m in the right position.

It’s amazing how much money can be saved when you reassess what’s important.
It’s even more amazing how much more you can save without using credit...