For those who’ve done 10 year HP....

[Roc1]

Where are you based?

Kent. Don’t seem to be many down this way when I last checked!

 

[MarkVw2017]

Kent. Don’t seem to be many down this way when I last checked!

Worth travelling to get a decrde one. Drop cali off, get train back. Sure the cali gurus will know lots and lots

 

[Amarillo]

Thats not an honest measure of depreciation your van is not worth any less just because new prices have risen & in fact reinforces the buy it now view.

Save up £450/month for 2 years & find you still have as much still to save as you did two years ago.
Or you could have enjoyed the van for two years thinking Im glad we bought when we did as the prices have gone up again.

I think it is a more honest way to calculate depreciation - it is certainly a different way to view depreciation. It is precisely because the van is no longer new that it is depreciating. So comparing the current used value with a new replacement and dividing by the age is an entirely reasonable, and honest, way to calculate depreciation - so long as you are clear of the method used.


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[westfalia]

a Beach looks like the perfect option for me.

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/classi...tdi-114ps-manual/leeds/vw-t5-california-beach

Keep that one for ten years then you can throw it away
I personally wouldn't go down the conversion route.

 

[Roc1]

Worth travelling to get a decrde one. Drop cali off, get train back. Sure the cali gurus will know lots and lots

Happy to travel wherever to get the right conversion. My kombi already has both swiveling seats and leisure battery. It’s just a decent bed system that isn’t on rails was hard to find, and didn’t like the Exploria one.

 

[larrylamb]

I was just worried that when you have spun the front seats round there wouldn’t be much leg space for a living area but happy to be proved wrong!

Fixed seats are usually situated further back in the van to allow the bed to pull out so there will be plenty of space if the front seats are swivelled.
There will be plenty of converted VW's and a Cali or two at the NEC show this week.

 

[andyinluton]

I think it is a more honest way to calculate depreciation - it is certainly a different way to view depreciation. It is precisely because the van is no longer new that it is depreciating. So comparing the current used value with a new replacement and dividing by the age is an entirely reasonable, and honest, way to calculate depreciation - so long as you are clear of the method used.


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By that calculation my house is the worst investment Ive ever had, its depreciated by about £1million since I've owned it, as thats how much extra I would need to pay to buy it today.

 

[SimonVW]

I looked at the 10yr option. I also looked at financing via a remortgage, First Direct loan and a few other companies. In the end, I decided to re-evaluate what I wanted to spend and bought a second hand model. I ended up saving money each month and the van, now I've started to get my own stamp on it, is great.

 

[Borris]

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.

Whilst I agree with this post, I suppose the decision would depend on an individual's personal circumstances e.g job security, other debts, remaining disposable income etc. Also the excellent residual values of the Beach make much more sense than buying a normal car on finance. However it isn't something I would ever contemplate.

 

[larrylamb]

Saving up only works if you can buy it in the future at todays prices. My van is coming up to 5 years old & to buy now would be something like 15-20k more than I paid. That is far more than I've paid in interest.

Save up £450/month for 2 years & find you still have as much still to save as you did two years ago.
Or you could have enjoyed the van for two years thinking Im glad we bought when we did as the prices have gone up again.

Agree completely, if you wait until you have the full amount saved, kids will be grown up and married lol.
We put just over a 1/3 down and financed the rest 4 years ago. If we hadn't jumped in then we probably never would have. Happy to say that thankfully the purchase has now been paid for with very little interest, if we had waited until now the cost to buy would be at least another 10k on top plus my boy would have missed out on 4 fab years campervanning.

 

[MarkVw2017]

Agree completely, if you wait until you have the full amount saved, kids will be grown up and married lol.
We put just over a 1/3 down and financed the rest 4 years ago. If we hadn't jumped in then we probably never would have. Happy to say that thankfully the purchase has now been paid for with very little interest, if we had waited until now the cost to buy would be at least another 10k on top plus my boy would have missed out on 4 fab years campervanning.

Good advice. You can always buy a campervan, but you can never buy back time making lovely memories spent with your children*


*Not all time spent with my children is lovely and for them occasions, you need a Cali to drive off in the sunset to recharge your batteries, have a cuppa, a kitkat, not a silly 2 finger kitkat, a proper 4 finger kitkat, a sneaky sleep and drive back home ready for more 'happy memory time with the kids, and 10 minutes later when there screaming, "where the keys to my Cali?"

 

[Amarillo]

By that calculation my house is the worst investment Ive ever had, its depreciated by about £1million since I've owned it, as thats how much extra I would need to pay to buy it today.

If properly maintained, a house is not a depreciating asset.


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[gvick]

I work in banking industry.
Most high street banks will not lend over 25k on an unsecured personal loan.
As said in above comments most important aspect is your affordability of the monthly payments .
I have financed my forthcoming Cali on dealer pcp together with a personal deposit.
New calis are very expensive and if you add some options on a 4 motion you get to over 70k very easily as @MarkVw2017 said it can be an agonising decision- one that took me over two years (and even then I nearly decided on an F type).
Assuming you can afford the monthly payment then one bit of wisdom I received from the forum was to have a vehicle that enhanced my family, personal and leisure time and was a compromise for work rather than the other way round.
After all we only get one life ,,....

 

[jts46]

If properly maintained, a house is not a depreciating asset.


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It is in France

 

[Velma's Dad]

If properly maintained, a house is not a depreciating asset.

True, in strict accounting terms. However property as an asset class is subject to short and long term market risk. The value of any traded asset can go down as well as up, and timing of an owner-occupier's market exit is rarely controllable because it's driven by life events (eg a need to move jobs, divorce, etc etc).

 

[WelshGas]

Happy to travel wherever to get the right conversion. My kombi already has both swiveling seats and leisure battery. It’s just a decent bed system that isn’t on rails was hard to find, and didn’t like the Exploria one.

You can get the California rail and bench seat fitted here:-

http://www.oxfordt5.co.uk/

Have a good reputation. Can be done in a day.

 

[Richard Teale]

There’s nothing wrong with finance per se. I’ve borrowed on plenty of occasions to enjoy something today that I couldn’t otherwise afford. I’d personally be a little nervous about taking out 10 year HP though. In hard financial terms the money you’d end up spending over the full term is eye-watering - circa £100k for a van!!!! Even if you can live with that thought, you need to think about the commitment you’re entering into against an uncertain backdrop. 10 years is a long time, your circumstances might change radically over this period and with HP you don’t have a great deal of flexibility. Sure you can sell the van after say five years, but most finance deals don’t break even until beyond the two thirds point if you’re lucky. Even with today’s rock solid residual values, who knows what’s around the corner with diesel vehicles in particular.

If finance is your only option, then a PCP would probably be safer as you have more options over a shorter period.

I’m with one of the previous repondents, don’t get seduced by the lifestyle marketing hype machine. At the end of the day I’ve owned and rented several campers, a T2, several T5s and I bought a 6 year old California SE. I love my California but all these vehicles ticked the lifestyle box. Buy what you can afford - there are plenty of used Californias and conversions around that you wouldnt have to finance over 10 years.

 

[paradise city]

circa £100k for a van!!!!

How did you arrive at this figure?

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[Richard Teale]

65k at 8.8% over 120 months = 97k

Intended to be more thought provoking than accurate as that didn’t allow for any deposit.


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[flying banana]

Something in the news this week about finance from car dealers being a rip off by about a brass band a year. The new ppi?. Its a tough one. But 10byears is a looooong time. I went to the bank. I don't regret it as I love the van. But I own it out right. Well.... Me and the bank do but I don't take the bank camping with me.

 

[MattBW]

I did the last 23.5k of it over 5 years after paying a large deposit and part exchanging my car for my beach.

Even then it was £440 a month paying the lowest interest I could find . I’m almost in the last year now and I haven’t lost a huge amount of money I depreciation which I can at least offset the interest against.

The Vw finance was a lot more expensive over the same period.


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