How much does it cost to run a Cali?

[Velma's Dad]

If I may, it's a rather odd accounting layout: the "Total Cumulative Cost" - £113,901 at end 2019 - is obviously nothing of the sort. Even if you drove the van off a pier tomorrow and got no insurance back, your total costs incurred could have been the original cost of the van (okay, plus financing costs if any), plus the lifetime variable running costs.

Your actual cumulative costs have been roughly:

£46k purchase
+ £27k running
less £29k current value
---------------------------
= 44k
or £5.5k per year over 8 years

Back to management accounting school for you, my boy.

The good news is though, the Cali hasn't cost you half as much as you thought!

 

[mountainman]

In the world of fake news one can do without people posting complete b****cks!
Lashings of apologies all around. I am afraid I am guilty of editing and butchering an old xls and consequently getting my sums wrong. The top half of the table is fine, as is the pie chart. Something went scarily wrong with the cumulatives. Thanks and apologies to those who pointed it out. No doubt failing faculties are partly responsible which is mildly depressing. However, being referred to as 'my boy' has taken years off. Thanks.

New file attached. Correct this time?

 

[mountainman]

Only posted the pie chart. Here is the whole table this time. I am going to give up and go back to the day job, as they say. Oh! Wife's just pointed out I've retired.

 

[bvddobb]

We just did the calculations for our Cali over the last 5 years. Now, each person's use will be completely different, and the tax situation is also very different from country to country, but for us, with our use, we found that the running costs (fuel, maintenance, repairs, insurance, road tax, MOT) have been € 611,- a month, or, in our case, € 0,34/km.

Now, I'm not yet counting depreciation (will be a guesstimate until we sell or wreck our Cali...) and mods we have done or equipment we have bought for it...

Most expensive car we have ever owned! But we have never enjoyed a car as much as this one, either! So, what the hell...!

 

[Velma's Dad]

Mountainman's (corrected!) calcs make it about £5.5k a year total cost. We also bought our Cali as a nearly-new, and I'd guess our annual costs will work out in the same ball-park as Mountainman's. But interesting to see his actual data.

Various different ways to ponder it, including:

1. Cali versus some other automotive toy. If you bought a one-year-old fun vehicle at same price, eg the Jag F-type discussed in another thread, it would certainly depreciate much more quickly, maybe 60-70% over 8 years rather than the Cali's 30%. So cost per year significantly higher, maybe around £7.5k?

2. If you used Cali only for camping trips, say 2 x two weeks plus 10 weekends a year (ie total 36 nights), that's around £150 a night (okay plus the campsite charges unless wild camping) - still less than even a basic hotel in a nice spot plus the fuel etc to get to/from it in your everyday car.

3. The £5,500 you saved by not having the van would buy you maybe one nice holiday per year for two somewhere reasonably exotic.

Even if we used our van less than we do, I'd still have one.

 

[Amarillo]

Various different ways to ponder it, including:

I'm interested in the merits, or otherwise, of using replacement cost over purchase cost for calculating depreciation. It feels wrong to do so, but I'm not sure why. If I were setting aside the depreciation each year to finance a new vehicle in 2027, I'd have to base the depreciation on the replacement cost to avoid a funding shortfall of 10 years' price increase.

 

[2into1]

I'm interested in the merits, or otherwise, of using replacement cost over purchase cost for calculating depreciation. It feels wrong to do so, but I'm not sure why. If I were setting aside the depreciation each year to finance a new vehicle in 2027, I'd have to base the depreciation on the replacement cost to avoid a funding shortfall of 10 years' price increase.

Surely it depends if (1) you are working out what this one is costing you - then you use the purchase price. If you are (2) working out how to pay for the replacement, then you put aside cash based on the likely replacement cost.

Your Cali hasn't cost you anymore just because the list price has gone up.

 

[WelshGas]

Surely the annual cost will depend on if the California is just used for holidays and excursions, ie: in addition to the family vehicles , or used as a family vehicle.
If used as an everyday vehicle then the annual cost should have the annual cost of a replacement vehicle deducted as well as the savings on hotel stays etc:.
So in my case I would have had a minimum 4 seater vehicle comparable in size, so annual running costs would probably be very similar if not greater due to Depreciation being greater with most vehicles. Then you have holiday cost savings on top. Hence my assertion that the California has cost virtually nothing extra and in fact possibly a saving.
If the California is laid up for 6+ months of the year then it can become an expensive toy.

 

[Velma's Dad]

If the California is laid up for 6+ months of the year then it can become an expensive toy.

That raises another factor, although a hard one to put a £ sign on.

We don't use our Cali every day, or even every week, in fact Velmaslog tells me it was only driven on about 80 days last year.

But when it's not being used I don't regard it as 'laid up'. Whenever we want it, all year round, it's there. If the weather looks half decent we can jump in and head off for a weekend, or even mid-week sometimes if our diaries allow. There's a huge value in that for us.

And not forgetting also that some of our friends think we're ever-so-slightly cool having a campervan. Even though "No, it doesn't have a toilet or shower". And even some of our kids' friends think so. That's got to be worth a few grand a year?

 

[Amarillo]

Surely the annual cost will depend on if the California is just used for holidays and excursions, ie: in addition to the family vehicles , or used as a family vehicle.
If used as an everyday vehicle then the annual cost should have the annual cost of a replacement vehicle deducted as well as the savings on hotel stays etc:.
So in my case I would have had a minimum 4 seater vehicle comparable in size, so annual running costs would probably be very similar if not greater due to Depreciation being greater with most vehicles. Then you have holiday cost savings on top. Hence my assertion that the California has cost virtually nothing extra and in fact possibly a saving.
If the California is laid up for 6+ months of the year then it can become an expensive toy.

Very good points.

In our case, if we had not bought Amarillo we would not have given up our jobs for a year and lived in it while travelling around Europe. So our loss of wages needs to be factored into the price. That makes our van very expensive.

But the experiences we had as a family were beyond price - and that makes Amarillo just about the cheapest vehicle on the road!


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[Velma's Dad]

But the experiences we had as a family were beyond price - and that makes Amarillo just about the cheapest vehicle on the road!

Yep you need to benchmark against costs of alternatives. In this neck of the woods a decade of Cali ownership money would buy you... well, a new kitchen.

Tough choice, not.

 

[jts46]

Very good points.

In our case, if we had not bought Amarillo we would not have given up our jobs for a year and lived in it while travelling around Europe. So our loss of wages needs to be factored into the price. That makes our van very expensive.

But the experiences we had as a family were beyond price - and that makes Amarillo just about the cheapest vehicle on the road!


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

You did rent out property for a year, and didn't I read you own and rent another property in London? That income would need to be factored into the price.

 

[Amarillo]

Yep you need to benchmark against costs of alternatives. In this neck of the woods a decade of Cali ownership money would buy you... well, a new kitchen.

Tough choice, not.

For us the choice was between a loft extension or Cali.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[Amarillo]

You did rent out property for a year, and didn't I read you own and rent another property in London? That income would need to be factored into the price.

Yes, it all becomes a rather complex equation.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[mountainman]

This is an update of a previous posts on running costs prompted by a friend asking the question before buying. My van has been serviced by a VW Commercial main dealer from the outset. I wonder if I have been paying through the nose? Yesterday I got the van back from service and MOT. While the van was in I got the usual call with the massive list of things I needed to do. One of these was front discs and pads. My answer to that was, "well that's fine you can do it under warrantee", to which the answer was, "How so?" I informed them that they had replaced these 4,500 miles ago and that they were under warrantee. The answer was, "Oh, we have had a look again and they are fine!" Which they most certainly are. :-(
If I have my sums wrong, I know someone will put me straight, as usual

 

[Vagophile]

How many other customers have been told that they needed things that they didn't? I would be talking to Trading Standards about something like that.
In answer to your question, you probably have. Your experience reinforces my prejudice against Franchise dealers; I'd sooner have a good independent local

 

[66tim99]

This is an update of a previous posts on running costs prompted by a friend asking the question before buying. My van has been serviced by a VW Commercial main dealer from the outset. I wonder if I have been paying through the nose? Yesterday I got the van back from service and MOT. While the van was in I got the usual call with the massive list of things I needed to do. One of these was front discs and pads. My answer to that was, "well that's fine you can do it under warrantee", to which the answer was, "How so?" I informed them that they had replaced these 4,500 miles ago and that they were under warrantee. The answer was, "Oh, we have had a look again and they are fine!" Which they most certainly are. :-(
If I have my sums wrong, I know someone will put me straight, as usual

Toe rags! I'd never take it back there after that.
Love your spreadsheet

 

[SusiBus]

This is an update of a previous posts on running costs prompted by a friend asking the question before buying. My van has been serviced by a VW Commercial main dealer from the outset. I wonder if I have been paying through the nose? Yesterday I got the van back from service and MOT. While the van was in I got the usual call with the massive list of things I needed to do. One of these was front discs and pads. My answer to that was, "well that's fine you can do it under warrantee", to which the answer was, "How so?" I informed them that they had replaced these 4,500 miles ago and that they were under warrantee. The answer was, "Oh, we have had a look again and they are fine!" Which they most certainly are. :-(
If I have my sums wrong, I know someone will put me straight, as usual

I really think you should name and shame the dealer, so that other owners can be aware of what I would consider to be criminal activity, and hence avoid them.
If you don't want to name them, how about a cryptic clue about the location or something like that. We need the help stamp out this type of activity. I bet you've got nothing in writing?

 

[westfalia]

I really like the spreadsheet that you've done
I got a bit frightened looking at the total CC, so i had to
stop looking

 

[mountainman]

I really think you should name and shame the dealer, so that other owners can be aware of what I would consider to be criminal activity, and hence avoid them.
If you don't want to name them, how about a cryptic clue about the location or something like that. We need the help stamp out this type of activity. I bet you've got nothing in writing?

I was appalled, so I am not letting this go but I will follow through with garage first to give them a chance to reply and explain. I will advise on this forum after, probably tomorrow.

I really like the spreadsheet that you've done
I got a bit frightened looking at the total CC, so i had to
stop looking

Not trying to kill the joy. Just provide some data and maybe the message that main dealers are very expensive, but I guess that's nothing new.

 

[westfalia]

I was appalled, so I am not letting this go but I will follow through with garage first to give them a chance to reply and explain. I will advise on this forum after, probably tomorrow.

Not trying to kill the joy. Just provide some data and maybe the message that main dealers are very expensive, but I guess that's nothing new.

Still quite an amount when you see all of the costs on one sheet.

A builder friend of ours has earned the nickname `Rhino`
cos he knows how to charge ( quality tradesman though )

 

[andyinluton]

I see since last years sheet you have tweaked the final value. Your estimated value at the year end may be extremely pessimistic, but its wrong to go back & change previous years values as you have done. What has happened is in the last 12 months values have gone up, so in fact you have had appreciation in 2020 & that makes the cost per mile very cheap for 2020, but shouldn't have an effect on say 2018s costs, obviously it does affect the whole life cost.

When I did a similar sum but on the back of a fag packet, I included my payments received for business mileage as a credit, I paid less than you new & got more trade in at the end, spread over 60k miles it made for pretty cheap motoring.

 

[Legin]

I really think you should name and shame the dealer, so that other owners can be aware of what I would consider to be criminal activity, and hence avoid them.
If you don't want to name them, how about a cryptic clue about the location or something like that. We need the help stamp out this type of activity. I bet you've got nothing in writing?

This is a well known industry dodgy practice Im afraid. If they say you need brakes then ask to see it yourself or decline and get it checked elsewhere. Happens a lot.

 

[Borris]

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RUN A CALI?​

1. Purchased a very expensive new fully loaded Beach in October 2019.
2. Since then, only managed 3000 miles.
3. It costs £475 a year in VED to keep stationary on my driveway.
4. I haven't a clue what the overall costs are.
5. Should I reconsider ownership? ......................Hell no.

 

[OnlyJen]

I hear so many arguments about the cost of a Cali.

There was once upon a time, pre-covid and pre NC500 marketing a camper van was considered a lifestyle choice.

I swapped my M3 for that lifestyle. To be anywhere any time, to have freedom.

If I did the maths then in ownership costs my Cali cost less than my M3. I sold it for pretty near what I paid for it, so SFA so the phrase goes.

If I evaluated the savings, hotels, dog-sitters etc, then I actually made money,

I am fortunate, SMG cowfold look after my vehicles and never ever had a feeling of being ripped off.

If I go totally surreal, how much is my lifetime worth?