What can you afford?

This is a biggie for most people as prices can range from a few hundred pounds for an ancient camper to tens of thousands for a brand new, big beast with the very latest in everything.

An important point – don’t expect motorhomes to depreciate in the same way as cars, they hold their prices for a lot longer – or perhaps it just seems that way because they start life at much higher prices.

Having spent a great deal of time perusing the internet and magazines looking for the right motorhome I would say age is the determining factor in finding something that’s right for your pocket. All of the different sizes come down in price eventually, you just have to go for older if you’re also looking for cheaper.

To put that in context, I’ve recently bought a 15 year old Fiat Ducato conversion (Cristal Cruzer) and that was definitely a compromise based on cash available to purchase and likely future maintenance requirements.

It also helped that I’ve replaced one of our two cars with this motorhome, as it’s small enough to use as a runaround in between trips to the great outdoors. As a result, the standing costs (road tax, insurance, MOT etc.) are pretty much the same as when we had two cars and no motorhome.

So that’s also bearing in mind. If it’s going to be an extra vehicle then there will be extra ongoing costs, no matter how often you use it. Plus it’s going to be heavier on fuel than a car.

Equally, it’s no good ending up with something that doesn’t meet your needs, because you’ll find you don’t use it much and it was a wasted investment, even if you saved money by going for something cheaper but not as appropriate.

Finding the right balance isn’t easy but the right motorhome is out there somewhere so it’s worth being patient and taking your time.