Two weeks ago we picked up our new California Beach T6.1 from AMAG. I never thought I would buy a brand new car in my life, but here we are.
The whole family is super excited, and we have already planned a bunch of weekends this spring and summer, as well as a bit longer holidays. We got some first nights in the van already over Easter.
We thought about the purchase long and hard with my wife. And against all odds it was this thread (on a forum that one would expect to get good advice why it is not financially smart to buy one) that encouraged us to bite the bullet.
Especially comments from @Definitelynotdave and @Alexej (thank you!), which essentially highlighted that we only have a handful of golden years with our kids before they become big enough to not want to join or be busy with eg hobbies, that were eye-opening for me. I see this purchase rather as an enabler of priceless experiences with the family and friends.
Getting the van has triggered further thoughts in me about what I value and want in life. For example potentially taking multiple additional weeks of vacation per year and be able to take off with the kids every time they have school holidays. Let’s see if I manage to execute in that plan (dream?).
The van was actually ‘cheaper’ than I would have expected, only 62k chf with quite a few extras. Essentially the same that you need to pay for the moment for a 2-3 year old one. Back in July 2021 we ordered it and they estimated its arrival in March/April, so right on time - kudos to VW/AMAG. It will be our only car, and we anyhow use the car quite infrequently during the weekdays.
What do do with the long delivery times? Wait not much you can do anyway. Order in September so it might arrive next May. (That was our previous recipe, might not apply anymore). With AMAG, you don’t pay a penny until delivery so now risk, really.
Selling is due somewhere March to May when people realize they need one but can’t get them soon enough for their summer plans.
sounds like a good plan.
buy a 80k CHF car, then just put it out into the blaring sunlight or freezing over 100 times a year, and about a dozen hailstorms… because it’s cheaper that way right.
my calculation was the following: i bought the car new in 2006 for 55k
I had an offer for a garage in front of my door for 250.- a month (center of zurich), this would cost me 3k a year, makes 30k in 10 years, so half of the new car in 9years, just for parking. didnt make sense in my eyes. Cheepest offer i had was 200.- a month, but a 10min walk isnt very convenient…
blaring sun: i use a silicon-roller for the seals of the roof (hope to keep it fresh that way)
freezing: i use a anti frost “scheibenreiniger” as far as i know, the only “direct” damage the freezing could cause
dozen hailstorms a year: didnt occure one in the last 6 years, and if so, it would have been insured
I’m parking mine at 150 a month, if you’re interested for a winter place, let me know.
I’m more than happy to pay the extra 110CHF monthly compared to street parking, knowing that nothing will happen to the car with respect to elements.
also pls keep in mind that new prices are 75k+ CHF for Liberty Ocean (prices rose 20% since 2020), so unless your insurance pays “new value”, anything with a partial or “pro rata” value of your current car will not get you far.
i go fot the “beach” but you are right, i configured one just for fun (quite similar to my actual one) and i ended up with 68k.
i also sometimes wonder what to do about the “insurance to market price gap”. i saw car-offers similar to mine in the internet for around 50k, my insurance will pay max. around 25k (if it gets stolen or similar)
But i think i just do nothing and go on camping…
One could get a new T6 Multivan (no beach / cali) in 2016 for under 40k. I bought mine for 44k (with 4Mo and 8 wheels and 2k for other options).
If I recall correct, the beach was also around 45k at that time (with not many frills though)
I tried mycamper and it worked out quite well until now. If you don’t always go camping or have limited holidays, it is a great way to get the feeling.
In our case we find the camper vans extremely expensive and it makes financially more sense to rent since we are not heavy users.
This year we also tried a caravan rental. Some camping places offer fixed caravans for rent and they have everything you need. We basically went with a bag by train, experienced one week camping and came back. Highly recommended
I revive the thread, we rented a camper for a week wit our 2 year old and we had a really good time.
We expect the second baby in the next days, but i really think a camper van could be a good addition rather than a vacation home somewhere in the woods for our family.
I love the mobility combined with the option to sleep in the car.
Looking at the used market i expect more and more used camper vans to be sold in the coming months. If we might find a good offer we consider buying one.
However i don’t think renting it out is really worth the time/hassle you have to put up compared to the generated revenue. Only maybe if you can rent it for min 1 to 2 week, This way you don’t lose to much time explaining everything and controlling the car when you get it back.
Knowing & observing the market for camper / camper vans for +15 years, I tend to say there was and is no easing in sight. Prices in the “used market” rose even more than in the “new market” and the fact that VW is fading out it’s traditional Van models (T7 won’t be a suitable base for conversions) won’t help either - this is my opinion.
Another observation: One tend to compare a camper / camper van purchase with a regular car in regards of depreciation. That was (and still is as of today) just wrong. With my 2 VW Vans, I made a 100% profit with one (bought used and sold for double the price, after 10 years / 50k km) and a tiny write off of just 20% (bought new and sold after 8 years / 50k km) with the other. A regular Camper (bought used) I sold for +/- the same price 5 years later (& 25k km).
Of course, this can change (drastically) and the market can crash. But IMO, there is no indication in sight - see your motivation (along with 1’000 of others)
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right.
