Buying a motorhome can be one of the most stressful things you’ll ever do… or at least it was for us.
Motorhomes aren’t cheap. If you want a half-decent one, you’re probably looking at £35,000 or more. That’s a lot of money to hand over to a complete stranger.
To make matters worse, most of them are already well into their teenage years. A 2012 model? That’s around 14 years old, and more often than not, it’s got more years than miles on the clock… let that sink in.
So, are you willing to spend that kind of money on a private sale?
If the answer’s no… you’d better dust off those pound notes, because the only real alternative is finding another £20,000 and heading to a showroom…
Freedom vs Debt vs Risk. You Decide.
We explored every option available to us, but at some point we had to stop looking and make a decision.
We drove hundreds of miles, visited showroom after showroom, spoke to salesmen and women, and even went to a few motorhome shows… but we always seemed to come home thinking exactly the same thing…
We can’t afford that.
Well… we probably could, but at what cost?
What’s the point in buying our dream motorhome if our monthly repayments were so high that we couldn’t actually afford to go anywhere in it? That didn’t sound like freedom to us.
So, after going back and forth, we decided we’d give Motorhome Depot a go.
We spent months doom-scrolling, debating, worrying, talking ourselves into it… then back out of it. Tempted, but never quite committing.
Until…
We saw one we liked.
Who Are Motorhome Depot, and What Protection Do You Have?
Basically, without boring you, Motorhome Depot operate as a broker. In other words… they don’t actually do much. They simply give salespeople a platform to run their own business from.
Think of them as the middleman. They introduce private sellers to private buyers.
So, what makes Motorhome Depot any different to a private seller on eBay, I hear you ask?
Honestly…
There isn’t.
You’re not buying the motorhome from Motorhome Depot. You’re buying it from the seller.
This is where things get interesting
Now, if you’re expecting the same consumer rights you’d get from buying a motorhome from a dealership… you might want to have a read of their policies.
But, since we know you can’t be arsed… we’ll save you the trouble.
Because, in most cases, it’s a private sale. That means the protections you’d normally expect under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, such as the motorhome being of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, don’t apply in the same way.
So, it really comes down to one thing…
Buyer beware.
It’s your job to inspect the motorhome, ask the awkward questions, point at anything that doesn’t look quite right, and make sure you’re happy before handing over your hard-earned cash.
Just like we did… fingers crossed.
Reviews Are What Drives Motorhome Depot
Because Motorhome Depot operate as brokers, you’re essentially putting your trust in the private seller.
From our own experience, they were quick to respond to a negative review left on Trustpilot. Whether that was out of genuine concern or to protect their reputation… we’ll let you decide.
What we can say is that, in our case, Motorhome Depot communicated directly with the private seller. We know this because issues we’d previously raised only seemed to move forward after our review was published.
To us, that suggested there was communication between the two parties. It’s just a shame it took a negative review before our concerns started moving in the right direction.
Again, it highlights just how little buyer protection you have in a private sale. Other than goodwill, and perhaps the reputation Motorhome Depot have to protect, there isn’t much standing between you and an expensive mistake.
So, would we recommend Motorhome Depot?
I guess we would, but with caution… because what is it you’re actually trusting? The reputation of a broker, who in turn trusts the seller to carry out an honest, fair sale. But if that trust between the two parties fails, guess who’s left out of pocket?
Yes, you guessed it…
Not them… YOU!
With that said, we don’t have a reason to give them a negative review. We tried that, and it was quickly dealt with.
What we do have is an obligation to you, the reader, to give you our personal experience having dealt with Motorhome Depot.
I’m sure if you looked hard enough, you’d find a handful of reasons to avoid them and probably a handful of reasons to trust them too.
So basically… we haven’t helped you at all. 😂
It’s your money, you make the decision, because when, or if, it goes wrong… it’s all on you anyway.
If you do want to know what problems we experienced, then why not check out our side of the story… just so you know what you’re getting yourself into. 😉
THE HIDDEN PROBLEMS WE DIDN’T EXPECT
