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Selling your California in 2023 - real world experience!

Paul_W

Paul_W

Messages
184
Location
Altrincham
Vehicle
Cali now sold
Well I’ve just sold our 2012 California Berghaus 180 BiTDi after 5 years of ownership and wanted to share my experience.

Reason for sale was mainly lack of use, nothing more than weekends away last year, previously we’d have done numerous week long road trips plus loads of weekends. Also the dirty diesel brigade are fast closing in, not to mention the price differential between petrol and diesel (23p a litre locally). In Manchester we should currently be paying £10 a day ULEZ charge but it’s been postponed and is under review but it is coming..

Anyway we made the decision to sell about three weeks ago and I decided I didn’t want to sell privately, couldn’t be doing with the hassle or potentially the time involved, once we’d decided to sell we just wanted her gone.

So I used all of the following platforms to compare prices;
Motorway
Carwow
We buy any car
We want any car
Some interesting results, this exact same time last year I ran a Motorway quote and it came back with £35,900, 12 months later the prices were very different.

Motorway - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
Carwow - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We buy any car - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We want any car - Quoted £26,995 online.

Motorway were a right pain to deal with, perseverance financially secured a reserve price of £30,100 and resulted in an offer of £29,600.
Carwow were very easy to deal with but had no idea of values and agreed to list at whatever price I wanted. Listed at £33,000 didn’t get any bids at all.
We buy any car were absolutely comedy, the guy that valued the vehicle in person had absolutely no idea what it was, offered £25,600 but that was subject to deductions for scratches wheel scuffs etc. so about £25,000.

I was also trying to buy a replacement vehicle so asked a couple of garages where I test drove cars if they’d be interested, surprisingly one was and we did a deal not dependent on me buying a vehicle from him. Secured circa £30K which I was happy with. The dealer did say the camper / motor home market was depressed at the moment and we’d have secured considerably more 12 months ago.

I think privately I’d have secured £32K but that could have taken months so I’m happy with the outcome.

Hope this might help anyone thinking of selling.

It was sad to see her go but was definitely the right decision for us, already booked two weekends away in B&B’s, when you look at the running costs of the Cali that will pay for many weekends away in the lap of luxury. Each to their own but I’m happier in a fluffy king size bed and en-suite nowadays.

Happy travels everyone and thanks for the memories
 
Well I’ve just sold our 2012 California Berghaus 180 BiTDi after 5 years of ownership and wanted to share my experience.

Reason for sale was mainly lack of use, nothing more than weekends away last year, previously we’d have done numerous week long road trips plus loads of weekends. Also the dirty diesel brigade are fast closing in, not to mention the price differential between petrol and diesel (23p a litre locally). In Manchester we should currently be paying £10 a day ULEZ charge but it’s been postponed and is under review but it is coming..

Anyway we made the decision to sell about three weeks ago and I decided I didn’t want to sell privately, couldn’t be doing with the hassle or potentially the time involved, once we’d decided to sell we just wanted her gone.

So I used all of the following platforms to compare prices;
Motorway
Carwow
We buy any car
We want any car
Some interesting results, this exact same time last year I ran a Motorway quote and it came back with £35,900, 12 months later the prices were very different.

Motorway - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
Carwow - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We buy any car - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We want any car - Quoted £26,995 online.

Motorway were a right pain to deal with, perseverance financially secured a reserve price of £30,100 and resulted in an offer of £29,600.
Carwow were very easy to deal with but had no idea of values and agreed to list at whatever price I wanted. Listed at £33,000 didn’t get any bids at all.
We buy any car were absolutely comedy, the guy that valued the vehicle in person had absolutely no idea what it was, offered £25,600 but that was subject to deductions for scratches wheel scuffs etc. so about £25,000.

I was also trying to buy a replacement vehicle so asked a couple of garages where I test drove cars if they’d be interested, surprisingly one was and we did a deal not dependent on me buying a vehicle from him. Secured circa £30K which I was happy with. The dealer did say the camper / motor home market was depressed at the moment and we’d have secured considerably more 12 months ago.

I think privately I’d have secured £32K but that could have taken months so I’m happy with the outcome.

Hope this might help anyone thinking of selling.

It was sad to see her go but was definitely the right decision for us, already booked two weekends away in B&B’s, when you look at the running costs of the Cali that will pay for many weekends away in the lap of luxury. Each to their own but I’m happier in a fluffy king size bed and en-suite nowadays.

Happy travels everyone and thanks for the memories
Excellent information but I am confused by how the running cost of the Cali is significantly more than what you would pay on any replacement vehicle that you need to drive to those spiffy B&Bs.
The main cost of running any vehicle is always depreciation, what you paid for the Cali 5 years ago and minus £30000 divided by 5 is the killer figure, unless of course your Cali was a dog and ran up stupid bills to keep it running.
 
People fear selling their vehicles privately, in my experience unnecessarily. I've sold all my cars privately for over 50 years, and never had hassle. Perhaps l've been lucky, even had a purchaser of one of our Californias give me a bottle of champagne he was so happy with his acquisition.
We've sold our T. 5.1, T.6, and T6.1 using the forum adds. When selling Calis, time of year makes a big difference. The selling scene is totally different at the beginning of March to the end. One week the phone is dead, then bingo, the inquiries come.
 
Excellent information but I am confused by how the running cost of the Cali is significantly more than what you would pay on any replacement vehicle that you need to drive to those spiffy B&Bs.
The main cost of running any vehicle is always depreciation, what you paid for the Cali 5 years ago and minus £30000 divided by 5 is the killer figure, unless of course your Cali was a dog and ran up stupid bills to keep it running.

You’re right about the depreciation, it was excellent at about £1K per annum, can’t argue with that! Main reason for sale was the lack of use, running costs were just secondary really, that said they were mounting up. Probably about £1K per annum for insurance, road fund license, MOT and standard service then last year new tyres and three unexpected trips to the garage to fix ABS faults and a parking sensor fault added another £1K. That’s a lot of money for something that’s just sat on the drive doing nothing for the majority of the year.

I’m sure the next owner will be very happy, hopefully she’ll be trouble free for them, she was much loved and still looked fantastic :)

6E4D1AB5-9B84-451D-BE3E-F5F538C7A71E.jpeg
 
People fear selling their vehicles privately, in my experience unnecessarily. I've sold all my cars privately for over 50 years, and never had hassle. Perhaps l've been lucky, even had a purchaser of one of our Californias give me a bottle of champagne he was so happy with his acquisition.
We've sold our T. 5.1, T.6, and T6.1 using the forum adds. When selling Calis, time of year makes a big difference. The selling scene is totally different at the beginning of March to the end. One week the phone is dead, then bingo, the inquiries come.
You’re absolutely right, however the Cali is compared your run of the mill car a very complex vehicle and at 11 years old things can start to go wrong. Personally I didn’t want the responsibility of selling her to someone and subsequently something major going wrong, a roof hydraulic failure or some such thing, I’d feel just awful. Happier it’s gone to a trader to sell on.
 
Well I’ve just sold our 2012 California Berghaus 180 BiTDi after 5 years of ownership and wanted to share my experience.

Reason for sale was mainly lack of use, nothing more than weekends away last year, previously we’d have done numerous week long road trips plus loads of weekends. Also the dirty diesel brigade are fast closing in, not to mention the price differential between petrol and diesel (23p a litre locally). In Manchester we should currently be paying £10 a day ULEZ charge but it’s been postponed and is under review but it is coming..

Anyway we made the decision to sell about three weeks ago and I decided I didn’t want to sell privately, couldn’t be doing with the hassle or potentially the time involved, once we’d decided to sell we just wanted her gone.

So I used all of the following platforms to compare prices;
Motorway
Carwow
We buy any car
We want any car
Some interesting results, this exact same time last year I ran a Motorway quote and it came back with £35,900, 12 months later the prices were very different.

Motorway - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
Carwow - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We buy any car - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We want any car - Quoted £26,995 online.

Motorway were a right pain to deal with, perseverance financially secured a reserve price of £30,100 and resulted in an offer of £29,600.
Carwow were very easy to deal with but had no idea of values and agreed to list at whatever price I wanted. Listed at £33,000 didn’t get any bids at all.
We buy any car were absolutely comedy, the guy that valued the vehicle in person had absolutely no idea what it was, offered £25,600 but that was subject to deductions for scratches wheel scuffs etc. so about £25,000.

I was also trying to buy a replacement vehicle so asked a couple of garages where I test drove cars if they’d be interested, surprisingly one was and we did a deal not dependent on me buying a vehicle from him. Secured circa £30K which I was happy with. The dealer did say the camper / motor home market was depressed at the moment and we’d have secured considerably more 12 months ago.

I think privately I’d have secured £32K but that could have taken months so I’m happy with the outcome.

Hope this might help anyone thinking of selling.

It was sad to see her go but was definitely the right decision for us, already booked two weekends away in B&B’s, when you look at the running costs of the Cali that will pay for many weekends away in the lap of luxury. Each to their own but I’m happier in a fluffy king size bed and en-suite nowadays.

Happy travels everyone and thanks for the memories

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Unfortunately those 180bhp engines do not have a great reputation which has been well documented here.

Not sure if that would’ve made much difference on selling to the trade, but it certainly would’ve privately so I’d say you’ve done ok.

Have to echo the points. I do wonder why more people don’t sell privately, but I know some people are just not comfortable with it.
 
Good for you.
You tried it, had some great times and realised it was time to move on.

People say it’s just the time of year. But this week, I passed two VW Conversion showrooms that have closed down. One in Aston Birmingham and another over towards Redditch.

The silly times are over. Covid, inflated prices and now we see the return to norm.
 
Interesting Paul W, thanks. I have screen shot this for when the day comes for me to sell.£1k a year depreciation is remarkably little.

I understand why you decided to sell.
My cali is almost 10 years old and bought new. It’s our only vehicle now, a “Daily driver” which ended any thinking of it as a dust catcher.
I still believe it was a great investment. Pre covid we went to Europe for holidays every year more than once and stayed in places we just wouldn’t have afforded to pay for hotels. Same with stealth camping in UK (e.g. a local street for the Bath festival). Day trips and dog walks with a cooked lunch overlooking a beach.
We have used it over the 10 years for so much more than leisure trips; House removals, trips to and from university over three years, deliveries, an extra fridge when needed, a store room, somewhere for office work, for cooking and powering the internet during power cuts at home.
I hear you about the CAZ. It cost me £16 (£8 x 2) recently for an overnight visit to a friend in Birmingham. I currently see it as a running cost although I would be scuppered if a CAZ was introduced where I live.
 
Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Unfortunately those 180bhp engines do not have a great reputation which has been well documented here.

Not sure if that would’ve made much difference on selling to the trade, but it certainly would’ve privately so I’d say you’ve done ok.

Have to echo the points. I do wonder why more people don’t sell privately, but I know some people are just not comfortable with it.
Hi,

Also interesting to note another ULEZ going live, this week Sheffield, £10 a day to drive your diesel Cali through the city. Certainly applied to our 2012, sure some newer ones would be exempt, for now. But this is an ever expanding plan to drive diesel vehicles off the roads. It should also be live in Manchester but is under review however the expansion of the London ULEZ to all of Greater London is going ahead. I’ve already seen Londoners starting to offload their diesels, anything over 6 years old is effected.

This was a major factor in our reasoning for selling and why I’d never consider buying another diesel vehicle. Prices are only going one way and I just wouldn’t be able to bear paying £10 a day for the privilege of using my Cali.

Funny how all those years ago diesel vehicles were be pushed as the great green revolution, more MPG, less emissions, cheaper and now we’re told the exact opposite and penalised for owning one :mad:

I’m now enjoying my environmentally friendly, cheap to fill up, cheap to tax, ULEZ exempt 245BHP petrol estate car, comical really isn’t it o_O
 
Interesting Paul W, thanks. I have screen shot this for when the day comes for me to sell.£1k a year depreciation is remarkably little.

I understand why you decided to sell.
My cali is almost 10 years old and bought new. It’s our only vehicle now, a “Daily driver” which ended any thinking of it as a dust catcher.
I still believe it was a great investment. Pre covid we went to Europe for holidays every year more than once and stayed in places we just wouldn’t have afforded to pay for hotels. Same with stealth camping in UK (e.g. a local street for the Bath festival). Day trips and dog walks with a cooked lunch overlooking a beach.
We have used it over the 10 years for so much more than leisure trips; House removals, trips to and from university over three years, deliveries, an extra fridge when needed, a store room, somewhere for office work, for cooking and powering the internet during power cuts at home.
I hear you about the CAZ. It cost me £16 (£8 x 2) recently for an overnight visit to a friend in Birmingham. I currently see it as a running cost although I would be scuppered if a CAZ was introduced where I live.
LOL, see my reply I’ve just posted to “Reserves” about ULEZ etc.

You’re absolutely right about what a versatile vehicle the Cali is, ours was our only vehicle for 4 years and did everything you mentioned above. It’s and absolute marvel and we loved it fir our 5 years of ownership.

It was the Manchester ULEZ that signaled the end for us, we brought a little run about when it was first supposed to go live to avoid the £70 a week charges and ended up just using the run about all the time. This saw the Cali sat sometimes for months unused. Probably buying an MX5 as a run about was a bad call, it’s so much fun to drive we ended up taking weekends away in that rather than the Cali. If we’d brought a boring fiesta or some such thing we’d probably have still been using the Cali more.

Anyway what’s done is done, we enjoyed our ownership experience, would have always regretted it if we’d not taken the plunge and we have the fond memories.

Cheers, Paul.
 
Well I’ve just sold our 2012 California Berghaus 180 BiTDi after 5 years of ownership and wanted to share my experience.

Reason for sale was mainly lack of use, nothing more than weekends away last year, previously we’d have done numerous week long road trips plus loads of weekends. Also the dirty diesel brigade are fast closing in, not to mention the price differential between petrol and diesel (23p a litre locally). In Manchester we should currently be paying £10 a day ULEZ charge but it’s been postponed and is under review but it is coming..

Anyway we made the decision to sell about three weeks ago and I decided I didn’t want to sell privately, couldn’t be doing with the hassle or potentially the time involved, once we’d decided to sell we just wanted her gone.

So I used all of the following platforms to compare prices;
Motorway
Carwow
We buy any car
We want any car
Some interesting results, this exact same time last year I ran a Motorway quote and it came back with £35,900, 12 months later the prices were very different.

Motorway - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
Carwow - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We buy any car - Wouldn’t quote online, had to contact to discuss.
We want any car - Quoted £26,995 online.

Motorway were a right pain to deal with, perseverance financially secured a reserve price of £30,100 and resulted in an offer of £29,600.
Carwow were very easy to deal with but had no idea of values and agreed to list at whatever price I wanted. Listed at £33,000 didn’t get any bids at all.
We buy any car were absolutely comedy, the guy that valued the vehicle in person had absolutely no idea what it was, offered £25,600 but that was subject to deductions for scratches wheel scuffs etc. so about £25,000.

I was also trying to buy a replacement vehicle so asked a couple of garages where I test drove cars if they’d be interested, surprisingly one was and we did a deal not dependent on me buying a vehicle from him. Secured circa £30K which I was happy with. The dealer did say the camper / motor home market was depressed at the moment and we’d have secured considerably more 12 months ago.

I think privately I’d have secured £32K but that could have taken months so I’m happy with the outcome.

Hope this might help anyone thinking of selling.

It was sad to see her go but was definitely the right decision for us, already booked two weekends away in B&B’s, when you look at the running costs of the Cali that will pay for many weekends away in the lap of luxury. Each to their own but I’m happier in a fluffy king size bed and en-suite nowadays.

Happy travels everyone and thanks for the memories
Interesting post, thanks for the summary and pleased that you got a good price. Having had a frustrating time with CARWOW, we thought we'd try a private sale and listed our Cali here on the forum. The dealer we're getting our next motorhome from also offered a, 'sale or return', contract so there does seem to be a few options open for sellers. Had to smile over CAZ and petrol/diesel fuel price differential as our next vehicle is diesel and the Cali we're selling is petrol.
 
Given your final thought (fluffy king size bed) in your post, I conclude that your decision to sell Cali was as right as your decision to buy it was wrong.

Our personal opinion is that a campervan (Cali) is a way of life and a great investment in our overall well-being. If one looked at everything only through the narrow glasses of financial profitability, life would soon become boring. I would never have built a house, I would never have had a vegetable garden, I would never have had a camera, I would never have had a pair of cross-country skis that sometimes stayed in a corner of the cellar all winter because of the lack of snow. If you have even a little bit of a desire for adventure, a love of nature and a desire for the unknown and freedom, a campervan is a great choice and Cali is a top choice. It is better to turn off the calculator, because buying a Cali is simply not a financial investment, it is much more than that.

And we wish you much joy in your leisure time.
 
Given your final thought (fluffy king size bed) in your post, I conclude that your decision to sell Cali was as right as your decision to buy it was wrong.

Our personal opinion is that a campervan (Cali) is a way of life and a great investment in our overall well-being. If one looked at everything only through the narrow glasses of financial profitability, life would soon become boring. I would never have built a house, I would never have had a vegetable garden, I would never have had a camera, I would never have had a pair of cross-country skis that sometimes stayed in a corner of the cellar all winter because of the lack of snow. If you have even a little bit of a desire for adventure, a love of nature and a desire for the unknown and freedom, a campervan is a great choice and Cali is a top choice. It is better to turn off the calculator, because buying a Cali is simply not a financial investment, it is much more than that.

And we wish you much joy in your leisure time.
LOL, what a comical response! Buying a Cali was clearly not the wrong decision for us, we enjoyed it greatly for five years and it was a big decision to sell her. People who brought Cali’s in lockdown and sold them six months later, now that was clearly a wrong choice, someone having owned and enjoyed one for five years, not so much. We do have a desire for adventure and many plans for the coming year, so please don’t judge us when you don’t know us at all.

The point of the post was simply to help anyone who might be in the situation where they need / want to sell their Cali.

No preaching in response necessary, thanks.
 
An interesting thread - here is my perspective.

We sold our last camper, a 2019 Crafter self conversion, last October sitting on the drive, depreciation, not getting used, expensive to run and so on. Last week, after 48 hours consideration, we bought a new Beach. We needed a day van because we weren't getting days out with 2 dogs and now we are planning trips and holidays again. It will depreciate and be expensive to run but it will be fun and it will get used.

Our only dilemma is what to do with our 2020 Tiguan SEL DSG 4M because it's a lovely car and more economic than the van ever will be. Motorway suggest a reasonable price (I used them last year to sell a car out of probate).

Thing is we are both 70 this year. Petrol and Diesel will still be around for our lifetime albeit at a cost. Have you see VW Buzz that will be the California from 2025 - they will just make the current vehicle more desirable. I have a suspicion that well maintained relatively low mileage petrol cars and diesel campers will have a good resale if & when I am 80.
 
Our only dilemma is what to do with our 2020 Tiguan SEL DSG 4M because it's a lovely car and more economic than the van ever will be. Motorway suggest a reasonable price (I used them last year to sell a car out of probate).
Unless you are doing huge mileage I would have thought the cost of depreciation, taxing, insuring and servicing on the Tiguan would far outweigh any additional fuel cost of using the beach. Get that Tiguan sold!
 
Unless you are doing huge mileage I would have thought the cost of depreciation, taxing, insuring and servicing on the Tiguan would far outweigh any additional fuel cost of using the beach. Get that Tiguan sold!
The Tiguan is much cheaper (165 vs 295) to tax than California, the insurance is £20 a year more and it does 50mpg when the van is doing 40mpg and that's at c.£1 a gallon less. We probably only do a combined mileage of less than 15k so yes it probably would make economic sense to sell it. On the other hand the Tiguan's 4M is good in the ice and snow, a good towing wagon, great for longer motorway journeys in a hurry and anyway I like driving it ;=)
 
The Tiguan is much cheaper (165 vs 295) to tax than California, the insurance is £20 a year more and it does 50mpg when the van is doing 40mpg and that's at c.£1 a gallon less. We probably only do a combined mileage of less than 15k so yes it probably would make economic sense to sell it. On the other hand the Tiguan's 4M is good in the ice and snow, a good towing wagon, great for longer motorway journeys in a hurry and anyway I like driving it ;=)

If you use the Tiguan for half the 15k miles you've saved £300 in fuel.
For all the other costs it is irrelevant whether a cali costs more or less than a Tiguan unless you are choosing which to sell.
The question is do you want one or two vehicles?
 
I'm loving the 'man maths' used to justify the logic of buying then disposing of a Cali. I think we've all been there!
Couple of thoughts...
1) The Manchester zone has gone for a while and Burnham has accepted it shouldn't have caught out vehicles registered as motorhomes. For context, this wasn't a few busy sq miles in a city centre, but 300sq miles, much of it rural. Different rules need to apply.
2) I know some don't agree, but keeping a Cali just for holidays and high days is bonkers. If its not a 2nd (or 1st) car, then you might as well have some approaching a comfortable experience that begins to rival an airbnb.
 
I'm loving the 'man maths' used to justify the logic of buying then disposing of a Cali. I think we've all been there!
Couple of thoughts...
1) The Manchester zone has gone for a while and Burnham has accepted it shouldn't have caught out vehicles registered as motorhomes. For context, this wasn't a few busy sq miles in a city centre, but 300sq miles, much of it rural. Different rules need to apply.
2) I know some don't agree, but keeping a Cali just for holidays and high days is bonkers. If its not a 2nd (or 1st) car, then you might as well have some approaching a comfortable experience that begins to rival an airbnb.
I really disagree with your second point that it is “bonkers” to keep a Cali exclusively for holidays. I use mine exclusively for holidays, including long weekends away. The depreciation is less than that of a car of its equivalent age. I’ve camped in places with absolutely stunning views in remote places where I wouldn’t get, or necessarily want, to stay in an AirBnB. I love the freedom of being able to head off whenever I want, or stay for as long as I want. Last year I went to Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, France, Germany and Italy - all at minimal cost… some of us like to camp, hence why we bought a campervan?
 
I know some don't agree
@JimP1992. I beat you to it. No need to disagree with my post.
Many go on to find that for an extra metre in length, you can transform the camping experience. That metre matters if it's a daily, but not so much if it's waiting around for holidays.
 
@JimP1992. I beat you to it. No need to disagree with my post.
Many go on to find that for an extra metre in length, you can transform the camping experience. That metre matters if it's a daily, but not so much if it's waiting around for holidays.
Ahh, well, I find it does matter if you use it for holidays, including long weekends. In a larger campervan / motorhome, you’re hit with being unable to park / camp in areas with 2m height restrictions (which are becoming increasingly prevalent in places like France), and you lose the covertness which comes with a smaller van… horses for courses, I tend to “wild” camp, we’re a young couple with a small dog, and we are comfortable in reasonably small spaces… the residuals aren’t bad either, which is another factor. Agree to disagree. I’ll not de-rail the thread any further. :)
 
People fear selling their vehicles privately, in my experience unnecessarily. I've sold all my cars privately for over 50 years, and never had hassle. Perhaps l've been lucky, even had a purchaser of one of our Californias give me a bottle of champagne he was so happy with his acquisition.
We've sold our T. 5.1, T.6, and T6.1 using the forum adds. When selling Calis, time of year makes a big difference. The selling scene is totally different at the beginning of March to the end. One week the phone is dead, then bingo, the inquiries come.
Thank you SusiBus you gave us the courage to sell privately here on the form. Post ad last night. Sold to a lovely couple this afternoon.We had a tear in our eyes when we waved goodbye.

Wishing you a speedy recovery. We have enjoyed your wise words over the 7 years. You are such an encourager.
 
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Thank you SusiBus you gave us the courage to sell privately here on the form. Post ad last night. Sold to a lovely couple this afternoon.We had a tear in our eyes when we waved goodbye.

Wishing you a speedy recovery. We have enjoyed your wise words over the 7 years. You are such an encourager.

Super fast sale, congratulations.
What’s next…?
 
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