Motorhome bought for €65,000 used only four weeks in two years

€65,000 to use the motorhome four weeks in two years

A family bought a second-hand 2019 motorhome for €65,000 plus taxes, with a €30,000 micro-loan to finance it, and two years later they have put it up for sale after using it for four weeks. The case fits into the post-pandemic camping boom, when these vehicles went from a niche hobby to an object of desire and campsite stays rose — some claim even doubled — in line with demand.

How much it costs to keep a motorhome beyond the purchase

The initial outlay is just the entry fee. From there come insurance, road tax, services far more expensive than those for a car, the ITV (Spanish vehicle inspection), and fuel. And then there's parking: in the municipality where this family lives, the vehicle cannot be parked due to saturation, so it sleeps in an open lot on the outskirts and its owners frequently go to check that it hasn't been stolen, because there have already been thefts.

In two years, a water leak in the cistern and problems with the kitchen gas appeared. The seller did not honour the warranty and the lawyer warned them that going to court costs money and does not guarantee winning. There the first part of the analysis gets stuck: claiming can cost more than the claim itself.

The hotel calculation: 542 nights for the same €65,000

With a hotel room at an average of €120 per night, the €65,000 for the vehicle is equivalent to 542 nights of accommodation. At 30 vacation days per year, that's 18 years of paid trips before the motorhome starts to pay off at all. The calculation appears again and again among those who have paid up and does not fit the savings narrative.

Against that spreadsheet there are undeniable advantages: sleeping wherever you fancy, having breakfast in pyjamas, travelling with the dog or with someone on a special diet. The problem is the cost per night actually enjoyed, and there a hotel with full board — bed made, daily cleaning, restaurant and air conditioning — comes out better.

Can you overnight in a motorhome without going to a campsite?

It depends on the municipality, and the answer shifts over time. This family's experience is the opposite of the brochure: almost everywhere overnight stays are prohibited, with fines presumed to be hefty, and the idea of parking on a seafront esplanade — the one from the movies — does not hold up. The legal framework has moved: a DGT (Spanish traffic authority) circular issued about a month before this matter arose indicates that, if the vehicle is properly parked, it is irrelevant whether or not there are people inside, and opens the door to no local administration restricting the entry of these vehicles without justified cause.

Some read it as a window of freedom and others recall that parking is not camping: putting out awnings, tables and clotheslines triggers the penalty. Outside Spain the framework changes. In Norway, the right of access allows camping on uncultivated land, according to the country's own official tourism resources.

Campsites are no longer cheap: from €40 to €70 per night

Summer is paid at resort prices. This family paid €40-45 per night for the pitch. Other references from the same period trinc the same line: €48 at a campsite in the Huesca Pyrenees, €40 at another, and €70 per day at a campsite-resort in Salou already in June.

Add to that the fact that overcrowding has degraded the service: poorly maintained toilets, cramped pitches and neighbours clattering with gear at all hours. Someone who was a camper for twenty years sums it up by saying they now avoid them. The landscape confirms it: car parks in tourist areas turned into motorhome camps and sales fairs with showroom prices.

Rent before buying and other alternatives to a motorhome

The most repeated recommendation is to try before signing: rent for a season to test your level of enthusiasm and endurance. Some rented for several summers and saved themselves this burial. Other options are a converted van, a large car with a good waterproof tent or, directly, an apartment. One family went through the van phase and ended up buying a small flat in the Pyrenees, a decision they describe as the best they have ever made.

And there is the opposite case: five people with a second-hand caravan for €35,000 who travel to Britain and Disneyland Paris, have breakfast wherever they fancy and don't do the math. The difference is not in the vehicle, it's in the number of days of use per year. In the United States the majority use is different: temporary accommodation for those who cannot afford rent, and without moving it from the spot to avoid spending.

With these numbers, buying only holds up with intensive use, and most buyers don't have it. The cheap summer narrative keeps selling vehicles and filling campsites at three-star hotel prices. The point where the analysis gets stuck is the usual one: there's no way to know how many of those who sign today will survive the winter of insurance, ITV and micro-loan payments, nor how long it will take them to place the ad.