I have been looking at caravans for a while but not as a retirement thing (that is years away) but more getting away on short trips more and more.
And why do we need to wait until retirement. Might as well pay it off while still working so that we are debt free when retirement actually comes.
Initially I was looking at Cell Caravans that seemed to have everything and had good comments from owners that I know. Today the SA Caravan and Camping Show was on at the Wayville Showgrounds and with a temperature of 40C, we were glad that most of the caravans were in the pavilions. We felt sorry for the vendors outside as they weren’t getting a lot of traffic.
One of the first stops was Cell Caravans to see if they lived up to our expectations. They had 4 of their vans on show and not exactly the ones we were interested in but those on display didn’t really grab us. For vans with slide outs, it still felt cramped inside. Oh well, it was good to check them out in the flesh.
One of the High Range 4WD Club members mentioned they had a Jayco Outback and were very happy with it so it was off next to check out the Jayco Caravans. We have a number of friends with Jayco Caravans with no complaints and in fact there is one stored in our driveway at the moment.
The first van we walked into was the Silverline 24′ Outback and almost immediately thought this was the one. It was well set out, felt spacious and had all the bells and whistles but not an enormous price tag. For the next hour, we looked at all the different Jayco models and options but still the first one had everything we wanted.
But you need to check out other options, so another hour looking at different makes of caravans, most with an extra $30-40000 on the price tag for little or no extra features. It is scary the prices that some of these vans are going for and how do they justify it.
After a couple of calls to a mate that has owned some Jayco vans over the last 10 years and in fact lived full time in them for the last 5 years and it was back to the salesman to talk deals.
At the end of the day we have signed on the line for a Jayco 24′ Silverline Outback for a show special of $4500 off the RRP with extras including solar and satellite. I would have been happy to grab the demo model they had on display but it had already been sold as had every other model on display.
The caravan goes into production in July with delivery mid-July, not in time for my Northern Territory trip. Jenny is happy as she didn’t want me to go away in the first trip without her. I explained it would have been a perfect opportunity to put it through its paces and get any warranty issues sorted early in the piece.
Now just to shore up the finance to pay for it and to work for a few more years to pay it off. Might be time to go back on shift and get some overtime. 🙂
