Time for the old girl to go?

Following several mechanical problems this year we are considering parting with Delilah. The latest gearbox problems (unable to select 5th and reverse) have made us think twice about keeping her. Although the box has been 'fixed' we are still experiencing intermittent problems and don't feel confident taker her far. Although she is in good shape the problem is......what will we get for her? I know we will probably get a little more privately but I can't honestly be bothered. A dealer won't offer much (I was offered only 1500 by one dealer) but at least there will be no come backs. 
Should we part with her or would it be worth while sourcing a new/used box? 
Any thoughts? I'm going crazy trying to decide what to do 

Is your Talisman Express based? if so, have a look around JK Towers site and see if there is anything there to solve your problems.
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Frank

Will do. Thanks.

Do you like the van, does it suit you for what you want,?if so I would be inclined to stick with it, at the end of the day it is your choice obviously, it is what you are happiest and most comfortable with, I have looked at newer, to tell you the truth, I am not impressed with the quality, seems to have gone downhill after 2004 or so, jmho, you may think differently, also pps have had a lot of problems with new vans,hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction. Good luck.

I agree it's a very difficult decision. If you still like the "feel" of it and still enjoy driving it (other than the gearbox quirks) then it would be worth sticking with it for a while to see if cheap things such as linkage setup will help.

I confess that the only thing that persuaded me to go from an older van (late 90s) to a newer one was having ABS. But you then have to live with the extra cost of maintenance on a much more complicated van - and of course there is huge depreciation per year on a recent van, whereas yours - when the gearbox issue is resolved - will probably not be depreciating at all. My last van dropped in value by less than £1k/year during the 8 years I owned it - the current one will lose £8k in less than a year!

If you do decide to sell, I hope you manage to avoid the dealers. You're right that they will give you maybe £1.5k, but you can bet that they will then have it on their forecourt at £6k having done the minimum work possible (probably having the linkage fiddled with). I personally would rather sell it for only a minimal amount more to a private buyer - being upfront with them about any issues - than sell it to a dealer. But that's easy for me to say from a distance - and it's not always easy to identify the dealers anyway...

I'm a "dealer" myself, and an owner too, so have been on both sides of the fence. Its sometimes unfair when people make sweeping statements to avoid all dealers. Like any other trade we are all different, good and bad.

I have bought vans from all round the country and often get praise from sellers for a no hassle straight forward deal, and paying what the seller wants. Many people comment that the public/private buyers come and tyre kick and waste time with no intention of buying.

Some people dread the thought of selling their own van privately, the important thing is each individual does whats right for them.

As an added thought, you see many private sellers staing in the advert "NO DEALERS".

I find it really absurd, believe it or not my money is the same as everyone elses, why would people rule out a big percentage of buyers?

I agree jt2011. I can only speak for myself but 'dealers' are obviously out to make a profit as it is a business. I know I am unlikely to get the best price from a trade-in but to be honest I can't be bothered to sell privately. I have never sold a vehicle privately as you do get an awful lot of time wasters. You also don't get someone knocking on your door in a months time saying the exhaust has fallen off when you trade-in!

Time wasters, had two of them thus far with our sale of Tommy................1st one had us holding our van for 3 days waiting for the deposit. They then came up with a lame reason to not buy him.......Grrrrrrrr !!! There is a lot to be said for p/x'ing, but our situation is such that with the proceeds of our sale we need to buy a car and a tugger (caravan) so p/x'ing not an option.

I have always bought and sold privately, all my cars , until a couple of weeks ago I bought my second MH from a dealer, I did sell my first motor home privately, a guy knocked on my door months ago wanted to know if I would sell it, at the time I refused, then decided to go bigger and contacted him, I got £3000 more than any dealer offered.I have never had a time waster, obviously I was very fortunate.

Hi Tommy, i always sell privately. Its hassle but part exchange is a lazy but  more expensive way. 
If you don't want the hassle you can sell at auction. You get the market price.
i always try to buy private as well. not always successful, but that's because i get impatient. 
regards
Mike

Like I say, everyones circumstances are different.

If you are used to selling privately it can be worthwhile doing a few adverts then wait for the calls, viewings etc. You can usually achieve a higher price this way but you have to earn it and it can take time.

Some people prefer the ease of ringing someone in the trade and getting an instant sale.

As said earlier, dealers need to make a living just like any other trade, if the public didn't use dealers they would cease to exist.

Another dealer has just offered me twice what a previous dealer did, without having any work done! However, we have decided to have all the work carried out. I will have the power steering fitted in the new year providing everything ok. Our current van suits all our needs so no point in splashing out yet on a newer model.