Caravan Ownership

[DuckWillow]

Can anyone tell me about their experiences of caravan ownership.

We are thinking about a static caravan on an established site which we could use but also let out in summer to recoup some of the pitch costs.

We’d probably be looking at a second hand caravan rather than a brand new one.

So far the negatives I can see are...

It’s not a financial investment as the vans depreciate in value.
There is usually a limit of 10-15 yrs on pitches after which we may have to upgrade.
Pitch and other fees.

Positives are..

A bolt hole within 1-1.5hrs from home for rest and relaxation which for me might well outweigh the negatives.

Just interested in other people’s experiences.

@DuckWillow Get one through Haven and allow them to rent it out. They keep it maintained and sort out any potential damages

I've always wanted to own a caravan. We currently go to a caravan site about 45 mins from here and pay about £120 for a weekend. We have thought about it recently and it's just not worth buying one cos even going a few times a year it's still way cheaper to just hire a van

Has anyone had any bad experiences on sites based on Anglesey such as being mislead and mis sold a static caravan

Get one through Haven and allow them to rent it out. They keep it maintained and sort out any potential damages

Hahaha. They really don't.

It's quite possibly the most stressful and expensive way to own a static.

@taylorowmu They have & continue to do so with my auntie's caravan.

She is very lucky not to have had any problems. We had constant calls from them about damage and missing items. It's the most expensive at of owning a holiday home you can't even use in prime season.

But if Haven are doing a good job for her, long may it continue.

We lost thousands of pounds when we bought and rented through them.

This thread has got me looking at tourers now. I’ve always wanted one. Can I ask how you lose money on them, I understand how you would on a static but not so much in a tourer that you plan to keep for a long time and use a lot. Surely the cost is offset against the money you’d spend on accommodation

Cornwall this August in Park Dean owned static £579
Weekends in Weymouth throughout the year £179-£350 depending on time of year.
That’s about £1.5k a year for us as we go away a lot. A tourer on eBay is about £6-£9k. I’ve only got to have it 4 years.

We are teachers, we have the whole summer off so I’d take it everywhere.

As Teachers you may well be OK because you are using it a lot in holidays but here are ways you can lose money on a tourer-

It depreciates
You might need a bigger car and tow bar
The cost of sites per night in high season
Habitation annual costs and equipment costs
Ferry and fuel costs of taking your home with you on holiday

You are also likely to have to prebook sites as you are going in high season.

We think these sort of holiday options are no cheaper than a decent annual two week high season holiday but you get more holidays for your money if you get the time off of work. The idea, if I were a teacher, of heading off for 4 weeks plus in summer would be something I would love to have the opportunity to do.

We had an old campervan for a while and only got rid of it because we couldnt justify the costs for three or four weekends a year. But we have incredibly tying jobs which was our problem.

Only one person so far has mentioned the tow car. Be aware that if you're towing at or near your car's weight limit, it'll be quite slow travel and much more wear and tear on your car. We have a brute of a Land Rover which will tow 3 tonnes but our shed on wheels is only 1800kgs which makes towing it a breeze.

So if you have children you may want bigger for comfort but also be aware that the nicest places like Cornwall and Cumbrian have teeny tiny lanes to navigate.

We adore ours, though.

We tow ours with a LR too. I absolutely love our caravan, as it means our daughter, who has additional needs, is happy on holiday. She finds transition difficult, but she has her own stuff in a familiar space, wherever we go. We’ve been all over France in it, as well as the UK.

It is my favourite space in the world because it’s so versatile and cosy.

I’ve got a seven seater Toyota for all our kids, I’d need a 6 berth as well.

I had a little look at site fees for August and I was shocked at the per night fee for some places. Scotland would be our choice and it was still £200+ on skye for a week I’m also not very good at fixing mechanical things so while I could make it look pretty, I couldn’t buy an older one and make it a project. Something to think about though, thanks

Caravans really need a proper annual service and tyre check.

Caravans are pretty much the same as cars. They depreciate and need maintainence.
I love ours. Sometimes we leave it on a seasonal pitch for the summer but not too far from home (I live in a touristy are) and other years we take off for the weekend when we can. It's well used and we can take the dog which is the biggest bonus for me.
Every static park in my area will not allow subletting at all.

Tourers can be expensive, it doesn't quite work out at cheap holidays.

I have one and love it. I pay £300 for storage a year, about £150 for insurance and another £150 for a service. So £600 before I've gone anywhere or done anything. That would be a week in a cottage I guess.

Towing it is expensive as it's more fuel consumption, gas bottles need replacing when used, I paid about £200 for new tyres last year. Stuff breaks and needs fixing. Even little stuff like a blind, a new toilet circuit board, a plug socket snapping off.

Then of course potential big bills if you get damp, etc. My caravan is 6yo and has had damp at every service so far. Up to 6yo covered by warranty but god knows how much it might be next year if damp again.

And of course the actual holidays you can be paying between £20-40 a night depending where you go.

We have space outside our house for ours, but could do with a cover for winter. We’ve never had any damp though. We googled to see how much our model goes for earlier and it appears to be the same as what we bought it for, five years ago! It’s a great van- well built with good use of space.

There will likely be 2 bits of small print in the contract.

1. No caravans over 10 or 15 years old allowed on site.

1. You are only allowed to sell your caravan back to the site.

This means that in 10/15 years time your perfectly decent van will be kicked off and you'll probably be charged for its removal.
If you change your mind and decide it's not for you the site will offer you £3k for the van you paid £10k for the year before.

It's all a bit of a con really. If you do go into it research thoroughly.

I’ve had two statics. In fact our first one cost £1600 and we had it for ten years
Was fab .away every weekend in N Yorks about 50 mins from home, but you’re in another world.
Forty years on and many holiday homes in between including a villa, in Florida, a chalet in Brittany, a cottage in N Yorks , three tourers in N Yorks, everything has come full circle and we are back again in a static and we are just loving it

My advice..if you have to rent it out ..you can’t afford it
If you do go ahead be sure to do your own bookings to maximise your profits

I’ve heard awful stories of people who pretty much handed their van on a plate to the park owners.
They were putting sun holiday people in them ..so people were nowhere paying what an average van ought to cost and the park would still expect their cut
Come the end of the season many people found they still owed the park some rent.

If you rent it out yourself you might just be able to keep control of what is staying there.
I tell people never to invest more than you can walk away from if your circumstances change

I feel so sorry for people who sink their life savings, inheritances etc into it and then fall foul of some unscrupulous rules and find themselves without a foot to stand on.

They might have paid £65k for an all singing , all dancing van but after two years you might only get offered about £20k
This is because your beautiful van is manufactured for somewhere around the £30k mark

So they aren’t going to give you £40plus if they can pick up another new one for less

If you go for secondhand be sure you get in writing that there’s no maximum amount of years you can stay.

Fees ..we are on a small site but it’s surprising how quickly payment comes around . Ours are £2k so a tidy sum that will buy a holiday for two abroad.

However we use ours 4 days a week from Feb 1 until Nov 30
So we can get loads of use out of it.

I started to write this this morning before grandkids arrived..so I expect it will have moved on a. Bit
But do get I. Touch if I can help more

Touring caravan, seasonal pitch, fully serviced, so water and waste drained away, maximum 45 mins drive from home, and we use it all the time, even pop over for an afternoon, and as soon as we get there it feels like a mini break, instant relaxation. We had 1 hr 1/2 away, but barely used it, as kept putting off because motorway was busy, didn’t seem worth a commute for one night etc...

I’ve just added up how many nights we’ve spent in N Yorks..roughly about 104

A travelodge if we can get one just outside of york at £50 a night ...comes out at £5,200
£6240 at £60 a night..again..might not be possible on a weekend to get that price.

Our fees are £2k...so we are well in pocket

Plus we’ve had three family bbq,
two cousins have been for separate weekends
and my son and dil stayed over for a night when it was the music festival
And my daughter was allowed to park her pop up camper on our plot when it was the music festival

So no complaints from me

We always have a trip to york and last week we were down there 4 nights running as we’re really into the music down there.

In a morning I open the curtains near my bed and have a lovely countryside view
We’re often one of a handful of couples stopping there.
No amenities on site which is great.

We keep pinching ourselves to be sure it’s real

We bought secondhand and refurbished it and there’s no time limit on our now 14 year old van that we’ve had two years.

Long may it last
Grandsons are coming with us tomorrow 👍 for 4 nights

After one bank holiday and not going home till Wednesday and being busy when we got home I said to dh on the Saturday morning..is it worth going for one night

Hell yeah! He said...and off we went
About 50 mins later we are there.

The chickens on site now know I’m a soft touch for grub...
Dh says..here come the girls when the four of them show up lol

A couple of handfuls of seeds and they’re quite happy.

Does anyone know of a good site with seasonal pitches in the Ilkley area?

The one I know of is slightly north of York

Whereabouts Ken? I love North Yorkshire, was there last weekend and will be again in a fortnight in our caravan, always looking for recommendations.

Kez not Ken!