Should I buy a caravan instead of paying so much for holidays?!

[Flossyts]

There’s five of us, so even in the uk a hotel price is wild to me. Most of them aren’t dog friendly too.
Am I crazy to consider buying a caravan? Are there hidden costs for me to consider? Do they hold their value if I want to sell?
Any warnings, hints and tips anyone wants to give me?
kids are 9,7 and 3. We also have two small dogs.

What sort of caravan are you thinking of?

A static caravan on a park or your own that you can tow or mobile home?

If you are thinking about a static caravan be very careful & have a look at the Holiday park action group on Facebook & do your homework thoroughly on charges etc & what you will get back if you sell.

Touring caravans I know nothing about. Can you afford to run a car that can tow, storage etc.

Touring caravan. I just want to be able to make a snap decision of being able to go somewhere for the weekend

I love touring but totally underestimated the cost.

Aside from the initial purchase price there is:
insurance
servicing
storage
accessories if not included in sale (awnings being the biggest expense)
fuel costs when towing
club membership
site fees

Just make sure to tot these all up before taking the plunge. I think touring has worked out more expensive by quite a lot than our previous choice to use holiday lets. But love the lifestyle of camping and the relaxed way of life on site.

I think the biggest cost you need to consider is running a car with that kind of towing capacity.

I've never towed a caravan but tow a horse trailer.
Are you already running that sort of car or would it be a big upgrade. The diesel costs are high just to run the car even when not towing.

Also how confident are you towing as it can be stressful & you are limited to suitable roads. Unless you are very experienced at towing journeys can take a lot of pre planning.

I cam on to say this. Join the holiday park action group page and read the stories of financial ruin faced by people in a cut throat unregulated industry.
Do not buy a static unless you are very rich and can happily burn 100k for no return.

Already have a big suv with decent towing capacity, so don’t need to worry about cost other than fitting tow bar.

It’s really hard to just up and go with a caravan because you have to stay on a site and the majority have to be pre booked. We had a motor home and that was great in Europe but rubbish in the UK because you can’t park anywhere. The best vehicle we had was a Bongo. It was marvellous. It was converted so slept two in the roof and two downstairs ( you’ll easily manage with children), we could park it anywhere and we added an awning if we camped for any time.

Do it, best years of our life. Totally agree with the comments on costs though, defo don't underestimate it, site fees were really creeping up over the past few years, understandable with power/water costs.

My friend would love a tourer, in fact she dreams of owning one. For me it would be hell on earth. Which one are you?

They do depreciate quickly. Get a holiday home? My in laws had one. Often booked well in advance into sites. Lots of faff just for a weekend, so it never got used for this. Mil did all the cooking so never really had a holiday. Just cooking in a small space. She ended up hating it.

Do you have somewhere at home to store it? It’s just my neighbour has to pay a caravan storage when his is not in use.

I don’t have one myself but the people I know with them, I’d say the ones who have smaller ones are the ones who seem to get the most use/pleasure ones. They usually camp alongside them.

What about getting a tourer but siting it for the season? It will be cheaper than a static, once you've set up your awning etc, it's done for the season and if you get bored you can move it the following year?

We got a static but we got it cheap and in a very popular holiday area (can walk to the beach) so it's rented out every week we are not there (if possible).

We have a dog and lots of children (6, blended family) and holidays were just too expensive for us. Having the static meant we could all go down with whoever was available plus the dog.

We pay someone to manage the letting side and make sure the letting revenue that covers all the site fees/any other costs

For us it has been totally worth it but we did go in with our eyes open!

Id never have a caravan and store it at the house. I mean we can fit about eight cars on our driveway easily - but having caravan is a green light to burglars

Have had a caravan for 30 years. It’s a great way to enjoy lots of different, interesting areas and children can roam safely. Why not hire one for a weekend or week and see if it’s for you?

We have sold our tourer at quite a loss on what we paid for it.
We had ours on a seasonal pitch so with that, electric and gas, services and insurance, it cost us a small fortune and couldn't afford it. Then there are the repairs if something breaks and storage if you don't have room for it at home.
We totally underestimated how much it would cost us a year!
I know you said you will tow, but it's still costly. Look into it carefully

I bought a 20 year old tourer in January 2020 and it was the best thing I've ever done.

It's given us freedom and created some incredible memories. We use it for off grid 99% of the time and have modified it to take a solar panel, now have a fixed double bed too.

We use it about 7-10 times a year including music festivals and small private camp gatherings.

We get it serviced every other year and I do all the repairs and mods myself.

Do it! Just make sure it doesn't have damp or that will be a killer

We have a touring caravan and we love it but you still have a lot of preparation in addition to everything financial everyone said above. There is always a site you can get somewhere and we have got our packing and setting up to a fine art now (used to take us hours) so if you take all that into account and think you would like it, go for it. We've never regretted it.

I'm considering similar, but I've heard totally conflicting stories.
One pal of mine picked up a tourer for 300 quid while back, still has it and it's been amazing for her and her ddog.
Another friend dropped 12k and hated it, didn't use it and practically gave it away after a few years because it had some water damage.

This thread is already very much 50/50 on experiences already so I'm no wiser 😁

I'm considering a motor home but...

1. site fees upwards of £30+
2. noisy neighbours who are only 10ft away
3. even being a member of the club that own the site fees are bloody expensive and have stupid rules like you can't book in until x oclock, you have to face a certain wsy
4. your in a field, if you don't like "weather" then it might not be for you
5. tiny loo in a caravan (between 5....). Showers on board aren't great either so
6. communism shared loo/shower
7. clothes washing on longer trips (especially when you are in the UK and there's weather) is a pain
8. no swimming pool like in Spain
9. once your on site you have to travel to everything else via car as most sites are well out of town
10. motorway traffic in school holidays
11. cost of insurance/towing/
12. you need to store it and keep the damp/rodents out
13. parking in towns/motorway services when towing
14. towing isn't the easiest thing to pick up
15. British sites are a bit shit...not always the cleanest not always friendly...heard stories of people being chucked off for not obeying signs that hadn't been put out yet!I
16. takes a long time to get to Spain/South France, Italy let alone Greece etc. Like days of driving on the wrong side of the road....especially if your North of Birmingham. Ferries aren't always cheap.
17. you will.always need to own a big car...no little cheap run around for both of you

I'm going for it, but it's just two of us and we propose going abroad a lot

Get a Dandy? It's like a caravan tent that folds up small. Little kitchen, heating etc.

I'm going against the grain and say that as you have kids get a tent instead. Camping in a tent is a holiday in itself. Camping in a caravan is trying to maintain your usual standard of living in a tin box 1/10 of the size of your house.
My father bought a caravan when I was a child and I have memories of my Mum hiding in the toilet cubicle crying while we squabbled and my Dad standing outside chatting to his friends ( we did a lot of weekends with his friends) . Looking back I wonder why she went along with it. Whereas tent camping is so bonkers it's brilliant, especially with kids. Barbecue bacon butty or egg in a bag ( basically every child gets a plastic (heatable) bag with an egg on to squish, then they can add chopped ham, cheese, spring onion, anything else that doesn't need cooking: all the bags hang from a wooden spoon so the eggs hang into a pan of water. When the eggs are cooked they can eat their own omelette with a spoon and some bread straight from the bag and you have hot water for 2 teas and to wash the spoons) for breakfast, out all day, barbecue or tinned chilli and tortilla chips and cheese for supper (only 1 pan to wash). Go to a place with campfires if you can: baked potatoes in foil, sausages on sticks, chocolate cake in orange skins, camp pizza; fun enough in themselves that the kids will love it.
Make the camping itself the holiday and everything else falls into place. And because you travel light you can get 5 people, and all the kit into the car with a roof bag or box, so you can go for a single night if the weather is good enough, or a week if you use it as your main break.
In short, invest less money ( a second hand family weekend tent will cost you less than £200: say £400 all in with bedding, self inflating mattresses etc), embrace the outdoors, have lots of mini breaks a year for £15 a night plus food,

With children of that age I would consider a folding camper- you get two double beds and another can be set up in the middle then when they get bigger they can sleep in an awning extension or pup tent. Cheaper than a caravan, easier to store (to some extent) and less drag so possibly better fuel economy .

Have to admit that I agree with @ODFOx having had a caravan, a camper van and a tent. It’s so much easier and there’s a lot more options for sites if you are tent camping. I spent a few days in Devon in July for £10 a night on a basic pitch. It was lovely. If you get a trailer to put all your camping gear in, you just need to add food and clothes and off you go.

My neighbour has one & it looks like quite a lot of hassle. Cleaning it, keeping it tidy, maintenance costs. I’d rather have fewer holidays in luxury.