Owning a static caravan, is it a great big ole money pit?

[Normansglasseye]

I know that no one goes into static caravan ownership as an investment but I really want one when I retire.

We have had a touring caravan for years and although dh still loves it, I on the other hand would love a little holiday home, somewhere I can just drive off to on a Friday evening and come back on a Sunday. A little place to escape too, nothing brand new or fancy just a little holiday box.

We love going down to Hampshire and Dorset and in an ideal world I would buy a small home down there but that is out of the question as it is such an expensive area but I would love a little static down that way. The kids are older teens now and wouldn't be interested in coming with us so we are not looking for an all singing all dancing site, just somewhere small and quiet with a few caravans. I know pitch fees are pricey as we once enquired at a very large site but I am hoping the smaller ones are cheaper?

Do you or anyone you know own one? Is it worth it or a big white elephant? I don't want to go into it if we will end up hemorrhaging money into it but know if I had one I would use it for years.

We have one. It isn’t a typical static though because it is sited on its own on a piece of land we rent.

It isn’t a money pit. We are there around once a month for a few days at a time. Rent is £100 pa.

I think it can easily get expensive, a site changed ownership and site fees have nearly doubled a few years down the line also are very pushy about replacement statics.

If you're using a site then make sure you know about any policies re: having to change your van every however many years.

A colleague who looked into it decided against because by the time he'd paid off the van the site they were looking at would expect them to buy a new one or remove it. Then obviously site maintenance fees on top of that.

However, if you factor in all the costs and still feel that it's worth it to you, then I can completely see the point in it. I've got a few friends whose families own them and they use them regularly and get a lot of pleasure out of it.

I guess one of the benefits of all of the costs and fees is that they should be fairly easy to calculate and average what the cost is likely to be over a year and going forward. If you owned your van outright from the start then you could be budgeting for the eventual replacement over a decent number of years.

You could get a seasonal pitch for your touring caravan . Much less risky

We visit Craig Tara every now and again. The site fees are £6k a year. Compare that to what we pay to stay for a week (about £300) it's just not really worth it to be an owner.

We'd have to stay 20 weeks a year (roughly twice a month between March and November when the park is open) just to break even on the site fees. Could be more attractive if we were retired and splitting our time but for a working family of 2 young kids it's just a money pit.

The economics of owning just baffle me.

Facebook group is your friend .

Holiday Park Action Group .

We have had 3 in our family . And they are fantastic if you get the right site . Most of them now are just wanting money . Myself and my partner bought one for 20k and the site was like an episode of eastenders . They charged you for everything even to use the hosepipe .
The rule book got bigger and bigger .

My parents had one in Wales and they loved it , they only paid £9k and had it for 6 years so in their eyes they just paid for 6 years of holidays . You don’t have to book and if the weather is particularly good or bad one weekend you can just go or stay at home .
Ideally you want somewhere easy to get too coz if it’s too far you just won’t go .

Their site got really greeedy and just kept piling on caravans and they didn’t sell . They shut the pool and the site club wasn’t big enough to accommodate the amount of caravans they were selling .

I think there’s good and bad sides to it . Use your brain not your heart coz it seems like a great idea but the whole industry needs regulating .

I agree a seasonal pitch for your caravan is an option worth looking at.

This would be an ideal, we would love to find a piece of land to rent and have our own static or fifth wheel on.

Most of the sites we visit have seasonal pitches, I quite like the idea but DH isn't keen. Tbh, the static would be something we would consider in a few years once we retire, I like the idea of somewhere with a proper flushing toilet 😬

We wouldn't want a van on a big site like that. I am thinking more of the small, independent sites that we stay on with our tourer. When the dc were little we used to take our caravan to places like Rockley Park, the site fees there for statics are £8-10k pa, that's madness.

My parents (separated) have both had/got one at some point.

Site fees £5/7m
van £30k - 50k??
Then when it get ‘too old’ by the sites opinion, say 7 years or so?? You sell it for £2/3k and have to then buy new again.

We've had touring caravans for 12 years and at the beginning, the statics on the sites we would visit were quite reasonable but we too notice that over time, the caravans are getting more and more fancy, some are beautiful log cabin types, all crammed in and they are up for £200-300k and that doesn't include site fees, crazy.

I think we may have to consider a seasonal pitch, if there are no affordable static sites around anymore.

I honestly think they make better sense for a couple who mainly want to live or travel abroad but need a base here they come back to quite a few times a year rather than buying or renting somewhere here-

One thing I would advise if getting a static is to get a “residential” spec one if you are intending to use it year round. Ours isn’t and it takes quite a bit of heating in the winter.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1488700298019076

Holiday Park Action Group on Fb is worth a visit before you spend a penny.

'Holiday Park Action Group' is made up of people who have lost their life savings or been forced to sell their homes.

People 'who lost money on mis-sold caravans' launch legal action

We've had one, on a holiday park, for over 20 years. It was a haven at weekends when we were working and now we're retired we spend a lot of time there. The DGC love it!
It costs us about £6k a year in fees etc, so not cheap, but worth every penny. You need to be in it for the long term though - the resale value of static caravans is shockingly low.

There's a Facebook page with mainly unhappy static owners. You really do need to be careful what and where you buy ... it is very much an unregulated industry and can change dramatically overnight if the park changes hands. We have had one for about eight years, now retired so miss the traffic and go midweek. Once this one is done I don't think we will get another, site fees are reasonable, but it's still costly if you are not using it a lot.

Right now, that sounds like a very appealing option!

Yep, the fb group has put me off.

I think we will start looking at seasonal pitches instead.

@Normansglasseye I know someone who did this - site had a 10 month license and you couldn't use it Jan or Feb but that didn't matter as they were always away then anyway - they bought a nice roomy one only 3 or 4 years old in great nick for £40k and rented places abroad all over for 5 and 6 weeks a time. Used to come back to the static about 8 times a year for 2 weeks at a time but said it was a way of storing some of their stuff ( they also had a small lock up storeage near it ) and the site fees worked out about £450 a month but overall it made more sense financially as no bills apart from site fees and odd bits of gas etc

This. My parents do this, this will be their 4th year on their site. They pay to store the caravan there over the winter so they don't need to move it back and forth. I'd definitely try it for a year or so. Their site has statics as well and a few have sold their touters and upgraded to statics.

I would love to do this. Just need to persuade dh as he loves the touring side of caravanning but I'm growing bored of it. I'd rather have a nice base to escape to.

We have a largish tourer (but not double axel) and use a seasonal pitch in the Dales. (very quiet, no clubhouse, just nature, woods, fields, hills, short walk to lovely village).
We use it most weekends in the Spring/Summer/Autumn. It shuts 31/10 til start of March and it’s then put in storage on the site. We’ve considered buying a static there but in the end financially it’s just not worth it as we’ve realised we like travelling abroad too and cannot stretch to both. Would love the extra room, bigger kitchen and bathroom but that would just be a luxury ! We have noticed that some families seem to buy them together so parents, adult kids etc which does spread the cost.

Depends on pitch fees really. I pay quite a lot where mine is and it's not worth it.