Should I buy a 15year old static caravan for £20k?

[Familycare]

I'm looking to upgrade my 2013 tourer to a static caravan. It's starting to need money spending on it and I'm looking for something more permanent. We have viewed a static that is a 2010 model, it's been well looked and although showing signs of wear & tear there are also some new sofas included etc etc. my partner wants to buy as it's cheaper than other caravans on the site ranging from 30-50k. I have a few concerns and want opinions to see if they're valid.

1. The site has said although 15 years old they're happy for it to stay but won't be selling it again- I'm concerned that 5 years from now it will be worth £0 for someone to buy externally and I've no deposit for the next one.
2. I think we could wait and save to get something age 2017 will more years and the ability for the site to sell if we decide to upgrade.
3. This caravan looks new inside but I'm worried about hidden issues that we don't have the time to sort- concerned I'm swapping one old caravan for another. Thanks all, my partner is really keen to buy as appears great value on a lovely plot with decking etc. appreciate any viewpoints.

I'd hang on and try and buy a newer caravan if you can. They do depreciate very quickly. We lost 8K on ours. We sold it back to the site after COVID as we could hardly use it due to the restrictions at the time. The site fees were 2K a year back then.
But it was great while it lasted !

I wouldn't. Sounds terribly overpriced and will drop once you buy it too. I bought one in 2016 which was 10 years old and paid 20k then. It's worth about 5k now. Bear in mind it will probably have little to no resale value in 5 years

Other things to consider is how much are site fees, how much do they go up each year. can you afford them. plus factor in your gas and electric - mine is about 1k a year and i don't use the van that often.

Thankyou, caravans are certainly not a good investment haha. I’m worried that I wouldn’t even be able to sell it back to the site like you did as an option due to its age!

Your first concern is really just a fact rather than a worry. It won’t be resold again so the resale value will be 0. So the question is, is it enough of a bargain that you’d be happy just to use it for however long and get nothing back?

the site won't buy it back at that age

but if you do sell it privately it will have to be through them and they will take a fee.

unless you remove it offsite - which they will charge you a fee to do together with the removal fee (several thousands)

I’ve had to pay to get caravan taken off site as it had to be craned. Cost £3k

Tourers are holding their value at the moment. Mine is a 2012 and valued at £10k, which is only £2k less than when we bought it 4 years ago. Would you not consider a bigger tourer? We’re just about to upgrade to a twin wheeler 8ft wide, there’s just so much more space and we will continue to site it on our existing pitch.

Have the site told you how long they are happy for it to stay for?

On the site we use it's 20 years old max - regardless of condition. So in 5 years you'd have the removal costs and it's massively unlikely anywhere else will take a caravan that old (our site is the only one I know that allows vans over 10 years old?

I would not do this. You would only be buying the caravan too and not the ground it sits on. These are money pits.

A lot of people have been seriously financially burned in buying such things. If it’s too good to be true it likely is.

It’s actually 15 years on this site in the t&c’s, however they said they are happy for it to remain on site as long as it’s well kept etc. I’m surprised they’re selling on behalf of the customer but that’s down to it being in such good condition. ( it doesn’t look any different to the newer models). They have said they won’t be selling it again though so we would need to have it removed when finished.

I’d worry that they could decide to enforce the 15 year rule at any point, leaving you with a worthless caravan. I’d want something legally binding that allows you to keep it there for a minimum period.

We own a caravan near family, when we bought it we understood that we won’t get any money back at the end of 15 years. It is definitely a luxury not an investment!

That means they could insist you remove it after 6 months, or even less.

It's very odd they are selling a caravan that doesn't meet their t&cs.

who decides whether it is well kept?

they do.

they could sell it to you for 20k then after 6 months say it's deteriorated and needs removing off site.

Read some of the stories on FB group Holiday Park Action Group before you go ahead.

I really wouldn't - elderly static caravans can quickly become a millstone round your neck.

Another way of looking at it would be, how many holidays in different static caravans could you have for £15k?

You've got 5 years max, no matter how you spin it. It will then either be worthless, or worthless PLUS you'll incurr costs to remove it.

For 5 years you'll also have site fees to pay, say £2k a year.

So in 5 years you're spending @£30k - 6 THOUSAND quid A YEAR with nothing to show for it at the end (and possibly removal/disposal costs). £500 a month.

That's an awful lot of holiday money in the next 5 years...

All of this. The holiday park could also changes hands and your potential five years disappear overnight if they decide no old caravans.

Thankyou so much everyone for your input, it’s very clear there’s a lot of risk involved in buying such an old caravan that’s outside the parks t&cs. I think we will fix our tourer and enjoy that for a few more years until we’re in a position to buy a newer static that we can keep long term. In the meantime we can get some good holidays abroad with the money we’re saving and at least we don’t have to be precious about the kids ruining the carpet etc 🤣

Hooray! A very good decision OP. 👍🏼

Do you site your tourer?

Why don’t you buy a newer tourer and site it on a seasonal pitch, then you have all the benefits of a static without the hassle.

I read the OP as "Should I buy a 15-year-old a static caravan..."!

I read this thread earlier this week and just came looking for it after reading this news article 😬 I’m going to advise: don’t ever do anything that involves you giving a large sum of money to one of these holiday parks!