Actual costs of running a static caravan

[JasperAndFlo]

We are fairly set on purchasing a static caravan in Wales at some stage this year. Yes, I understand they're a massive money pit, depreciate etc - but this is the lifestyle choice that our family would love

Does anyone else have one who could share their annual/monthly running costs? Not annual fees, but things like how many gas bottles a year, electricity, repairs, gas checks, etc.

I don't think we will let it out, but if anyone has associated costs with that, that would be great.

Thanks in advance!

We lived in one while renovating. Gas became very expensive when it was cold... upto £10 a day during the depths of winter. Horrifically hot in the summer!!

We go to ours at the weekends in the summer mostly, with a couple of weeks here and there.

Fixed costs that I can think of are…
our annual gas check is about 60
electricity is £25 a month (inc electric heating so £300 a year)
We use about 1 gas tank a year which is about £100
5g broadband is £15 a month for the SIM card so £180 a year
Ypu also need to think about petrol costs for getting there - it’s about £35 a trip for us so say we go 30 times, that’s £1050 in petrol which we wouldn’t necessarily incur if we were at home.

So that’s about £1750 just for us to use it. Maintenance-wise it’s things like painting the decking if you have it, dealing with burst pipes over the winter if it gets cold, things breaking and needing replaced etc - I reckon we spend about £400 a year on maintenance stuff.

That adds up to a very conservative estimate of around £2150. But that doesn’t include the trips to the chip van cos it’s easier than cooking (this happens A Lot😁)

But, we love it and we’re able to afford it and it makes us happy.

Thank you, that's about what I was thinking, but it's great to know.

There would be a beachside pizza bistro near us, so I totally get the 'easier than cooking' bit!

Insurance?

And study the T&C. At my friends’ site they can insist that caravans are replaced if they get old, and any caravan on site can only be sold via their agency at huge commission. So it’s depreciation plus massive sale fee.

And site fees

They bump it all up. My ex husband passed away age 53 Aug 21. He had his caravan for 3 months. He worked away from the area, always wanted one, bought it for 30k and came back once a month to see and have the kids over. He died unexpectedly and it was left to the kids. Even before that he had many issues i helped him with regarding park dean resorts. We looked at all costs and it was the site fees that made it impossible to keep. It was also not their choice, to have a static. So, actually, he was mis sold it, I fought for the kids, and park dean returned all money paid and it went between them as inheritance in the november... 2 days later it was anhialated in a massive storm... Karma.

£150 for insurance

I agree though, although the OP didn’t ask for site fees, they have gone up hugely the last few years. Ours have almost doubled over 7 years

I have relatives that have one. The ‘trick’ seems to be get one on a site that has decent amenities, and not too far away where a Friday night drive becomes a burden.