Caravan & Motorhome Prices

phil675 said:
I don't really see the point in them unless you're retired or can have long periods off. The idea of having 2 weeks off but spending at least a quarter of it dragging a caravan through Europe instead of getting a plane doesn't make sense to me. If you can go away for 6 weeks or more and take a mini house with you then I get it.
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If they aren’t for you then you don’t have to buy one :p
They suit older people and young families where being limited to a hotel room doesn’t work.
When you get a few families together the younger children can be out playing all day until late, and the adults chilling with a BBQ and drinks. Try doing that with a hotel room !!
 
phil675 said:
I don't really see the point in them unless you're retired or can have long periods off. The idea of having 2 weeks off but spending at least a quarter of it dragging a caravan through Europe instead of getting a plane doesn't make sense to me. If you can go away for 6 weeks or more and take a mini house with you then I get it.
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Yeah, i think this is my attitude too. I love the idea of that freedom, but then reality hits and i realise i could be over in Spain in less time than i could drive to Cornwall and have guaranteed sun :D

I guess they're great if you get a mix of families each with them though as @SDK^ mentions above for big getaways.
 
SDK^ said:
If they aren’t for you then you don’t have to buy one :p
They suit older people and young families where being limited to a hotel room doesn’t work.
When you get a few families together the younger children can be out playing all day until late, and the adults chilling with a BBQ and drinks. Try doing that with a hotel room !!
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Oh I've got nothing against caravan holidays, just a few people I know with caravans, it seems like such a burden and they don't have time to use it much. If you're only going away once or twice a year, borrowing a static for a week is much easier than having to buy store and maintain something. People must like having their own I guess but I'd only get one if I could go away for long periods of time.
 
SDK^ said:
If they aren’t for you then you don’t have to buy one :p
They suit older people and young families where being limited to a hotel room doesn’t work.
When you get a few families together the younger children can be out playing all day until late, and the adults chilling with a BBQ and drinks. Try doing that with a hotel room !!
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Well you don't you stick them in a kids club and sit by the pool getting drunk on all exclusive watered down beer :P
 
We started off with camping and decided on a caravan after packing the wet tent up one day and having to put it back up at home. We watched someone leave with a caravan, from saying goodbye they were packed up and driving off in about 30 minutes. Our first caravan cost us £10.5K and we sold it four years later for £9.5k, it only owed us the cost of servicing and a couple of parts that failed over that time. The cost of pitches has gone up a lot in recent years but its still far cheaper than renting a static caravan or lodge.

A lot of people don't seem get caravan holidays but we really enjoy them. We take the bikes with us to cycle as a family and the kids can go out and about in relative safety on their own. They really enjoy the freedom and normally make a new group of friends as well as the ones we sometimes go with. I grew up with my parents taking us away a lot and wanted to do the same for my kids, my brother and I have great memories from those trips. It also enables us to have quite a few short weekend trips away as well as a couple of week long trips in the UK on top of our main holiday abroad (when Covid wasn't around anyway).

Its just a good time to get away from the house and relax, its different from being at home where you never really turn off.
 
adam cool dude said:
I drive over the continent during the summer most years. All the way to Lithuania and back. We stay in plenty of hotels and never pre-book. Even with the language barrier we have stayed in many hotels across Germany and Poland which have been absolutely fantastic, never fully booked and super cheap. Also these are proper hotels and not some premier inn style thing. You get to meet new people and cultures. Something you completely miss out with a caravan.

Like I said earlier we live in the world of the internet where it is just so easy and simple to find accommodation compared to say 15 years ago.
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I've done trips through Eastern Europe in hotels and trips in a camper, the camper was a much nicer experience. Yes, you can book in advance and most of the time the experience is positive but there's always that nagging doubt that the room isn't going to be great or there's going to be some idiot in the next room watching TV to 3am at max volume. That's not an issue in a camper, don't like something? Move on to the next spot. You can always use a hotel even if you're in a camper, though, should you want to.


We moved from tents to caravans then onto campers. Personally I find the camper the best compromise between comfort and freedom, we had some great times on deserted out of the way campsites in caravans over the years. A few years ago we converted a VW T5 into a camper and did a couple of trips out to Bulgaria and Norway, now we are converting a larger 4x4 Sprinter van.

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, not isn't the time to buy a caravan or camper being the start of the season and "covid fever" driving the prices up.
 
pattojones said:
I bought a caravan 18 months ago and was shocked at the cost. £5K for a 2004 van in pretty poor condition. My advice? Buy a decent tent.
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think is they have so many uses, not just tourism temporary residence when having work done on a property, lodging for employees.
ci_newman said:
Again, you're overlooking resale value. For a start there are literally 1000s of caravans available for < £10k. Secondly, you can use it for 5 years and sell it on at the same cost as what you originally paid for it so no actual cost except running costs.

People use their caravans exactly in the scenario you are talking about, but it's x100 more practical than camping in a tent. Camping / caravanning at the weekends in spring / summer / autumn, plus holidays abroad for longer trips.

Use the caravan for 5 years, sell it on at zero cost.
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running costs, insurance, and then there’s the storage costs very few have the space on their private house etc so they have to be stored for a monthly fee.
 
DRneocortez said:
think is they have so many uses, not just tourism temporary residence when having work done on a property, lodging for employees.


running costs, insurance, and then there’s the storage costs very few have the space on their private house etc so they have to be stored for a monthly fee.
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For some people yes, in my case running costs have been zero, no requirement for insurance, storage on my driveway. Costs for me over two years of ownership has been zero (aside from purchase price).
 
task said:
I've done trips through Eastern Europe in hotels and trips in a camper, the camper was a much nicer experience. Yes, you can book in advance and most of the time the experience is positive but there's always that nagging doubt that the room isn't going to be great or there's going to be some idiot in the next room watching TV to 3am at max volume. That's not an issue in a camper, don't like something? Move on to the next spot. You can always use a hotel even if you're in a camper, though, should you want to.


We moved from tents to caravans then onto campers. Personally I find the camper the best compromise between comfort and freedom, we had some great times on deserted out of the way campsites in caravans over the years. A few years ago we converted a VW T5 into a camper and did a couple of trips out to Bulgaria and Norway, now we are converting a larger 4x4 Sprinter van.

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, not isn't the time to buy a caravan or camper being the start of the season and "covid fever" driving the prices up.
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I totally agree with you as the camper can be used 365 days a year as a normal car whilst also doubling up as a home from home. They are also really easy to sell on if you do not need them anymore. They are as you say that perfect half way house between tent and caravan. Not an eyesore sitting on the drive as well.
 
I am off to look at a Motorhome today. Mainly for use with racing, but for us as a younger family it is ideal. We used to use a VW Transporter to go on trips to West Wales for a night or two, but it quickly became too small. We have been without a camper for a few years so once I decided to go racing I built one without a kitchen, just a poptop and bed, but again not ideal. So then I bought a LWB Sprinter which I am in the middle of converting, but trying to make room for 2 adults, 1 5 year old and 1 new born is going to be tough. So after all that, I have decided to buy a Motorhome. Should have done that in the first place tbh! It doesn't suit everyone, but suits us!
 
I have had a caravan for 18 months or so. It is great once on site but dragging it is a pain (think about correcting wrong turns; country lanes and on-coming traffic). Been thinking about getting a camper. Now is not the time as they are currently selling for crazy prices but I am put off by having to move it each time we go out once on holiday! I can and have driven up to 7.5 Tonne and have C1 category from some blue light ambulance driving.

I looked at a 2006 4 berth (VW Crafter size) yesterday..... £29K!
 
pattojones said:
I have had a caravan for 18 months or so. It is great once on site but dragging it is a pain (think about correcting wrong turns; country lanes and on-coming traffic). Been thinking about getting a camper. Now is not the time as they are currently selling for crazy prices but I am put off by having to move it each time we go out once on holiday! I can and have driven up to 7.5 Tonne and have C1 category from some blue light ambulance driving.

I looked at a 2006 4 berth (VW Crafter size) yesterday..... £29K!
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Strangely enough I feel comfortable in my own mind driving a large motorhome but not towing a large caravan. The downside is being limited to the camp site compared to unhitching a caravan and clearing off in the car. I’ve had a jumbo transit and planning where to park that was tricky enough. Not that I need to worry about either for a while with prices as they are
 
phil675 said:
Oh I've got nothing against caravan holidays, just a few people I know with caravans, it seems like such a burden and they don't have time to use it much. If you're only going away once or twice a year, borrowing a static for a week is much easier than having to buy store and maintain something. People must like having their own I guess but I'd only get one if I could go away for long periods of time.
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Look at the price of a 4 birth static caravan for a fortnight in the summer and suddenly even low use second hand caravans start to make sense. Like a car I’d never buy new let someone else take the depreciation hit.
 
Second campervan, 9 years in total, travel as often as we can. Last year a month in France cost just over £1000, depreciation has been insignificant compared to a car.
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Not a bad spot with free overnight parking.
 
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