Buying a Caravan on the Cheap...

[C0ffin D0dger]

In a nutshell our budget is quite limited. My wife is a full time Mum at the moment so we only have the one income but we'd still like to have some holidays this year. We've done camping in the past and it's fine but we're thinking of upgrading so that we're more likely to be away for a week or two rather than just a few nights. With two young kids to chase around it's quite tiring so being able to retire to a fairly decent bed at the end of the day is quite appealing, airbed and sleeping bag doesn't really cut it anymore.

So what should we expect spending about £3k on one? Appreciate it's not going to be that modern but is there any reason that it shouldn't give us another 3-5 years of use or is it likely to just fall apart.

To get an idea we visited a local place yesterday and had a look at this: http://ridgewaytourers.co.uk/lunar-solar-464-1997-...

It was a bit tatty on the outside but nothing you couldn't live with. Internally it was in a very good state, admittedly didn't give it a proper going over but no visible damp or anything. The sales place was a very small outfit, about 10-12 vans on sale, the chap was very helpful, seemed honest and no pressure whatsoever, just happy to show us what he had. Said they were all safety checked, minor issues fixed up, tyres swapped for new if over 7 years old or below 3mm, CO2 and CO alarm fitted, gas tested, etc. + 3 month warranty which he said was pretty much no quibble.

Not saying we'll buy this van but it early impressions were that it did seem to tick all the boxes we needed.

[C0ffin D0dger]

TartanPaint said:

Have you considered renting a caravan or motorhome? With that budget you could do 3 or 4 good holidays and not worry about maintenance, storage, repairs etc, and keep the cash in the bank for emergencies.

I don't think I'd want £3k tied up in a bulky asset that only comes out once or twice a year. Just a thought.

Probably didn't make myself clear, if we had one it would be getting used a lot more than once or twice a year. Would probably be most school holidays and several weekends in between e.g. week at Easter, two weeks summer, a half term + weekends in the warmer months.

[C0ffin D0dger]

hornetrider said:

My advice to you would be to buy privately on eBay. Dealers have big markups so at that price point you'll get far more for your money. Just make sure you take a damp meter to test throughout the van.

Admittedly our budget was a bit bigger at 6k, but we got a lovely Burstner van about 4 years ago and haven't had a problem with it.

This is most likely what we would do once in a position to spend. You also seem to get more stuff thrown in privately - awnings, water carriers, etc.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Thanks for all the advice, some good food for thought.

Think we'll be looking for something privately if possible and then going over it with a damp meter very carefully. May up the budget slightly as well if we can.

First thing I need to do is sell my car so if I can get on with that then we can decide what to do next.