Cost of caravanning
Discussion
You can do it for a lot less than that
Buy a caravan that already has everything you need
I got setup for £3000 including the cost of the van - 5 berth - older but no leaks
Its nice and lightweight so I can tow it without doing the trailer licence
My insurance is £60 for the year - £360 for storage
Fitted my own towbar for £130
Buy a caravan that already has everything you need
I got setup for £3000 including the cost of the van - 5 berth - older but no leaks
Its nice and lightweight so I can tow it without doing the trailer licence
My insurance is £60 for the year - £360 for storage
Fitted my own towbar for £130
Edited by rossmc88 on Wednesday 4th December 18:21
Sorry maybe I came across in the wrong way. I’m not moaning about the cost at all, I’m simply trying to show newbies how much things might cost. We splashed out on a 6 berth twin axle caravan and haven’t really tried to cut any corners from a financial perspective.
You can’t put a price on being out in the countryside with your family, cooking on the bbq and generally getting away from it all. Lack of mobile phone signal is a bonus. We don’t even have a TV in our caravan; it’s great getting back to nature and spending quality time with the kids rather than being glued to iPhones and TV’s.
You don’t get this from staying in a hotel
You can’t put a price on being out in the countryside with your family, cooking on the bbq and generally getting away from it all. Lack of mobile phone signal is a bonus. We don’t even have a TV in our caravan; it’s great getting back to nature and spending quality time with the kids rather than being glued to iPhones and TV’s.
You don’t get this from staying in a hotel
Edited by JapanRed on Thursday 5th December 00:08
Easternlight said:
Best not to look at it like that, It does'nt add up untill you've been doing it several years.
And it will make even less sense if the poxy thing leaks like mine has
Not hard to repair though as they are made of a few bits of timber, some polystyrene insulation and hardboard, then papered. You just need to stop the leak (suspect joints above the windows) before you start to repair. Take the windows out and reseal with sikaflex (221) as it stays flexible.And it will make even less sense if the poxy thing leaks like mine has
Our start into the caravanning lark started as a £1200 van towed by an old Pug 406 which I fitted a tow bar to for £60 (ebay). The 'van came fully equipped and all we bought were sleeping bags. Had 3 years worth of brilliant hols in this until we upgraded to the current caravan for the princely sum of £2000. Current tow truck has changed to a Sorento of 2008 vintage. Cheap and cheerful
Our first (and last) caravan cost £275 in the year 2000.
We lived in it for ten weeks when we moved from Leed to the South and waiting for our house to sell in Leeds.
Sold it for £275. Caravanning is cheap and we did not even have a tow car. We stayed on a tourist site. Every Friday they moved the van to another pitch to mow the grass. It always took me a little while to find it again.....
In hindsight, it was a great experience. Just glad we didn't have kids then...
Mike
We lived in it for ten weeks when we moved from Leed to the South and waiting for our house to sell in Leeds.
Sold it for £275. Caravanning is cheap and we did not even have a tow car. We stayed on a tourist site. Every Friday they moved the van to another pitch to mow the grass. It always took me a little while to find it again.....
In hindsight, it was a great experience. Just glad we didn't have kids then...
Mike
Robertj21a said:
You've just reminded me why I always end up thinking that numerous comfortable breaks away ever year, in a small hotel, can often be more enjoyable than a caravan in a field or forest!
We tend to go abroad into hotels on traditional holidays 2-3 times a year to supplement the caravanning. Nice to do both. Can’t say that caravanning isn’t any less enjoyable than staying in hotels though, even though we did lake Garda, Portugal and Spain last year in addition to the caravan trips. Outlay can be pretty big if you want a certain level of comfort but it's money spent not money lost. Caravans depreciate fairly gently so if it's not for you or you think it costs too much then they're easily sold to recoup the cash. As above, if you pick a nice site rather than just an empty field then it's far better than waking up in some standard fayre hotel. It's certainly cheaper as a family, we can do a week by a forest site for about £210-240 whereas the same lodge at the site would be about £1600. We generally get around 6-8weeks worth of camping in, most of the year round. Generally knock it off December til Feb but with modern heating and insulation it's not a problem getting 19 Deg temps when it's freezing outside.
Chicken Chaser said:
Outlay can be pretty big if you want a certain level of comfort but it's money spent not money lost. Caravans depreciate fairly gently so if it's not for you or you think it costs too much then they're easily sold to recoup the cash. As above, if you pick a nice site rather than just an empty field then it's far better than waking up in some standard fayre hotel. It's certainly cheaper as a family, we can do a week by a forest site for about £210-240 whereas the same lodge at the site would be about £1600. We generally get around 6-8weeks worth of camping in, most of the year round. Generally knock it off December til Feb but with modern heating and insulation it's not a problem getting 19 Deg temps when it's freezing outside.
If you are a caravaner who can achieve at least 6-8 weeks use on a good site every year then it certainly starts to make a bit more sense. For many people, they don't achieve even that level of use and are still torn by a desire to also do 'something different' (foreign sights, beach, cruise etc) from time to time. It's no fun feeling that your holidays *have* to be in the caravan simply because of the financial outlay.Well there’s a cheaper way of doing things to begin with and then you can refine (throw money at) at a later stage if you enjoy it.
My wife and kids love the outdoors life, walks, bikes etc and in 3 years we’ve gone from camping in a tent, to a campervan to a caravan.
None of these stages were cheap, not if you want all the gear to eat, drink and sleep well.
We all dislike flying, so we do one big holiday abroad at Xmas and then the rest of the year we travel within 100 or so miles of home and find nice places to camp.
I like the fact I can finish early on a Friday, grab the wife and kids and do a night or two in the campervan or over a bank holiday I’ll get the caravan out and we’ll do a few nights instead.
Driving for two hours to get to an airport, waiting around for 2 hours, plus the flight (squashed in on a metal tube) and then an hour or two at the other end before your holiday has even started was ruining the experience for me.
The only downside to caravanning in the UK is the crappy narrow roads, or at least where I live in Dorset, my caravan is 8ft wide and you do have to breathe in when there’s a big truck coming in the opposite direction.
My wife and kids love the outdoors life, walks, bikes etc and in 3 years we’ve gone from camping in a tent, to a campervan to a caravan.
None of these stages were cheap, not if you want all the gear to eat, drink and sleep well.
We all dislike flying, so we do one big holiday abroad at Xmas and then the rest of the year we travel within 100 or so miles of home and find nice places to camp.
I like the fact I can finish early on a Friday, grab the wife and kids and do a night or two in the campervan or over a bank holiday I’ll get the caravan out and we’ll do a few nights instead.
Driving for two hours to get to an airport, waiting around for 2 hours, plus the flight (squashed in on a metal tube) and then an hour or two at the other end before your holiday has even started was ruining the experience for me.
The only downside to caravanning in the UK is the crappy narrow roads, or at least where I live in Dorset, my caravan is 8ft wide and you do have to breathe in when there’s a big truck coming in the opposite direction.
We still have holidays abroad, but we take the caravan with us. I prefer the adventure of the journey and still have the benefit of having all of our stuff, bikes rucksacks etc. I spend quite a bit of time researching the best sites to visit and usually do pretty well. We don't go overboard on the kitchen sink stuff, don't take a TV (we do have a tablet and laptop admittedly but it's usually used during the car journey and for sorting stuff whilst on hols. We started in tents, went to a camper and when the 2nd child arrived switched to a Caravan. Towing is generally ok, I don't mind it for most of the journey, tends to be the last few miles to the site which is the worst bit.
See plenty of this type of attitude in the FB groups. Must have latest van and gadget. It is one way of doing things, but not the only way...
Our first caravan we had for 4 years. Bought for £6k and sold for £5.5k. At ten years old it still looked good.
DSC_0529 by David Powell, on Flickr
DSC_0547 by David Powell, on Flickr
There is absolutely no need to spend that sort of money - and if you are getting into caravans, then the first one in my opinion needs to be at the lower end of the market, as you will not know what to buy first thing around.
Our first caravan we had for 4 years. Bought for £6k and sold for £5.5k. At ten years old it still looked good.
DSC_0529 by David Powell, on Flickr
DSC_0547 by David Powell, on Flickr
There is absolutely no need to spend that sort of money - and if you are getting into caravans, then the first one in my opinion needs to be at the lower end of the market, as you will not know what to buy first thing around.
surveyor said:
See plenty of this type of attitude in the FB groups. Must have latest van and gadget. It is one way of doing things, but not the only way...
Our first caravan we had for 4 years. Bought for £6k and sold for £5.5k. At ten years old it still looked good.
There is absolutely no need to spend that sort of money - and if you are getting into caravans, then the first one in my opinion needs to be at the lower end of the market, as you will not know what to buy first thing around.
Same as us as well. Bought a Pageant Bordeaux as we wanted a fixed bed and room to cook in crap weather etc. Bought for 4k, sold after 4 years for 3k.Our first caravan we had for 4 years. Bought for £6k and sold for £5.5k. At ten years old it still looked good.
There is absolutely no need to spend that sort of money - and if you are getting into caravans, then the first one in my opinion needs to be at the lower end of the market, as you will not know what to buy first thing around.
If you want an example of how PH ers spend money, look at the watches thread as an example....mind boggling.
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