Buying a caravan any tips?

viccig

Hi there, I am looking to buy a used caravan this weekend, I've seen the van and site I want to be on and think I'm going to go ahead. The only thing is I am a total newbie to this whole caravanning lark and I was wondering if anyone has any advice or tips with regards to what questions I should be asking as I really can't afford to get this wrong!

One lady at another site told me to check when buying if there's an age limit on the site which in this case there isn't, but other than that what questions should I be asking the site owners?

Any help would be really appreciated
Regards
Vicky

sandiep

Site fees?
Charges for Gas & Electric, if bottled gas, do you have to buy gas onsite?
Double glazed caravans are SOOOO much better than single glazed as it means you can be in there in february quite happily. Would definitely recommend.
Commision taken when you sell?
Do you have to sell through them?
Can you re-site your caravan within the park & is there a fee to do so?
When is the site "closed"
Can you use the site even if "closed"
Insurance prices
Council tax rates (if static)
Whats being left/taken with the caravan, in partic TV arials/sky dish etc.
Dogs? etc.

viccig

Thank you for your really useful post, I have a couple of questions about some of your points if you don't mind?
When you say when is the site closed and can you use the site when it is "closed" do you mean some sites still let you use it? If that's the case what is the point of it being closed?
Also I didn't know you had to pay council tax an a caravan- how much does this tend to be as I haven't budgeted for this

Told you I was a novice lol

jpmummy

Be very wary of buying a van on a "holiday camp" site such as park resorts/haven, they put up the ground fees every year by quite extortionate amounts and constantly badger you there or at home to upgrade or rent your van out(through them). My elderly parents have been badly ripped off by them, so be very careful. Just a friendly warning. I wouldnt want anyone to be ripped off as badly as my folks have.

viccig

Thank you for this Its not a holiday camp we're looking at, but my cousin is, I shall certainly pass on your warning, it is much appreciated.

As I say we really don't know what we should be looking out for, whereas people with experience of caravanning would have more of an idea.

weemissy

I agree with all of the above. I had a caravan on a lovely site - privately owned. New owners took the site over and doubled the site fees just before the end of the season. Our caravan was too old to put on another site (over 10 yrs), too old to sell on site, and they were going to charge us £100's to remove the caravan for us - it was a blooming nightmare!
I would check if you are allowed to let it out privately, or must it be thru' them, also it's a must to check if you can keep it on site over a certain age. We loved our van - it was a great bolt hole for us and would recommend it, but it's not an inexpensive venture by any stretch of the imagination - good luck
As far as I'm aware you don't need to pay poll tax if your site completely closes for so many weeks a year - in Scotland anyway

jpmummy

No Its not a cheap do at all it has cost my folks over 30k in 4 years!! They saw them coming, yet the caravan was out of this world, I could sob buckets over it all, steer clear of park resorts in North Wales, but I must admit I will miss my beloved "scouse Riverea" more than words can say x

hartcjhart

can we just confirm that you are on about a static caravan

System

We invested in a second hand static on a private in-land site which was for occasional/holiday use but could have stayed as long as we wanted. Some people had sold their houses and lived there permanantly, except for the close down period as HAS to happen on non-residential sites. This is usually about 6 weeks in the winter.

We had free water, electricity by meter, gas by cylinder, tv free as it was covered by our home licence. We were required to have adequate insurance as it was on a known water flood plain. Rules of sale were difficult and complicated.

Access to the site was free for owners. You could apply for visitors passes at £25 per pass per yr, but this has risen steeply since we left.

All vans were subject to "age". Once they were a certain age, they had to go, and you either bought another "from them" or left, you could not bring on your own.

Security existed but equally were never on hand when needed.

One thing I would ensure is that no tree was within falling distance of a van. Visit several times at varying times of day /night, to ensure you do not have neighbours from hell as walls are thin. Our neighbours drank, had barbeques right beside our gas cylinders and partied till dawn.

The camp site "fogged" every evening with clouds of smoke from barbeques.

However, to sit out on the decking late at night in peace and quiet just watching aircraft pass over the moon with binoculars in your hand, was very pleasing, equally daytime with all manner of water fowl being fed by hand, was something different.

The cost of all this though is too much to think about as it was a real financial loss.

viccig

hartcjhart wrote: »

can we just confirm that you are on about a static caravan

Yes its a static van on a privately owned site.

Thanks again for all the replies- seems to be a bit of mine field.

The bits I do know about the site are:
there is no age limit on the vans (there are some quite old ones on there)
you have to sell to the site (i guess ill have to find out how they value your caravan in years to come.)
there is no renting the van out (they apparently do this to vet who they have on site)

the site isn't too bit or overcrowded, Ive rang and asked and the fees are £960 up £20 from last year

The caravan itself is reasonably priced, Im just wondering where the catch is lol, we are literally doing this so our children have a nice place to visit on a weekend, but as I say really can't afford to be caught out as it will stretch us to our limits.

Pssst

There are a lot of crooks in this business and what seems idyllic can become a financial nightmare. Be very careful of what you sign up to.