Touring Caravan Wanted near Sheffield/ Hope Valley.

Peakma

Hi, not been on mse for a while but in the past few years have found the lovely people on here very helpful and friendly, so thought it might be worth asking.
We really want to buy a 4/5 berth caravan, and always seem to be the 2nd person responding to ads, so keep missing out. Have looked at a few on Ebay, and generally tend to be disappointing once inside( the last one we saw stank of wee when I sat on the seats!)does anyone know of any where in the area (I'm in S33) that may have one for sale. Here is the ad I put on Gumtree:

Wanted first family caravan. For cheap family get-aways, festivals, and space for relatives to visit.
Needed a.s.a.p (ideally would have one sorted for mid next week!)
Single axle, ideally with awning, hot water,and light weight.
4/5 berth, must be ready to tow and in reasonable useable condition.
looking for something cheap, cheerful, and functional, to take on lots of new adventures.
Please get in touch if you have something to this description available,.
Obviously we want it as cheap as possible, so depending on all the given factors ( make/age/condition etc), features and extras, looking for something between £400- £1400
Please get in touch, or if you know anyone who has something similar sat on there drive un-used and un-loved please point them in my direction!
Thanks!

forgotmyname

Wrong time of year to be buying a caravan especially in that price range. Lots of people will buy a caravan
early in the year and resell it later to avoid paying storage costs.

Also more of a market at this time of year with all the bank holidays and warmer weather.

4/5 berth van, But you do not say what your towing it with. I have a 3 berth van which is heavier
than a lot of 5/6 berth vans.

Peakma

Thanks for helpful reply. I am aware it is the wrong time of year, I have been looking since January, but our budget has gone up slightly now, as then we were looking more in the £500 market.
We will be towing with a mercedes estate, and are looking for something around 1000kg.
I know its the time of year everyone is wanting to buy one for summer, but am also aware many people have them sat unused, and many people are up grading.

DollyDabbler

Auto trader sell caravans on their website. And Fish4caravans.
UK Campsites also have vans for sale. Have you asked at main dealers - they take a lot of old vans as part exchange and move them off their shiny new caravan forecourts rapidly. When you are looking on Ebay do you look for Distance first, that way you can get to look at vans before having to bid - we got ours as it failed to sell on Ebay, and we rang and asked could we go and look at it, turned out to be the best buy ever.

When you go looking, lift up the cushions and open all the wardrobes and overhead lockers and look for signs of damp, if you have or can borrow a damp meter off someone, that's also useful as if you find what looks like damp you can check how far it's run into the walls as it can be got rid off, if you are into DIY and you can then use the fact you know about it to negotiate the price down. If you are agile enough enough get underneath and look at the chassis.

Don't discount the smaller vans either as with an awning we doubled the size of our little 2 berth easily.

Persevere, there will be one out there for you.