We're trying to work out the true standing cost of having a caravan on the drive. I reckon depreciation of £800 a year on what was a new single axle van at £13,000 new would be about right, a mate of mine has a twin axle costing a lot more, reckons I'm wrong and it should be about £1,000 a year. When everything is added in including having to keep and run a capable towar, insurance, servicing, a set of tyres in the life of the van etc it's no longer the cheap holiday it used to be. I'd be interested to hear what others believe the true annual standing cost to be.
Why buy the van to worry about how much it is going to lose you in the pocket? We are a family of 3 and all I've been hearing from similar families is how they are now 3.5 K for a package holiday for 2 weeks. Well we are away for weekends as often as we like and our 2 weeks on site at Windsor is about 400, big difference, I prefer to think of the family enjoyment and freedom we have over a couple of quid. Just my opinion...
It depends how you look at it we bought our van new in 2006 we intend to keep it indefinitely not interested in changing to a newer one
Standing cost
Servicing Nil DIY but I pay myself £150 each time i service the van and put it into a caravan account each year to cover any big expenses
Insurance market value. £ 160
Tyres just bought 2 £110 the old ones are still ok but 7 years old
Stored at home so no cost
So for us it's a pretty cheap hobby all things considered
They say a new van looses a grand a year in depreciation thats why id never buy a new one.Caravaning is getting a bit expensive now with fuel costs sites fees and food,not like it was before the terror attacks a few years back.
Lyra, I agree. It's as much about the lifestyle choice as much as anything. You can't deny that they are a rather expensive asset if you have a yearly service, storage and insurance. We are looking at paying out around £800 in fees next year alone. BUT............. We have been looking at prices for next year and believe we can "do" France for 2 weeks in August £160 ferry £400 campsite and a bit of extra diesel because of towing. The other expenses like food and spending money are there anyway so are the same. To us as a family of 5 is a big saving on a package holiday or even a static rental in the same sort of areas. We look at that saving in terms of "putting it back in to the van" which will cover the expenses and go someway towards the depreciation of the van.
The many weekends away and any other breaks are added bonuses to us. We also like the fact that we have our own things around us too. We can go away for the weekend, spend quality time together as a family away from home for around £30. With the jobs that myself and OH have, if we are at home we are always on call so to speak with people coming over, ringing for favours etc... When we are at the van people for some reason are more respectful of our time. I for one can't put a price on that
Our towcar doesn't really come in to the equation of cost really as I have had a people carrier for the past 10 years due to my job. It just so happens that it's a brilliant towing vehicle
We are in the process of looking at buying a caravan, and I guess it's a bit like owning a Rolls Royce, in so much as if you have to ask what are the running cost's then you can't afford one.
At this moment in time, we have to watch the pennies very carefully, so a caravan in reality for us is probably out of the question at this current point in time.
When the time comes that I can afford to buy a caravan for cash, and not have a problem with storage and insurance and other cost's draining away around £1000 per year before a wheel is even turned, then I will go for it.
At the end of the day a caravan holiday is a life style choice, no way is it a ticket to cheap holidays, which is fair enough once you have come to terms with that fact.
So many folk on here have gone back to Tent camping, because of the cost of caravan ownership, sometimes due to a change of circumstances, but other than that maybe for them buying a caravan in the first place was the wrong decision.
For me I drive a company car, so apart from the fitting of a towbar, which I already have, I do not have any tow car cost whatsoever.
Offset that against caravan ownership, makes owning a caravan an interesting option for us.
Got an old car, got an old caravan. No storage, it's on the drive. No insurance for the caravan, it's too old for that.
I need the car to get around, so it's there anyway.
Member of the C&CC at £42 a year, gives me access to good sites and cheap THs (often only £5 pr unit) whenever I want.
It only gets expensive if you want it to.
The most money I ever spent on mine was £600-odd on a motormover. I spent £400-odd putting a fridge in and having the electrics and gas pipes replaced when I bought it. Chassis service every other year at approx £60 alternating with gas/electric check, same price.
For me my van represents my holiday hotel on wheels, that I can take wherever I want. No queues apart from for the ferry and even then it's not bad compared to airports peak season.
It totally depends on your usage and we are all different.
we average 9 weeks a year, and you could reduce the car costs by using a seasonal pitch with winter storage in your favorite area.
To rent a static caravan for 9 weeks average, including out of season £450 per week = £4050 per year
For average,9 week package holiday for 2 £850 per week = £7650. per year
No contest, and that's just for 2 people, we are a family of 4 so the caravan has paid for itself many times.
if your usage is for an annual 2 week holiday, it would be better to pay out less on the van.by calculating how much it would cost over a set period of time (years).
Without appearing to be rude I don't care how much it costs ... I love it!
I don't want any 'van ... I want a nice shiney new one and a nice shiney car to go with it. Our choice and obviously sacrifices are made elsewhere to make it possible.
We do get over 70 nights use out of our van every year so any expense is easy to justify TO US. Others will have different priorities/ideas.
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Quote: Originally posted by IainM on 08/6/2013
Without appearing to be rude I don't care how much it costs ... I love it!
I don't want any 'van ... I want a nice shiney new one and a nice shiney car to go with it. Our choice and obviously sacrifices are made elsewhere to make it possible.
We do get over 70 nights use out of our van every year so any expense is easy to justify TO US. Others will have different priorities/ideas.
I agree as long as its what you want there is no need to justify the cost to anyone but yourself a very good friend of mine gives everything the "edge of the grave test " he asks himself 3 questions
Is it something I really want or want to do
Can I afford it
When I'm at the edge of my grave will I wish I had bought / done it
If the answer is yes to all three then he goes ahead
We parted with a large chunk of our savings earlier this year to buy our abbey. It was either that or two weeks in Florida with the money.
I haven't regretted it for a minute, sure the van will spend more time in storage than on sites, but we plan on keeping this van for many years so the large (for us) outlay will justify itself.
------------- Who needs travel agents,we have our static
It's not cheap to keep a touring van if you count maintenance, storage, insurance, servicing etc. etc. (and the endless trips to the camping shop to buy the latest gizmo). If I spend £2,000 a year on it (and probably do) taking into account site fees, additional fuel when towing, storage, service, insurance, repairs etc. then I feel it is money well spent. For that I am having at least 3 holidays a year and additional long weekends in accommodation I can rely on in places I want to stay.
When you total up the cost of a package holiday for 4 of us (both our kids are now in their teens) it would come to at least £2,500 so spending £2,000 a year for something that's available for us to all use 52 weeks a year is good value in my book.
As a bonus, I can plan trips with overnight stays on longer journeys, making for a more relaxing experience, we can meet up with friends who are also caravanners, move on from a pitch we're not happy with - essentially it gives you the freedom to choose and I can tow behind me my own little home from home that contains everything we need - that to me is priceless.
We started out with an old van and then bought a newer twin axle but not brand new! Looking back we have both said we wished we had just stuck with what we had. We didn't owe a penny on it and it didn't matter if it eventually got so old and decrepit we needed to scrap it.
We always worried about our new one and as our circumstances changed we never got the use out of it we should have done. It was a terrific van, very comfortable and with all mod cons but we had just as much fun in our old van!
I hope the new owners have now figured out all the switches and gadgets and are enjoying using it as much as we did.
BB go with your heart, whatever suits you best, there is no right or wrong answer.
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Topic: How much does a caravan cost to keep
