buying a caravan

[jewls]

i would like to advise people who are going to buy a caravan to be aware of the pitfalls, there are many first of all do not buy one for over 15000 the depreciation is really bad we were ripped of this year a £39.000 after having it for 26 months was worth 12,000 just goes on a book value my caravan was in pristine order well worth more than that, the thing is they will resell my caravan for double that and will probably get it awell so if u want to buy one take heed dont pay to much we are paying for our mistake..please dont you do the same it is not worth it believe me

[Darren]

i would like to advise people who are going to buy a caravan to be aware of the pitfalls, there are many first of all do not buy one for over 15000 the depreciation is really bad we were ripped of this year a £39.000 after having it for 26 months was worth 12,000 just goes on a book value my caravan was in pristine order well worth more than that, the thing is they will resell my caravan for double that and will probably get it awell so if u want to buy one take heed dont pay to much we are paying for our mistake..please dont you do the same it is not worth it believe me

I presume you were on a BL park?

I think it needs to be said that this isnt always the case with many operators and privatley owned sites.

[JamieSYC]

It all depends on who you are selling to, traders will very rarely buy a caravan for more than book price, but if they are using glass's guide (which is very good itself) ill bet they never told you what the retail value of your van was.
My guess is that selling privately you would have got a lot more, in the region of 25,000-30,000 but it would have taken you longer to find a buyer.

[Teakbank12]

It all depends on who you are selling to, traders will very rarely buy a caravan for more than book price, but if they are using glass's guide (which is very good itself) ill bet they never told you what the retail value of your van was.
My guess is that selling privately you would have got a lot more, in the region of 25,000-30,000 but it would have taken you longer to find a buyer.

To be honest i would never dream of spending upwards of £50k on a van, even if i intended keeping it twnty years.

Our van was under £20k when we purchased, we got a very good deal.
This price of course included site fees, connection & all the bitsnpieces they bill you for.
We've had 3 good seasons holidaying in the van & would love a good few more, BUT if things went pear shaped in the next 2 years we know we would only recover appprox £5k selling to a dealer or privately.
As people are told when purchasing (from BL at least) its NOT an investment like a house is/WAS but a lifestyle change.
Too many people rush into buying without thinking it through long term.
It obviously helsp letting out the van during peak weeks to recover site fees/running costs.

The same applies to all those people who have purchased Chelsea tractors or any popular vehicle these last few years for upwards of £40k, they like any vehicle drop in price the minute they leave the showroom.

Theres going to be a lot of heartbroken people who need to sell this next 12-24 months if the finance on the van cannot be met.
So many luxuries were bought on the back of the increased collateral in the houses, but now houses are tumbling in price its a different matter with negative equity.
So many of us have been there before in the 80's, some weathered the storm, but many did not unfortunately.

[bazak]

This is exactly the kind of information that potential newbies like myself need.
Just like a car, you lose money as soon as it's off the forcourt, so you could guess that you would with a static.

What other pitfalls are there, or that i should look out for.

It all seems just too easy. find a site, visit it, buy a static, pay rent, go holiday in it as much as you can. I suppose in theory it is this easy, but for all the experienced owners on this site, you must have dozens ( or more ) of bits of information which can stop people such as me walking straight into a bad deal.

I would love to read them, because apart from holidaying in them when i was younger, and visiting my grandparents who lived in one, i know virtually nothing about them.

[keira]

we knew nothing about them bazak it opens your eyes i can tell you having said that i love my van x