Buying privately on a Haven Park

[mr..bean]

Hiya,

Having 3 younish children we are looking to buy a van on a Haven park but are worried we will get shafted as we want to buy privately rather than thru the site as this time of year we will probably get a good buy.

Has anyone got any experience of buying privately on a Haven site and anything extra to look out for? Will they charge us more in site fees if we buy privately? Is there a time limit before the caravan has to be taken off?

All advice is useful and the park we are looking at is Combe Haven in Sussex

[indianwells]

There is no time limit but you will pay more in site fees. Someone who is on a Haven park will be along soon to advise i'm sure.

Welcome to the forum!

[matt_trace]

hi we purchased privatly earlier this yr we have to pay an extra £540 on top of the site fees this is really the only thing that changes everything else stays the same no time limit as to how long the van can stay on site for only other thing that changes is that haven get hacked off that you purchased privatly lol but as you say you may get a good bargain we got an absolute bargain paid £3000 for an atlas mirage 2002 from ebay.also haven dont transfer site fees so if some one tries to sell you one where it includes the site fees this will not be the case as they are non transferable one to watch for as a lot off people try to sell with site fees included

[mr..bean]

Thanks for the replies so far. Do Haven charge a transfer fee (a percentage of the sale price) that we as the buyer will have to pay?

[matt_trace]

yes affraid they do its 17%

[mirkwood]

don`t forget if you buy thru haven you will get a years warrenty with it ,unless you get a right bargain there may not be that much diffrence once you add on the site fees the 17% commisson plus insurance for the year plus paying the extra site fees each year, also i think the best time to buy is just after xmas no one has any money inc the sales men ;) , this time of the year the caravans are at there highest , as its peak season

[mr..bean]

Thanks again to you all, especially mirkwood who has sent me a useful link.

Do any of you know if Haven will allow resiting a van within it's park if you pay the necessary costs? I only ask as we have lots of caravans we like on rubbish pitches and lots of rubbish caravans on pitches we like when we look privately!

Sorry to be a duffer about this, but this will be a big financial committment for us and we want to get it as right as we can first time.

[mirkwood]

Thanks again to you all, especially mirkwood who has sent me a useful link.

Do any of you know if Haven will allow resiting a van within it's park if you pay the necessary costs? I only ask as we have lots of caravans we like on rubbish pitches and lots of rubbish caravans on pitches we like when we look privately!

Sorry to be a duffer about this, but this will be a big financial committment for us and we want to get it as right as we can first time.

the only time haven will let you bring a caravan from another park is during the closed season , thats what they where offering last year ;)

[indianwells]

Thanks again to you all, especially mirkwood who has sent me a useful link.

Do any of you know if Haven will allow resiting a van within it's park if you pay the necessary costs? I only ask as we have lots of caravans we like on rubbish pitches and lots of rubbish caravans on pitches we like when we look privately!

Sorry to be a duffer about this, but this will be a big financial committment for us and we want to get it as right as we can first time.

Your last sentence worries me. My advice would be to take a walk around this park and talk to as many existing owners as you can. Not salesmen, and not owners who are selling. This way you will get vital information and get told the truth, good or bad. Without naming companies I get a lot of people coming to me and almost begging us to bring their van onto our park. Mostly they are being ripped off with charges and broken promises.
Like I said, without naming names, just be careful. On the other hand, if you are happy with the place and the deal you get, I hope you get many happy years of enjoyment out of your van!

Caveat Emptor.:)

[Aaron]

Your last sentence worries me. My advice would be to take a walk around this park and talk to as many existing owners as you can. Not salesmen, and not owners who are selling. This way you will get vital information and get told the truth, good or bad. Without naming companies I get a lot of people coming to me and almost begging us to bring their van onto our park. Mostly they are being ripped off with charges and broken promises.
Like I said, without naming names, just be careful. On the other hand, if you are happy with the place and the deal you get, I hope you get many happy years of enjoyment out of your van!

Caveat Emptor.:)

Caveat Emptor that is the best info you could provide as its best to find out from paying patrons whats it really like and if its good least then you can meet your future neighbours

[LostGil]

I'm going to post some details that only relate to the Haven site I'm on but should hopefully act as a general guideline.

My site charge a 15% commission + site fees, rates and insurance. On a £10,000 van that would be an added £3,500.

There is also an additional £500 a year added to site fees. This in my case wouldn't be bad, my pitch if bought privately would still be cheaper than anything the Sales Office have available at the moment. Which brings me to a question you asked about moving a caravan you buy to a new pitch. Yes you can but:

Sales Office may not have as a good a pitch available as a private seller.
Get Sales Office to put new location of pitch in writing, they won't care once they've made the sale.


A good private seller should show you their caravan account statements from previous years. This would hopefully stop any surprise bills in future. Should also help you work out if you can afford to run the caravan with or without sub-letting.

[sarahd]

After purchasing privately on a Haven site I enquired about moving the caravan. They were not interested at all and said that if I have bought through Haven I could have had the choice, true but I couldnt afford to and the van I wanted was being sold privately! They were then saying it had to be a certain age and spec to be on certain pitches. Also with regard to site fees etc - you have to pay out in one lump for the first year and then they usually let you split payment December and March which helps! I am sure most Havens will run the same policies.

[springhay]

Know this has been nearly exhausted but apart from the immediate hike of 540 in annual site fees dont forget that they also seem to go up an average of 150 anyway. In short, you could end up immediately paying another 700 after year one. Also their re-siting fees (whether physically done or not) differ from park to park. Plus the 15% and remainder of the season's site fees (whether paid by the existing owner or not). I tried this and it all added up to more than I could afford. But there is nothing more frustrating than seeing something well looked after, and spacious for about ten grand - and ending up paying 12500 for a starter van which has seen better days (2005)and is tiny!!! Thats what I ended up having to do to secure the cheaper site fees....

[mr..bean]

I agree it can be a minefield and you just need to do your homework.

We wanted to be on a Haven site as it has so much for the kids to do and in an area close to family and lots to do off site. We chose Combe Haven in Sussex as it works perfectly for us for those reasons.

When we did the sums we decided to give Haven a price and what we wanted and they got it for us. We got a near immaculate 2005 3 bed 36'x12' with 2010 fees and 2011 fees included (on a £4300 p.a. pitch) for £20k. We couldn't really get anything better private as we would pay an additional £540 p.a. so if we had the van for 5 years that would be another £2700 + another c. £2500 immediately payable to Haven as commission + £6000 fees for 2010 and 2011. This would mean we would have had to get our van for c.£8.5k to be better off and not get to choose our pitch, which we got. If we keep the van for 10 years the budget for the van would have gone down to c.£5.5k.

Therefore we felt buying from Haven was the best option and likely to be cheaper overall. I have to say so far we have been highly impressed with the site and the management there.

As always, do your own research but for us it was better to buy direct from Haven. It was worth it to pick our pitch to be honest!

If you go in with eyes open then you can't be disappointed.

[springhay]

That sounds like a hell of a bargain !!! Site fees for the remainder of year of purchase I can see, but the following year as well? Makes you wonder what the actual value of the caravan was? Sadly the previous owners were probably the losers here, and let Haven have it for around six grand - hence Haven's ability to make it so attractive to you. good luck though.

[mr..bean]

We are good negotiators! Think they were glad to be shot of us in the end!

[Teakbank12]

Site fees for the remainder of year of purchase I can see, but the following year as well?

We purchased in the March & had the years fees included.
If we had purchased anywhere from approx September we would have demanded remainder of the year plus the following years fees to be included.

[springhay]

I have only just bought and pushed for next year's fees -- no chance!!!!

[mr..bean]

We waited until September to buy and would walk away unless we got next years fees too.

I think people avoid the height of the season to buy but we waited for Sept to start and stuck to our guns and it worked! Don't need to worry about fees until 2012 now and we will have some rental income by then to help offset the cost.

Maybe we just got lucky but we thought that come september they would be willing to include 2012 fees too.

[springhay]

Hmmmm - even worse buyers remorse now and actually considering the 30 day re-think situation. Had a dreadful weekend with beer-swilling peasants as well as feeling I have been sold 6 grands worth of static for 12,500!!!:(

[mr..bean]

Springhay, if you aren't happy I would think about chucking it in and wait until you can get exactly what you actually want. We have waited an extra 3 years to get what we want and bargained real hard.

[springhay]

Good grief!! I dont wait that long for anything! I've decided on most of my houses in less than ten minutes! No seriously - I am suffering from buyers remorse because of the circumstances of the day I actually made the purchase...of course I should hve carried on driving off the park when the salesman rang me back. But he said, honestly - you wont get onto this park cheaper than this with these site fees. Plus it was a sunny day, everything looked refreshed, nice people - all happy with this guy - and I wanted one!
But my present frame of mind not helped by last weekend, (my other post) when the park was populated by a totally different kind of people.

[dasboot]

Dont let the renters put you off.We've met some really nice people in the rental units next to us this year.Alas,we have also had a few rowdy families.Thats one of the drawbacks of a holiday park isnt it? People are on holiday,and for some that means getting mullered every night of their stay.Do like us and try and turn a blind eye(and a deaf ear) to it.

[indianwells]

Dont let the renters put you off.We've met some really nice people in the rental units next to us this year.Alas,we have also had a few rowdy families.Thats one of the drawbacks of a holiday park isnt it? People are on holiday,and for some that means getting mullered every night of their stay.Do like us and try and turn a blind eye(and a deaf ear) to it.

I guess it depends what kind of holiday park you want, there are also quiet parks out there. I'm guessing Springhay would prefer one of those.

[Lazybum]

It really is a difficult decision whether to buy on a quiet park or a lively one. We are on a quiet site and accept that if the kids want to do anything we have to get in the car. I sometimes think it would be better on a lively site, with entertainment and swimming pools etc but having seen some of the neanderthal riff-raff that turn up for their weeks holiday where anything goes, I'm glad I stayed where I am.

[springhay]

Dont let the renters put you off.We've met some really nice people in the rental units next to us this year.Alas,we have also had a few rowdy families.Thats one of the drawbacks of a holiday park isnt it? People are on holiday,and for some that means getting mullered every night of their stay.Do like us and try and turn a blind eye(and a deaf ear) to it.

Cheers Dasboot, That's just what I wanted to hear - I know it must be enjoyable or so many people wouldnt do it!! You're right - not going to let it spoil things for me -- many thanks for this sensible advice. xx

[springhay]

I guess it depends what kind of holiday park you want, there are also quiet parks out there. I'm guessing Springhay would prefer one of those.

No honestly - I know I sound contradictary but its the grandchildren who need the activities (expensive though they are!) the swimming, wall climbing, park, boats etc., (sound like a bloody advert now!!).

And that's who I've done this for. But I am finding it all surprisingly enjoyable - who said near neanderthal??? Ha, ha.....and I thought I was couragous with louts!! No - as Dasboot said, turn a blind eye - its not always like that, as I saw myself just four weeks earlier. But many thanks to all for taking the trouble to comment.

[Macarw]

Is there a chance you could find a pitch that is a little away from the main facilities? Our van is in a quiet area short walk away, and we can get peace and quiet and avoid the complex if we want to.