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Topic: Caravanning no more!

cheryl.mark

14/3/2016 at 5:49pm
Location: horwich bolton
Outfit: Swift Conqueror 650 with Kia Sorento

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After 12 years of very happy caravanning we have sold up! Made the difficult decision to sell up due to not being able to get out as much and use it, plus other factors have made us sell up. The caravan cost us approx. £1200 per year before we towed it anywhere, this cost was storage, insurance, servicing costs (new van) we also need a big tow car to tow the van so that's a costly item in itself. Site fees on some sites are getting very pricey too. Hubby working late Fridays so we cant get away at weekends and to be honest I find the weekend rigmarole of getting ready after working all week more hassle than its worth for 2 nights. We have all been craving different types of holidays so we have sold up. The thing I will miss more than anything is our annual trip to France which we absolutely loved, but cant justify having such an expensive item depreciating and costing money and not using it. So ths year we will be flying to Spain in a weeks time and cruising in August around the Med. We will miss the van as we all loved it but its now time for us to move on to another adventure. I priced statics up for France and they are sooo expensive in the school main hols so we may end up buying a tent for next year and tenting in France for 2wks and the rest of our hols will be flying to the sun. The final nail in the coffin is the good old UK weather.

kimmie

14/3/2016 at 6:34pm
Location: Slaving away
Outfit: Dandy (Magic mushroom) BMW 3 series

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We've had our Dandy stored in Dads garden since July 2008. Not used. Both had serious health issues just after last holiday in it. Its got no wheels on at the moment, awaiting replacement but with hubby working friday evenings going away for a quick weekend is not on the cards these days.

We've been using the same site for hiring static caravans for a few years and tend to go there, hiring a static still.

We miss the days of Dandying, when we could just upsticks and move on at a whim but thats life these days.

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No, really?!

Patches

14/3/2016 at 9:46pm
Location: Staffordshire
Outfit: Freelander 2 2.2GS

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We are also vanless at the moment, and for the foreseeable future I think but it wasn't a decision we came to make for ourselves, it was forced on us as the van was trashed by "you know who" while in storage and was an insurance write off.

I'm missing the van but it was becoming an expensive burden in a lot of ways, with the costs involved before it even moved every year, so perhaps the thieving swines did us a favour in weird way. I do miss the van just being there for whenever we wanted a short break at a reasonable cost but when you factor everything else in (storage, insurance etc) it's not really a reasonable cost at all, and we can stay in good hotels instead.

We have also decided to take holidays going places never before travelled. Off to Iceland on the Golden Circle tour later this year BUT I still keep looking on Caravan Finder for nice Hymers and if something good turns up...well who knows?

homebird2003

15/3/2016 at 9:09am
Location: Southampton
Outfit: Elddis Magnum 505 Conway Countryman

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I hadn't thought about the cost of keeping a caravan, especially when its in storage - what an eye opener! We plan to rally quite a lot this year and have a couple of week long holidays but it does seem to be an expensive business. I suppose weighing it up against paying for statics/cottages its not so bad and the freedom to get away at weekends is worth it.

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Homebird

Patches

15/3/2016 at 10:23am
Location: Staffordshire
Outfit: Freelander 2 2.2GS

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We worked it out at roughly £800 pa before it moved, the biggest expense being storage fees. The year before ours went it cost us well over £1200 (new leisure battery, tyres etc. needed at the time). That can pay for quite a few weekends away if you shop around for good deals in hotels (and someone else prepares your breakfast!)

Don't get me wrong, it you are using a van for longer holidays as well as weekends, it is still cost effective, especially if you have a family. It was for us anyway as we didn't have finance to pay on it but the kids have left now (both at Uni) and don't want to go on caravan holidays with us any more.

We will probably have another van at some point, maybe when we can both retire early (can't wait) ... we could then spend a good chunk of the year pottering around the UK at our leisure. I can dream.

rjtcamplet

15/3/2016 at 2:16pm
Location: Hampshire
Outfit: Camplet Classic & Nissan Qashqai

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Which is another reason we brought a Camplet.

Stored in the garage with two motorbikes. No expensive storage fees.

R

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