Message Forums

Yep..browsing and spending...just one of the joys of caravanning..its only the kids inheritance

Phil

As a camper but with no caravanning experience, we went for the cheaper option to start with to see if I would enjoy it. For us it was the right choice - we bought a 15 year old Abbey at end of season for a reasonable price - worked at it over the winter, had a great time in it and sold it 2 years later again for a reasonable price. We then upgraded to the limit of our finances (a 3 year old van) and then again to a new one. It suited us but might not be for everyone.

Happy hunting.

The list of things to get is long, but many you will have from your camping kit, and some may come with the van.

At the moment older vans are very, very expensive due to a shortage and as they are expensive many rogues are cashing in and selling rubbish. I would buy from a reputable dealer with a good reputation.

I would buy as new as possible. This may mean foregoing some luxury, but will make the van cheaper and, very importantly, lighter to tow. Compared to a tent, even the most basic van will be luxurious. Modern vans have all the equipment you really need; heating, hot water, fridge, cooker, oven, lighting, sockets, cassette toilet, shower, vanity unit. Higher spec usually adds things you can manage without; extract fan, microwave, radio, plusher seats, etc. I personally would prefer the extra space.

We bought our van a few years ago now which was our 1st. It cost us £5000 and was 8yrs old and we've absolutely no regrets.

The best piece of advice i could give you is to take your time when looking at them, take a damp meter with you and ask as many questions as possible. Also...Don't forget to get the log book and do the paperwork checks...hpi and cris numbers

Hi We had the same dilema in 2008. We had spent many months of looking a 2nd vans in the 5 - 7K region and all were looking a bit tired. We thought about a cheaper option van in case we did not like it and decided we would loose to much money trying to re sell.  We eventually found by chance more than luck a caravan that was outside our price range by about 2 k but was new. After some haggling and walking away from the dealer ship, the deal was done 8K for a 2008 model Adria Altea 542 UK, it has given us more joy in the last 18 months than anything else i have purchased, and it will last for considerably more time than a 5 or 6 yr old bailey for the same price. 

In all we spent about 10K fitting it out etc with the motor mover, taking up most of that.

Moral is don't just go for second best do a bit of haggling at the dealer or shows. you might be surprised.

Chris W 

I would agree with most of the comments here having just bought our first van. Again we've been happily camping (and then trailer tenting) for a number of years but with two young children the season is relatively short and to be honest we wanted something more comfortable and quicker to set-up.

Having looked at a number of dealers we did discover that some of the prices for used vans can be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt. We did, surpringly, find that a first time buyer can knock around a £1000 off quite easily either by simply asking or by ditching the "starter" pack which to be honest other than the awning doesn't usually include all of the essentials.

I would budget £5K - £5.5K for a reasonable first van which is probably advertised between £6.5K - £7K. We found anything cheaper felt generally too old and dated.

I disagree with most here, 2 years ago we paid 1k private for our first van, a 1991 Buccaneer, we wanted to make sure we liked it before we spent too much and knew that we could still sell it for as much as we paid for it at the end of the season whereas a new van would lose a couple of grand, a loss we couldnt afford.

As we bought private it came with EVERYTHING right down to the teaspoons, fortunately we loved it and swapped it for a 2002 Elddis 6 months later, we lived with that for a bit but the layout didnt suit us and we swapped it for the 2007 we have now which was too cheap to pass up (Discover were closing and we knew the manager so got it trade price).

Layout is everything and it's only when you live with the van that you'll find out what suits you, Whatever you choose you'll probably end up swapping it in the first year or two for something that fits your lifestyle more, for me personally the one thing I reccommend you look for is a van with a decent amount of workspace, some only have the hob, sink & a tiny bit of space which is extremely inconvenient when you're trying to prepare a meal.

Me and the wife have just hit forty and have two kids and decided on getting a Caravan last June (09).I would say go for a Bailey ,we have a 2004 Ranger 510/4. It cost us £6k and came with a awning .Like other advice you have been given i would allow around five hundred pounds for extras.The Bailey is very light and at 22ft one of the largest single axled vans around .We pull ours with a Seat Altea 2.0tdi and it pulls it with ease .We found the first couple of trips a bit daunting , but you will be surprised how quick you pick things up.If you find it a struggle there are always people around to help.If someone never came and helped me with  the awning first time i would be divorced.We got ours off Ebay , but it was very local so we could get it checked out. Stick to the larger sites first , till you get used to parking up etc and join one of the clubs .We are in The Camping and Caravan Club and The Caravan Club .Also this site is a must.And most importantly enjoy yourselves !

Quote: Originally posted by Esther1 on 04/3/2010

---

I disagree with most here, 2 years ago we paid 1k private for our first van, a 1991 Buccaneer, we wanted to make sure we liked it before we spent too much and knew that we could still sell it for as much as we paid for it at the end of the season whereas a new van would lose a couple of grand, a loss we couldnt afford.

As we bought private it came with EVERYTHING right down to the teaspoons, fortunately we loved it and swapped it for a 2002 Elddis 6 months later, we lived with that for a bit but the layout didnt suit us and we swapped it for the 2007 we have now which was too cheap to pass up (Discover were closing and we knew the manager so got it trade price).

Layout is everything and it's only when you live with the van that you'll find out what suits you, Whatever you choose you'll probably end up swapping it in the first year or two for something that fits your lifestyle more, for me personally the one thing I reccommend you look for is a van with a decent amount of workspace, some only have the hob, sink & a tiny bit of space which is extremely inconvenient when you're trying to prepare a meal.

---

I understand what you are saying but it does depend very much on getting a good van that cheap and unless you have access to somebody who is experienced that is tough to judge. A crappy van could really put you off with things going wrong and the possibility of the dreaded damp

We were lucky first time around and got a really good van for £2.5k but that was from a dealer and had a warranty and frankly we were just incredibly fortunate.

I would say that the more reasearch you do the better you will fair.

1. You need to visit dealers to see layouts "in the flesh", look on-line at what is up for sale and think carefully about the right layout for you. At the ages of your children you need to consider the size they are now, how much they will grow during your expected ownership and if they will fit in beds. Also how you weant space divided, do you want a separate area for you and the children. What facilities do you want, if you intend to stay on sites with full facilities or if you need them in the van.

2. Good match with your car, use sites like whattowcar.com to check matches with your car, also check on noseweight. Don't take what dealers \ sellers tell you at face value.

3. If you can, take someone experienced with you if you view privately, or go to a delaer offering a warrenty. If unsure walk away.

There are bargains out there if you are lucky and know what you are looking for. If you can spend a few thousand you should be able to find a good sound van that will still have years of use in it.

HTH

We had precisely this dilemma around 5 years ago.  I'd given up work to look after babies and we were strapped. We ended up buying a 'van from a dealer for £5,000.  Whilst we loved the 'van, I always wished we'd had a couple of thousand more to spare as we could have got a lot more for our money.  If you already camp and have been thinking about it for 2 years, I'd say go for the best you can afford.  'Vans don't depreciate as rapidly as cars and you can always flog it if you don't get on with it.  A bit of money lost, but that's all.  After 5 years and back at work, we've now got a newish, much bigger 'van with everything we want on it.  Anyway, here's what we learned:

1.  The cheaper the 'van, the older it is, so the chances of the weatherproof seals having lost their effectiveness increases, so older 'vans are more prone to damp.  If you can get a well looked after one and/or one stored under cover, so much the better.  We ended up resealing many of the windows/awning rails - a complete pain, but the only way to keep the damp at bay.

2.  A cheaper 'van might not have all the luxuries you thought you could do without, but after a while you really really wish you had them.  In our case, it was the absence of blinds, a heater that only ran on gas and no blown air heating, no tv aerial, tiny fridge - all things we wished were different about our 'van, but weren't economic to have installed.   And the 'van was small for a growing family. Easy to tow but not much room for longer hols.  The bigger the 'van, the bigger the awning, the bigger all-round living space...

3.  Knowing what we do now, we'd consider buying privately.  You have friends who can give valuable advice; you can get a local repair/servicing person to give the 'van the once over/damp check to make sure (costs, but worth it) and with private sellers, you can often get lots of goodies thrown in, such as awning, aquarolls, hook up, steps etc etc.  Yes, you don't get a warranty, but we got a dealers warranty with ours, yet still damp was detected immediately the warranty ran out (and damp probably wasn't covered anyway...).

4.  You've got a family - it's never been a better time to get a family 'van. Adria/Bailey  plus others do great lightweight good value 'vans with great specs - we could have got one if only we'd had a couple of extra thousand to spare.  We've got one now, but we had to wait!

Good luck - and enjoy the search...!

We bought our first van on the spur of the moment from a friend two years ago, we paid £9k and got a van a little over two years old (Ace Transtar) with two awnings, aquaroll, the whole caboodle, everything but the bedding & crockery.  After a year and knowing we loved it, we sold it on for little loss so that we could upgrade to a bigger van that suited us more.  The person who bought it from use got the whole caboodle too.  I think if you loo on ebay or privately you will find a fairly new family van with all the extras at a great price.  If you buy from a dealer they are going to make a commision and you won't get the extra bits and thats where the price stacks up.

I would spend as much as you can afford as an old van for £2k could well cause you no end of problems with damp etc but a newer van will make the whole process far easier and more pleasurable and as many others have said you will no doubt be able to sell it on without losing much on it if you find caravanning isn't for you.

Good luck in your search!