Quote: Originally posted by Vic Wildish on 06/6/2006
For me nearly £900.00 PA is dead money. For 2006, this figure is made up of storage: £425.00, insurance: £320.00, annual service: £150.00 approx.
Flip me Vic, I know you have a reasonably new 'van, ours is a 1989 Silverline Silvercrest GT12/2, we pay £160 insurance and €220 storage (about £150) we store in France. The last service was in France in March 2005 and cost €150 (about £100)
------------- Gaynor
I have three sides, left, right and wrong - which one are you on?
I paid £200 for a 1980 Elddis caravan on ebay. we love it spent the last week in it, i have not got a tow bar fitted yet so my mate towed it to a park for us who do summer storage, you just phone them with the dates you want to go and they have it on a pitch ready for you so no towing so less insurance that you can do through the park
Ken
Discounted Insurance Quotes for UKCampsite.co.uk visitors! Up to 12.5% off!
"A 1980's model will be fine if you are happy with it, check for damp, it's a killer."
Nonsense! Damp is not a killer! Just look at the members of the 'Fixed it' club. Damp in a van does not mean the end of the world, and you don't have to scrap it either.
"I personally would not buy a 'van that's as old as you're suggesting. I think you could be buying more problems than your money could keep up with."
Don't agree with that either. Our van is a 1991 Swift Silhouette Diamond, and I challenge anyone who says it is not as comfortable as the later models.
Quote: Originally posted by darthillcat on 06/6/2006
if you join the RAC check the arrival scheme run by the C&CC its free so van is covered for recovery
David and Jenny
I'm confused by this RAC Arrival through C&CC - people keep saying how cheap it is but my RAC membership went up loads (can't remember the exact amount without checking back) the first time I renewed after joining. I queried the price and was told it was right. I paid it because we had the campervan at the time and thought we should have the cover but I'm going to look into something else this year.
I didn't find their caravan insurance that cheap either - about £20 more than Caravan Guard who came highly recommended.
Quote: Originally posted by Vic Wildish on 06/6/2006
For me nearly £900.00 PA is dead money. For 2006, this figure is made up of storage: £425.00, insurance: £320.00,
annual service: £150.00 approx.
Flip me Vic, I know you have a reasonably new 'van, ours is a 1989 Silverline Silvercrest GT12/2, we pay £160 insurance and €220 storage (about £150) we store in France. The last service was in France in March 2005 and cost €150 (about £100)
Quite right Gaynor, it's painful init?
As early retirees and now living on a limited income - neither of us are old enough for the state pension yet - we are fast reaching the point where we are considering giving the whole thing up especially as we only use it for five weeks per year. For me the most painful aspect is the storage. Keeping our 'van in France is not really an option for us as we use it mainly in the UK. If only I had the room to keep it discreetly at home..........Forced to have the annual service to keep water ingress aspect of the warranty valid. If the 'van was more than five years old I would probably only have it serviced bi-annually. Insurance? Well insurance is insurance - what more can I say.
That said, I've just changed from Tesco to Hastings Direct for the car insurance and saved myself £100.00 this year so I shall be shopping around next month for the caravan's insurance. If I can save the same sort of dosh, I'll be a happy bunny and disposal of the caravan maybe put on hold.
I save on storage as I keep my van in my back garden, obviously once you have had to pay for towbar and all accessories, this does not come into the yearly cost. I pay £120.00 for insurance through C&CC, set aside £150 for servicing and I have yet to add the van to my breakdown cover, though I dont think this will be much.
18 months ago I bought our Swift Minuette 1986 including awning for £300 on E bay! Immaculate interior if a bit dated, spent about another £100 on accessories. Have had 6 weeks use out of it so far and towed it a 1000 miles, no costs over that as such as its stored a home and I have serviced it myself (apart from gas check). Yes It probably has got damp underneath the surface in places but when it finally becomes too much, it will be scrapped and another bigger van bought.
------------- Smiffy53
Strong Drink is the only answer
Oh forgot to say that i bought the bulldog off ebay for £46, couldnt do without it, its amazing.
We also bought a brand new wheel clamp from ebay for approx £15, and we got the hitchlock for £12 also brand new.
We bought our caravan from a dealer who throw in a few things, mostly we used things that we had when we had the tent.
I saved up the storage and insurance money first before we started to look for a van, made it easier.
My thought is that if you buy a trailer tent you might not like it, takes awhile to put it up and you could always be thinking the what if. You could end up folking out twice. Anyway good luck on whatever you decide
Our old van cost us £200 to buy complete with awning and damp thrown in for free, we spent approx £150 on the restoration which has now given us a dry caravan complete with all the bits and bobs that 'we' want and decorated to our taste, the car insurance have been notified so that we are covered on the road and we wont be bothering with any theft insurance as it's a 1980 van, we are with the rac arrival scheme so in the event of a breakdown we are covered.
We pull the van with an old volvo 740 estate and keep it all on the driveway, there's only a hidden cost to owning a caravan if you make one.
Hi Frank, the car pull the caravan fine, just saying the car doesnt know the caravan is there
We know its there, keep looking in mirrors, just incase . I mean when towing there is no rush we just take it easy, better to get their in one piece rather than not at all. It really helps with the bulldog though especially with lorries overtaking.
Its about being prepared.
On a slightly different note does anyone put their bicycles in the caravan or do you have bike mounts for the car?
Would have to say more maintenance with a caravan,if you are any good at DIY then it helps as you could do most jobs yourself .Trailer tents take more setting up but on the plus side if you make sure you don't pack it away damp and leave it then they should last years with the minumum of maintenance.If you could afford it and would get the use out of it ,to justify buying then the caravan is the way to go but at the end of the day its down to personal choice,some prefere tenting over caravanning any day.If you buy from someone giving up alltogether then you should be able to get all you need with either. We have just sold our trailer tent and let everything go with it that they will need to get started . However when we bought our caravan we had to invest in all the extra's ,as the couple we bought from were upgrading and needed to hold on to their kit.