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Personally I would go for a van with double bunks.....triple's are ok while the kids are young but really lack headspace as they grow which is why some manufacturers have moved away from this layout. We have the twin lounge at the moment as the kids are young but plan to move to a double bunk layout around 2016 as it means the beds can remain made up and there will still be a side dinette for them to use as a play space.

In terms of private v dealers its down to choice and money. You will probably pay £1000+ more for the same van from a dealer but will get a warranty. Shop around as many dealers will only offer 6 months warranty but there are others (Reading / Oxford / Swindon caravans for example who are local to use) that will offer 12 months as standard plus the option to extend for another 2 years. We brought our most recent van from there for this very reason and for £249 got 3 yrs warranty.....which has proved well worth it as our rear panel needed replacing last year.

If you buy private pay a local mobile caravan engineer to do a check for you. This will cost less than £100 and will be well worth it. Damp is the key problem to look for but also check over all the panels. Cracking of the rear and front panels of vans around 2006-2008 was common on certain makes and these can be very small and hard to spot...the most common area is up on the top of the panel where it meets the side panels and roof area. Personally I wouldn't touch a van from a dealer or private unless it had a full service history, while its no guarantee it is an indication that the owners have looked after it and caught any issues early....also remember that if its less than 6-10yrs old (depending on make and year of model) the remaining water ingress warranty is ONLY transferable to you if the maintainance schedule has been kept to!

We got ours for the same reason as you and although its not as cheap as we first thought it still works out cheaper than a foreign holiday in peak time plus we now go away a lot more! Next year we are going to try a year on a seasonal pitch as hopefully this will make it easier to get away for short notice weekends, etc

Good luck