Caravan Age.
Browsing through some Club publications, I happened across one about buying a second-hand caravan. This document rather shocked me by saying the usual life of a caravan is 14 years.
Surely this can't be true in this day and age?
So how old is YOUR caravan?
Ours is five years old. So in nine years it will be on the heap. Scary.
Comments
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Our Eldis was falling apart at 10 years old. Everythig was coming un-glued. So we bought a new Lunar. But my daughters Eldis is in brilliant condition at 10 years old. Some are made well and last 20 years or more. Some fall apart. It seems to be a lottery.
I think all makes are just as good or bad.0 -
Our bailey milan is now 5 yrs old and still going strong no faults nothing dropping off, having looked round at some new vans and the build quality I would be suprised if they would indeed last 10 yrs, I understand that at dealership s they get some footfall through them as many prospective buyers look round but maybe this is a good indication as to how they would stand up to 10 yrs of use.
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Ours is a 1998, bought three years ago. It's in really good condition and everything works, but as its full of solid oak fittings its really heavy. The interior is beautiful but the exterior is showing age, like crazing on sills and fairing.
We have some trepidation about changing our lovely van for a new one, you hear such horror stories!
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Remember that 14 years old will be an average/typical figure so there will be many older vans. I personally wouldn't go much beyond 10 years but accept many older vans still have plenty of useful life left in them. Also for mjh2014 you only hear the horror
stories, you rarely hear the satisfied customers who are the vast majority. Our new van bought last month had 2 very minor quality issues I fixed myself (couple of loose screws and short piece of trim required a bit more glue), a minor dealer related problem,
a couple of design/specification issues I have rectified with personal mods or DIY (and the manufacturer gave a very positive response to my comments), and only 1 issue relating to production specification or quality which I am unhappy with, however it is
a manufacturing process about which I can do little.0 -
Mine is nine years old now, having bought it at four years old. Unless I make the switch to a MH, I can't see me replacing it and anticipate it will see out my caravanning days.
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Ours is a 12 year old small Hobby which we bought 2 years ago and we are very pleased with it
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12 and still looks new. Had it from new. It is German, could that make a difference.
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My Abbey Devon is 20 years old in September. We bought it new and has been excellent, obviously we have had and do get the odd problem. it is serviced every year and is damp free. Yes, it looks a bit dated, but it will do us until we no longer want to go
out on the road.0 -
We recently bought a very, very tidy, little used and dry Lunar Ariva GTS 2 berth. I had thought it would give me something to work on in an evening after work but after a good wash
down both inside and out I can only find a couple of cosmetic jobs to do. I renewed the towing electrics the day before our first outing a couple of weeks ago because the plugs and cable had water ingress and were falling apart but other than that the van
is mint for a 13 year old.
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Gygafo- I can second your comments- we have a 1998 Ariva GT and its in very good nick- apart from a few very minor blemishes on the exterior! Have to say the other dusty-pink curtains and valence are the only things that I dont like- but can live with! Probably
cost more to change than the van is worth haha!0 -
Bought new in Sept 2009 ours is racing towards 7 years old. Did look to replacing it with new last summer but the added cost was enough for holidays in the Caribbean and a couple of skiing trips to the Alps! It's dry, has all the facilities we want (fixed
bed. end shower) and I suspect now we will keep it another 6 years.0 -
When I read the title I though this thread was about how old going caravaning made one feel - in my case about 25 years old! In the case of my caravan it is nine, but that layout is no longer made so unlikely to change.
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ours is a 2000 Bailey pagent magenta.very clean and dry. serviced few jobs and updates by ourselves like curtains and flooring fFew odd jobs hereand there.. Great van bought 18 months ago to get us back into caravanning. looking at a new/ish van in year
or 2 but that willhave to last.0 -
Another vote for the German vans
mine Geist LV535 (2005) had around 7 years.Small internal jobs to do, but van still very modern etc.
Only problem I have is front window delamination which will be addressed when I have time.
Will be keeping as long as my son (6yr old, and SWMBO) still enjoy their holidays and long weekends.
Roll on 6 weeks and off to Holland!
Save
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4 years ago I traded my 19 year old (from new ) caravan in. Never serviced, well I did look at the brakes a couple of times ..
Bought another new caravan and was apalled at the service on offer and 2 years later went for a 2 year old Coachman and changed to another dealer for servicing.
Sorry for the rant !
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My 2007 Swift Charisma is immaculate and as it is a perfect layout there is no reason I would change it really. Mind you, it has not had a lot of use, I think in the two years i have owned it, it has had more use than the previous 8 years put together!
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We bought a new Eccles in 1992 and kept it for 19 years and it still looked immaculate. The reasons for not changing were the scare stories of multiple faults with new caravans (we were lucky and only had one issue in all that time). It also had most of the modern bits of kit with the exception of a micro wave so we didn't feel any great lack. Eventually bits did start to wear out and we part exchanged it against a new Unicorn getting £750. The discounted price new in 1992 was £8,250 (full price was £10,500). Which makes me think that caravans are actually cheaper in real terms now than 20 years or so back.
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Our van is 14 years old this year, we bought it last year and have been very happy with it. It was very well looked after and I've only done a few bits and bobs to it, mainly a really good clean and polish and a service. It has a few very minor dents marks
etc, but is still 100% serviceable and comfortable and we hope to have a good few years out of it yet. I don't think new vans offer good value for money, especially for those unlucky enough to buy a 'Friday afternoon' one and there are plenty on here who
seem to, sadly.0 -
Which is more important the age of the caravan or the number of nights it has been slept in? Some 10 year old vans may hardly have been used whereas I definitely don't want to buy MMs caravan when he changes his!
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Our van is 14 years old this year, we bought it last year and have been very happy with it. It was very well looked after and I've only done a few bits and bobs to it, mainly a really good clean and polish and a service. It has a few very minor dents marks
etc, but is still 100% serviceable and comfortable and we hope to have a good few years out of it yet. I don't think new vans offer good value for money, especially for those unlucky enough to buy a 'Friday afternoon' one and there are plenty on here who
seem to, sadly.But how many of us out there who have not had a problem with their new vans, these are never mentioned on here only the small majority who have had problems.
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We got rid of our beloved Lunar Solar 525 two yrs ago and it was about 14 yrs old at the time but was in very good nick with no leaks and everything worked fine on it and we took it to Interlaken a few months before selling it for what i thought was a good
price for us of £3,000, the down side was it went to a single man who worked away from home during the week and wanted it to live in which was a shame as we were hoping a young family might buy it for their first van.0 -
We bought a 1984 Cotswold Windrush in 1996, in great condition. We still own and use it!
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