Sales of used caravans
We have two used caravan dealers in our area who also sell accessories. A friend visited one at the weekend to buy some toilet fluid and was surprised to see the sales area almost empty of caravans and on enquiring was told that in the last few months they had sold almost all their stock of over fifty used caravans leaving only four older caravans for sale.
I checked online and found the same situation at the other dealer with few used caravans left for sale and a long list of sold caravans.
It is no wonder with such unprecedented sales of used caravans that membership of the CAMC has increased and pitch availability is almost non-existent on most sites. It will be interesting to see whether this popularity continues in future years.
It would seem to be a good time to sell a caravan for anyone wishing to retire from caravanning as dealers are desperate for stock.
Comments
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FR, we drive past Salop Leisure today and they have upwards of 100 caravans on their premises, and looking at other main dealers on their web sites the situation is similar, so perhaps it's just the cheaper and older fans that are being purchased.
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It seems to be all over the news on how popular camping seems to suddenly have become so it wouldn't surprise me that some dealers have had good sales of used caravans. Another problem is I expect the hiatus in the manufacture of new models so people waiting a newly built caravan will want to hold onto it until they have a firm delivery date. I have heard anecdotally that many motorhome dealers have had similar success. It seems that the UK no longer has the tourism infrastructure to cope with people not going abroad for their holidays so people are adopting other forms of holidays!
David
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When we were on holiday a couple of weeks ago we popped in to Preston Caravans to buys some things and there forecourt was very sparse and most of the vans that were there had SOLD on them so it does seem to be popular at the moment. Since the sites opened six weeks ago we have been on 5 different sites and each one has been almost full every night we have been there.
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Just to add to my original post whilst shopping in Chorley today we went past two Stewart Longton branches and I have never seen them so empty.
The caravans sold by a our local used dealers were almost all over ten years old and under £10,000 and checking the local main dealers they have very few at that price.
Normally the new 2021 demonstration models would be out but I cannot find any reference to them either at manufacturers or dealers or when they will be available.
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New caravans must be in short supply at the minute. Manufacturers have furloughed staff so production is at a standstill. I heard just this week that Swift and Bailey are returning imminently but Elddis have just paid of 90 production staff.
Seems when production starts in earnest again vans will be rushed through. It might pay to steer clear of 2021 models for that reason
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agree new are in short supply but 2018/19 models are available, have been looking to downsize from our 2008 Coachman 5 berth to a more manageable 4 berth, but have now put that on the back burner. Coachman has been sat on hardstanding alongside bungalow for over 9 months now as we had to cxl all our overseas trips, and with current pandemic and an inevitable overflow situation in the UK, do not want to have £15k - £20k of caravan sat on drive not being used, Coachman owes us nothing but makes a terrific 3rd bedroom when family stay.
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It would seem the increased sales of caravans and motorhomes plus massive numbers of gas BBQs has also led to a shortage of smaller calor gas propane bottles.
Being unable to obtain a 3.9kg propane replacement on-site last week because gas is not being sold on CAMC sites at the moment I found I could not obtain one locally either and had to travel to nearest large dealer over 10 miles away.
Even they had very few smaller bottles of propane and said that replacement supplies were very difficult to get.
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It doesn’t surprise me that second hand caravans are flying out of dealers. A lot of first timers (maybe only into it for while ever overseas holidays get back to normal re flights) won’t want to commit a huge sum to a new van (or MH) and there are some very good second hand bargains out there, if you use common sense and check things thoroughly. Friends of ours, who have had a huge life changing event during the lockdown have just privately sold their beautiful and well maintained van almost within a couple of days, and for a price they wanted. It’s a good time to sell, and a good time to buy if you want a pre owned bargain. We sold our (at the time) 26 year old big van very easily privately around six years ago.
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When we first got into caravanning we decided to buy a second hand unit, quite old, knowing that if we didn't like it we could always sell it within the year and only lose a small amount, less than renting sub standard cottages that were the norm over 30 years ago so I'm not surprised that many people probably have the same idea.
Speaking to our local accessories shop attached to a main dealer they confirm their stock in the shop is flying out and they are being asked more and more to give advice to new owners.
BTW - when we did sell the caravan we originally bought a few years later to upgrade we got more than we paid for it, about 20% more, so an investment to boot.
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We did same WN, our big van, (15ft, so not that big😂) cost us £450. We dragged it home, checked it all out, did some cosmetic updates, took it to Cornwall, left it on a farm down there, and zipped up and down four or five times per year, for seven, eight years, using our smaller second van, kept at home as a tourer. When we bought MH, one of the vans had to go, so we brought larger van home, titivated it up and sold it on for around £800😁 Lady who bought it knew her vans. Wanted something to live all year round, and it was a solid oldie, well insulated.
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What worries me greatly is how many of these 'new' caravanners have gone into it with their eyes closed. Have they done their homework regarding car / caravan match suitability and know about weight loading let alone looked for advice about this? The brother of a friend of mine borrowed a caravan never having towed before and only because his car already had a tow hook. Because he had full car, (wife and three kids) he loaded everything including bikes into the back of the caravan "to keep the weight of the towhook". Going down the M5 to Cornwall he was stopped by the police because his outfit was all over the road due to instability.
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I agree it’s not as simple as just buying a caravan. But that goes for those buying new as well as second hand. As in all walks of life, there will be those who do it properly and safely, while others are merely statistics in waiting. ☹️
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The dealership we've used in the past has 22 pages of used caravans, the usual range of price and range. I'm not convinced people are rushing out to buy them, find a suitable tow car etc etc but I would imagine that some are consdering the idea. We met one family on our last break who'd made that decision.
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Don't know if it's standard but when we bought ours new, the dealer checked to see if it was a good match. Even provided a print out with all the details, so it was not just a verbal OK. They also sold second hand ones, I presume it would have been the same for them.
However, even if it's a perfect match, loading it improperly can turn it into a disaster waiting to happen.☹️
I would imagine there might also be a few more tripped bollards with folk more used to a holiday cottage than a caravan site.
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We have little experience of dealers Steve😁 I suspect you might have dropped lucky with your dealer, and are wise enough to understand a bit about caravanning.
Mid 90’s I was based in a big Leisure Centre with a couple of other officers. Two of us were keen tourers, owned our own vans for years, went all over, had the Land Rover vehicle’s to tow our vans. Other officer heard and listened to our holiday tales of fun and freedom, decided it was for him. Bought a second hand five berth, two weeks later headed off up towards NW to see family, then across to Edinburgh for Festival. No thought given to tow vehicle. Simply used his Ford Orion 1.3. His all time top speed was 40mph, on the A1, M6, Etc.... Stopped by Police at least once. Came home, decided it wasn’t for him, van sold. Never asked either of us for any hints or tips.
🤷♀️
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Unfortunately I think some that are new to caravanning , (and possibly buying on impulse because their foreign holiday had been scrapped), will look at the most misleading bit of data in a car's handbook that says what the maximum trailer weight can be and think that they can tow almost anything. I think there may also be a few dealers out there that will allow this sort of purchase to happen. What the handbook should say is that this is the figure at which point the back end of the car will be ripped off!
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We all had to start somewhere. In my case it was an Ace Airstream, 10 foot long and a Vauxhall Viva 1.3 (probably the worst car I ever owned!!!) I got chatting to a couple of fellows at work who were caravanners. One of them came over to look at the car, put his foot on the towbar and pressed it done and got his seal of approval. All totally unscientific but no internet in those days. The caravan was purchase from an add in the local paper so no knowledge from the previous owner so like many we learnt as we went along. Soon realised the Viva was a hopeless tow car and changed to a 1.6 Ford Cortina which at least could keep up with traffic even if it did rust before my eyes!!! Went on to tow over 80000 miles across the UK and Europe with a range of caravans and towcars before changing to a motorhome. I think a decent dealer, particularly a family run local one would take the time to assess and comment on the suitability of a towcar but there will be no persuading some!
As an aside I noticed that Swift are not recommencing production until 1st September so with that gap in production of new units it would be understandable that secondhand caravans are in high demand?
David
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We towed horses as well as caravans. You don’t mess getting it wrong with livestock. I do recall one weekend our LR Defender was off the road. Show entries had been paid, so we hitched up our Rover SD1 V8. Hell’s teeth, even with only one horse in, we were practically pedalling up our hills😱 Brilliant on the flat, but give us a proper bit of oomph for the sloping stuff. (We did come home with some rosettes though, so worth the hassle🤗)
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Recently phoned our dealer to book in our nearly 2 year old Swift 480 for it’s service. He was really pushing us to sell the ‘van, saying we’d get a top price for it, and then we could buy new next year with a no trade in discount. Must admit we did have a think about it......🤔
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