The Caravan Owners Club

[jennym]

Hi, All. First off, thank you so much for having this great forum that is also so easy to join! My partner and I are at the stage where we want to live together and we are looking for ways to get on our feet and save money for a bricks and mortar home of our own. I have the ability to buy a used Elddis Crusader Cyclone outright or something similar. I'm trying to establish whether or not living in one of these for a couple of years will save us more money per year than if we were to rent a flat of our own in Surrey (bearing in mind just renting a room in a house costs me £300/month all-in, which is considered cheap in this area). Granted I could use the money I'd spend on a caravan towards a downpayment on a place now but we'd be scraping by each month after that and I want to have a bigger buffer. Plus, the caravan is something we can keep for many years for recreation, or rent out or liquidate even after getting our house. I'm getting long-stay site quotes of around £10 per day, however, I can't seem to find accurate details about the other monthly costs caravanning can rack up...how much does electicity cost? What are you averaging per month during the cold months? Are you using generators, if so, what costs are involved with that? What about water costs, pumping sewer, etc? How many £1 coins are you having to put into those metered amenities, lol? I really need the details so I can do an annual cost analysis. I love caravans, always have but my Hunny is very skeptical and says we should look at us going into a flatshare as a couple for a few years, which I agree will be quite cheap too but I'm just too old and cranky to want to be dealing with sharing a living space and a toilet with strangers anymore. I hate doing so on my own as it is. I'd rather live a little more cramped yet retain some indoor privacy for us both. And I like the idea of changing the outside view any time I want. What are your thoughts folks? What are your average itemized monthly expenses? Many, many thanks and I'm so glad to have found this forum! God bless!

[jennym]

Hmm 27 views and not one sliver of info. pertaining to my question. Bummer. I'll try elsewhere. Have a good holiday weekend, folks.

[gypsy john]

so many questions and no answers
everyone must be away in their caravans!!
living in a caravan is different than using occasionally at weekends.
my advice would be buy a german van and the bigest you can.
you will have to pay site fee ranging from £600 to £2500 for the year
and electricity on top.seasonal pitches will be billed off a meter usually but all sites can be diferent.i was once charged 1.50 a night electricity.
no rates to pay but gas can be dear.£50 a full bottle and i would say 1 months useage
hope this helps a bit
sorry if we're all dormant
cheers john