Are we heading for a caravan industry crisis? 

Like the car industry, The caravan and accessory manufacturers have priced themselves out of the market with a lack of real competition and quality.

They want to spend "some time and effort" into making a better product. Bailey can't even make a product which doesnt let in water!..

The whole situation has become too expensive. Vans too dear, site fees rediculous price and fuel still sky high. It's become far too expensive for most people.

I think site cost isn’t helping the problem.

Good to see a dealer on RU-vid telling it how it is, not continually talking the market up.

New caravans are too expensive for young family’s and the older clientele are entering at the campervan and motorhome level. Such a shame as really all most of us need is a hassle free, leak free simple home on wheels to make memories.

During COVID and demand was high especially on used caravans the manufacturers thought just a minute we'll increase the price of new ones,well they did now see the results, there not doing special deals,greed caused overstock.

It’s much much cheaper and more flexible to just book a hotel or B&B these days.

Until people have more money in their pockets NOTHING will really improve.

I'm a caravaner. Been touring for 20yrs. My 2nd van I purchased for £2000 it's a 1993 Abbey Alliance 5 birth single axel. I've owned this for 16yrs and it's still dry and rot free and has been over the Highlands of Scotland 3 sometimes 4 times a year. Moral of the story is you don't need the latest greatest van to holiday in. Buy 2nd hand and the money you save not buying new will give you a great holiday..I don't care how it looks it's functional, dry, warm and is somewhere to relax after along hike..

Caravans are a ridiculous price now.

The cost of sites are gone crazy becoming cheaper to go to spain for a weeks holiday

As a caravan owner for nearly 20 years we are thinking that the van we have will definitely be our last. Storage fees, towing out fees and then site fees are crippling. It’s definitely cheaper to b and b now as a couple. It’s sad as we love our caravan which is paid for but still very expensive (over £100 a month before we even use it).

A lot of the holiday home manufactures in Hull have reduced their workforce, reduced the hours worked to a 2 day week and extended holidays and brought holidays forward. The business is on its knees mostly down to the large manufacturers over producing to the point that they have no space left for the unit's that have come off the production line. And here we are

Caravan site owners need to reduce their nightly fees and offer none electric pitches at a much cheaper rate because the vast majority are not educated on Solar. I know a lot of people on varius forums that have given up caravanning completely because of extortion prices pppn and the silly hidden extras.

Very interesting video. Thanks for putting the dealer side to it. We bought a new caravan in 2017 for 23k and that same van is 35k since covid. We had some severe warranty work done whilst we owned it and we sold it last year. I wouldn't buy another as the quality of the product does not justify the price. I think manufacturers will price themselves into administration as not enough people will want to take on the risk of ownership and quite frankly the stress. We loved our caravan holidays and do miss it and if we could have part ex our van for a new one at reasonable cost we may have kept on buying new ones every 4 years or so but the leap in prices in those 4 years was another reason to sell.

Sold my motorhome last year as site owners got greedy and fees skyrocketed.

We are Caravaners of some 33 years. Over that time we’ve had 6 new vans. Looking lately not impressed with the new vans and too expensive.

Weve been caravaning four years and love it but in that time fuel costs and site fees have sky rocketed. CAMC have got greedy and their website is practically unusable. The further north you go the worse the facilities blocks get, dated and depressing, no excuse. Roads full of pot holes, dread looking in the caravan when we arrive on site!

Great video and very helpful. Bit too late for us because the Dealer we bought from has gone into Administration so your prediction was absolutely spot on.

Really interesting and informative, thank you. I hope sales pick up for you. We did buy an Eriba Nova 465 in March, but we knew exactly what we wanted and it was a 2022 model discounted from £24,500 to £20,000. An equivalent 2023 model would have cost around £26,000 and a 2024 model would have cost just over £29,000 for the same spec and it would be exactly the same model because Hymer don't change models that often. We bought it to use for the next 10-15 years, so we wen't bothered about residuals in a few years time. It's this massive price inflation that is putting buyers off en masse, so I think you were wise to switched to used sales only. I've noticed that even new camper vans and motorhomes, which were in very short supply, are now being discounted new.

Caravans need to be much lighter and simpler - diesel sales are dropping, fewer new cars have decent towing capacity. I’ve always looked at caravanning as posh camping. My first van (secondhand) was a 5 berth Monza cost £500 about 16 years ago think it weighed 650kg empty.

Another really informative video Darren.

Static caravan manufacturers have completely lost the plot - more and more luxurious styling with prices to match. Let's face reality - a caravan is just a tin box which is only really fun to stay in from April to October. No-one wants to pay tens of thousands of pounds to potentially spend many weekends sitting in the rain on a field in the UK. The sales manager at the park we're on has admitted the only real interest is in second hand models sub £30k. Any caravan owner with half a brain could see the covid effect wasn't going to last and that most of the pandemic buyers would be selling up and hot footing back to Benidorm as soon as they could! It's an industry crisis they've constructed for themselves I'm afraid.

Great video. One thing worth mentioning is the interest rates on the Credit Lines are much higher now than in 2020/21. Another pressure point financially for dealers holding stock

Love these videos. As a small business owner I love business talk and what you said is very true. The same happened to the cycles trade, during the pandemic it went nuts, new bikes sold out all over the place used bikes were selling for more then the new price for the same model. Prices went up and have never came back down and a lot of businesses have closed down. I hope that the customer you had during the video spent some money with you. looking forward to the next video all the best to you and thank you for the videos

I'm really enjoying your video's, very candid, very astute! Looking from the outside in I'd say you've made the best decision to move from new to pre owned. What a flawed business model it seems. Every year the manufacturers put a different colour lipstick on the pig and up the price. Unsustainable. We're going to move from a campervan to a caravan in he near future. I've noticed how the campervan market has moved in an unsustainable way. Ours is a bit of a niche van a 4x4 Sprinter. Prime target for the Instagram/ lifestyle sell. We've had it since 2015, before COVID and the lifestyle nonsense. Now some manufacturers are asking in excess of £200k. That not a typo, £200k for a van!! I appreciate the eye watering increases in manufacturers costs. But where's the truth between increasing costs and profiteering? I'm observing the same in the caravan market. Someone is making serious money. But at some point people lower down the food chain will go bankrupt😔

Very honest review of the current market. Thank you.

Thanks for your comments. Like I said in the video and what Swift said to me, they ‘update’ the next years model if only cosmetically to insure the dealer distress sells their ’old’ stock and is kind of forced into buy the new stock, which means every dealer has to take at least 30 caravans for 2025 to keep the franchise, if they did do a model change every 3 years it would fit into the buying pattern, but the dealers wouldn’t be forced into changing the demos, unless they wanted to get them off the finance line.

Good insights, thanks for sharing.

Same thing happening with bicycle industry. New models too expensive, both new and 2nd hand market saturated.

Like so many lovely aspects of our culture, caravanning , I suspect, is very much under threat. Not only are site fees prohibitively high for many people,but trying to book a pitch is problematic too. It seems like the powers that be are determined to keep people controlled in their homes. It’s just Orwell’s 1984 being stealthily rolled out . That is of course with the exception of the Davos lot. They will probably develop a virtual holiday, so you can sit on your sofa and have the “experience “. Cheers Blair / Starmer /Schwab and the like.

Thank you for another interesting and informative video. Manufacturers seem to think that if they bring out an 'updated model' every year customers will want the new design. That may work if you are selling something for a few hundred pounds, but with caravans costing tens of thousands there are not many people who can afford to change every couple of years. I like your idea of issuing the vin when the caravan is sold. If they did that and kept the models consistent for say 5 years then it would reduce the volatility in the market. We purchased our current caravan in 2019. It was heavily discounted because the 2020 'updated' models were just being released. The changes were only cosmetic, but the dealer needed to shift the 'old' stock. Great for us but not so great for the dealer! In 2021 we purchased a new car (Ssangyong Rexton, an absolutely brilliant tow car), we got that at a discount because Ssangyong had recently released the new 'facelift' model and the dealer needed to clear his stock. Our model had been basically the same for about 5 years. Imagine how the dealer would have coped if Ssangyong brought out a updated model every year! With the current market for caravans, if we wanted to replace our caravan with the equivalent new model it would cost us over £36,000! When we purchased both the caravan and the car our plan has been to keep them both for at least 10 years, by which time I'll review if we are fit enough to keep on caravanning. Caravanning nowadays is certainly NOT a cheap hobby/holiday, when you look at the cost of a night's camping. Even CLs and CSs are charging £25.00 plus per night and many 'big' sites are charging up to £50.00 per night. Add to that the cost of fuel and a week away adds up. But for us is gives us the freedom to travel where we want, and having a dog it makes things easier. The problem for the caravan industry is that it can be so expensive to get set up with a caravan and suitable tow car that it must put many younger families off caravanning. That is bad news as the industry need to keep its customer base growing as older caravanners give up or pop their clogs. That and the advent of electric cars (many of which aren't certified to tow a caravan) with their limited towing mileage and difficulty of pulling into a charge station with a caravan attached, and things aren't looking good for the caravan industry. You will see that many 'campsites', including both clubs, are introducing more and more' glamping pods', as they are sensing this change.

great info again. thankyou

Good analysis…….the bubble has already burst. Our dealer refused to buy in part ex our 2023 for a 2024 pre owned.Big price difference between ours and the” new one “ but-still refused.

I repaired,renovated and rebuilt lodges,mobile homes and caravans. They aren't built to last, to be lived in or moved too many times. The chassis I've seen on some models are disgraceful, galvanised box section is best, but heavier than angle iron. Insulation is half to one inch thick polystyrene in some cases, double glazing is a red herring, it really doesn't do much as the floor and ceiling vents are always going to let heat escape from the moment it's emitted. 2nd hand dealers are cowboys, they pay peanuts, put lipstick on the pig and flip it for a large profit, anything from £4k to £15k on something they bought for £2k.

Regardless of comments below, thank-you for your industry honesty and insights. I wish you all the best in the future moving forward and I hope your business survives. 2025 will be even harder than 2024, so again fingers crossed for your business, certainly looks difficult with storms ahead from all economical data currently available used for predicting, which ultimately is luck more than insightfulness.

No money means no buying anything. Who wants to pay thousands for a van, to go to a site and pay 45-50 pounds a day for a ‘pitch’.

Definitely site fees are impacting, it's getting so expensive. If your a couple then BB, hotels are similar costs for breaks without the outlying for the van.

Just to back up - TG Towing in Hatfield Heath, have just announced that from the end of August, they will no longer be continuing the caravan side of the business. This will, therefore, be making it harder to get caravans services in this area, and making people question why do they need all the aggro of touring caravans. Another sad day for caravaning.

Thanks for your honesty on this and each of your videos... even respecting commercial constraints, we would all be in a better place if this approach was more commonplace. As a result of your video, some very valid points have been raised in the comments.... notably the push for electric cars (thankfully, the penny is dropping that they are not that great after all and not thought through for real usage).... Also, the ridiculous cost on UK sites.... UK costs have rocketed! .... you only need a quick look at the ACSI European site costs...

great information cheers..............

Nothing is more important for the future of all 4 UK manufacturing of caravans for their survival is going to be quality. With such a smaller number of buyers it’s likely they’ll choose quality will be a key factor . For too long the industry has been ignoring it and now almost everyone are seeing this as the most important factor for buying them . Prices cannot be warranted anymore as demand has now dropped significantly.

It's happening in Australia, used van prices have been coming down steadily since the winter of 2023.

We have long considered buying a caravan upgrading from a huge Tent, but looking at the cost implications and outlay to own one, I think we should just continue to enjoy our camping experience for a few years more…

Drive for electric cars will kill the touring industry.

We purchased a new Adria 2021 two years later the price increased 13-14 k thats a 30 % increase...Hmm and new caravans arnt selling. I WONDER WHY THAT IS

I had been window shopping on the internet since christmas looking for a replacement caravan for our 10 year old Elddis, spotted a 'new' 2023 Adria Alpina that eventually dropped by £10k before it was sold last week but still meant a caravan costing £33

refreshing to hear a Real world honest description. I run the motorhome side for a dealership near you and do a vlog monthly describing the market and other stuff. Weirdly motorhomes nowhere nearly so badly effected , I tbink as we have many more manufacturers, styles and things people do with them. What is different is the large amount of retail px from the spike in first time buters 2-3 years ago bow changing their vans which is causing big cashflow issues for some dealers. Its just the market resetting im sure and will work itself out bit it will be painful to terminal for some and has already

Caravans in the UK are going out of fashion. People are going for campervans and motorhomes. We regularly go up to Scotland and for every caravan we see being towed, we might see upwards of 5 campervans. It didn't used to be like that.

Let's look at the reality of the situation caravans, while previously a cheap holiday are now a luxury. Here are my costs (approximately) over 10 years. Cost of van new about £24000. Value now £8000 or £1600 per year. Storage costs about £500 per year. Insurance about £120 per year. Site fees for 14 nights per year about £350 per year. So without taking into account the need to run a larger vehicle than I need for the rest of the year the annual cost of my van is about £2570 without going abroad, changing the van every very frequently or having a particularly top end van. Unfortunately, in my opinion, touring caravan holidaying is finished.

I'm not surprised at all, new and used prices shot up during and after Covid, the industry created an unsustainable market. The value proposition of Caravans stopped adding up for most potential buyers. Add to the that storage fees and rising site fees, plus the lack of pitches available at good sites during peak times then its just easier to go Airbnb etc. In my experience the idea of roaming freedom with a caravan is a myth in the UK. Good sites are often booked up months in advance, so you can't actually tour around spontaneously, that takes sum of the fun and freedom out of the equation. On the plus side there are some good prices in the used private sales market in recent weeks.

greed

Be even worse when labour start putting fuel and road tax up, heavy tow cars will be frighteningly expensive to run.then to be forced into expensive inefficient for towing EVs.. The end is nigh I'm afraid

You will not be able to tow a caravan now all cars are 1500 cc engines and electric cars we are all knackered

Unsold caravans will be the least our problems.According to the Telegraph today UK is heading towards bankruptcy with catastrophic consequences

Strip down a caravan not even too old when they usually leak and many made of totally mediocre materials. Overpriced for what you get. Secondhand ones always have design issues they keep repeating.

Interesting, I bought a Lunar back in 2016, which, since they went bankrupt, hasn't held much value. However the maintenance cost over the full ownership period was less than £500 so the plan is to keep it until it falls apart, I don't suspect anyone would take it on part-ex anyway.

There’s a great little van being imported from Poland,Leeds caravan centre have taken on the franchise, they are one piece fibreglass so no leaks,4 models available and only 750 ok cost £16995 seem good value with good linterior layouts👍🥳☀️

Just a few years ago I saw a new Swift Basecamp for 17k including plus pack & delivery charges. Now almost 25k. Doesn’t sound right at all. To stay in business they’ll have to vastly lower prices to near pre pandemic prices or they’ll be gone.

All these mod cons in new vans must drive the prices up.30 yrs ago we survived easily without all these new gimmicks. I had an ABI marauder then and to us it was perfect . we're terrified of getting a gas refill nowadays we just use those marvellous little camping gas cookers.it's almost like they are now catering for rich people.

I dont understand why the industry dont see the relationship with the motor industry, new vehicles are not diesel, and availability of suitable tow cars are now limited electric cars just dont suit, and land rovers, no one can insure them now and thats because most are stolen. then there are the camp sites, with a caravan you Cannot side of the road camp, wild camp, and the pitch prices have doubled. its a complete disaster, new tow cars rising cost, insurance doubling, finance costs explosion and ridiculous cost of caravans. its a rich mans game and no one is rich with mortgage costs rising dramatically, and more and more being affected kicking in. This is a cost of living crising knock on effect. food costs, eating out costs, electric and even gas bottles, and repairs taking AGES.

Electric cars do not tow, charging with a caravan impossible, especially in a busy carpark.

And today Broadlane call in administrators, that's 3 decent sized dealers in recent weeks

Caravan industry has been far to greedy over the past few years taking advantage of the new customer base. That new customer base has gone and only the existing customers are left. I am not upgrading as prices are way over the top and quite happy to stick with what I have got until the market resets.

The auction sites have been flooded with 2023 stock I got one 30% discount a great buy.

I have booked a caravan in Porthmadog 4 nights this October half term. £136 for 2 kids and the wife. Years ago we looked at getting a static caravan for our older 2 kids. Glad we never bothered. Doesn't make financial sense. Same with mobile caravans. Fees now are ridiculous.

The Nightly rates have become far to expensive

So were supposed to feel sorry for caravan dealers because manufacturers decided to take us for mugs during 5he pandemic. No cigar, lower prices or go away !

There is a financial crisis,insecurity,record interest and house prices at record highs, hugely expensive site and ferry costs, generally huge pressures and lots of competing pressures.This is without high prices for rapidly depreciating caravans.Its over and not just for now.Electric cars and a poorer public are not helping either.

Very interesting.I bought a new Avondale 5berth for £9600 from Forest of Dean caravans in 1998.The equivalent today would be three times that.Unfortunately my wages haven’t gone up by the same multiplier.

Dont worry, we'll all be living in caravans soon!

5 years ago, caravan or camper, £10k. Today £50k just mental.

bad when the dealer tells you they are crap falling apart and leaking the whole experience is far to expensive now even the site fees are sky high people are going to think why bother after all we don't get the best weather

Net zero, is going to be the biggest problem for caravan and motorhome manufacturers and dealers

But you dealers have had a fabulas last few years, role with the punches ...........

Its the first thing in a line of things disappearing on the way to net zero.

In all business there are good and bad times , the agile smaller business's can respond quicker and I guess the larger business has to take more hits . I would not like to be in business now but if I was I would aim to be selling super expensive luxury goods to the very rich .

People are struggling with living costs...the middle class are being removed

I worked for a small Caravan company back in the early 60's were we used to build touring caravans and static vans of all sizes even down to custom caravans made to order. Unlike many of todays touring vans the ones we built had a proper chassis with independent suspension, floors that didn't deteriorate and caravans that didn't get damp or leak. Why can't they do that today.

Also, on warranty work: I thought the NCC approved workshops can and do carry out warranty work? - My local workshop is more than happy to carry out Autotrail warranty work on my Comanche.... I think people often forget about the excellent network of NCC approved workshops...

So many poor quality these days . Bits hanging off in the dealership. Almost cardboard box’s these days

unreliable and poor quality products means that warranty is a significant issue. The "return to base" warranty gives rise to poor relationship between customers and dealers when customers have shopped around for a good deal on initial purchase but which takes them up country.. I've been told many times over they years that it is the manufacturers who hold the key to improving the flexible warranty situation, they should get on and do it. You suggest that it may takes several years for the current situation to unfold and then correct itself. That will take us ever closer to the upcoming era of EV motoring (with range and towing capacity limitations) which will be the next challenge to the touring caravan industry.

Hope so.

I study the stock market and the charts show its over bought. A negative divergence which isnt always followed by a recession but every recession is preceeded by a negative divergence, (stock market hitting higher highs rsi hitting lower highs). Gold, silver rising fast recently is also a sign of an imminent crash soon. Be ready all.

The warranty work has to be really expensive for it to need more than the 5k of savings that were made... Treat the 5k saving as a risk pot for minor warranty work. Shame it's not the same as for cars and vans. Any main dealer is legally required to carry out manufacturer warranty work...

Site fees are a massive factor in this . Greedy site owners with unrealistic inflated prices . You can stay in a luxury hotel breakfast included for the same price .

Like everything else caravans seem like crazy prices now

On top of the cost of buying a caravan, annual servicing, insurance, site fees have shot through the roof in the last couple of years. Talking to site owners, all of them have seen a reduction in bookings. Where someone might go away a summer holiday plus 4 pr 5 weekends a year, they are cutting back to a main holiday and one or two weekends. If everyone does this, then the sites start to really suffer. For people new to caravanning, the costs are rapidly putting it out of reach of families and everyday folk.

Sites are going to out price themselves also all touring caravan owners need to take reversing lessons and speed lessons before there let loose on the road

Really enjoyed this. Definitely sounds an issue.

As we see the switch over to electric cars the caravan makers are going to have to fit a traction battery in the caravan to give the cars the range they need. I think the caravan market is finished in a decade. Electric motor homes will perhaps be the way forward. Having said that there will be a lot of second hand car batteries going cheap so maybe there will be a market for conversions to fit a caravan battery.

It's funny as when I kept saying this was coming people said I was wrong. It was obvious prices are keep going up but wages weren't going up anywhere near as quick. Adria vans used to be 16K same van now nearly 30K. I appreciate some stuff going up but usually, recessions push prices down it isn't this year at present. I sold my caravan last year as new this was coming. Quite a few dealers are at tipping point now. So the manufacturers need to start pushing back on their parts producers. The issue in caravan/motorhome is there aren't lots of options for buying e.g Fridges, Alko parts. Easy in car industry to keep the prices down. The big elephant in the room is some dealers will have big tax bills to pay at the same time. The other one is pitch fees. I started looking to get a caravan again but 40/50 quid a night for a space on a field plus some electric. Cheaper to get hotels or statics now than caravans.

Cost of finance is the main reason especially for purchasers

Tow vehicles are becoming more expensive as well, with tax and insurance etc..

Fuel cost , site charges , storage charges and the terrible conditions of our crowded roads isn't helping.

We looked at replacing our van in 2023 but the quality v cost was all wrong, Silly high prices, low tech, high energy usage and a poor fit and finish put us off. Going to the NEC this year to see if there's any improvement, ideally with at least 3Kw of battery / solar and the option to use solar or gas for everything rather than the eye-watering prices being extorted for site power. Instead of listening to your accountants try listening to what the customers want

Caravans well over priced for years .

Did anyone have our experience with massive amounts of damp in a 2014 Compass Rallye? Supposed to be damp-free with SOLID construction. We are out of caravanning, period!

Swift in Hull have put all there staff on 4 day weeks as of June 2024.