How much does a static caravan really cost?

Start with the total, not the sticker price

A static caravan advertised at £35,000 is rarely a £35,000 decision. Over ten years the site fees alone can cost more than the van, and the van itself will usually be worth far less at the end than it was at the start.

The honest way to compare options is to add up everything you will pay across the years you expect to own, then subtract whatever you realistically get back on resale.

The costs to add up

Most owners face the same list, in roughly this order of size.

• Purchase price, including siting, connection and any decking
• Annual site or pitch fee, which usually rises every year
• Insurance, often to a standard the park specifies
• Gas, electricity and water, normally metered
• Rates, waste and grounds charges
• Annual gas safety and damp checks
• Repairs, replacement soft furnishings and eventual re-siting

Site fee increases compound

A pitch fee of £4,500 rising at five per cent a year is close to £7,000 by year ten, and the total paid across those ten years is over £56,000. Ask any park for the last five years of actual increases in writing, not the average they quote.

Our true ownership cost calculator does this arithmetic for you, including the compounding.

Resale is the part people forget

Holiday caravans almost always fall in value. Park age limits matter here, because a van that cannot stay on the pitch past a certain age has a much smaller pool of buyers.

Plan on the assumption that you are buying holidays, not building an asset.