bmwk12 wrote:
Is that £110.00 per week, x 52 weeks for the year.
Sorry, that is set way to low, and not very realistic.
It is for actual usage. Here's the figures:
- Usage = 4 weeks per year plus numerous weekends to total 6 weeks approx equivalent.
- Cost of 'van four years ago = £2,150. RV = £1,500, so depreciation is £650 over four years, or £165 p.a., or less than £30 per year.
- Insurance costs nothing (the van isn't worth enough to cover fully comp and TP comes FOC with house insurance when not on tow and is included with car insurance when on tow).
- I do my own servicing and have spent about £80 in spares over four years, which is roughly £3 per week.
- On an average 200-mile round trip, I'll burn an extra three gallons of fuel, which costs about £12. I'll use that for a weekly figure because I tend to travel much shorter distances on the weekend trips and usually have one or two fortnight's breaks (so reducing the number of trips).
- I buy on average, two gas refills a season @ £12 per refill, which averages at £4 per week.
- I don't pay more than £10 per night for site fees, which is £60 per week.
So, depreciation + insurance + servicing + extra fuel + gas + site fees come to about £110 per camping week - or £660 per year.
Of course, I don't have a new 'van (it's a 1990 4-berth ABI). I aspire to something a little swisher in the next season or two, but I won't buy new.
FWIW, I prefer the sheer convenience of a trailer caravan and would use one even if it costs the same as a hotel. Perhaps the hotel staff of your experiences were more friendly than mine, but I always feel like I'm imposing if I ask for extra tea/coffee/milk for my room, my schedule doesn't quite fit their mealtimes, etc.
BTW, you're way out on the cost of a new budget caravan. you wrote:
Ist you have the caravan cost which a budget caravan will cost you £14,000.
Take a look at
the prices for Bailey's budget range, which goes from £8,070 to £8,600 -- way less than your fourteen grand. Since depreciation forms the lion's share of your calculated costs, they too are way out. Another thing about caravans is the very low depreciation. Whereas most things depreciate by 25% of RV each year, caravans depreciate at a much lower rate. For example, this year's Bailey Pageant Moselle costs £11,600, a two-year-old can be found on dealer's forcourts for £10,500, which represents an annual depreciation of only 5% of RV. So, over four years, a brand new £11,600 Bailey would lose about £2,000 - about £500 a year assuming you changed your caravan every four years.