💵 Ultimate Guide to Buying a Caravan (16 Tips + PDF Planner)

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Entering the caravan market can be extremely stressful, time consuming and overwhelming if you’ve never owned one before. Being armed with this guide to buying a caravan is going to save you a lot of time and pressure throughout the process.

Whether you’re buying a new caravan or going for a second hand one, the process can often feel long and tedious. With new caravan brands and models hitting the market at a faster rate than ever before, getting really specific with what you want will be key.

Window shopping at caravan yards and camping shows will help you sort out exactly what you’re looking for when buying a caravan. Create your list of ‘must haves’ and ‘deal breakers’ to stay focussed on what’s important for you and your family.

After 2 years and 3000 weekends (okay I’m exaggerating… but only a little) of looking through every caravan available, we finally decided on the 23 foot Jayco Starcraft Outback with double bunks and an ensuite.

While that was our perfect fit, it most likely won’t be ‘the one’ for you. Everyone has different needs, wants and stipulations so, let’s break it down and lay out all of the important components that you need to consider before making such a big investment.

If you want to use your current car as a tow vehicle, find out if your car can tow a caravan first.

Good luck!

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Tips for Buying a Caravan

Funding Your Caravan Purchase

First tip of bat in this guide to buying a caravan is figuring out how you’re going to fund your caravan purchase.

If you’re planning on travelling long-term or indefinitely, you may plan on selling your house or renting it out. While that avenue is a growing trend, it’s certainly not the best decision for everyone. Some people decide to do a big trip and then sell their van at the end, which can then fund something else or pay out the loan.

Financing a caravan is another option if you will have the means to continue paying out the loan while travelling. Two different options here include getting a specific caravan loan or drawing on the equity from your property (if applicable).

If you’re like me and don’t feel comfortable with the debt, consider what you can sell to raise funds towards buying a caravan. If there’s a second (or third) car in the household, maybe that can go. Clear out the house and shed, selling as many pre-loved items as you can. While all of those small sales can feel insignificant, they can add up surprisingly well. Then set a savings target, cut out any unnecessary expenses and get cracking on your goal.

Maybe you’ve got the cash already sitting there, burning a hole in your pocket – lucky you! However you’re going to fund buying a caravan, you need to make sure that you’re comfortable with that decision.

Here’s helpful guide on going for Caravan Finance, which will help to answer some of your questions, if that’s the pathway you’re going to take.

Set a Budget

Now that you know how you’re going to fund your purchase, the next step is this guide to buying a caravan is to figure out your budget. If you’re not sure on how much new vans are going for these days, How Much Do Caravans Cost? might help answer your question.

There is no magic amount and sticking with what’s affordable is so much more preferable than taking on any unnecessary expenses. There’s no point taking out a huge caravan loan if the repayments will leave you with no money to actually travel in the thing.

If you’re looking at buying a brand new van from a yard, then one word of advice I can give is, don’t just walk in and pay the asking price. Always try and knock those sales people down as far as they will go! If they don’t have a lot of room to move, get them to throw in as many extras as you can to help save on your budget. When it comes time to sell your van down the track, those extras are what buyers are looking for.

With second hand caravans, you should always start the negotiations below the asking price. Most people know to price their item at a rate which allows for them to be knocked down.

Sit down, crunch the numbers and know your maximum figure so that you don’t walk into any financial burdens.

If you’re looking for an easy way to work out your travel set-up costs, our Big Lap Budget Spreadsheet has a whole automated section to work that out for you.

Choose Your Tow Vehicle

This is a bit of a, ‘which comes first, the chicken or the egg’ situation. On the one hand you need a tow vehicle that is load rated to tow your caravan, but to know what vehicles can do that, you need to know which caravan you’re getting. 

Basically, you need to either choose the caravan first OR the tow vehicle first (if you have a specific preference for one over the other) and go from there.

We had a look around and narrowed our caravan choices down to something under the 24 foot range (no longer, because then you start to hit the Big Rig category). Then we had a look across the board and realised that we would then need a car that could tow up to 3.5 tonne preferably, plus we wanted a wagon rather than a ute. 

Here’s an interested read if you’re looking at towing with a ute – Why Most Modern Ute Tow Ratings Are Bulls#!t.

So, our tow vehicle options were narrowed down to either a Toyota Landcruiser or a Nissan Patrol. As we’d had Patrols in the past and liked them, that became the natural decision for us.

The next thing we needed to do was to figure out whether we wanted the manual or auto and if we’d prefer the diesel or petrol. Let me tell you, that alone is another whole blog post, but it’s suffice to say that we landed on the manual 4.8L petrol Patrol (see our full Nissan Patrol set-up).

Again, it all comes down to personal preference and I recommend making yourself a cuppa and setting aside hours of forum trawling online to figure out exactly what and why you choose what you choose. 

Although you can’t believe everything you see online, reading about other people’s experiences is a really good way to get a broad spectrum of the good and bad points across the board.

Education Yourself on Towing Weights

Understanding towing weights can be extremely daunting and overwhelming. I get it, I knew nothing about this stuff at the beginning of my own caravanning journey. However, educating yourself on towing weights and how much caravans weigh is extremely important and will begin to make sense the more you go over it.

Here is a break down of all the caravan towing weight terms that you will need to become familiar with.

There is no point buying a caravan that’s too small to house all of your essential stuff or something so big that you have nothing to tow it with. Be very careful that your tare weight allows enough for you to carry everything that you need and want without going over your GVM and GCM. 

All of these things add up so incredibly quickly!

If you are unsure on the whole Tare, GVM, GCM thing, have a read of the Caravan Towing Weights Explained article. It’s extremely important that you understand your caravan towing weights and know how to work them out yourself.

When you’re ready to sort out your own caravan weights, here are the Step-by-step Instructions for Weighing a Caravan.

Caravan Packing List

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Caravan Packing List

Consider Your Towing Experience

The next tip in the guide to buying a caravan is to assess your existing towing experience. This is actually a major factor that can get overlooked in the excitement of the travel plans.

There is no shame in going for something smaller if you’re not 100% comfortable with a bigger caravan or tow vehicle. At the end of the day it’s all down to you and you alone to manoeuvre the thing and get your family to the destination in one piece.

There are plenty of towing and safety courses out there and I highly recommend getting some training or freshening up your skills if it’s been a while.

When it comes to caravan sizes, here are the 6 ways to measure caravan length, just so that you’re aware.

Browse Caravan Yards

By now you’ll have a fair idea of your tow vehicle and budget for buying a caravan. The next step in this guide is where it starts to get a bit more fun – it’s time to start window shopping!

To help you figure out exactly which caravan will fit your stipulations, you’ll need to walk through a couple hundred of them (not even an exaggeration!). I mean, there are 160+ caravan brands in Australia to sort through.

Where’s the best place to start perusing caravans? Your local caravan sales yards of course. Even if you have no intention of buying a caravan from a sales yard, don’t let that stop you from frequenting them as much as you can. For it is there that you get to take as long as you like wandering through all of the caravans that they have in stock.

You certainly can’t do all that with a private sale! While the kids loved caravan hunting just as much as we did, occasionally it was nice to drop them off with the Grandparents for the day to allow us more time to focus on the nitty gritty details.

Visit Caravan & Camping Shows

Another great place to compare loads of different caravan layouts, brands and models are at the Caravan & Camping shows. These are especially handy if you’re in the market for a brand new caravan because there will plenty of show deals available with show prices and extra accessories.

Make sure you rock up as early as you can and pack plenty of drinks and snacks (or plan to buy lunch). Caravan & Camping shows are an exhaustingly full day. There will no doubt come a point in the day where you will want to sit down, rest your weary legs and mull over everything you’ve seen so far with a coffee before hitting the pavement again.

While Caravan & Camping shows can be overwhelming, they really do give you the best opportunity to see pretty much everything that is on the current market all in one place. 

Watch out for those salespeople – some of them are bloody good at their jobs and they’ll have you hitching up a new caravan before lunchtime if you’re not careful! 

Hit the Second Hand Caravan Market

We didn’t quite have the budget for a brand new van, but we wanted as new as we could get. So, after figuring out the exact van we wanted, we hit the second hand market.

Here are some second-hand marketplaces worth browsing.

Get to know the market, know what you’re willing to pay and haggle.

Create Your List of ‘Must Haves’

So, now that you’ve walked through 968 caravans, you will no doubt have a better idea of what exactly it is that you’re looking for. The next step is to sit down with you partner/ family and nut out your ‘Must Haves’ list.

One of the most important tips for buying a caravan is to write your ‘Must Haves’ down as a reminder. 

This list will stop you from getting side-tracked with other vans that really aren’t going to make the cut. You don’t want to go shopping with your goggles on and end up having regrets, so keep yourself armed with your ‘Must Haves’ list at all times!

Create Your List of ‘Deal Breakers’

As much as you need your ‘Must Have’ list, it’s equally as important to have your list of ‘Deal Breakers.’ After all, buying a caravan (whether it be new or ‘new to you’) is a big investment, so you want to make sure it’s the right one. 

Some of our ‘Deal Breakers’ were Pop Tops and Expander’s (we didn’t like the feeling of canvas), an east-west bed (we wanted an island bed with plenty of cabinets around) and the toilet/ shower combo (we like the shower being separate).

If you’re considering a pop top, this full guide to pop top caravans will be helpful for you.

Estimate Insurance & Registration Costs

Once you’ve got a fair idea on which caravan you’re now in the market for, go and cost up the estimated insurance and registration expenses for that model. While trailer registration can be fairly cheap (depending on your state of residence), insurance costs can be another story.

The cost of caravanning is not just based on the initial outlay, but it’s also important to consider the ongoing expenses. Not only do you want to be able to make the purchase, but you need to make sure there will be enough in your monthly budget to get out and travel around this beautiful country.

I recommend checking out people’s impartial reviews before selecting which insurance company you pick. There’s nothing worse than needing to make a claim one day, only to find your chosen company is extremely painful to work with.

Don’t forget to also find out what the cost of registering a caravan in your state or territory will be as well.

Questions to Ask When Buying a Caravan

Forking over thousands of dollars for a caravan is no small task, so it’s important to know exactly what questions to ask the seller. Whether it be a sales yard or a private sale, asking the right questions is going to protect you in the long run.

Questions to Ask a Caravan Yard

Questions to Ask a Caravan Private Seller

Caravan Log Book →

Digital Moisture Meter (eBay) →

Thoroughly Inspect the Caravan

If you’ve found a caravan that you’re pretty keen on, before you agree to the purchase, make sure that everything works. Check all hot and cold taps, gas cookers, lights, air conditioner, fans, heaters, charging points and so on.

Ask the owner or sales yard if you are able to take the caravan for a test tow. Either you can hitch it up to your own vehicle (if it’s set up correctly) or ask to be a passenger as they take it for a tow. This is where you will get to make sure that everything is working as it should and that nothing feels ‘off.’

Find out what tow hitch, plugs and connections you will need for this van. Not all tow connections are created equal, so you’ll need to make sure that your car is set up correctly to be able to tow the caravan away.

Do a PPSR (REVS) Check

For any second hand caravan that you’re about to buy, you should always do a PPSR Check before handing any money over. The PPSR report is what used to be known as a REVS check.

The Australian Government PPSR (Personal Property Security Register) can conduct a search on any car, motorbike, truck, trailer or caravan and give you a full history report.

The main things you’re looking for are to check that the caravan hasn’t been written-off and covered up for sale, stolen, encumbered or still under finance.

You can do a PPSR search for just $2 at ppsr.gov.au.

Be Realistic

One of the final pieces of advice in this guide to buying a caravan is to remain realistic. While it’s easy to get swept up in the latest travelling Taj Mahal hype, only you can know your budget, skills, wants and needs.

Here’s a little glimpse into my own caravan buying journey…

We really liked the Jayco Basestation because we loved how the whole back section of the van would basically be the kids room. But after a while we realised that all of the mods we would need to do would effectively turn it into a Jayco Starcraft anyway, so why bother? 

We also totally fell in love with the Universal Transformers (if you haven’t checked them out, oh my god!), but at $125k it was no where near our budget. 

Actually, we almost signed up for one in a weak moment at the Brisbane Caravan Show. It had been a very long day, okay! But I’m so glad we managed to keep our heads screwed on and avoided that hiccup. 

Once you know what you want, stick to it. Otherwise you could spend the next year being indecisive and not getting on with the next part of the quest! 

It’s like a mobile phone, there will always be something newer and shinier on the market. You can’t always have the latest and greatest, it’s impossible in this fast-paced material world. 

So, don’t let that salesperson talk you into something you don’t want/ need or can’t afford, be realistic with your budget and ‘Must Haves’ list and stick to your guns.

Caravan Handover

When it comes time to collect your new (or ‘new to you’) caravan and the keys get handed over, I highly recommend taking a notepad and pen with you as the sales person or previous owner shows you how everything works. Allow yourself plenty of time to absorb the caravan handover information and even get the kids babysat if you can. There is much to learn!

In all honesty, I wish we’d had a proper handover because we had no freaking idea how to use anything! We bought privately and picked up on a weekday, so the man we purchased from was at work, but the lady was at home. She had a few tidbits of info she could pass on, but not all of the ins-and-outs that we really needed. 

Needless to say, there was a lot of Googling and YouTubing along the way for us.

Let me just say that we spent the first six months putting up the awning wrong and it took me a year to figure out what the little orange button on the toilet cassette does while emptying it! 

So, although you probably will be overloaded with information on handover (especially if you buy it new from a yard), pay attention, take notes (and video) and soak up all that you can. The next bit is the best part of all – hitching up and taking off!

HELPFUL CARAVAN TIPS:
• How to Empty Toilet Cassette →
• How to Store Water Tanks →
• Caravan Security →
• 14 Washing Machine Options →

Checklist for Buying a Caravan

If you’ve made it all the way through this post and decided that maybe a caravan isn’t the right option for you, here’s a great read for those considering buying a motorhome.

Travelling around in a camper van is also an option, but if you’re wondering how families fit all of the kids in, check out this family of 5 who fit into a VW camper van! Another option is to purchase an older caravan and build it to be your own. If you’re looking to convert a minivan into a camper yourself, check out this awesome post!

I look back at our caravan shopping days with fondness – it was so much fun! So, get out there and start turning that dream into a reality, however that looks for you.

Caravan Buyers Guide PDF Planner

Buying a caravan for the first time can be really overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be. With the Caravan Buyers Guide interactive planner, you will be taken through the whole process, step-by-step.

With checklists to tick off and decision prompts to fill out along the way, you’ll remain calm, organised and feel confident that you’ve covered all of the important elements.

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