new: 35-90k: used on-site: 15-40k
pitch 3.5-7k + utilities/insurance ~1k
Advanced options
The static is a depreciating holiday, not property: vans lose value fast (a GBP 45k new van can be worth GBP 20-25k in 5 years), site fees rise annually and you can ONLY sell on-site with the park's blessing (commission 10-15%) or off-site for buttons. Subletting income is real on holiday parks but the park takes its cut and books its own vans first. It can still be a wonderful buy: as prepaid holidays for a family who'll use it constantly, priced with eyes open: never as an investment.
What The Static Caravan Calculator Works Out
- Cost per night used: (annual site fees and running costs + a year's depreciation) divided by the nights you actually sleep there. Pitch fees run GBP 3,500 to GBP 7,000 plus about GBP 1,000 of utilities and insurance, so a GBP 45,000 van used 40 nights a year costs around GBP 250 a night.
- The depreciation truth: a new van loses roughly 10% of its value a year on average, with the steepest drop in the first two or three years; a GBP 45,000 van is worth GBP 20,000 to GBP 25,000 after five. A commitment-free cottage runs GBP 120 to GBP 180 a night, so the static only competes at 60 plus nights.
- Before you sign: the licence agreement decides everything: five years of actual fee rises, the park's van age limit (15 to 20 years on many parks), sale and sublet commission rates and what happens if the park changes hands. A five-year-old van bought on-site sidesteps the worst of the cliff.
- Depreciation rate (advanced): edit the 10% default for a newer van (15% or more in the early years) or an older one that has already fallen most of the way.
- Site fee increase (advanced): parks raise pitch fees on their own schedule rather than inflation's, often 5-8% a year. The year-by-year table shows the fee, the value lost, the van's worth and the per-night cost for each year you keep it.
- Years you will keep it (advanced): sets the horizon for the total cost, the resale figure and the table. The park's age limit for vans effectively caps this.
- Subletting income (advanced): what you keep after the park's cut from letting the van out. Parks book their own hire fleet first, so be conservative; the income is deducted from the running cost.
- What you get back when you sell (advanced): the van's depreciated value after the years you keep it, less the park's commission on an on-site sale (10-15% is standard). Off-site removal converts the van to near-scrap value.
- Cottage for the same nights and nights to beat it (advanced): what booking a holiday cottage for the same total nights would cost, and the nights a year at which owning becomes cheaper. Below that figure, book it each year and keep the capital.