So you’re looking to sell a caravan but not sure how and what to do with it… Well we show you the different ways to sell your caravan and depending on your current circumstances, we show you the best options to go for. Not only this we also show you how to present your caravan to make your caravan more attractive to enquiries if you wanted to sell it privately.
Where shall I sell my caravan?
There are four common ways to sell your caravan. There are less common ways such as salvage yards / caravan breakers if your caravan is past its use by date but this is last case scenario. So what are the four ways to sell your caravan you may ask? Well, here they are…
Caravan Buyers
Selling to caravan buyers are one of the easiest ways to get quick cash from your caravan. If you’re in need of cash quickly and need to get rid of your caravan as soon as possible with zero hassle than this option may well be the direction for you. There are tons of caravan buyers out there and a lot of caravan buying websites such as caravan-buyeruk.co.uk and trustedcaravanbuyer.com. These work very similar to webuyanycar.com where you fill in your vehicle and contact details and they provide you with a free valuation. If you like the price, then they tend to collect your caravan and send the money in your bank once they’ve assessed the van.
Most caravan buyers will send you the money before they tow your caravan away. So we strongly recommend they pay you before they take your caravan as we have heard some horror stories.
However, if you do opt for this route, be aware that these guys buy your caravan to sell it for a profit so be prepared to have a lower price than if you were to sell it privately.
Perfect For: Anyone wanting cash quickly and their caravan to be shifted off there drive as soon as possible with minimal hassle.
Brokerage
If you’re not in a rush but don’t fancy dealing with buyers, than a brokerage maybe the route for you. A brokerage is just like an estate agent. You get someone to sell it for you and they take a commission from the sale.
This is perfect way to just sit back and let someone sell your van for you for the (fingers crossed) asking price.
Perfect For: Anyone who isn’t in a rush to sell but don’t want to deal with any customers or the sales process and prefer to get more money on their caravan than they would selling it directly.
Caravan Dealers (Part Exchange, Sale Or Return, Direct Sale)
Caravan dealers tend to be a safe way of selling your caravan – As long as you choose a trusted one. To check if they are a trusted dealer just simply check their Google or Trustpilot reviews.
Most caravan dealers give you 3 options to sell your caravan. These options are part exchange, sale or return or direct sale. Part exchange is simply exchanging your caravan for an upgraded caravan jst like you would with a car dealership.
Direct sale works the same as caravan buyers. This is where the caravan dealer actually purchases the caravan from you and this can be completed fairly quickly. As a matter of fact, most caravan buyers are actually caravan dealerships but have just created separate sub brands / websites.
Then finally we have sale or return. This is again the same as brokerage but the dealership is the broker in that they will put your van on their forecourt for people to view providing further exposure and more opportunity to sell it.
Perfect For: Anyone wanting to part exchange their caravan for an upgrade or even downgrade. Anyone who isn’t fussed about getting the most for their asset as long as they get the best deal.
Sell It Privately / Use Marketplaces
Now this is what most people associate when looking to sell their asset. Selling it themselves. Selling via different mediums such as AutoTrader, Facebook Marketplace, GumTree and even us. This is definitely the route you’d want to go down if you’d like to get more money for our asset.
However, be prepared that this is more hassle for you to sell as it is on you to sell it. Unlike the avenues above where it is the caravan buyer or the caravan dealer to worry about marketing, enquiries and passing over the keys. In this case it is on you to make sure your caravan stands out online. You’ll have to be a marketer, the salesman, the administrator and most cases the valleter as well.
But once you have sold your van and you have had the hassle of people knocking on your door asking to view your caravan you do get that sense of achievement when the money is in your hand that you’ve earned and it is more money than you would of got selling it elsewhere. In some cases it can also be a a £3,000 difference compared to selling it directly with a dealer or caravan buyer.
If you want to save yourself that extra bit of cash as well you can list your caravan with us. Unlike Gumtree, AutoTrader, eBay etc our platform is 100% free to list your vehicle. So there is no risk to selling your caravan with us. We believe that shouldn’t have to pay to sell your caravan, which is why we created LeisureBe the platform that makes selling free. If your wanting to sell your caravan with us click here.
Perfect For: Getting the most money for your caravan and find themselves to be a little bit of a Del Boy.
How to make your caravan stand out?
Make Your Caravan Presentable
Before you start with listing your caravan you have to make sure your caravan looks presentable. Start by given it a good clean down on the exterior and interior. If there are cupboard doors hanging off either fix them or be prepared to point them out on your advert.
No one wants to part their cash for something that looks like it hasn’t been looked after in it’s previous life.
Images
Make sure you take good quality images but only after you’ve made it look presentable. The more imagery you take the better.
Take pictures of all angles and try not to leave any room for speculation. Many adverts online only show images of the front of the caravan and they take very little of the back or side. They also may miss certain rooms within the caravan such as the washroom or shower.
The less imagery you take the more untrustworthy you look. If you haven’t taken a picture of the back of the caravan it causes concern for potential customers to think ‘Well… Why?’. ‘Is there any dents in the body work? Is there a missing window or a horrible looking decal on the back?’.
To remove this speculation just take a picture and if there is damage be honest and still take a picture. There is nothing worse than being sold the dream to turn up and see it is a dump.
Also, if you’re listing your caravan on marketplaces like AutoTrader, GumTree, eBay, LeisureBe etc. Then your images will stand out better if you take them landscape and not portrait. Most online adverts have a landscape image section to put your image. If you upload a portrait image then you’re missing out on a good proportion of space that you could utilise.
Information / Description
Now imagery makes the caravan stand out but the really important part is the description. Explaining what comes with the caravan, it’s history and the specification of the caravan is so important. Not only because it helps the customer out in regards to what they are buying but it also helps you.
You don’t want to be spending your time having to deal with lots of enquiries about ‘What year is it? Do you have an awning that comes with the van?’. All this can be avoided by just simply putting the leg work in at the very beginning. Also, it helps you to refer back to if anyone hasn’t read the advert properly.
To help you write a good description it is important to include all the things that the customer may want to hear. We have put a small checklist together to help you get all the information that you will need to start you off on writing the best description.
- Make and model of caravan (Include the model number as well not just manufacturer and the range e.g. Swift Challenger X 880 instead of Swift Challenger)
- Year of caravan
- What berth is it.
- What layout is it (single beds, fixed bed, side dinette, island bed etc.)
- How many axles.
- Has it been serviced.
- Does it have a motor mover or any other accessories that come with the caravan.
- The MTPLM (Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass) – Can the customer tow this caravan.
- Caravan length and width (Customer will want to know this to see if they can fit it on their drive).
- How many owners has it had (If you have this information).
- Is there any damage.
When it comes to writing the specification it is best to present it as bullet points, otherwise if you write it in big paragraphs than you’ll find that a lot of customers will just brush past it and end up asking you the same questions that you’ve already answered in your advert.
Video
There is no better way to show off your caravan than providing walkthrough video. This will definitely show off the van in all its glory and any speculation the customer may have can all be answered with a video.
Price
Make sure you price your caravan reasonably. Unfortunately, like most things in life our assets can devalue. Caravans don;t tend to devalue as quickly as cars do but just like cars, what you may want for it may not be what it is actually worth. We recommend you checking out how much your caravan is worth by simply just filling out our caravan valuation form. We can provide you with a trade value and retail value of your van so you will know if you’ve listed your caravan at a reasonable price.
Be Honest
The biggest and most important thing to do with your advert is be honest. If it has damage state that it has damage, if it doesn’t have an awning don’t say that the customer will get one, pretty simple really.
If there is damage and its cosmetic and you can see the damage, take pictures and mention it in your video walkthrough (if you’re providing one).
