Prefer to buy a used caravan for better value? Here we share our own experiences in second hand caravans.
Arriving back in Australia after travelling and living the RV life in the USA, it did not take long to decide to buy a caravan. Still owning the 27 foot fifthwheel in California, we were searching for real value for money. That usually means buying from a private seller. Sometimes you can find great deals in a used caravan sales yard, but this time we found the best deal privately. The USA RV was also purchased second hand and from a private seller in Ohio and proved to be one of the best deals we have, nearly 10 years on!
Many people might take weeks, months, or even years to make a choice, but with my knowledge and experience with vehicles, especially caravans and their onboard appliances, it was easy for me to quickly make an informed inspection on the spot. There was some confidence that safety and gas certificates will back up my own observations.
Almost every seller sounds genuine and helpful and this makes the buying decision difficult. Some sellers offer caravans with many obvious faults and say something like, “everything works okay”, or “just a couple of minor things need attention”. These statements can mislead you into buying something with way more faults than you want.
We rarely decide to buy on the first inspection. If we think we really like a particular caravan right away, we find a way to delay our final decision to buy. Take a break for lunch and discuss all of the concerns in private. At best, wait to see how you feel the next day. Give yourself time to really think it through. Look at some other caravans for sale to make a comparison. It is so easy to be excited and only see the best features in every caravan you see, but then overlook the problems and inconveniences. The risk is that you might overlook some important faults, or forget some features that are valuable to you. So the best attitude to take is don’t trust yourself or the seller until you are absolutely certain you have found the right caravan for you. No caravan is perfect. Take it with some easily repairable faults, but make sure that any repairs are well within your budget and abilities.
How do you know if you have found the right caravan?
Make a short list of features you want.
What kind of features do you want? Off-road style, semi-off road, or a caravan that can only visit caravan parks and level camping sites? Do you want an ensuite. Is it a full ensuite with separate toilet, vanity, and shower? Or a compact shower / toilet combination style ensuite. One example: We wanted an island bed. Some beds are against the wall. Meaning that whoever is sleeping along the wall cannot get out of bed as easily. We don’t have a preference for the size of the bed, (king / queen / double), as much as the bed being island style. Except in one case, the bed was so short, my ankles hung well off the end of the bed. That caravan was eliminated from our shortlist right away!
Write down all the features you like and make the list as detailed as you want: Colour, length, ensuite or no ensuite, solar, suspension type, on-road, off-road, semi off-road, type of hitch, wheels, tyres, decor style, kitchen style, sleeping capacity, exterior finish and the list goes on. Include the year and make and model of caravan too, and especially the price range you can comfortably afford. You may want to include satellite TV, inverter, fridge type and many other items.
Knowing what you want really helps, with thousands of caravans available for sale, you can narrow down the different types of caravans available to you. The price range will help you search, but be flexible. You will very quickly learn that you may need to increase your price, or lower your wishlist. Be flexible and you will enjoy your shopping.
Now you have your list – go shopping!
Start your search online. You can easily enter one of more of your wish-list items in a search with any of the online programs: Gumtree, Marketplace and others. Choose inside your area, within 100 kilometres or so. If you can travel further, you might find an amazing deal! That’s how we came to purchase our fifthwheel in Ohio, USA. We could fly to anywhere in the USA, and that’s where we would begin our journey throughout the states in 2015.
In the latest purchase here in Australia, the top priority was weight limitations. The most our vehicle can tow is 2,270 kilograms. This means we had to choose caravans with an ATM (aggregate trailer mass) of 2,270 kg or less. And the ‘less’ the better. With my maximum being 2,270 kg, I am happier to choose a caravan with a weight of around 2,000 kg or less with plenty of safety margins. Without a professional weight check everything is guesswork. It’s never a good feeling, wondering what the risk may be. You never know how close you are to a catastrophe. If you are overloaded, or feel like you might be … every curve, every bump in the road, and every truck passing is stressful and sucks the enjoyment from your journey. Overloading reduces ride comfort, and adds enormous wear to your tow vehicle and caravan’s tyres and mechanical components.
Weight limitations also limit the accessories and conveniences in a caravan. Our desire to have an ensuite made choices very narrow in the under 2,270kg ATM range. Our compromise was to choose a toilet/shower combination. The kind of ensuite with a separate shower, separate toilet and another place for a vanity, all belonged to the caravans that are much heavier, and we understood this compromise.
Some people upgrade their tow vehicle to one that can tow more weight and that gives more choices but that required a much bigger budget than we had planned.
Build a short list of caravans
Inspect as many caravans as you can. Each one you see will increase your knowledge. Review what you see after you visit each one. Don’t offer to buy right away unless you are certain the caravan fits many or all of the items on your wishlist. Visit one or two dealerships just to compare, you may even find what you want there.
Our choice was driven mostly by weight, then bed configuration, ensuite, and condition. Everything else was a bonus. We wanted something that was really well maintained and not abused. As a qualified technician, I was not concerned of minor faults like blemishes in the finish or dulled trim. I know these are repaired easily. Our seller had his caravan thoroughly checked recently and had the paperwork to prove it. The invoice listed all the items that had been serviced and repaired. The general condition was clean and in an almost new appearance. There were no obvious smells of mould and mildew, so we made our final choice after just one week of shopping!
What to look for in your inspections
Check for water leaks. Water can damage a caravan to beyond repair. A minor drip in the plumbing left for months can degrade a floor where it is almost impossible to replace. A minor seep down a wall over a long period can invite mould and rot the timber framing.
As a qualified technician in the RV industry, I have seen the evidence of small and large leaks. Large leaks can flood under a sink or along the floor. These are usually a plumbing fault and can be repaired immediately. When the repair is completed, the area can be dried and usually there is no other damage. A slow leak, like a dripping plumbing connection, or a tiny gap in the window seal can be unnoticed for months. After a while, the dampness swells timber fixtures and these become rotten. Major damage can be remedied but it is very costly.
Avoid any caravan showing signs of major water damage. Water damage can be evident by a damp smell, mouldy smell, bulging or weak floors and walls. Window frames may be warped or show signs of water stains from the corners.
Check the bottom and back wall of every cupboard and hatch. Look for water stains or even wetness. There may be dust in the back of a cupboard, so sweep it with your hand and check it is just dust and not signs of dried water. Use a torch to see clearly inside every cupboard, look up under bench tops for water stains. Very slow leaks may be evident by white dry water marks. Check around all the water lines, under taps and drainage lines. Look under the floor of the caravan for white water marks, especially around water lines and drain lines. If you see signs of water marks, run the water and see if it has been repaired before you proceed to buy. If in doubt, get a second opinion or move on to inspect the next caravan.
Cracks and loose suspension fittings
Carefully look all over the chassis framework. Check from the tow hitch right back through the suspension and to the rear bumper. You will be looking for any cracks in the steel and cracks or corrosion in the welds. Watch for new welding, where old cracks were repaired. Get another opinion if you are in doubt. Make sure there are no loose bolts throughout. See if the suspension and underneath are rusted and corroded. Check general condition of the underneath too. If the areas under the floor and water tanks have severe scratches or dents, this is a sign it has been run over rocks and harsh terrain. Have this condition thoroughly checked or move on to another inspection.
Electrical and wiring
Inspect the electrical areas, sometimes under the bed and inside electrical hatches. Is there a professional finish to the wiring or does it look like wires are roughly twisted together and covered with electrical tape? Maybe wires are different colours roughly twisted and spliced inline. Check for older wires hanging, which may indicate some non-professional modifications and poor repairs. Do not inspect 240 volt wiring. Leave this to a licensed electrician. Generally check all light switches to see if the lighting works. Run the air conditioner, ask to have the refrigerator switched on the day before you inspect. If you have a thermometer, place it inside the refrigerator to check the temperature. Caravan fridges are expensive and difficult to repair. Make sure these are working properly. You could ask the seller to put an ice tray inside the freezer to test the cooling properties.
Caravans usually have a voltage meter installed somewhere inside. If the caravan is unplugged from 240 volt mains power, the battery meter should read around 12.6 to 12.8 volts. If it is 12.4 volts or less, the battery may be weak or it may need a charge, and this indicates you may be needing a new battery. Ask the owner to plug the caravan into 240 volts mains power and the caravan’s onboard charger should bring the battery to between 13.6 volts and 14.1 volts. If the battery voltage does not increase from 12.8 volts or less the charger may be disconnected or broken. If the voltage reads above 14.5 volts, the charger may not be operating efficiently. Have this checked by a professional if you have any doubts. (The above figures relate to flooded wet cell batteries. These parameters will vary for gel, AGM, or lithium batteries.)
How to decide if you need a new battery in your caravan? If you are going to take your caravan where there is no 240 volt power and the battery is weak, then you will want a new battery right away. If you are staying where you can plugin your caravan to 240 volt power, then you probably can delay the new battery for another year. Ask a professional who can help you decide based on your particular situation.
Hook up the water
After visually checking for water marks, connect the water hose to the main water inlet and inspect for leaks. Run the caravan’s taps on and off, and look for the slightest water drips under cupboards. Any leaks require attention. Put some water in the freshwater holding tanks and switch on the water pump. Turn off the mains water and remove the hose from the mains water inlet. The water to each tap should be almost as strong as the water from the mains water and check that there is no water dripping from the mains water inlet. This would indicate a fairly moderate repair to the inlet valve, but it is worth checking before you go on a journey. When adding fresh water to the fresh water tanks, go inside where the water is filling through the wall and see that there are no drips inside. Especially in the cupboards and inside floor areas behind where the water inlet is placed in the caravan. This may be accessible under the bed or inside a hatch under a seat.
Look carefully at the ceiling
Look for bulging where water may be pooling inside the ceiling. There would also be mould spots and water marks. Check the light fittings for water marks. Water leaks can pool inside light fittings. Check where the TV aerial is mounted through the ceiling. This is a common water leak location. If there is no damage and just a minor water mark, have it checked immediately.
Tyres, wheels, brakes and bearings
You may want to rely on your safety inspection or have these checked professionally by an independent mechanic. You can visually check the tyres for wear and cracks in the rubber. If you know where to look, check the date of manufacture on the tyres. It will be a four digit number, the first two digits being the week, 03 meaning the third week of the year, and the last two digits are the year code, as in 20 being 2020. So 0320 will mean that tyre was manufactured in the third week of 2020. Tyres older than five years should be replaced. Worn tyres with an uneven tread pattern could mean bearing, suspension, overloading or axle problems. Uneven tyre wear is sometimes the result of over or under inflation, where tyre pressures are not maintained correctly.
Shake each wheel side to side if you can, some caravans are too heavy for this check and need to be jacked to test properly. If there is movement, the bearings need inspection. It could just need a service, but deeper investigation is required to properly check the condition of the bearings. Leave the brakes for professionals to check.
You can connect your tow vehicle to the caravan’s wiring hitch and see if all the lights are working.
What next?
Do you love the features? Do the features like upholstery, floor plan, kitchen layout, and bed configuration match your list? If so, and the condition is great, then you might be ready to make a deal. In our case, we were lucky to be happy with our fourth inspection. We negotiated down a little bit because the awning needed new fabric. Our sellers offered a lower price and we grabbed it!
After the gas and safety certificates were organised and we set up our tow car, it was time to pick up our newest caravan. We decided on a campground just 15 minutes from the seller’s home. Our home was nearly two hours away, so we wanted to do a short test drive, (or test tow), before going too far. With the caravan nearly empty, we knew the rig was hundreds of kilograms under the weight limits and just wanted to see how our tow vehicle handled everything too. We stayed the night as a shakedown trip. Just packed some overnight things and enough food for a BBQ at the campsite. We managed to include a couple of swims in the lake, a BBQ, music, and wild animal spotting in just one night. So much fun!
Just a few minor things to fix but we are very happy campers! Now to get a professional caravan weight check!
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