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Buying a pre-owned static caravan: what to check and what to pay

Haven advertises pre-owned static caravans from £14,995 and lists a 2018 ABI at £19,995. Here is what those prices exclude, why the manufacturer warranty does not come with the caravan, and the four things to check before you pay.

Published 2026-07-30 · updated 2026-07-30 · 10 min read · all figures sourced below

Haven advertises pre-owned static caravans from £14,995, a figure its page dates as at 24 June 2026, and on 30 July 2026 its used listings included a 2018 ABI Summerhouse at £19,995 and a 2022 Victory Riverwood Lodge at £46,995. That price buys siting, connections and standard accessories, and excludes the site fee, which at Haven starts somewhere between £4,395 and £4,770 a year depending on which part of its own site fees page you read.

Four things decide whether a used static caravan is a fair buy: damp, the chassis, the park's age limit, and who is selling it to you. The last one matters most, because buying from the park operator and buying privately from the outgoing owner give you very different legal rights.

What does a pre-owned static caravan cost in 2026?

These are the prices the operators published on their own websites on 30 July 2026.

Listing Published price Notes
Haven, pre-owned From £14,995, dated as at 24 June 2026 Cash price includes siting, connections and standard accessories. Excludes 2026 site fees and running costs
Haven, 2018 ABI Summerhouse H/F, graded Silver From £19,995 On the used caravans page
Haven, 2022 Victory Riverwood Lodge, graded Gold From £46,995 On the used caravans page
Park Holidays, static caravans From £9,995, 10% deposit Page does not separate new from pre-owned

Treat the Park Holidays £9,995 with care, because its page does not say whether the cheapest unit is new or used. Away Resorts publishes a pre-owned page with no starting price at all.

Haven's finance example shows what a cheap used caravan really costs. On a holiday home priced at £14,995, a 10% deposit of £1,499.50 leaves a loan of £13,495.50, repaid over 84 monthly payments of £218.47 at 5.14% fixed, 9.6% APR representative. The total payable is £19,850.68, so financing the £14,995 caravan over seven years adds £4,855.68 before a single site fee. Our holiday lodge finance guide covers those agreements, and the ownership cost calculator will run your own numbers.

What does the site fee add on top?

Haven's buyers guide gives an annual site fee range of £4,770 to £10,000 or more, based on costs at Golden Sands in Lincolnshire in January 2026. It puts average gas and electricity at £426, average rates including water at £324, and insurance at £217 to £495, for an annual total of £5,737 to £10,000 or more.

Haven contradicts itself on that page. The cost table says site fees start at £4,770. The park selector widget lower down says "From £4,395 per annum". The frequently asked questions section further down says site fees "start from £4,645 per year". Three different starting figures on one page on the same day, a spread of £375, and no explanation. Get the figure for your actual pitch in writing before you buy.

The safety tests come round every year whatever the caravan's age: Haven's park team charged £163 for a gas central heating test and service, an electric test and a PAT test on 2024 auto-renew prices. For how site fees behave over a decade, see why site fees keep rising and what rights you have.

What should you check on a pre-owned static caravan?

Damp first. Willerby's owners handbook says signs of mould "tend to start forming in the coldest areas, so keep an eye on outside corners and seals/seams", and that "wet areas on windowsills and floors are other clear indicators". On a viewing that means kneeling down in the corners of every room, running your hand along the window seals, and lifting anything covering the floor near the shower and the external doors.

The chassis second, and on a coastal park it changes the answer. Willerby's handbook describes two specifications. A fully galvanised chassis is compliant to ISO 12944:C5, is "recommended for estuary and coastal locations and areas with high salinity", and needs "no maintenance except periodic lubrication". Many models are built instead on a conventional steel chassis with a protective coating, compliant to ISO 12944:C4, and for those the handbook says "it is recommended the chassis be checked annually as a minimum, and quarterly in coastal areas, for any signs of damage or corrosion". Ask which chassis the caravan has, ask to see it, and take a torch.

Gas third. Willerby's handbook is blunt about whose job this is: "The owner of the home is responsible for ensuring the entire gas system is annually serviced by a Gas Safe registered engineer, this gas regulation also applies if the home is let or sublet." It also says flexible gas hoses should be renewed "not later than the expiry date marked on the hose or after 5 years service life, whichever comes first". On a caravan seven or ten years old, ask to see the gas safety records and look at the date stamped on the hose. The Health and Safety Executive makes the annual check a legal duty for "rented holiday accommodation such as chalets, cottages, flats, caravans", with records kept for two years. That duty attaches to letting, so it does not fall on an owner who only uses the caravan themselves.

Ventilation last, and it is the cheapest thing to get wrong. Where a skirting wall is fitted between ground level and the underside of the floor, the handbook says ventilation "is necessary to help provide proper draught for gas appliances as is mandatory by law", and warns that decking can restrict the airflow underneath. A previous owner who boxed in the base and decked over it may have created a gas risk and a damp problem at once.

Does the manufacturer warranty transfer to the second owner?

No, at least not with Willerby, whose warranty page states that it "only applies to the first owner of the home, whilst it is sited on it's original plot". Two conditions, both of which a pre-owned buyer usually fails. The 12 month new home warranty, the three years on parts and the five years structural all stop with the first owner. The exception is the chassis anti-corrosion cover, tied to the date of manufacture or sale rather than to the owner: 12 years from manufacture or 10 from sale on a galvanised chassis, and two years from manufacture or one from sale on painted steel.

What you get instead is whatever the operator offers. Haven gives a two-year warranty on its approved used caravans, and the two years are not equal. The first covers appliances and essentials including the boiler or water heater, cooker, fridge, electrics, plumbing, wheels, gas fire and shower. The second covers only the fixed structure: chassis, roof, ceilings and floors. Read that as one year of useful cover.

Away Resorts contradicts itself on its own pre-owned page. The main body offers a "one-year warranty on all mechanical parts and appliances". A frequently asked question on the same page says pre-owned homes "come with a 3-year warranty". Ask which applies to the specific unit, in writing.

Haven also runs a 30 day Lifestyle Money Back Guarantee. It lets a new customer hand back the keys within 30 days and get their money back, it is not open to existing owners or anyone part exchanging, and using it means the buyer "cannot purchase another holiday home at any Haven park".

How old is too old to buy?

NACO, which advises static caravan owners, says park age limits are "often around 10 to 15 years, sometimes longer", and that parks can enforce them where the written agreement allows. It adds the point that decides the whole purchase: "The critical point is what you agreed to in writing."

So a 2018 caravan bought in 2026 on a park with a 15 year limit has around seven years of pitch left, not fifteen years of caravan life. NACO suggests asking the park what the maximum permitted age is for caravans and for lodges separately, whether a stated figure such as 15 years is a licence term or an age rule or both, and whether you can sell on park at any time or only while the unit is below a certain age. That last question determines your exit. Our article on what happens when your caravan licence expires covers the end of the agreement.

This is also why older used caravans bunch together on price. As static caravan depreciation shows, Haven prices a 2014 and a 2017 caravan within about 1% of each other, because by then the price tracks the remaining pitch term rather than the age of the unit.

What are your legal rights if the caravan turns out to be faulty?

That depends on whether the seller is a trader or a private individual. Section 9 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats every contract to supply goods as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory, measured against "the standard that a reasonable person would consider satisfactory", taking account of the description and the price. Second-hand goods get the same statutory rights, but Business Companion notes that in judging quality "considerations such as price, age and easily identifiable defects would be taken into account". A ten year old caravan is not held to the standard of a new one.

Section 9 carries a trap for anyone who views before buying. The satisfactory quality term does not cover defects "specifically drawn to the consumer's attention before the contract is made", nor, where the consumer examines the goods first, defects which that examination ought to reveal. Inspect the caravan yourself, miss obvious damp, and it is your problem rather than the seller's. That is the argument for paying an independent inspector instead of walking round it yourself.

Section 22 sets the short-term right to reject at 30 days, beginning the day after ownership has transferred, the goods have been delivered and any installation is complete. Business Companion adds that where a fault appears within six months, "it is assumed that the fault was there at the time of delivery unless the trader can prove otherwise".

None of that applies in a private sale. Business Companion is direct: where a consumer sells to another consumer, "the seller has minimal obligations and the buyer very few rights; broadly speaking, it is 'buyer beware'". The private seller's only real duties are that the goods are not misdescribed and that they have the legal right to sell them. Buying privately from the outgoing owner is often cheaper than buying the same unit from the park sales office, and part of that price gap is your statutory rights. Parks also charge commission on private sales, set by the pitch agreement rather than by law, and none of the operator pages cited here publishes the rate. Ask for it before you agree a private price.

Is a pre-owned caravan built for winter use?

The build standard tells you, so ask which one the unit was built to. Willerby's guidance is that "EN 1647 is the European standard for holiday homes, which are suitable for seasonal holiday use", while "BS 3632 is the British residential standard and these homes are suitable for 12 month use (subject to the site licence)". Buy an EN 1647 caravan expecting to use it comfortably in January and the mistake shows up as heating bills and condensation, which returns you to the damp check.

On an older unit that has been altered, check it is still a caravan in law. Section 29 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 requires a caravan to be "capable of being moved from one place to another", and section 13 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 caps a twin unit at 20 metres long excluding the drawbar, 6.8 metres wide and 3.05 metres internal height.

Two questions to put to the park in writing before you pay a deposit. What is the maximum age this caravan can stay on this pitch, and what will the site fee be for the next three seasons. A sales office that answers the first and dodges the second is quoting you a price for the caravan and hiding the price of ownership.

Sources