Or a caravan for that matter. Does anyone do it? I’m seriously considering getting a van.. I’m more tempted by a big coach-built style campervan but have also toyed with the idea of a XLWB high roof race van type conversion or indeed a caravan.

Thing is, we really don’t have the space to keep one at home. Whilst we can fit a few cars off road if needed there is no space for a van. It would need to be stored at a local (<5 miles away) lock up. Would I get pee’d off fetching it to go away for the weekend and returning it? Are there any practicalities around charging it/cleaning it/etc. I need to consider? (We live on a wide ish main road in a 20 zone so wouldn’t cause too much issue parked up for the odd night here and there). Are there actually any pros to having it away from the house?

We’ve spent a long time renovating our current house just how we want it and have no desire to move to accommodate a van.

Any advice welcome
Cheers

About the only pro I can think of is that it might be more secure depending on where you store it.

Personally I’d find it a pain if ours didn’t live on the drive.

The odd last minute nights away would be the ones that we’d end up not doing. Holidays would be OK still if you had to go and fetch it but then you might Aswell hire if you only use it for a week or 2.

Ours is only a small T5 but the hassle would be the same whatever size.

A solar panel will sort battery charging when not in use. We do leave a dehumidifier in ours over the winter when not in use for longer periods which would be an issue if you can’t plug it in.

I used to have a caravan stored and it was quite time consuming picking it up and taking it back, now have a campervan at the house which is a lot easier to use if I had to store the campervan it would have put me off getting one.

One of the major advantages of a camper van is being able to use it at the drop of a hat. ‘Weather looks good, lets go’ type of thing.
With the van not at home that’s not going to be nearly so appealing.

Even if it’s only 5 miles away you’ll have to get to it, bring it home, load it, THEN go. As Phil5556 said, the advantages of ownership vs. rental aren’t so clear cut in that situation.

I have a Caravan stored. Luckily I do have room on my drive… but that means my car is on the street (and a bit in the way of neighbours), so when not use I store it.

Storage is between work and home, I leave the basics in the van so that I can hitch up after work on a Friday and go. Equally I can drop it back on a Monday morning. Things I can think of which might be a problem…

Storage access hours – it took me a while to find somewhere with good access times, some are only ‘daylight hour’s which is a PITA in winter.

Charging – the caravan charges as it’s towed, but if I’m staying off grid then I prefer to bring it home and plug it in over night. I usually do that after a trip, so that it is ready to go next time.

Packing – it’s always going to be an advantage if you can park at home overnight, especially when you get home as you want to empty / clean everything.

Cost – you pay for places with good access / light it isn’t cheap… I pay about £300 per year and that’s central Scotland, might be more further south.

For me it works well just now (love the freedom of the caravan and storage makes it possible), but in the long term I am thinking of widening the drive, as keeping it at home is always going to be the ‘best’ option.

If you are staying at sites I imagine it would be easier as you don’t need to worry so much about power / waste disposal, but I tend to stay off grid most of the time.

Quite a few people where I live do as our deeds say we cannot store caravans or motorhomes on our drives. My camper van is only a small T5 and my daily drive so I get away with it, but neighbours with caravans and motorhomes store at local places. I looked into it when we briefly considered a caravan but thought it was a bit too much of a faff, but wouldn’t be on its own a reason not to get one. The main thing is you lose that spontaneity…but then the number of times we’ve spontaneously decided to get up and go somewhere in the van you can count on the fingers of one hand so probably not so much of an issue as you might think. It seems where I am you’re looking at around £300 or so a year for storage on a hard standing with no electricity.

My dad has just got a motorhome and negotiated with a neighbouring farmer to keep it at his farm. He negotiated the first year for free on the basis he’d build the hard standing then I think something like £350 a year plus electricity.

I think security is the only real concern.

Just do what the utter cock round the corner from me does, park it on the street, 10 metres from a t junction.

Not.

Tempted to burn the cardboard and plastic heap every time I see it. 😂

Motorhome is stored at a local (ish) place about 20 min drive away, mainly as parking round us is a pig so we’d not have been able to fit anything bigger than a lwb T5 type van.
It’s a ‘farm’ based site that also does secure document storage so it’s alarmed/cctv covered all over the place with anpr controlled gates, plus being in the middle of nowhere,  insurance is far cheaper than if we kept at home.
That offsets the cost somewhat so it’s effectively £20 per month.
Luckily for us there is also a 5 pitch CMC CL site there which is lovely and we often just stay there for the odd night or two. Also means we tend to stay there the night before a long drive to start a holiday as it means an easier early start with fully charged batteries etc..

So there are benefits to it. However, it does add a layer of complication to just heading away at the drop of a hat, more faff when coming back from hols and it is a bit harder to plan things like keeping it clean etc…

If we had the room I’d store at home without a doubt but I wouldn’t let having to use storage put you off owning a motorhome/big camper van.

It’s a vehicle. Be very certain that you are going to use it as much as you think you will once the first flush of enthusiasm has worn off.

It is going to depreciate. Even when not being used it is going to need maintenance. Storage costs and rust are also factors.

Consider the cost of hire instead.

I’ve had a big campervan and my conclusion was that unless it’s used weekly, it’s better to have a small van set up for day trips and pull a caravan for bigger trips.

I have a motorhome. Small house and drive means i have no choice but to put it in storage.

Its a Gold CaSSOA site meaning a big drop in my insurance. I can access it anytime. I am however, very lucky as its 5 mins from my house and on the road to the motorway so even if I had the van at home I’d drive past the storage place anyway/

Get home on a Friday at 3. Pop the bike on the car and beer / food, Drive to storage, put bike on back and food / beer in the fridge and I’m on my way. Leave the car in the storage. Dead easy.

Like I say though, I am really lucky with the location. I rang 5 storage places and 4 were full, and this one I got the last space. I know some people who’s vans are in storage 45 mins from home.

My neighbours recently bought a caravan and told me if its stored at home, then gone on a friday afternoon it could be a sign you’re away for the weekend, he was worried about the security of his bungalow.
He is a bit of a worrier though……

Just do what the utter cock round the corner from me does, park it on the street, 10 metres from a t junction.

So he legally parks his vehicle on a road with no parking restrictions and you want to burn it??

I store my caravan about five miles away.
The storage facility is north of the city I live in. If we are going away, and going south, it can easily add almost an hour to our journey to go pick it up and then return south and drive through the city again. Same again on return, I have to drive past my house (usually after a four hour drive) and carry on driving to the storage facility and then return home again. Its a pain.

Ours is stored on a Gold CaSSOA site 5 mins away from home. We have the room but the drive is too steep to get the overhang up without bottoming out. I wouldn’t want it parked at home and I’m sure the neighbours wouldn’t want it. Most people I know with caravans on the drive have been burgled at some point when the van disappears for a few days.
We have 24 hour access and apart from the bikes, food and a change of clothes then we can be away at the drop of a hat, which we do most weekends.
Had ours for nearly 5 years and have got really slick with it.
Its just like Lowey above.

We have a 5m Scudo based camper on the drive. Most of its use is a case of either deciding Thurs night or on the fri morn to go away that weekend.

I’m absolutely certain we would not get as much use if, at 4pm instead of heading away to our destination we had to go to storage, unload the car / load the van then drive off. Even worse will be when you’re tired on Sunday night…

The camper is good but think carefully about capital cost, depreciation and storage per year by how many nights you will be able to get away.

But campervans are pretty ace.

From a slightly different angle, some mates of ours are moving house – they’ve retired and fancy a change of location – but also have a motorhome. The initial house-buying ticklist included parking for the motorhome, but that turns out to be a serious constraint on their choice of properties. By committing to storing the thing at a local site with 24-hour access, they have a much wider choice of houses they can feasibly live in.

I’m not sure I’d want my choice of home to be dictated by a vehicle that might not even be a long-term thing. Obviously everyone’s priorities vary, but it makes sense from that point of view.

The thing about inconvenience is got around by people on our street by picking the caravan up a couple of days before they leave for holiday and parking on their drive displacing a car onto the road or on their front lawn so they can stock it up, give it a clean and ensure it’s charged up. Then they do something similar on their return, so are not picking the van up as they go and come back from holiday. Not a major issue as far as i’m concerned, but might be a nice signal to potential burglars about them about to pop off on holiday.

Thank you very much for all of the responses everyone. Certainly lots of food for thought! Depending on the size of van I could potentially just about get it on the drive the night before to load etc. and displace the cars as noted above. My chief concern was about the convenience of just heading off at the drop of a hat but realistically with a very small child and a wife who likes to plan things well in advance this probably wouldn’t be an issue – and we would definitely be staying predominantly on sites rather than off grid.

I hadn’t really considered the security aspect too much from either angle.. but living on a main road it certainly is an advantage not having it stored here. Hmmm.. lots to go at here!

Thanks again
Nick

I have a T6 which I keep on the drive but my mate bought a larger van which he keeps in storage. I was surprised how many places there are locally to store and he pays about £40 per month and it is about a 10 minute walk away. I would suggest investigating nearby, you may be surprised.

With a small child, staying on sites, and wanting a coachbuilt (or large van conversion) I think a caravan would be better. You won’t be able to drive around whilst on holiday otherwise, only really suited to those that tow a pup car behind or just want to sit out and and stay onsite all week!

Looks like there is a silver rated place 1.5 miles away (opposite Costco and about 200 yds from the A1 for North/South trips) and two Gold ones about 5 miles away each..

Caravan ticks a lot of boxes but I just couldn’t be chewed towing one abroad for trips down through France.. As for staying on/near site that would generally be the plan and for us to walk/bike everywhere. Could get a lot for my money with a van though.. but may necessitate a change in car as the 320i would no doubt struggle..

A 320 should be ok for a sensible caravan, it is RWD which make better tow vehicles.

It’s the “sensible” bit I normally get carried away with… The 3 series is my wifes car, mine is an M135i but that’s not rated for towing anything at all.. Looks like we specced the wrong engine in the wrong car.. doh!

320i should be able to pull a reasonable size van. our caravan is 1263kg max permissible towing mass and we just bought a BMW 318i. Ideally you should aim at a caravan which weighs up to 85% of the kerbweight of the car. You can go higher, but if you go over 100% you need t be very careful and it can be illegal, especially depending when you got your licence. Agree though that if you are keeping it offsite, usig sites and planning in advance, then towing a caravam will be a better (and far cheaper) option than a campervan

I got my license in 2002.. not sure if that’s good or bad? I suspect the latter.. Interesting point on the car – it already has a towbar for my bikes! although think it may only be 7pin electrics..

95 was the cut off for towing on your license.

cost me 350 quid for a mornings lesson and to do the test in the instructors car. worth it to not have to bother about that nonsense any more.

can tow 2700kg in my 6×4 on the back of my 3500 kg 7.2m long camper without worrying.

I store said 7.2m van along the bottom of my rear garden – but im fortunate in that no neighbours look onto it and i have a corner plot.

If you keep it on the drive all the time everyone will know when your away….

Depends on if you use it or not.

With ours there’s a 50:50 one of us is away with it for our activitys of the day.

Would be a bad bet regarding assuming an empty house just because our campers not there.

You can park your caravan on double yellows and there’s nothing the filth can do. Fight the power!

A guy did this in front of the Edinburgh parking warden depot in Edinburgh for two years.