Inflation and the Cost of our Hobby

I couldn’t even afford a motorhome  when I retired 20 years ago so we simply took a bus to Heathrow and did as our children told us to do -  flew off to Thailand and stayed in palm thatched, seafront beach huts at a tenner a night.

 Overnight UK campsite prices are a drop in the ocean compared with the costs of financing, buying, insuring,  taxing, storing, repairing and servicing a modern motorhome - and then changing it for a different size after making the inevitable initial mistake. .

There ‘s a  workshop near Plymouth producing Murvi van conversions priced at £75,000+, , with a list of extra expensive options as long as your arm..  It’s a rich man’s game that I could never join in and play. 

We looked at the Murvis and hated them. Not well thought out or well finished.

Anyway, is it not perhaps a case of most of us on CT being of a certain age and, although relatively comfortable, being way out of touch with earnings today? Granted, not all younger folk earn whacking great salaries but many do when you compare their income to our pensions. We gain by not having the financial responsibilities we had during our younger years which helps us stay afloat but the earnings of quite a lot of folk 20-30 years younger puts us in the shade.

Incidentally, concerning inflation, in 1935 a relative obtained permission in perpetuity for camping on his farmland. I’ve been told he was one on the first to be granted this. The tents pitched in a field and had use of one toilet connected to a cess pit and a well with a hand operated pump situated in the farmyard. He charged less than one shilling (5p) per night. I'll let someone else work out the equivalent cost today. 😄

i know yours is on the large size so probably a lot more to replace in todays money.

Size is not proportional to price Rufs, even campervans cost more than some 8m motorhomes. I will probably keep my current van until I eventually have to give up touring. I gave some thought to downsizing a few years ago but eventually decided to carry on with the van I have.

TW, I think 5 pence in 1935 is worth £1.85 today.

peedee

Goldie

I think you have hit upon something there, especially if we are thinking about people thinking of taking up the hobby. I am not so sure its the cost of sites that is the problem but the cost of buying a caravan or motorhome in the first place. We purchased our  second new motorhome in March 2019 and it cost £50,000, obviously didn't cost us that much as we had a part exchange but none the less we had to add a substantial amount. If I look at the same manufacturer today (just five years later) there is little in the way of new vans under £75,000 and given that we wouldn't get £50,000 in part exchange it is becoming unaffordable. It seems you would pay over £10,000 for a ten year old caravan and a five year old caravan probably would be in the region of £15/20,000. I just wonder how many younger people are in a position to invest that sort of money. Whilst a caravan might require less investment by the time you get a suitable towcar it all adds up.

David

Interesting thread. There’s no doubt that prices have inflated across the board for touring, but then they have for everything really. How you make the most of what you have, want and ultimately can afford is another factor to consider, particularly for anyone say under 35 wanting to do a bit of touring. Buying new, paying out for dealer services, paying out for storage, paying out for repairs, etc… is fine if you have the capital and ongoing revenue costs to hand, and appeals greatly if you like the relatively easy option of just popping to a dealers and driving away. Not so easy on an income that might be a lot more tenuous, might include raising a family, paying mortgage or rent. That’s when a hard look at other possibilities might be an option. Does it have to be new, does it have to be high tech, can it be cared for by oneself, can it be stored at home. We know lots of folks who have compromised in this way, and have a thoroughly enjoyable time. It’s a value for money thing again.

If the cost of doing something outweighs the enjoyment, then it’s time to look at other options that might suit better. Otherwise, just keep going with a few compromises.

It’s very much the site fee inflation that makes us ponder, but the biggest factor affecting our touring life isn’t money. We are in a situation where we have more spare cash than we have ever had, but no time to ourselves to enjoy it☹️ So we simply grab whatever kind of break we can, and don’t think about what it is costing. Life really is too short.

There speaks a chap with plenty of money (as I have!). However, not everyone has been as fortunate as our generation. At current prices the Club’s longer term future is in serious doubt and their model will have to change to survive. Future retirees will not be as affluent and just will not have the money. Couple this with the proportion of Motorhomes growing in relation to Caravans, the former not needing the Club facilities so much, and you can see the trend.

i am a member of both Clubs and I am not short of a bob or two, as stated above, but sadly the C&MH Club sites are my very last choice, purely down to price. Last year we were away 118 night’s (no wildcamping), and we spent a grand total of four of those nights on a C&MH Club site, (Hebdon Bridge)!

Well plenty of money is a relative term but that aside, I don't think the club has too much to worry about.

There has been suggestions like yours for all the time I've been on CT, 10+ years, with predictions of falling numbers but the opposite has happened. Motorhomes are still using club sites in large(r) numbers than ever before.

While we 'retried' folk may be out of touch with prices and lament the 'inflated' prices of today I think we're also out of touch with today's salaries and what people spend on their holidays?

I don't see how or why future retired folk will not be as affluent as we are lucky to have been. I do still use club sites in school holidays and I still see young families with very expensive outfits, if they can afford them now why not in the future? That's how how we did it.

No reason to be sad about not using club sites?

I "retired" at 46 due to a terminal prognosis. Fortunately I was able to sell my 50% partnership share so had plenty of equity to see me through the maximum 5 years allotted. Fortunately, again, the prognosis was wrong so we've had to have our wits about us to make the money last as long as possible.

And I loved inflation!! It was a Godsend in the early Noughties. Kept my funds from depleting. Then 2008 happened. However it didn't stop us from continuing our touring, buying replacements for car and caravan as and when needed. Inflation since then has taught us how to be careful about capital expenditure and always having Value for Money at the forefront of our minds. 

We have always used alternatives sites as well as club sites but we have noticed a drop off on using club sites simply down to cost of pitches. I detest the current pricing structure and in order to continue touring for roughly the same amount of time have had to look for cheaper alternatives. Once again, fortunately, we don't mind staying on CLs and Independent sites. 

So whilst we take an overall view of expenditure and the effect of inflation we try to mitigate our outgoings but not to our disadvantage pleasure wise.

Each to their own.

ps I'm still here!

I think future retirees will likely have to keep working longer to enjoy a comfortable retirement.   Then there is the demise of most final salary schemes in the private sector.     Are they still common in the public sector?

Our SIL is a teacher, as were both his parents.  They retired at 60 on what I believe are final salary type pensions, but SIL will only receive an average salary pension, and has to pay a higher % of earnings into it than his parents ever did.  He needs to achieve at least a head of department post to be able to put extra money aside to supplement his teachers pension.  Presumably his pension will have some index linking.

Our daughter earns probably 40% more than her husband, is in her company pension scheme, but it is  a defined benefits one. ( at least I think that is what it is called) She contributes  10% of her salary, the company also contributes 10%, so she is dependant on the scheme investments performing well.  She also gets a bonus if she and the company do well, she puts at least half of that into her pension to make up for lower contributions during 2 years of maternity leave.

Fortunately she is very good at budgeting and saving, but they do have what seems to us a huge mortgage, and of course rates are now considerably higher than they used to be.  
She drives a 21 year old car, so will inevitably soon need a new one.  There is no way they could afford a caravan +towcar, let alone a MH.  They can use our caravan, but that will not be available to them forever.

Those in the private sector with final salary pensions are often dependant on the generosity of their previous employers when it comes to pension increases, these were not mandatory before sometime in the late 90s  as far as I can remember, so  current, older, pensioners, like myself, may only have partial index linking.   Certainly my company pension has in no way kept up with inflation over the 17 years I have been retired!

The BBC figures were interesting, did they give any indication of the % of pensioners reaching the various levels of income?