Advice Please

...please be sure to do an "outfit matching" test to confirm compatibility: http://bit.ly/2cGO17x.

For more help on choosing a suitable vehicle and all you need to know about where and how to buy click here: http://bit.ly/2bnbkBE

And then to search for caravans for sale to gain an idea of what you can get second hand head to: http://bit.ly/2cocd0r

Good luck!!!

Helen

Helen

Thanks Helen, yeah all I seem to be doing is bookmarking cars/caravans and using the clubs outfitting page...lots of X's or ! lol. 

What we need to do is actually find somewhere we can look inside caravans 

Thanks for all the help.

Car or Caravan a bit like chicken and egg, personally I would look at caravan first, you don’t want to buy a car and find it is 50 or 100Kg more than you can safely tow.

Give yourself a brake on weights after 20 years of towing I am happy to push the limit on weights to the limit but as a new caravaners stick to the club guidelines or better.

As advised before at 15 a few trips out might be fun but that will soon pass and late teens will have a vastly different idea of what a good holiday is compared to the two of you

Look at buying privately as if you can get a caravan from someone who has given up caravanning you can normally get all the kit with it. The cost of gas bottles, water and waste carriers, hookup cable and step can mount up unless you get them as part of a deal.  If you are looking at a private sale you can get a mobile engineer to check it out for you.  The cost of a check, including a damp check is well worth budgeting for. Google the Mobile Caravan Engineers Association (MCEA) central office who will give you an engineer in your area.

Good luck and enjoy your caravanning.

I have to disagree with Roy&Bev. If you buy the caravan first you are then likely to have some time constraint in finding a suitable car which could result in a) not buying the optimum car for you, b) paying over the odds or c) buying a pig in a poke just because it will do the job. If you get a 'suitable' towcar (ie. 2L diesel, kerbweight +- 1600Kg) you can then find a caravan at your leisure.

Based on your profile age, another thing that you "MAY" have to be concious off is total train weight not exceeding 3.5t (unless you have done a B+E test!) - this it the combination of the maximum mass of both the car and the caravan. 

I'm personally limited to a caravan with MTPLM of 1305kg because of the MAM of my car.

From the suggestions, a 1600kg (kerb weight) car and 1400kg (MTPLM) caravan can be putting you close to (or over!) the limit when the payload of the car is factored in (often up to 500kg)

if you are anywhere near Somerset Highbridge Caravans always have hundreds of vans open for inspection - worth making a journey for 

Thanks guys a lot of information to take in.  We're looking towards either a Ford Mondeo 2L or Skoda Superb...dependent on leaving us enough for a decent van.

Thanks again

Thanks for the helpful answers.  Also whats best to get first the tow car or the caravan?

...well unless you have a suitable towcar first - then how would you be able to take home any caravan that you buy ?

I think the old adage applies here - Don't put the Cart before the Horse?

Thanks for the helpful answers.  Also whats best to get first the tow car or the caravan?

...well unless you have a suitable towcar first - then how would you be able to take home any caravan that you buy ?

Personally I would look at caravans first to see what I would likely wish to tow. No need to buy a 'van first of course, 

I did actually by a caravan without having a tow car when I returned to caravaning after almost 3 years without. The caravan was a demonstrator with a good discount and the dealer was happy to store for a few months. I actually picked up the caravan around a month later although I had any of three neighbours who would have picked it up for me.