Second hand camper trailer prices.

[Wol]

Seems to me that there is a glut of second hand camper trailers for sale these days.  Not that this is surprising given the COVID lunacy buying frenzy that took place, and now with Bali cheaper than camping.

 The campers themselves look mostly fine to me just no market for them.

Are there any publicly available sources which say what the volumes of sales of new and second hand RVs and similar are?

Regards

[Bird]

The campers themselves look mostly fine to me just no market for them.

Been thinkin the same for a while.. When you see someone on here mentioned other day he was down to $2500 and 2 yrs no nibbles, that says a lot.

[JimS]

On our last trip though NT , and parts of WA and QLD , we noticed how many caravans ( usually large ) there were , and how few camper trailers.

It seemed then, last winter , that there had been a significant change , in part I would imagine caused by demand by camping areas for "fully contained" toilet and shower facilities.
Things have changed significantly in the last few years.

Cheers
Jim

[Wol]

That is interesting.  I thought the ‘self contained’ requirements for overnight and very short stay sites really only affected those passing through, and that, especially in WA there are lots of lower cost (but not free) Regional parks camping areas.  For some reason I thought self contained group would be mostly caravans and motor homes anyway.  I must get out more.

I reckon every campsite should have good toilets provided at least paid for by our taxes but that is a topic for another day…

[JimS]

Yes , I think national parks are still mostly OK. Some even have hot showers !!

Cheers
Jim

[Fizzie]

we noticed how many caravans ( usually large )

Talking to dealers last year, when we bought a new, & sold our old, van, they're saying that there's also a shift happening towards smaller (-20') vans, rather than the massive 21-23+' monsters you see.

[Bird]

Not far from the old Ford factory in Melbourne’s north, caravan-makers are booming. Almost a decade after the Australian car manufacturing industry died, caravan-makers now employ more workers than carmakers did at their peak

https://techbeyondinfinity.com/ca/not-far-from-the-old-ford-factory-in-melbournes-north-caravan-makers-are-booming/
https://bluewaterhealthyliving.com/not-far-from-the-old-ford-factory-in-melbournes-north-caravan-makers-are-booming/

[rags]

Talking to dealers last year, when we bought a new, & sold our old, van, they're saying that there's also a shift happening towards smaller (-20') vans, rather than the massive 21-23+' monsters you see.

Love our 15’6” Lotus van which has everything a 20plus foot caravan has except a washing machine  which was deleted by choice

[RebsWA]

When I joined this forum in 2008 I had a camper trailer.
Over time the novelty of setting up and packing up, playing in the occasional rain and packing up wet canvas etc, etc wore off.
Especially after watching caravan owners just pull up, get out a chair, a beer then relax.
So I upgraded to a hard top camper (Jayco Eagle Outback) and kept that for a few years but similar issues still existed.
So I upgraded again to a pop top caravan (17ft Jayco Freedom Outback) which was a huge improvement but SWMBO found it to compact to do her stuff with me inside and hated the tiny shower over the toilet and folding wash basin.
So in 2018 I upgraded to a full size caravan (21.5ft Jayco Starcraft Outback). Love it, SWMBO loves it, very comfortable all mod cons and an ensuite.
In our case, over the last 25 years comfort has become more of an issue as we age. I'm 77 now and I reckon a lot of other folk have gone down the same path.
When I see the price of some campers now I shudder and think prospective buyers would be far better off just getting into a used van to start with.
I know of a few people who hire them for their annual leave.
A lot choose overseas holidays nowadays cos they are affordable.
It seems unlikely that young people/families in these economic times will outlay big bucks for a camper.
IMO these are just some of the reasons folk are having trouble moving campers on.
From my experience if I had it all over again I would just start with a caravan.
However it will not work for all as storing them is a problem in suburbia when not in use.
I live on acreage so my van lives in a big shed.
And you use a bit more fuel but in my case it is about $6 per hundred kms so convenience well outweighs cost.
We can save that by making our own cuppa and lunches when we stop without unpacking a thing.
Anyway good luck to those trying to sell a camper, I hope you get your price.

[loanrangie]

When I joined this forum in 2008 I had a camper trailer.
Over time the novelty of setting up and packing up, playing in the occasional rain and packing up wet canvas etc, etc wore off.
Especially after watching caravan owners just pull up, get out a chair, a beer then relax.
So I upgraded to a hard top camper (Jayco Eagle Outback) and kept that for a few years but similar issues still existed.
So I upgraded again to a pop top caravan (17ft Jayco Freedom Outback) which was a huge improvement but SWMBO found it to compact to do her stuff with me inside and hated the tiny shower over the toilet and folding wash basin.
So in 2018 I upgraded to a full size caravan (21.5ft Jayco Starcraft Outback). Love it, SWMBO loves it, very comfortable all mod cons and an ensuite.
In our case, over the last 25 years comfort has become more of an issue as we age. I'm 77 now and I reckon a lot of other folk have gone down the same path.
When I see the price of some campers now I shudder and think prospective buyers would be far better off just getting into a used van to start with.
I know of a few people who hire them for their annual leave.
A lot choose overseas holidays nowadays cos they are affordable.
It seems unlikely that young people/families in these economic times will outlay big bucks for a camper.
IMO these are just some of the reasons folk are having trouble moving campers on.
From my experience if I had it all over again I would just start with a caravan.
However it will not work for all as storing them is a problem in suburbia when not in use.
I live on acreage so my van lives in a big shed.
And you use a bit more fuel but in my case it is about $6 per hundred kms so convenience well outweighs cost.
We can save that by making our own cuppa and lunches when we stop without unpacking a thing.
Anyway good luck to those trying to sell a camper, I hope you get your price.

Totally agree, i see some of those 35K plus camper trailers and just laugh. Still packing up wet/dirty canvas and still cant access it when its packed down.
 I cant see myself towing anything larger than 18ft and about the only thing that our 17ft freedom doesn't have is a toilet/ensuite but that will come when we upgrade next and likely to stay within 16-18ft.
 

[RebsWA]

Totally agree, i see some of those 35K plus camper trailers and just laugh. Still packing up wet/dirty canvas and still cant access it when its packed down.
 I cant see myself towing anything larger than 18ft and about the only thing that our 17ft freedom doesn't have is a toilet/ensuite but that will come when we upgrade next and likely to stay within 16-18ft.

Its not the size so much its the weight. Obviously the car and van must meet legal requirements.
Trying to get an ensuite in an 18 footer makes for a pretty cramped interior IMO.
The extra 6 or 8ft or whatever just follows the first bit and you really don't notice its there when travelling, unless you get a 3.5 tonner.
Our Starcraft has a Tare weight of 2317kg with an ATM of 2792kg which was not a lot heavier than our freedom.
Don't skimp on comfort over a few feet.

[loanrangie]

Its not the size so much its the weight. Obviously the car and van must meet legal requirements.
Trying to get an ensuite in an 18 footer makes for a pretty cramped interior IMO.
The extra 6 or 8ft or whatever just follows the first bit and you really don't notice its there when travelling, unless you get a 3.5 tonner.
Our Starcraft has a Tare weight of 2317kg with an ATM of 2792kg which was not a lot heavier than our freedom.
Don't skimp on comfort over a few feet.

True some of the hybrid 16ft vans are near on 3 ton, we spend more time out than in so don't want a large van.

[xcvator]

We went to the dark side, not because of wet canvas, (never had a wet packup , had a couple of very fast ones  ) just the muscles etc didn't like the camper, even though it was a brilliant design. So we started looking, length was a problem, very narrow street to reverse from, we wanted seperate shower/toilet.So the size made it a bit of fun, but we found a brand new 16 foot van that suited us. We did a 5 month trip and we are still married. Once you work out who and what goes where it's very doable in a small van.

[rags]

Its not the size so much its the weight. Obviously the car and van must meet legal requirements.
Trying to get an ensuite in an 18 footer makes for a pretty cramped interior IMO.
The extra 6 or 8ft or whatever just follows the first bit and you really don't notice its there when travelling, unless you get a 3.5 tonner.
Our Starcraft has a Tare weight of 2317kg with an ATM of 2792kg which was not a lot heavier than our freedom.
Don't skimp on comfort over a few feet.

Pretty much have done similar although we went straight from the tent to the Jayco windup campers to a single bed 12ft expanda to our current 15’6” Lotus off grid van.

You would be surprised the room that this small lotus van offers including a full east west ensuite. The compromise in this van is the queen east west bed. We love this van for its compact  size and are constantly having people come and chat to us when they see the van. Weighs fully loaded with 200litres of water around 2700kg.

[Fizzie]

Trying to get an ensuite in an 18 footer makes for a pretty cramped interior IMO.

They've managed to do it nicely in our Coromal!

Sure, neither Leafz or I are "big", but it's only very occasionally that we're in each others way. Helped a bit by the queen bed running along, not across, so we've each got our side, so no conflicts there

2500kg ATM as well, so not "that" heavy, & when we went over a weighbridge at the start of our trip, we only went ~2.2, with food, drinks, clothes etc + 90l of water.

[warrenm]

I think "covid lunacy" had a large effect on the purchases of caravans & campers, which has left a large amount now for sale when the borders were opened, then interest rates climbed. Another issue that the second hand market has, is we don't have "Finance" available, which the new market has, we have had a Cub on the market for more than 12 months, with only 2 enquiries, one was a swap for a 12 year old Great Wall, the other was chasing our best cash price, which obviously wasn't low enough to start negotiations. 

[KeithB]

Talking of trends: I have noticed during a recent lap and talking to a few mates who have made the change, that some folks are moving to small motorhomes after spending years as caravanners. Their rigs are mostly Merc Sprinter or Fiat van based. Sometimes a little bigger. All say that they would never go back to a caravan.
Some tow a small car behind, which kinda defeats the purpose of getting away from towing. Go figure.
The downside is that they are mostly restricted to good formed roads as these things tend to self destruct after a few corrugations.
The next step I suppose is a compact off road motorhome if you have $250K-plus to spare - about the same cost as a 4WD plus a 20ft off road caravan.
Nothing you can't fix with money.
Keith

[Wol]

We went to the dark side, not because of wet canvas, (never had a wet packup , had a couple of very fast ones  ) just the muscles etc didn't like the camper, even though it was a brilliant design. So we started looking, length was a problem, very narrow street to reverse from, we wanted seperate shower/toilet.So the size made it a bit of fun, but we found a brand new 16 foot van that suited us. We did a 5 month trip and we are still married. Once you work out who and what goes where it's very doable in a small van.

I am assuming that the “who” did not include placing various different partners….

[xcvator]

I am assuming that the “who” did not include placing various different partners….

What happens in the van stays in the van