Your first caravan: what actually matters when buying used

The most expensive common mistake when buying used is not the engine, because there isn't one, but water in the body. A caravan is largely made of wood, and wood that has once been wet keeps working even when everything looks dry from outside. If you learn one thing before the viewing, learn this: you measure, you don't look.

The numbers that matter

A capacitive moisture meter works without piercing anything and leaves no holes. Readings under fifteen per cent are unremarkable and match the natural moisture of wood. Between fifteen and twenty per cent, a second look pays off, and anything above twenty per cent is a finding, not an accident.

You don't measure just anywhere, but where water gets in: around window frames, around the roof vent, at flaps and service hatches, in the corners between wall and floor, along the seams and at the underbody. The front and rear walls are the classic candidates because they carry the most joints. A single raised reading at a window is a different matter from a whole wall sitting above twenty.

The smell often tells you more than the eye. A caravan that stood closed for a long time and smells musty has either been aired badly or has a problem. You find soft spots in the floor by walking through slowly and feeling for give, especially in front of the door and under the bed.

What hangs underneath

The overrun brake is the component that fails most often at the roadworthiness test. Its free travel may be at most two thirds of the total travel. The overrun damper has to work, the gaiter on the drawtube has to be sealed, and the breakaway cable belongs on the caravan, present and undamaged. The coupling head has a wear indicator, and looking at it costs nothing.

With the tyres, it isn't the tread that counts but the age. Most manufacturers recommend replacing them after six years, because a caravan stands still for most of the year with the load always resting on the same spot. The four-digit DOT code on the sidewall gives the week and the year. A set of tyres is negotiable on the price, a rusted-through chassis is not.

Gas: the inspection many people miss

On 19 June 2025 the transition period ended during which the inspection of liquefied gas systems under DVGW G 607 had been suspended. Since then, every leisure vehicle with a fixed gas system needs a valid inspection certificate, and the inspection falls due every two years.

Here is where buyers get caught out: this inspection does not hang on the roadworthiness test. Since April 2022 it has no longer been part of it, so a caravan gets its sticker even without a valid gas certificate. Anyone relying on the test date may have nothing in hand. The inspection costs forty to eighty euros and takes twenty to forty-five minutes. Missing the deadline carries fines from fifteen to sixty euros, staggered by how late you are.

For a purchase this simply means: ask to see the certificate. If it is missing, that is not a reason to walk away, but it is a line in the bill.

Papers and weights

The vehicle documents carry the figures that decide whether the caravan suits the car at all: permitted gross weight, nose weight, kerb weight. The difference between kerb weight and permitted gross weight is the payload, and on small caravans it is often tighter than buyers expect. Add the towing capacity of the car and your own licence category. Discovering after the purchase that the combination does not work leaves you with a problem that cannot be repaired.

The routine that works

On viewing day, a fixed order helps. First walk around the outside and look at seams, seals and the roof vent. Then measure inside, corner by corner, and write the readings down. Then get underneath and check the drawbar. The papers and certificates come last. Work in that order and the most expensive points are behind you before anyone talks about price.

A caravan with clean readings, a working brake and a valid gas certificate is a good vehicle even at fifteen years old. One with a wet front wall is not, and no amount of equipment changes that.