If you’re considering buying a caravan for the first time, there are a number of ways you can go about this. As with any vehicle purchase, buying new is nice if you can afford it, but the item immediately loses value when you take it off the lot. Generally preferable is getting a used caravan – try somewhere with a solid reputation like holiday resorts and caravan community Park Resorts (click the link to find information on your nearest used caravan sale).

If you’re a newcomer to the caravan world, you’ve doubtless got plenty of questions. One of the major ones is where the store your new vehicle. Storage pitches are certainly useful – and advisable for security reasons – but there are ways in which to make home storage safe. And it will generally work out cheaper than using a storage pitch.

The first question to ask before considering home storage is: will it fit? Take precise measurements of any prospective used caravan and then check the dimensions against your garage. If it won’t fit in the garage, you should seriously reconsider the storage pitch option – if access to the caravan is straightforward, it’ll be a soft target for thieves. Don’t make it too visible if you can avoid it.

Neighbourhood Watch is well worth signing up for in your local community. Don’t rely on it solely, but at least make moves toward getting to know your neighbours well. If you can trust them, they will watch your caravan for you when you are out or away from home. Security posts are also a highly efficient deterrent.

Get your caravan alarmed. There’s a wealth of choice out there, including ultrasonic sensors, perimeter protection, immobilization circuits and audio-visual alarms. They vary enormously in price, but don’t scrimp on the cost too much or you’ll end up being woken up at 3am by false alarms, or not woken at all when it’s a real theft.

Register with Theftcheck, the central database of caravan owners in the UK. On registration, your caravan will be given a unique ID number, which can help police track it down. Theftcheck has recovered thousands of stolen caravans since its launch during the eighties. Call them when looking at used caravans so you can be sure you are not about to purchase a stolen vehicle. For more information on caravan registration and security, the AA has a useful section.

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