Your first caravan show is a lot. Rows of vans, people waving brochures, a free sausage sizzle and a salesperson who says the price ends today. Here is how to get through it with your head clear and your wallet closed.
Before you go
- Buy tickets ahead if you can. Some shows sell tickets online, and entry rules and prices vary, so check the organiser's page. Our shows page links to each one.
- Know your tow vehicle's numbers. Braked towing capacity, GCM and ball weight limit, from the compliance plate and handbook. It is the one thing that rules vans in or out.
- Pick five vans to see, not fifty. Decide your shortlist from the exhibitor list and look at those properly first. Wander afterwards.
- Set a budget and say it out loud. To your partner, if you have one. It is much harder to talk yourself past a number you have said to someone.
What to bring
- Comfortable shoes. You will walk more than you expect.
- A charged phone, and a battery pack. You will take a lot of photos.
- A tape measure, if you have a storage space or a tight driveway.
- Water and a hat. Showgrounds are rarely shady.
- Your partner. Two people notice twice as much, and one of you can stay sensible.
How to look at a van
Spend the first minute outside, then walk in slowly. Sit where you would sit. Lie on the bed. Open the fridge. Ask yourself whether you could live in this for a month in the rain, not whether it looks good for a photo.
Then capture it before you move on. A few photos, the price you were quoted, and a voice note of what you liked and did not like. VanVerdict does this in a couple of taps, and it keeps all of it in one record per van so that the one you saw at 10am is not lost by the time you reach the fifth.
The one rule
Do not pay a deposit on the day of your first show. Not because every deal is a trap, but because you have seen five vans and you cannot yet compare them properly. Go home, look at your notes, check the towing, read the quote and sleep on it. A good van will still be there on Monday.
For what to ask once you are standing at a van, see our caravan show checklist.
Questions people ask
What should I bring to a caravan show?
Your tow vehicle numbers, a budget, a tape measure, a phone with room for photos and voice notes, comfortable shoes and water. The list above has the full set.
Should I buy at my first caravan show?
Most people are better off looking, taking notes and leaving. If the deal is genuinely good it will still be good after a night to think about it.
How long does a caravan show take?
Plan on most of a day for a big show and a morning for a small regional one. Shortlist the vans you want to see first so you are not wandering.
The VanVerdict team