Part Exchange Your Static Caravan | Get Cash Direct

What Does Part Exchange Mean for a Static Caravan?

When you part exchange a static caravan, you use the value of your existing caravan to offset the cost of a new one. Traditionally, this is done through the holiday park — but parks are under no obligation to offer a fair price, and their part exchange deals often come with significant commission deductions that reduce what you receive.

At The Caravan Swap Shop, we offer a straightforward alternative. We buy your static caravan directly and pay you directly, with same-day payment by BACS once the deal is agreed. You then have the freedom to use that money however you choose, whether that’s part-funding a new caravan, upgrading through a dealer, or simply taking the cash.

With over 45 years of holiday park experience, we understand the market inside out. That means we make fair, well-informed offers — not park-driven valuations designed to benefit the site.

Why Part Exchange Through The Caravan Swap Shop?

1. You Keep the Full Value

Holiday parks typically charge commission of 10–20% when you sell or part exchange through them. With us, there are no commissions, no hidden fees, and no deductions on completion. The price we agree is the price you receive.

2. Any Age, Any Make, Any Condition

We buy all static caravans regardless of age, make, or condition. Whether your caravan is a modern Atlas, a Willerby, a Swift, a Pemberton, or an older model that needs some work — we’re interested. You don’t need to spend money refurbishing it before we’ll make an offer.

3. Free Valuation Within 24 Hours

Submit your caravan details and we’ll come back to you with a free, no-obligation valuation within 24 hours. There’s no pressure to accept — but if you do, we move quickly.

4. UK-Wide Collection, Completely Free

We collect from anywhere in the UK, at no cost to you. You don’t need to arrange transport, delivery, or de-siting — we handle everything from start to finish.

5. Cash Paid Direct to Your Bank

Once we agree a price, payment goes directly to your bank account. Payment is same-day by BACS once the deal is agreed.

How Our Part Exchange Process Works

Step 1: Submit Your Caravan Details

Use our free valuation form to tell us about your static caravan — make, model, year, condition, and location. The more detail you provide, the more accurate your initial valuation will be.

Step 2: Receive Your Valuation

We’ll review your details and come back to you within 24 hours with a free, no-obligation cash offer. Our offer is based on current market conditions, not a park’s resale interests.

Step 3: Accept and Get Paid

If you’re happy with the offer, we arrange collection at a time that suits you — free of charge, anywhere in the UK. Payment is made directly to your bank account, giving you the funds to put towards your upgrade.

Start Your Free Valuation

Part Exchange Through Us vs Through the Park

Frequently Asked Questions About Part Exchanging a Static Caravan

Can I part exchange my static caravan if it’s still on the park?

Yes. In most cases we can buy your caravan while it’s still sited on the park. We’ll liaise with the park regarding de-siting and removal once the sale is agreed — you don’t need to manage that process.

Do I need to tell the park I’m selling to you?

You don’t need the park’s permission to sell your static caravan privately — the caravan is your asset. However, you may need to inform the park about the planned removal in line with your pitch licence agreement. We can advise on this once we have your details.

Will you buy my caravan if it’s older or in poor condition?

Yes. We buy static caravans of all ages and in all conditions, including those that are no longer park-standard. Get in touch and we’ll assess it on its merits.

How quickly can I get a part exchange valuation?

We aim to respond within 24 hours of receiving your details via our valuation form. For urgent situations, you can also call us directly on 07770 603800.

Is there a fee for the valuation?

No. Our valuation service is completely free and carries no obligation. If you don’t like our offer, you’re under no pressure to accept it.

Can I use the sale proceeds to buy a new static caravan?

Absolutely. Many of our customers use the proceeds from their sale to contribute towards a new caravan, either through a park, a dealer, or a private seller. Because we pay in cash direct to your bank, you’re in full control of how you use the funds.

What a Part-Exchange Offer Is Actually Made Of

Most part-exchange conversations happen the wrong way round. The park quotes a single headline figure — “we’ll give you £14,000 against the new one” — and the owner has no way of telling whether that number is generous, average or poor, because it is never broken down. It is worth understanding what sits inside it.

A part-exchange allowance is built from four separate things, and only one of them is about your caravan:

• The trade value of your existing caravan. What it is genuinely worth to somebody who will move it, refurbish it and resell it. This is the only component that reflects your holiday home.
• The margin on the caravan you are buying. A generous-looking allowance is often funded by holding firm on the price of the new unit. The two numbers are negotiated together, which is precisely why they are rarely shown separately.
• De-siting, transport and disposal costs. If your caravan is old enough that it cannot be re-pitched, somebody has to pay to remove it. That cost comes out of your allowance.
• Commission or sales fees, where the park is acting as agent rather than buyer. On many parks the “part exchange” is really a brokered sale with a deduction attached.

The practical consequence is simple: a part-exchange allowance and a market valuation are not the same number, and comparing them is the single most useful thing an owner can do before signing anything. If you want the market number first, our free valuation gives you one in 24 hours with no obligation, and our valuation guide explains how the figure is reached.

Part Exchange vs Selling Outright — A Worked Comparison

Owners usually frame this as “which pays more?”. That is the wrong question, because the two routes settle different problems. Part exchange buys you convenience and a single transaction. Selling outright buys you a known, separated number and the freedom to shop anywhere.

Here is how the same caravan behaves down each route:

Down the part-exchange route

• One conversation, one contract, one moving date. There is real value in that, particularly if you are staying on the same park.
• Your allowance is bundled into the new purchase, so you never see a standalone figure for your old caravan.
• Your choice of replacement is limited to that park’s stock, and to the models that park wants to sell this season.
• If you change your mind about upgrading, the whole arrangement falls away and you are back where you started.

Down the outright-sale route

• You get a specific figure for your caravan, in writing, before you commit to anything else.
• That figure is yours to spend anywhere — a different park, a different operator, a dealer, or nothing at all.
• You can hold the two decisions apart, which is a much stronger negotiating position when you do go looking at new stock.
• It is a second transaction to organise, though we handle collection and the paperwork so that the work sits with us rather than you.

Our detailed breakdown of selling to a trader versus selling through the park sets out the arithmetic in full, and selling without park commission covers what the deductions actually look like in practice.

“Static Caravans for Sale Accepting Part Exchange” — What That Phrase Really Means

This is one of the most common searches in this corner of the market, and it is worth being direct about it: the businesses advertising against it are almost all holiday parks and dealers who want to sell you a caravan. Their interest in your existing one is as a lever on that sale.

We are not one of them. The Caravan Swap Shop is a buyer. We do not hold a forecourt of replacement holiday homes and we are not trying to move you onto a particular pitch. What we do is put a clean, independent number on the caravan you already own, so that when you walk into a part-exchange conversation you already know what your side of the deal is worth.

Owners use that number in two ways. Some take our offer, sell to us outright, and go shopping with cash in hand. Others use it purely as a benchmark, go back to their park, and negotiate a better allowance because they can now say what the caravan is worth on the open market. Both are perfectly legitimate uses of a free valuation, and we are happy either way.

Age Limits: The Single Biggest Influence on a Part-Exchange Allowance

Nothing changes a part-exchange figure faster than a park’s age policy. A caravan that is three years inside the limit and a caravan that is one year outside it are different propositions entirely, and the drop is not gradual — it steps.

The reason is structural. While a caravan can stay on a pitch, its value includes its future as a holiday home. Once it cannot, the value collapses to what the unit is worth stripped, moved and resold elsewhere. Parks know exactly where that line sits on their own site, and part-exchange offers made close to it tend to be priced for the worse outcome.

Two things are worth checking before you accept any allowance:

• What the written policy actually says, as opposed to what you were told when you bought. Our guides to holiday park age-off policies and static caravan age policies cover how these are usually worded and where the discretion sits.
• Whether the caravan has value off the park. A holiday home that has aged out of one site is very often perfectly saleable on another with a longer limit — which is exactly the kind of unit we buy. Ageing out of your park is not the same as being worthless.

If your caravan is at or past the limit, what to do with an older static caravan is the more useful page to read than any part-exchange brochure.

Part-Exchanging a Touring Caravan or Motorhome Against a Static

A large share of “part exchange caravan” searches are about touring caravans and motorhomes rather than static holiday homes, and the two markets behave nothing alike. It is worth separating them clearly.

Several holiday parks will take a tourer, a motorhome or even a car against the price of a static caravan. That can be a genuinely useful route if you are moving from touring to a fixed pitch. What it is not, is a market transaction — the allowance is a sales incentive set by the park, and there is no independent trade price behind it in the way there is for a static.

To be clear about what we do: The Caravan Swap Shop buys static caravans and lodges. We do not buy touring caravans, motorhomes or cars. If you are moving from touring to static, the honest advice is to treat the two sides separately — sell the tourer through the touring market, where the buyers are, and get an independent figure for anything static you own.

Outstanding Finance on the Caravan You Are Part-Exchanging

Finance is the most common reason a part-exchange stalls late, and it does not have to be. If there is an agreement still running on your current caravan, the settlement figure has to be dealt with before ownership can move, whoever the buyer is.

Where the allowance comfortably exceeds the settlement, this is administrative. Where it does not — negative equity — the difference has to be found from somewhere, and in a bundled part-exchange it is usually rolled quietly into the price of the replacement caravan. That is worth spotting before you sign, because it converts a shortfall today into a larger balance tomorrow.

We buy caravans with finance still outstanding as a matter of routine, and the process is set out on our page covering selling a static caravan with finance. The important step is the same on either route: get the settlement figure from your finance company in writing first, so you are comparing real numbers.

Timing: When a Part Exchange Is Worth the Most

Static caravan values are seasonal, and part-exchange allowances follow them. Parks are keenest to do deals when they have new stock to move and a season to fill; they are least keen when the site is winding down and they are carrying units they cannot re-pitch until spring.

The same seasonality applies to an outright sale, and it is the reason our page on the best time to sell a static caravan exists. The general shape is that late winter and early spring are strong, because buyers are planning the season ahead; the tail end of the season is weaker.

There is a second timing point specific to part exchange. Because the allowance is negotiated alongside the price of the new caravan, the two move against each other across the year. Late-season discounting on new stock is often funded by tighter allowances on trade-ins — so a headline saving on the replacement can quietly cost you more than it saves. Getting an independent figure for your own caravan is the only reliable way to see which way that trade has gone.

Getting Your Own Number Before You Negotiate

Everything above reduces to one piece of practical advice. Before you discuss a part exchange with anybody, find out what your caravan is worth as a standalone asset. It costs nothing, it commits you to nothing, and it converts a conversation you cannot audit into one you can.

Our free valuation takes a few minutes to request and comes back within 24 hours. If you would rather understand the mechanics first, what is my static caravan worth and static caravan values in 2026 explain what drives the figure, and how to get the best price covers what you can do to improve it.

More Questions About Part Exchanging a Static Caravan

Can I part exchange a static caravan on a different park to the one I want to move to?

Sometimes, but it is much less common. Part-exchange schemes are usually run by a park or operator on their own stock, and their appetite for taking in a caravan sitting on a rival site is limited. Where the receiving park will not take it, the practical route is to sell the existing caravan separately and arrive at the new park as a cash buyer — which is generally the stronger position anyway.

Does part exchanging avoid park commission?

Not necessarily. Where the park genuinely buys your caravan, there is usually no separate commission line. Where the park is brokering a sale to a third party and calling it a part exchange, a deduction very often applies. The wording of the paperwork matters more than the label on the deal — read whether the park is described as purchaser or as agent.

Will a park part exchange a caravan that has aged out?

Some will, at a heavily reduced figure that reflects removal costs rather than the caravan’s condition. Others will decline outright. An aged-out caravan very often has more value sold off-site to a buyer who can re-pitch it somewhere with a longer age limit, which is one of the more common reasons owners come to us.

Do I need to refurbish my caravan before part exchanging it?

No. Spending money on a caravan immediately before trading it in rarely returns what it costs, because the receiving party will refurbish to their own standard regardless. Clean it, gather the paperwork, and let the condition be what it is. Our guide to the documents you need is a better use of an afternoon.

How long does a part exchange take compared with an outright sale?

A part exchange is bounded by the availability of the replacement caravan, so it can be quick or it can wait on a delivery slot months away. An outright sale is bounded only by collection. We cover realistic expectations in how long it takes to sell a static caravan.

Can I part exchange a lodge or twin unit?

Yes — lodges and twin-unit holiday homes are traded in the same way as single-unit statics, though the pool of buyers is smaller and transport is a larger part of the cost. We buy lodges and twin units as well as conventional static caravans.

What paperwork should I ask the park for before agreeing a part exchange?

Ask for the allowance and the price of the replacement caravan stated as two separate figures, in writing; the pitch licence terms for the new unit, including its age limit; confirmation of who is responsible for de-siting the outgoing caravan; and a clear statement of any commission, transfer or exit fees. If any of the four is difficult to obtain, that is information in itself.

Is a part-exchange allowance negotiable?

Almost always, and it is negotiated far more effectively when you can quote an independent market figure for your own caravan. That is the practical reason to get a valuation before rather than after the conversation.