Renewed Increase in Sales of Used Motor Caravans and Caravans

Caravanning as a form of holidaying has enjoyed enormous popularity, and not just since the Corona pandemic. Since people travel individually with a motor caravan or caravan and are largely self-sufficient with their own sleeping, living, cooking and sanitary facilities, the caravanning industry is experiencing an additional run on its products in these times. In addition to new vehicles, used models are also in great demand among customers. The Federal Motor Transport Authority registered a total of 101,765 changes of ownership of leisure vehicles since the beginning of the year. This corresponds to an increase of 1.4 percent compared to the first seven months of 2020. “The fact that even more leisure vehicles did not change hands was due to an insufficient supply,” explains Daniel Onggowinarso, Managing Director of the caravanning industry association CIVD. “In view of the special safety and suitability of the holiday form in the Corona pandemic coupled with the supply difficulties for new vehicles, the vast majority of owners do not want to hand over their vehicles at the moment, but use them themselves – despite high resale values,” says Onggowinarso. A total of 54,482 motor caravans have been transferred to a new owner since January – 1.1 percent more than in the same period last year. Caravan ownership changes increased by 1.7 percent compared to 2020. That makes 47,283 vehicles.

Ever more leisure vehicles registered in Germany

As the holiday form of caravanning is steadily gaining new followers in Germany, the number of vehicles registered in the Federal Republic is also continuously rising to new heights. As of the cut-off date on 1 January 2021, the total number of vehicles on the road was just under 1.4 million. That is 8.5 percent more than a year ago. The stock of caravans grew by 3.4 percent to 722,516 vehicles, while the number of motor caravans, which the Federal Motor Transport Authority keeps in its register, skyrocketed by a whopping 14.5 percent to 674,697 vehicles. If the trend continues, next year, for the first time, there could be more motor caravans than caravans registered in this country. “The capacities of motor caravan pitches and camp sites have risen steadily over the decades, but have not everywhere been able to keep up with the growth in the number of vehicles in use. This results in bottlenecks in particularly popular regions and during the peak season. As an industry association, we advocate for the creation of additional capacities and emphasise above all the enormous economic potential that motor caravan tourism offers municipalities and investors in rural areas and structurally weak regions,” explains Onggowinarso.