Caravan condition photos: what we need before we can quote, and why

Get a quote once you've read the shot list below — it takes a few minutes and saves you sending photos twice.

Most quote requests start the same way: someone walks up to the caravan, takes one photo from the drive, and sends it over. Clear caravan condition photos are what turn that into a real price rather than a guess. They decide which price tier you land in — a straightforward tow, a breaking job, or a static clearance. And they decide whether the price you're quoted is the price you actually pay on the day. Send the wrong photos, or too few of them, and you get a guess instead of a quote.

Why your photos decide the price, not your description

We don't price a caravan from what you tell us it's like. We price it from what we can see. "Towable" means something specific: sound wheels, a solid chassis, a floor that can take the weight of a tow hitch pulling against it on a motorway. A caravan someone describes as towable often isn't, once a photo shows a collapsed axle or a wheel that's seized solid. The description changes what you expect. The photos change what we quote.

What your photos are deciding between

There are three price tiers, and your photos are what puts a caravan into one of them.

A touring caravan that's genuinely towable is priced from £350–£450. If it isn't towable, the job becomes a breaking job instead. Either we break it up where it stands, or it goes away on a tow bed to be broken elsewhere, priced £500–£850. Either way, the skip for the waste isn't included in that figure — you'll need to arrange your own, usually 6–8 yards. A static caravan is broken up on site and the waste taken away, priced £1,800–£3,980. If the wood can be burned on site, that usually brings the figure down by a few hundred pounds. None of that can be judged from a description. It has to come from what's in the photos.

The shot list — what to actually send

This is the list we work from. Missing two or three of these is the single biggest reason a quote has to be revised on the day.

All four sides, with the whole caravan in frame

Not a close-up of the door, not a photo from the car window as you drive past. Stand back far enough that the whole caravan fits, and get all four sides. That's how we judge overall condition and confirm the size and shape we're pricing.

Underneath, with a torch

This is the one people skip, and it's usually the one that matters most. Get down and photograph the chassis and the underside with a torch if it's dim under there. Rust, a sagging chassis rail, or a floor that's dropped away from the frame changes a towable job into a non-towable one. We need to see that before we quote, not after we arrive.

Tyres and wheels, close up

A flat, perished, or missing tyre is often the difference between a caravan that can travel and one that can't. Get close enough that the tread and sidewall are actually visible.

The floor inside, especially corners, the doorway and the washroom

These are where water gets in first. A soft patch by the door or a washroom floor that gives slightly under your foot tells us more about condition than the tidiest living area ever will.

Any damage, honestly — soft panels, delamination, holes, fire or water damage

Photograph the damage directly, not from an angle that avoids it. If a wall is bulging or a panel feels soft when you press it, get a photo of exactly that spot.

The access route from the road

A photo of the driveway, gate, or lane the caravan needs to come out through. Narrow gaps, soft ground, or a locked gate can matter as much as condition. That's especially true on a static job, where the unit isn't going anywhere under its own wheels.

Anything unusual

Awnings, decking, an added skirt or structure, or a caravan boxed in by others parked around it. None of these are a problem on their own. They just change what the crew needs to plan for, so we'd rather know from a photo than find out on the day.

What makes a photo useless

Some photos technically exist but tell us nothing. Too dark to make anything out. Taken from too far away to see condition. Or, more often than people realise, taken from the one angle that happens to hide the problem. A shaded photo of a good side, with nothing of the damaged side, isn't dishonest exactly. But it means the quote we give is wrong, and it'll need correcting once someone's actually stood in front of the van.

Why hiding damage backfires

There's a common assumption that leaving damage out of the photos, or angling around it, will get a cheaper price. It doesn't work like that. If it's not in the photos, we quote what we can see, which is usually the better outcome. What happens instead, when a crew arrives and finds a rotten floor or a seized axle nobody mentioned, is a wasted visit and a revised price on your drive. The honest set of photos almost always gets you a better result than the hopeful one.

Can I just describe it instead of sending photos?

No. A description tells us what you believe is true, and most people genuinely aren't sure what "towable" requires underneath a caravan they've never had reason to inspect. Photos remove the guesswork for both of us. If you're not sure what you're looking at, that's fine — send photos of everything and we'll tell you what it means, rather than you trying to diagnose it yourself.

What if I can't get underneath it?

Get as close as you safely can and use a torch or your phone's flash. If the caravan is jacked up, on blocks, or you genuinely can't reach underneath, say so, and send what you can from the sides and the wheel arches instead. We'd rather have a partial view with an honest note than a confident guess.

Will the price change once you've seen it in person?

Only if the caravan turns out to be different from what the photos showed, most commonly a caravan that isn't towable when it was quoted as a tow. Anything visible in the photos you sent has already been priced in. That's the whole point of asking for them properly the first time.

What happens after you send your photos

Once we've got a full set, we confirm a price against one of the three tiers above and get back to you. We're heavily booked most of the time, so book within 24 hours of your quote landing if you want to keep your collection date. Leave it longer and you could be waiting several weeks for the next slot.

Read more on why it's important to be clear when asking for a caravan scrapping quote, or check what happens if your caravan isn't roadworthy. Ready when you are — head to caravan disposal to get your photos over to us.