Static caravan removal cost: why one quote was £300 and another was £2,000
once you've read this, it takes a couple of minutes and most of your questions will already be answered.
One owner reported paying around £300 to have her static removed. Another, quoted elsewhere for what sounded like the same job, was looking at £2,000. A third, whose park at Porthcawl was closing down, was quoted £1,000. Search for the static caravan removal cost and you'll find that kind of spread everywhere, and it isn't because someone's lying to you. It's because there are two separate bills hiding inside what sounds like one job. One is what the removal firm charges to do the work. The other is what the park charges you for the privilege of leaving, and most guides only ever mention the first one.
How much does it cost to remove and scrap a static caravan?
A static caravan removal typically costs £1,800–£3,980. That's for a job where the caravan is broken up on site and every bit of the waste is taken away. Where you land in that range depends on the size of the static, how it's built, and how easy the site is to get equipment onto. If the timber can be burned on site rather than carted off, the price usually drops by a few hundred pounds.
| Caravan type | What's involved | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Touring, still towable | Collected and towed away as-is | £350–£450 |
| Touring, not towable | Broken on site or moved on a tow bed | £500–£850 |
| Static | Broken up on site, waste removed | £1,800–£3,980 |
That third figure looks steep next to a touring caravan until you see what the job actually involves. A static caravan is not towable in the way a touring van is. It's built to sit on a base and stay there, which makes removing one closer to a small demolition than a tow. We keep our static caravan removal prices among the cheapest quoted anywhere in the UK for that scope of work. The honest answer is that every figure above depends on condition and access, and gets confirmed properly at quote stage.
Why do static caravan removal quotes vary so wildly?
It's a demolition job, not a collection
A towable caravan gets hitched up and driven away. A static gets stripped, broken into sections, and carted off piece by piece, because that's the only way it's coming off the base it was built onto. That difference alone explains most of the gap between a touring quote and a static one, long before condition or access even come into it.
Two prices are being quoted, not one
The figures reported by owners, £300 against £2,000 for what sounded like similar jobs, mostly come down to what was actually included. A removal firm's price covers the breaking and clearance. It does not usually cover what the park itself charges for letting the caravan go, and that second bill is often the bigger surprise.
What the removal firm charges for, and what your park charges separately
Disconnection, ownership transfer and commission
Parks have been reported charging a disconnection fee of a few hundred pounds. Some also charge for changing the ownership when a caravan passes to someone else: one family described being asked for £500, another said £7,000 was demanded on the same site. On top of that, commission has been reported too, sometimes 10%, sometimes 10% plus a flat fee. None of that goes to the removal firm. It goes to the site.
Why the park's bill can end up bigger than ours
Add a siting fee that's climbed from around £6,500 to over £10,000 at one park. It's easy to see how a family can end up paying the site more than they pay us to get the caravan off it. If you've been quoted a removal price and it doesn't add up against what you've heard elsewhere, ask whether the other figure included park charges too. It usually did.
Why some parks decide who's allowed to remove your caravan
Access rules push the price around as much as the caravan itself does. Some parks only allow their own approved contractors on site, which means the cheapest quote you've found might not even be able to do the job. Others have been reported refusing scrap merchants entry while still expecting the owner to have the caravan gone by a deadline. If your park has a preferred-contractor rule, it's worth checking before you book anyone, because a great quote is no use if the gate stays shut.
Broken up on site, not towed away whole
Every static job we take on is broken up where it stands and the waste goes with us. That's different from our touring caravan breaking service, where the skip is down to you, hired separately at 6–8 yards. With a static we take the waste away ourselves as part of the price. There's usually far more of it than a residential drive could ever fit a skip for.
How to get an accurate static caravan removal quote
- Take clear photographs of the caravan from outside, all four sides if you can manage it
- Get a few photos of the inside too, including anything obviously damp or damaged
- Note the make, rough age and size if you know them
- Mention anything unusual about access: narrow lanes, soft ground, a gate width, a slope
- Check whether your park has an approved-contractor rule before you book
- Send it all across and wait for a confirmed price rather than a rough estimate
Photos matter more here than for almost any other part of the process. A static that's described as sound but turns out to have a rotten floor, or a base that's given way, is a different job to the one that was quoted. Clear photographs at the start are what stop that surprise turning up on the day.
How quickly can a static caravan be collected?
We're usually heavily booked, so the honest advice is to book within 24 hours of getting your quote if you want a date any time soon. Leave it a couple of weeks and you may be looking at a wait of several more before a crew can get to you. That's especially true if your park is closing and everyone on site is trying to book the same firms at once.
Static caravan removal cost: frequently asked questions
Do you buy static caravans?
No. We're a scrapping and disposal service, and the customer pays us to remove and break up the caravan. The only exception is a static in genuinely excellent condition, from the year 2000 or newer with no more than minor damp, where payment may occasionally be possible. That's rare, and it isn't something to plan a quote around.
What's included in the static caravan removal price?
The breaking work itself and taking away everything that comes off it. What it doesn't cover is anything your park charges separately, disconnection, change of ownership, commission or a siting fee, because those go to the site, not to us.
Will the price change once you see the caravan in person?
Not if the photographs you sent us were clear and complete. The one thing that reopens a quote is access that turns out to be worse than described. The other is a base or floor that's failed in a way your photos didn't show. That's a small enough share of jobs that it's worth spending five extra minutes on photographs before you send them.
If you're weighing up whether it's worth scrapping the caravan at all against keeping it another season, that page covers the wider decision. For the general costs involved, see caravan disposal. And if you're not sure what to say when you ask for your quote, our guide to asking for a caravan scrapping quote walks through exactly what to include.