People spent 2025 talking about selling and buying motorhomes like it was a sport. From our side of the fence, it’s less a game and more a pattern you start recognising after thousands of real conversations and real vehicles changing hands.
After valuing over 4,000 motorhomes and buying 1,011 this year, plus spending time in Düsseldorf and at the NEC Birmingham hearing the same questions, concerns and priorities repeated back to us by dealers, manufacturers and owners, you earn a vantage point that’s hard to fake.
We launched The UK Motorhome Market Show because the market doesn’t need more speculation. It needs people willing to say what’s true, what’s shifting, and what’s worth paying attention to — whether you’re selling, buying, keeping or weighing up what comes next.
This blog brings those observations together: the fundamentals that held steady, the trends that quietly gained momentum, and the realities that shaped decisions in 2025 and will continue steering them in 2026.
Authority in this space isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about seeing the whole picture early enough to ask the right questions — and that’s exactly what we’re here to do.
The UK motorhome market in 2025: The big picture as we saw it
Let’s start with the fundamentals.
Used motorhome demand stayed strong throughout 2025. The main reason is simple: new motorhome prices continued to rise, and production levels still haven’t returned to pre-COVID volumes.
Despite plenty of social media debate, the market didn’t fall apart. Some segments softened, yes, but nothing dramatic or unexpected.
Where we did see pressure was on new-old stock — brand new motorhomes from 2023 and 2024 that are still sitting on forecourts today. Heavy discounting on those models has distorted pricing and dragged values down in the nearly-new used market.
Depreciation also remained very real:
- Around 20% in the first year
- Roughly 10–15% per year after that
That’s not new, but it’s something owners need to factor in honestly — especially if they’re comparing used prices against discounted new stock.
What 2025 actually felt like inside the industry
As one of the UK’s largest buyers of used motorhomes and campervans, 2025 felt like a correction year.
The Covid boom is very much over. Pricing has adjusted, and expectations have settled. In many ways, things have returned to how this market has always behaved historically.
If you’re selling your motorhome, we understand that it often has little to do with market trends and more to do with your personal reasons. From what we hear on the phones every day, customers usually say things like:
- I’m not using my motorhome enough.
- Our circumstances have changed.
- Health issues prevent me from using the motorhome like I used to.
- Our pets aren’t adjusting to motorhome life.
- We’ve done all the trips we wanted to do, and now it’s time to retire our camper/motorhome.
These reasons still remain. What has changed is buyer behaviour. Buyers are far more informed and far more cautious than they were even two or three years ago. They’re asking better questions, doing more research, and scrutinising condition far more closely.
The price brackets that still work
One of the clearest patterns in 2025 was price sensitivity.
Motorhomes in the sub-£50,000 to £60,000 range continued to sell well, provided they were priced sensibly. This was the market’s sweet spot before Covid, and it’s where things have largely settled again.
Higher-priced motorhomes became far more unpredictable. They could sell — but only if the value for money was clear and the condition stacked up.
In short:
- Affordable, well-kept vans = predictable demand
- Expensive or prep-heavy vans = buyer hesitation
Electric motorhomes: Still not there (yet)
Electric motorhomes are undoubtedly exciting, but in practical terms, they’re still not viable for most UK touring.
Charging infrastructure simply isn’t set up for vehicles of this size. Campsites aren’t equipped, and finding charging bays large enough for motorhomes remains a real challenge.
For now, electric motorhomes are an interesting idea — but not a realistic solution for most owners.
What Caravan Salon and the NEC motorhome shows confirmed
The We Buy Any Motorcaravan team kept up tradition in 2025, attending both Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf and the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC Birmingham. In Düsseldorf, we had the rare chance to speak directly with manufacturers shaping the next wave of motorhomes. The same priorities came up again and again:
- Lighter builds
- Improved insulation and winter-ready design
- Smarter compact layouts that are easier to tour with and simpler to store
One thing stood out most: manufacturers aren’t planning major production increases in 2026. The mood has shifted from scaling to streamlining. Many brands are tightening their ranges, focusing on the models that genuinely move, and stepping away from the ones that simply don’t.
A few manufacturers have dropped entire motorhome classes and are concentrating on units under 7.5m, while investing more heavily in the growing campervan and panel van sector.
At NEC Birmingham, the buyer mindset felt different too. Questions were more precise, practical, and unapologetically detail-driven. Buyers were zeroing in on:
- Running costs.
- Payload and usable capacity.
- Heating and energy systems.
- Tech, comfort and onboard extras.
With better access to online research, expectations are higher. Today’s buyers want a motorhome to feel as intuitive and well-equipped as their car and as comfortable and connected as their home.
What sold well — and what didn’t
Looking purely at 2025 transactions, a few trends were impossible to miss.
Top performers
-
Clean, damp-free, damage-free motorhomes (the fewer question marks, the better the offers)
-
Compact and low-profile builds, which made up roughly a third of completed purchases
-
Island bed layouts in well-kept vans, consistently delivering a 20–24% uplift when paired with compact layouts and strong habitation histories
What struggled
-
Motorhomes needing significant prep or repair (dealers didn’t mind the vans, they minded the admin that came with them)
-
Vans stored poorly or left unused for long stretches (the outside looked fine, the inside often had opinions of its own)
-
High-mileage motorhomes in a market full of choice (selection increased, tolerance decreased)
The headline of the year?
Condition mattered more than age. Time and again, cherished older motorhomes outperformed newer but neglected ones.
The nearly-new pricing reality
Nearly-new pricing caused the biggest reality check for owners in 2025.
Discounted new stock — sometimes with £20,000+ wiped off the sticker — created a very firm ceiling for used values. If buyers could spend an extra £10,000 and drive away in a 2025 model, the used option needed to justify itself clearly and quickly. That’s why:
-
Well-maintained vans with strong habitation and service histories held steadier value. They carried fewer unknowns.
-
Vans stored badly or sat unused could hide £100 to £16,000 worth of issues — and the market priced in that risk long before the van owner found out about it.
This is also why dealers became sharper underwriters. Prep risk is expensive, unpredictable, and the enemy of a fast sale.
The biggest surprises of 2025
A handful of market realities defined 2025 more clearly than any headline ever could:
The market was stronger than expected — but only when pricing made sense and the condition backed it up.
Nearly-new vans gained momentum as the year went on, but the winners were the ones that didn’t carry a hidden horror story from poor storage, damp, or a long list of ‘to-dos’.
Compact motorhomes and panel vans quietly became the most dependable part of the market again — easier to tour, easier to park, easier to justify.
Older cherished vans proved that age isn’t the villain — neglect is. We saw 10+ year old motorhomes hold firmer value than 2-year old vans that looked like weekend projects.
Mileage became far less forgiving. With more choice online, buyers simply didn’t have to compromise.
And perhaps the most interesting shift of all — buyers arrived informed, cautious, and asking questions dealers weren’t fielding a few years ago. Not afraid of the market, just smarter about how they moved through it.
What’s coming in 2026: An honest forecast
When people talk about 2026, it often lands in one of two camps: blind optimism or full-scale panic. The data points to something far more unexciting to gossip about, but far more reassuring to live through.
Here’s what we foresee for 2026 UK motorhome market:
• More second-hand motorhomes entering the market as Covid-era owners quietly close the chapter.
• Continued strength in the sub-£50k–£60k bracket — the zone where budgets and logic finally shake hands.
• Condition mattering more than ever — buyers have choice, so they expect the cleanest version of it.
• Damp-free motorhomes commanding the strongest values by a country mile.
• Dealers staying cautious on nearly-new stock, anything high-mileage, or vans that look like a weekend hobby for a very patient mechanic.
• Campsite fees and energy costs nudging owners to question usage versus cost, not market survival.
• Manufacturers condensing ranges and planning for stability, not pumping out more vans than the UK has parking bays to host them.
The market isn’t whispering doom, nor is it promising an encore of the Covid-era buying frenzy. It’s shaping up to be mature, steady, and increasingly driven by common-sense pricing and undeniable condition.
If you’re thinking about selling in 2026, the real leverage won’t come from timing the market perfectly. It will come from knowing how your motorhome compares to the actual alternatives buyers are weighing it against — and pricing it in a way that makes their decision feel like the obvious one.
Motorhome news that caught our attention in 2025
Naturally, we keep an eye on headlines that touch motorhome life. And 2025 certainly delivered — our corner of the world got its fair share of attention. Some stories helped owners. Some frustrated them. Others felt like the plot of a mildly chaotic sitcom pitched by someone who has never tried reversing a 7.2m van into a supermarket space.
New EU travel rules
From October 2025, the EU’s Entry/Exit System began replacing passport stamps with biometric checks and stricter tracking of time spent in Europe. Checks at ports like Dover and the Eurotunnel are taking longer, and the rollout will remain uneven until April 2026. From late 2026, UK travellers will also need ETIAS authorisation.
If you’re touring Europe in your motorhome, the admin won’t ruin your trip — but ignoring it might.
Parking restrictions and bans
Several councils tightened motorhome parking rules, especially along seafronts. Owners pushed back, often citing the local spend they bring. Councils now seem set on compromise: clearer limits, properly sized bays, and fewer vans parked long enough to qualify for council tax.
The £1,500 bike rack fine that sparked outrage
One of the year’s most shared stories involved Adrian and Joanne Fenton from Essex, fined £1,500 by the Home Office after a Sudanese migrant was found hidden in their motorhome’s external bike rack cover, months after the couple reported the incident to police. A YouGov poll showed 81% of respondents found the fine unfair, arguing penalties should distinguish negligence from good-faith reporting.
The story raised a bigger question owners care about: when people do the right thing, the system should at least look like it noticed.
Final thoughts
A motorhome isn’t an investment you cash in — it’s a life choice on wheels. Depreciation happens, of course, but the real value was never the price tag. It was the places you went and the moments you kept.
Selling and buying a motorhome often comes down to timing that has nothing to do with trends, and everything to do with life shifting shape around you. If you’re holding onto yours and itching for more miles, we’re already looking forward to the stories you haven’t told yet. If you’re moving on, that’s fine too. The trick is doing it in a way that works for you, not against you.
Understanding the market is the quiet advantage. It gives you control when prices fluctuate, when dealers turn cautious, and when decisions feel heavier than the van you’re driving.
And if you do decide to sell, there is a straightforward, hassle-free way to do it — no pressure, no games. A fair offer, a simple process, and clarity at every step.
If you’d like a free valuation or want to talk through your options, you can do that right here.
Here’s to a steady, sensible 2026 — whatever comes next in your motorhome journey.
