How much does a motorhome depreciate in the first year?

Published UK figures range from 15% to 16% (dealer Steve Hayes of Hayes Leisure, quoted by MMM) to 20% or 21% (Advance Insurance, The Motorhome Trader, Camplify, Oaktree). cap hpi data for VW California campervans showed under 10% at one year. Sources read on 15 September 2026. Your own figure depends on the model, the deal you got and whether you compare with the price you paid or the current list price.

How much is a motorhome worth after 5 years?

The common convention is about half of its new price at five years (Advance Insurance, Camplify, Oaktree). Applying the published bands, 15% to 20% in year one then 8% to 10% a year, gives 52% to 61% retained at five years, so "about half" is the pessimistic end. A dry, well-serviced van with a popular layout can do better; one with a damp repair will do worse.

Do motorhomes hold their value better than cars?

Yes, according to every source we read. Brownhills puts a motorhome at about 70% of its price after three years against about 40% for a car and 55% for a caravan. MMM says a new car loses half to two-thirds in three years while a motorhome's fall is much slower. Motorhomes still lose money every year; they just lose it more slowly.

Is this calculator a valuation?

No. It applies published typical rates to a number you enter. CaravanCheck holds no sales data and does not value vehicles. Glass's Guide, the trade's valuation book, left the leisure-vehicle market in 2024, so there is no independent price guide to point you to; the nearest thing is comparing live adverts for the same model, age and mileage, as the worked examples above do.

Which motorhomes depreciate least?

We have verified data for one model only: cap hpi's figures on VW California campervans (over 90% retained at one year, around 75% at three). Dealers say popular mainstream layouts from the big UK converters hold up best, but none of the pages we read backs that with numbers, so we do not rank brands.

Does a history check affect resale value?

Indirectly. A buyer's £4.99 check will show outstanding finance, an insurance write-off category, a mileage discrepancy or a plate change. Any of those cuts the price or ends the sale. Sellers can run the check on their own registration before advertising so the record holds no surprises.

Motorhome Depreciation Calculator: Sourced UK Rates (2026)

Motorhome depreciation estimator

An estimate from published typical rates, not a valuation of any particular vehicle. Rates checked 15 September 2026.

Price you pay (£)Age when you buy (years)0 = brand newYears you will keep it

Estimated value after 3 years

£38,880 to £43,166

Estimated loss

£16,834 to £21,120

Per year, roughly

£5,611 to £7,040

Year	Vehicle age	Rate applied	Value at year end
1	1	15% to 20%	£48,000 to £51,000
2	2	8% to 10%	£43,200 to £46,920
3	3	8% to 10%	£38,880 to £43,166

Bands: year one 15% to 20%; years two to five 8% to 10%; years six onward 5% to 8% (5% is the only published late-year figure; 8% is our own ceiling). Sources and dates are listed at the foot of the page. This is an estimate from published typical rates, not a valuation.

What this is and is not

CaravanCheck does not value motorhomes and holds no sales data. The estimator applies rates published by UK dealers, insurers and the motorhome press (listed below with dates) to the price you enter. A real vehicle's value depends on layout, condition, damp history, mileage, service record and season, none of which a formula knows. Use it to size the cost of ownership, not to price a sale.

The published rates the estimator uses

We read every UK motorhome depreciation page we could open on 15 September 2026 and kept the ones that state a figure. Only two attribute the number to data: the MMM (Out and About Live) article quotes dealer Steve Hayes of Hayes Leisure at "15% to 16% in the first year on a popular mainstream model, gradually reducing thereafter", and an Out and About Live news piece quotes cap hpi data on Volkswagen California campervans holding "greater than 90% at one year 10k" and "around 75% of original cost new at three years 30k miles". The rest are uncited conventions that cluster tightly, which is why we show a range rather than one number.

Source (type)	Year 1	Years 2 to 5	Later years	3-year and 5-year retention	Dated
Out and About Live / MMM quoting Hayes Leisure (press, dealer attribution)	15% to 16%	"gradually reducing thereafter"	not stated	not stated	undated (post-2020 text)
Out and About Live quoting cap hpi (valuation data, VW California only)	about 3% to 10%	not stated	not stated	75% to 83% at 3 years	undated (17 and 65 plates cited)
Leisure Central (guide)	15% (or 20% "the moment they leave the forecourt")	8% to 10% a year	not stated	not stated	23 August 2026
Advance Insurance (insurer blog)	20%	not stated	not stated	about half at 5 years	8 September 2025
The Motorhome Trader (guide)	20% to 21%	10% to 15% a year	about 5% a year from year six or seven	about 70% at 3 years; 60% to 75% lost at 10 years	25 May 2025
Oaktree Motorhomes (dealer)	20% (elsewhere on the page 10% to 15%)	not stated	not stated	70% at 3 years, 50% at 5, 25% to 40% at 10	15 August 2022, updated 20 August 2026
Camplify (rental platform)	20%	"roughly about 10% a year"	"much less the longer the motorhome is owned"	70% at 3 years, 50% at 5, 25% to 40% at 10	7 March 2022
Brownhills (dealer)	10% a year average over 3 years	"far less than 10% per year"	not stated	70% at 3 years	undated

Bands used by the estimator: year one 15% to 20%; years two to five 8% to 10% (Leisure Central's range, matching Brownhills and Camplify's "about 10%"; The Motorhome Trader's 10% to 15% is the outlier and would contradict the 70%-at-three-years figure every source also gives); years six onward 5% to 8%, where 5% is the only published figure and the 8% ceiling is our own cap, chosen because every source says the rate keeps falling. Glass's Guide left leisure-vehicle valuations in 2024, so there is no trade guide to cite. Practical Motorhome has no depreciation article we could find.

Worked examples from live prices

To test the bands against the market we compared manufacturers' own list prices with trade adverts on Auto Trader on 15 September 2026. The percentages are our arithmetic; the prices are quoted. List prices rise every year, so we show the ratio against the nearest list price we could verify.

Model	New price (source, model year)	Used advert (age, mileage, seller)	Used as % of that list price
Swift Escape 694	£76,695 OTR, Swift NEC flyer, 2023 model year (2027 model year: from £93,990 OTR)	2022 (71 reg), 3,315 miles, £57,995, dealer	76% of 2023 list; 62% of 2027 list
Swift Escape 694	as above	2021 (21 reg), 13,624 miles, £54,990, dealer	72% of 2023 list
Swift Escape 694	as above	2020 (20 reg), 13,000 miles, £52,495, dealer	68% of 2023 list
Auto-Trail Imala 615	£70,364 OTR, Auto-Trail price list of 7 September 2023 (2027 season: £76,123 ex-works plus £455 OTR)	2022 (71 reg), 22,699 miles, £52,995, dealer	75% of September 2023 list; 69% of 2027 list
Auto-Trail Imala 615	as above	2025 (75 reg), 1,729 miles, £69,200, dealer	98% of September 2023 list; 90% of 2027 list
Auto-Trail F-Line F70	£65,642 OTR, Auto-Trail price list of 7 September 2023 (2027 season: £72,378 ex-works plus £455)	2022 (22 reg), 9,600 miles, £52,000, private	79% of September 2023 list; 71% of 2027 list

Read against the bands: a three-to-four-year-old van at 68% to 76% of a list price from a year after it was built sits inside the "about 70% at three years" convention, and the nearly-new Imala at 90% of the current list price sits inside the cap hpi one-year figure. Note two things the examples show that the formula cannot: dealers price nearly-new vans against today's list price, not the price paid, so a buyer who paid £70,364 in 2023 and sees £69,200 asked for a 2025 van has not "lost nothing"; and a private seller (the F70) asks less than a dealer for the same age.

What moves a motorhome off the average

Damp history. A failed damp check or a body repair takes a van below the curve and can make it unsellable to a dealer. It is the single biggest factor and no formula sees it. Read motorhome damp: what to look for and the converter brand guides.
Base vehicle and weight plate. A van over 3,500 kg needs a C1 licence for anyone who passed their test after 1996, which shrinks the buyer pool. See can I drive this motorhome on my licence.
Layout. Fixed-bed, garage and island-bed layouts have held value better in the adverts above than dinette-bed layouts of the same age, but that is an observation from a handful of listings, not a rule.
Season. Dealers quote spring as the peak. We could not verify a figure for the seasonal swing, so the estimator ignores it.
Recorded history. A write-off category or outstanding finance found by a buyer's history check ends the sale or the price. If you are selling, run one on your own registration first (£4.99) so nothing surprises you.

Selling instead of keeping

If the estimate tells you what you did not want to hear, the route you sell through changes the number you actually get: best way to sell a motorhome compares private sale, dealer, "we buy" services and auction with their verified fees. For the buying side, the best age to buy a used motorhome uses the same curve from the other direction. The motorhome FAQ covers tax, MOT and licence costs that sit on top of depreciation.

Check a motorhome before you buy

Enter the registration for a free summary. Full history check £4.99.

Sources, checked 15 September 2026

Motorhome depreciation calculator

The published rates the estimator uses

Worked examples from live prices

What moves a motorhome off the average

Selling instead of keeping

Frequently asked questions

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