How to Offer Caravan Storage on Your CL or CS Site

Every CL and CS site owner knows the same pattern. The diary is full from May to September, then from October onwards the pitches sit empty until Easter while the site still costs you money in rates, insurance and upkeep. A lot of owners are sitting on an easy way to change that without touching their camping side at all. Caravan storage, letting regulars park a touring caravan or trailer tent on your land through the closed season, is one of the simplest ways to turn dead space into steady income. This guide covers what is actually worth thinking about before you offer it: your licence, security, pricing, and how to keep track of who has what parked where without it turning into a second job.

Why Caravan Storage Is Worth Considering

The appeal is straightforward. You already have the land, and for most of the year it is doing nothing. Storage customers are usually people who already know and trust your site, often the same guests who have stayed with you all summer and would rather leave their tourer somewhere familiar than drive it home and back again. Compared to a camping guest, a stored caravan uses almost none of your resources. No showers, no bins to empty, no electric hookup running day and night unless you choose to offer one, and no check in queue to manage. It is close to the lowest effort income a small site can add, which is exactly why it is worth a proper look before you dismiss it as too much hassle.

Check Your Licence and Planning Position First

This is the bit to sort out before you advertise anything, not after. Your CL or CS exemption certificate covers camping, meaning caravans that are actually occupied by guests, and the five unit limit that comes with it applies to that camping activity. Storing an empty, unoccupied caravan when nobody is staying in it is generally treated differently, but "generally" is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence, and the detail varies by site and local authority. Using part of your land as a caravan storage yard can also raise a separate planning question from the one covered by your camping exemption, particularly if the storage use is year round rather than tied to the closed season.

Before you take a single booking, call your local planning department and speak to the Caravan and Motorhome Club or the Camping and Caravanning Club, whichever your certificate sits under. A five minute conversation now is far cheaper than finding out later that storage has put your exemption at risk. It is also worth a quick check with your insurer, since public liability cover written for camping guests does not automatically extend to caravans left unattended on site for months at a time.

Keep It Secure, Because That Is What You Are Really Selling

Nobody is paying you to store a caravan on an open field. They are paying for peace of mind that it will still be there, undamaged, when they come to collect it. Security is the actual product, so it is worth doing properly:

• A fenced, gated storage area. Separate from your camping pitches if you can manage it, so stored caravans are not sitting among guests coming and going all summer.
• Controlled access. A shared gate code or individual padlocks mean customers can collect their caravan without you needing to be there every time.
• Wheel clamps or hitch locks. Cheap, visible deterrents that make a caravan a much less appealing target.
• Decent lighting and CCTV. Even a basic camera covering the gate does more for peace of mind, and for insurance, than most owners expect. Our guide to campsite CCTV covers what is actually worth installing on a small site budget.
• A firm surface or hardstanding. Caravans left on wet grass all winter can sink and leave ruts, which is a maintenance headache for you as much as it is for the caravan owner.

None of this needs to be expensive. A stretch of stock fencing, a padlocked gate and a couple of cheap cameras will satisfy most storage customers, and it is worth mentioning your security setup explicitly when you advertise, since it is often the deciding factor between your site and a cheaper option down the road.

Pricing It Sensibly

Dedicated commercial storage compounds typically charge somewhere between £250 and £600 or more for a winter season, depending on region, security and whether the site is covered by CCTV. You do not need to match that exactly, but it gives you a sensible starting point rather than guessing. A few things worth deciding upfront:

• Whether you charge per season (say October to March) or by the month, which suits owners who are unsure how long they will need the space
• Whether electric hookup is included for trickle charging a leisure battery over winter, which is a genuinely valued extra and can justify a higher rate
• Whether existing camping customers get a loyalty discount for storing with you, which rewards the relationship and makes them more likely to book again next season
• What happens if someone wants to collect their caravan mid season, and whether any refund applies

Whatever you land on, put the price and what it includes somewhere clear on your website or booking page. Storage customers are comparing you to other local options just as much as camping guests compare pitch prices, and a vague "contact us for prices" listing loses bookings to a site that is upfront about cost.

Sort the Practical Bits: Access, Contracts and Insurance

A caravan storage arrangement does not need a solicitor involved, but it does need a simple written agreement covering the basics: what is being stored, the dates it covers, the price, who is liable if it is damaged or stolen, and confirmation that the caravan is roadworthy, taxed and insured for the owner to move it if needed. Agree access hours upfront too, whether that is any time via a gate code or set hours when someone needs to be on site, so nobody turns up early expecting to hitch up and finds the gate locked.

It is also worth being upfront with customers that your public liability policy covers the site itself rather than their personal property, and that they should check their own caravan insurance extends to unattended storage. Being clear about this from day one avoids an awkward conversation if anything ever does go wrong.

Keeping Track Without It Becoming a Second Business

The easiest way for caravan storage to go wrong is not damage or theft, it is losing track of who has paid, whose renewal is due, and which plot belongs to which customer. A notebook by the till or a spreadsheet works for the first handful of caravans, then quietly falls apart once you are juggling fifteen or twenty over a winter. Treating storage plots the same way you treat camping pitches in CampSuite means each space, its customer and its dates live in one place rather than scattered across paper and memory, and invoicing renewal dates and hookup charges takes a few clicks instead of a manual chase every autumn.

The Bottom Line

Caravan storage will not replace your camping income, and it is not meant to. What it does is put your quietest months to work with very little extra effort: check your licence and planning position first, fence and secure the area properly, price it against what local compounds charge, put a simple agreement in writing, and keep records so nothing gets forgotten. Get those five things right and it becomes one of the easiest, lowest maintenance income streams a small site can add.

If you are already running your camping diary through CampSuite, or thinking about switching from a paper system, adding a storage area is a natural extension rather than a separate system to learn. Try CampSuite free and get your whole site, camping and storage, organised in one place.

Photo: “Caravan storage” by Jonathan Kington, via Geograph Britain and Ireland, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.