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Our dream homes in the sun

By William Kay, Caravans in the Sun

Many years ago Sue and I were searching for our dream home in the sun. We were looking to purchase a holiday apartment so we could find a peaceful retreat away from the hustle and bustle of our everyday busy business lifestyle and spend a few days away on a regular basis in the sun.

After a few of years of visiting many building sites around Europe and weighing up the substantial costs involved, we encountered considerable difficulties in finding our dream home in the sun. Every time we thought that we had found the perfect location the cost was always more than we were looking to pay or more importantly had been quoted or seen advertised. This was beginning to happen on most of our visits around Europe. All brochures and company info looked great before we travelled but when we arrived to view there were always hidden costs - not to mention that we would be herded around all day looking at developments we were not interested in or that we could not afford. The price we were being expected to pay was always more than the advertised price and the smart sales staff had their own way of trying to apply pressures to get us to agree and sign up to a purchase.

Then, surprisingly, on one of our less hectic trips, we had a little free time and as we were leaving the beach to return to the hotel for dinner, Sue pointed out an old mobile home in a field and suggested that was what we needed and so we began the journey into looking for mobile homes and static caravans. When we arrived back in the UK, I started to look at the possibility of purchasing a sited mobile home.

A new lifestyle

I had a few contacts in the caravan industry and asked them for their advice. As we were newcomers to the idea of a mobile home it was suggested that we look at the lower end of the market and purchase a quality pre owned mobile home or a small starter home, so if we enjoyed the lifestyle we could easily upgrade at a later date.

We took the advice and promptly set off to look at our first mobile home, we viewed a BK Bluebird, located on a mobile home park in the Vendee, western France. The mobile home was just what we were looking for - it had a comfortable lounge with dining area, 2 bedrooms, a twin and a double, a galley kitchen and a bathroom with a shower. We were offered a couple of nights on site in another mobile home so that we could experience the lifestyle and enjoy the surroundings of the site and explore the local area.

The purchase of the mobile home was very smooth and swiftly completed, but instead of buying one mobile home, we purchased two! The two mobile homes were transported to a smaller site along the road and advertised for rent for the summer in our shops on our local notice boards. This was the start of a new and exciting business opportunity that was named European Vacations. You can view our original website by clicking here www.aeuropeanvacation.co.uk. To date, we still do a few rentals but most of our company mobile homes are rented direct to the campsite owners who rent through their own campsites and websites.

Something worth considering

We have spent many happy holidays in our mobile homes over the years and as we have got to know our holiday customers over the years we have been constantly asked if they could purchase a mobile home sited in France. At first our reply would be “no as we were not able to do this”, but, after more and more of our customers were asking the same question, we decided to look into this.

I then approached numerous local sites and parks in France to see if there were any sites interested in a contract agreement for us to sell mobile homes onto their sites. The first few sites we asked were not interested but then came a breakthrough - a site owner was prepared to give us a chance and allowed us to reserve a number of plots for sales if the site fees were pre paid for the next 12 months. We then signed the contracts for the first 20 plots and the selling of mobile homes began.

Our company has grown many times over the years – inspired mainly by customers looking for new destinations - currently we have mobile home parks in Spain, France, Morocco, Portugal, Tenerife and on the Greek island of Zante.

As the work load and destinations expanded, Ian and Jayne, who had a few years earlier purchased six mobile homes from us to join and expand the rental side of the business, enquired about becoming involved in the new business of selling mobile homes. It was agreed that Ian and Jayne would join us and the new company Mobile Homes Abroad Ltd was created. At the time of writing this the company still has its four founder directors, but as our company has grown we have added office and administration staff as well as customer service teams on most of our sites throughout Europe. All of our customer service teams except one have purchased their mobile homes from us and have their own homes on our sites.

In the future, we are planning to purchase our own parks throughout Europe whilst continuing to be the UK’s premier supplier for caravans and mobile homes in the sun. Here at Mobile Homes Abroad Limited we strive to keep the family orientated company that cares – the sound basis of all our achievements. There are no hard sales tactics and we will remain just a good honest company who will look after its customers for many years to come.

William Kay

Find out more

Tel: 0844 840 2345
Mob: 07939 123345

sales@caravansinthesun.com
www.caravansinthesun.com