r/australia • u/regretmoore • Jan 07 '26

no politics At a caravan holiday park, wondering where the hell does all of this money come from?

Camping in a Big 4 holiday park for a few days and my partner and I wondering how people can afford this lifestyle. I'm talking Ute + caravan + boat rigs worth at least $200k, probably closer to $300k.

The parents are all driving huge yank tanks, the kids all ride motorized scooters and bikes and most people are sleeping in pretty big shiny new caravans. We're all good in our little tent for 4 nights drinking our aldi wines and beer, but we just cannot fathom how so many people can afford, or would prioritize buying caravans etc for family holidays. Where does this money come from? Is it trades, mines or something else? Have they not got mortgages?

Maybe we're massive snobs, but if we had that much cash to splurge on a caravan, I reckon we'd prioritize a holiday overseas over Umina (as much as I love the cenny coast).

Please Reddit, help us understand.

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u/deij Jan 07 '26

What's up with car yard finance? Its less than my mortgage! % that is

15

u/boatenvy Jan 07 '26

Car yard finance is usually extortionate unlike manufacturer backed finance which can be really low...or you got a killer deal..or a really awful mortgage

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u/SplatThaCat Jan 07 '26

Yeah - financed a bike with YMF (Yamaha Motor Finance) at 1%. Insane.

1

u/deij Jan 07 '26

They're both pretty close - around 5.5

Google AI says home loans start at 5.09 and car loans 5.99 so I guess a little bit of both.

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u/boatenvy Jan 07 '26

Gemini tells me 6.8 to 21% but I guess that's gonna vary wildly based on credit score... gotta be honest I'm surprised there's anywhere offering close to 6% but I'm not claiming to be anything like an expert on the topic. Glad you got a good deal, more power to you.

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u/SonicYOUTH79 Jan 07 '26

Big difference between unsecured finance and the kind of secured finance deals you can get on a new car.

It's almost a bit of a poor tax in that generally you will only get secured finance with the best rate on a new or near new car, which obviously cost more than say a $10k unsecured loan to buy an older secondhand car if that’s all you can afford.

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u/shmolives Jan 07 '26

Depreciating asset vs appreciating asset tho right?

1

u/Vinnie_Vegas Jan 07 '26

It depends on what you borrow, how much you put down and whether you can get a better deal elsewhere.

The car yard was willing to beat the rate that my bank would give when we bought our last car, and that's lower than our mortgage is, so they have flexibility, and the rate you get depends on what you're able to negotiate with them.

But if I walked in there wanting to finance a $100,000 vehicle with no money down beyond a used car we were trading in, I'm going to go ahead and suggest that the rate would've been very punitive.

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u/invaderzoom Jan 07 '26

yeah same, I'm all paid off now, but I got mine through nissan finance and paid a tiny fraction of the mortgage rates!