Buying advice wanted

[Jane_374584435]

If you visited February's NEC show, we may well have met (Jane Lynch, from Cardiff Business School). I am examining the UK touring caravan industry for a PhD research project.

If you would like to share your thoughts on what matters when buying a new caravan (the research focuses on touring caravans only), I am seeking volunteers to take part in a quick, easy and anonymous online survey. The findings will be shared with the caravan industry, supporting continuous improvement efforts. To take part visit

Click here to take survey

Many thanks for your time,

Jane Lynch

 

[Jane_374584435]

Hi, this is just a reminder that the online consumer survey is still open.
Thank you to those of you who have already participated. For the consumer survey to be purposeful, It is important to gain a broad overview of the factors you consider to be important when purchasing a touring caravan. Click here to take survey It doesn't take long to complete. Many thanks again for your time, Jane Lynch

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Jane
Sorted, this had passed me by!
Wil you be publishing your thesis / findings on here in due course??

 

[Jane_374584435]

Hi Dustydog,
Many thanks for your support. I aim to publish an article in a consumer magazine at the start of next year. The industry manufacturers and suppliers will also be kept informed of any significant findings as the research progresses.
Re: publishing the PhD...we are warned when we start the PhD journey it is unlikely that anyone will ever want to read our entire thesis of approx 100,000 words! Haha! Whilst the focused application is on the UK touring caravan industry, my main objective for the research is making an original contribution to theory development.
I have been delighted with the level of support received throughout the industry so far. Thank you, best wishes, Jane

 

[Parksy]

Good Luck with the degree Jane, I was happy to complete the easy to use survey which only took a few minutes. The touring caravan industry is one of the few growth industries during these hard times, I hope that you find that it is a good area to study.

 

[Jane_374584435]

Hi Parksy, thank you very much for your support both here and by completing the survey.
I agree, the touring caravan industry is an interesting one to observe, bucking the trend to many other industries in such challenging times. I have observed the caravan industry for 21 years prior to the research project.
PS. I like the new website!

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Jane
Thanks for that. It has never ceased to amaze me the number of issues that arise with a new caravan. I have long held the view that the majority of caravan manufacturers fail miserably in their Quality Assurance and Quality Control . This leads to a caravan delivered to the dealer with a number of faults that could easily have been fixed at the manufacturers.
The poor old dealer now inadvertantly becomes the manufacturers QA / QC division.
Here it all goes wrong. A good dealer will resolve any issues before the customer sees the caravan. Others I am afraid do next to nothing and then the long saga of complaint after complaint starts resulting in a very unhappy customer. This then gives the industry a very bad name.

Thus my corollary to all this is that when purchasing new, ensure you do so from a very good reputable dealer who has a good workshop and excellent customer aftercare. I say this because I didn't feel your survey paid due regard to this very important issue. Equally it is worthy of note that most complaints seem to relate to parts supplied by third party manufacturers rather than the actual caravan manufacturer. Alas, you only have to read about the polyplastic window failures. So why oh why do the manufacturers tolerate the provision of defective parts which are going to cause future problems??????

Anyway it's not all bad. Thanks to an excellent dealer my last two new caravans have been pretty good.

 

[Parksy]

One thing to remember is that internet forums such as this one are the natural repository for complaints or moans about issues surrounding leisure caravanning in tourers.
The rise of the computer savvy 'silver surfer' has led to many more of us knowing about various quality issues, some points of law in regard to the buying or selling of caravans in addition to us being generally more aware of new models or trends in touring caravan design and manufacture.
I often wonder if caravan buyers with no access to online information provided and shared by forums such as this carry on throughout their time as caravan buyers in blissful ignorance of some of the key facts. The caravan buying public appear to have been given a raw deal over the years by caravan manufacturers and their dealership networks.
This 'take it or leave it' attitude is appearing to change because of the increasing customer knowledge and power bestowed by the internet.
Swift Caravans and Bailey have definitely upped their game since the advent of powerful internet forums, I was present at a lunch when Peter Smith the MD of Swift asked members of caravan forums directly exactly what quality issues they would like to see addressed by Swift.
He conceded that manufacturer complacency had in the past led to some shoddy designs and workmanship and he pledged to do his best to put this right.
Many design features which subsequently appeared on Swifts new models and are standard now were incorporated as a result of these meeting at Swift and other manufacturers were also forced to raise standards dramatically because of Swift's lead.
I've almost written a thesis myself here but another interesting area of study could be the differences in perception between computer literate consumers and those without access to the internet.
I'd suggest that the internet has forced and continues to force standards of manufacture and service to rise.

 

[Jane_374584435]

Thank you for your thoughts Dusty Dog; I like happy endings.
Thank you Parksy, I have been studying various forums for about 18 months. A survey was trialled at the NEC show and the survey link is also advertised in the Caravan Club magazine. Perhaps we can collaborate in the future for your final idea...we certainly live in changing times The survey feedback, received so far, provides a mix of both negative and very positive comments about the industry.
Time now for me to bow out from forum discussion and crack on with my study...I am most grateful for your continued support. The survey will run until the end of August, so I will place one more reminder towards the end of the month.
Kind Regards to all, Jane

 

[Jane_374584435]

Consumer Survey - reminder
Hi, this is just a reminder that the online consumer survey is live until the end of August.
Thank you to those of you who have already participated in the survey but it would be helpful to have even more consumers responding.
Click here to take survey It doesn't take long to complete; many thanks again for your time.

Thanks also to the Practical Caravan Forum moderating team for your ongoing support; this has allowed me to highlight my independent research project, focusing on the UK touring caravan industry.
Jane Lynch

 

[Jane_374584435]

Hello everyone,
I am almost at my target figure for the online survey and so have decided to keep the link open until Sunday 12th September. If you have not had chance to participate, I would be extremely grateful for some of your time. The survey takes between 5-10 minutes to complete: you do not need to answer every question but it helps if you do.
Click here to take survey
Thank you, Jane Lynch

 

[Jane_374584435]

Another plea to caravanning experts - I am trying to identify the names of all individual UK manufacturers, for touring caravans, dating back to the early beginnings with the Eccles model. How many manufacturers of touring caravans have traded in the UK? Some say there were as many as 12 manufacturers operating at any one time, others say it could have been 15. Not even Google has answered this for me
Can anyone help please?

 

[Soozeeg]

A caravan dealer friend of ours once told me that there used to be 40+ manufacturers when his father (the founder of the dealership) started out in the business. He never actually gave me the details, though.

 

[Jane_374584435]

I would just like to thank all those who have participated in the online survey. Your feedback is very much appreciated.
Thanks also to Soozeeg for the latest post here on the forum.
Best wishes, Jane