New caravan

[PaulT]

I often read on the forum, stories about the poor quality of new caravans. I know that many people who are satisfied don't bother to post but this could give a bad impression to any newbies who are looking for advice. I'd like to give my viewpoint.

We collected our new caravan from a well known Bailey dealer in Dorset, 2 weeks ago. The handover was excellent, everything was explained even though the caravan that I was trading in was almost the same. The 'van was spotless, the only fault I could find was that 2 tyre valve caps were missing. We,' ve now spent 10 nights in it and absolutely nothing has dropped off, stopped working or otherwise upset us. Well done Bailey - am I in the minority?

 

[Grey13]

Good luck!

Yes you are in the minority, only because very few of us plebs out here can afford new vans! :cheer:

 

[otherclive]

Glad it’s going well. And you have a valid point. Be interested in feedback in 3 months time after a few trips out.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Paul,
It is very difficult to gauge the exact performance of caravan manufacturers in respect of the quality of delivered caravans, because as you say, those customers that are satisfied have no reason to comment, and after all why should they?

But the problem is, it is clear from forum's like this one there are enough owners who don't get that same satisfactory experience for it to be a serious concern. It's also a little fudged, becasue there are some caravanners who will accept some minor issues without question, and there could be many reasons for their lack of complaint.

It could be a really minor issue like finding spare screws or sawdust in bed locker, and its so easy just to remove them. its not worth complaining.

There are some caravanners who have come to expect there will be some issues with a caravan like a draw handle not full screwed on or carpet not fully trimmed, etc and are prepared to undertake rectification work them selves. etc or who are satisfied with the dealers actions to sort it out.

The art of good customer service is to be able to convert a customers negative into a positive. - its actually quite surprising the number of household names whose reputation is actually based more on good customer service, rather than the quality of their products!

Even though some caravan issues are so small they are still technically a fault becasue the product is not perfect, and that is in breach of the dealer's legal obligations under the CRA. Customers should really be making that point far more often to dealers, to keep them in mind of their obligations, even if the threat is not carried through.

The reality is that despite the protestations of caravan manufactures who will claim their products are highly technical, in the grand scheme of things they are not, compared to television, computer, or a car they are comparatively simple assemblies, yet look at all the three aforementioned products, and look up their respective reliability and there is a marked difference in customer expectations of it working correctly first time out of the box and where issues do arise, its simpler to get it sorted or the way the suppliers are far more proactive and constructive about dealing with it.

If those other industries can get it right so often first time with highly complex products, why can't caravan manufacturers do the same with technically simpler products? More to the point why should customers have a lower threshold of satisfaction for caravans than other products?

It is my suspicion that if caravanners were brutally honest about faults they find with their caravans, the level of complaint would be substantially greater than it is at the moment. It is partly the the public's perception that caravans are historically frequently faulty which has lowered their threshold of satisfaction, and that is seen as validating the industries current poor practices.

I can't deny that sometimes a caravan may genuinely be perfect, but based on what we see on the forums and from professional experience in a industry that supplied caravan manufacturers, I'd say it's a rarity rather than the norm.

Could caravan manufacturers improve? The answer is a definite yes, but they first need to accept that they have a real moral obligation to their end users, rather than trying to distance themselves by using dealers as the punch bag in the middle.

 

[Craigyoung]

Good luck!

Yes you are in the minority, only because very few of us plebs out here can afford new vans! :cheer:

Grey , Plebs ?!
Bit harsh ain't it . I work dam hard to have what i have and was proud as punch when we picked ours up new , yes we've had a few niggles which have been rectified but nothings perfect .

Paul T , enjoy your new van .

Craig .

 

[Dustydog]

Sadly the Prof has reiterated the same story as last year, the year before and so on. Do these pearls of wisdom fall on deaf ears? PCv is always quiet on these issues .Shame the manufacturers owners don't read these posts!
If they listened to the Prof others they may learn.
But that isn't all . You pay in the price for a pdi. Any dealer worth their salt should do the job properly. It doesn't happen.
I advocate every caravan should come with a comprehensive tool kit including glue trim bits and guidelines on diy repairs. On this forum of late there appears to be a reluctance to use the CRA for resolution of problems.
And so the caravan industry continues to get away with sub standard projects.
Plebs? New caravans? I like new caravans but still have my current one ten years on. I sorted out all the issues myself and it now performs perfectly.
Will I buy a new one? Only when the current one falls apart. Or maybe go for a used a year or so old with all issues resolved.
Also look at all the ancillary kit. Not much has changed with cookers, toilets etc.
But we still love caravanning.☺

 

[Dodger524]

Good luck!

Yes you are in the minority, only because very few of us plebs out here can afford new vans! :cheer:

Grey , Plebs ?!
Bit harsh ain't it . I work dam hard to have what i have and was proud as punch when we picked ours up new , yes we've had a few niggles which have been rectified but nothings perfect .

Paul T , enjoy your new van .

Craig .

One pleb replying that has had to buy second-hand and is rather relieved that he did so.

You emphasised the problem Paul with your "nothings perfect" comment when the point being made is that they should be, at least at handover.

 

[Parksy]

Many of us have stardust in our eyes when we go to a dealership to buy a caravan, whether it's new or used.
We do the sales staff jobs for them because a caravan is a luxury purchase, not an everyday necessity so critical thinking is not the foremost emotion in the excitement of the purchase.
I often listen to the dialogue between sales persons and prospective buyers at caravan shows, and it's very revealing to see that the buyer is always ready to emphasise and to reinforce the good points highlighted by the sales person, the items that as wise and discerning buyers the customer has already identified to make their leisure caravanning experience rewarding and relaxing.
Unfortunately the evidence shown quite clearly on this and other caravan forums shows that a significant number of buyers are disappointed or they find issues, however seemingly minor, that should not be present after a pdi which the buyer has paid for.
Caravan purchases are done on an individual basis and there is no consumer organisation which would collate and identify the problems, the manufacturers and dealers who are the worst performers and who could lobby Parliament for some tougher legislation such as fines for 'repeat offenders' which would focus the manufacturers efforts into instilling a good QA culture in their workplaces.

 

[Beehpee]

I work on cars both brand new and used of all ages, lots of people would probably be surprised at how often I find faults with brand new models, and not just the cheaper new models either, whenever I go to do a job, before I start I always do a pre inspection of the car before I do any work whatsoever, I check for electrical faults as well as cosmetic damage, I do this to cover my back so as not to get blamed for faults and damage that already exists, I regularly find switches that don’t work that owners haven’t yet spotted, new cars are at times like airplane cockpits with all the switches for gadgets owners probably never use, as for paintwork scratches! well I don’t care if it’s a Bentley or a Banger I still find the scratches, so the motor industry also has its quality issues.

BP

 

[Grey13]

My comment about "plebs" was tongue in cheek!

Anyway being one of them I too actually chose to buy second hand and simply because it was such a "clean" van it ended up being an older van. In retrospect I am quietly happy that I did, it seems to be far more rugged than many of the newer vans I see discussed on the forum.

I have over a period also modified and changed things to the point that even if someone offered me a new van at a cheap price I probably would not want it.

For the record the same policy applies when I buy cars, NEVER new, always at least 1 year old - tried and tested and only after a full AA vehicle inspection test checks that the one old lady driver did not morph into a sozzled 24 year old each evening!

 

[Raywood]

You are lucky to get a caravan without issues. Bailey are about average for the industry but from the magazine surveys the chances of getting a fault free model are probably between 20 and 25%.
We have had six new caravans, of these three did not appear to be faulty when purchased but all developed faults in time so keep your fingers crossed.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I work on cars both brand new and used of all ages, lots of people would probably be surprised at how often I find faults with brand new models, and not just the cheaper new models either, whenever I go to do a job, before I start I always do a pre inspection of the car before I do any work whatsoever, I check for electrical faults as well as cosmetic damage, I do this to cover my back so as not to get blamed for faults and damage that already exists, I regularly find switches that don’t work that owners haven’t yet spotted, new cars are at times like airplane cockpits with all the switches for gadgets owners probably never use, as for paintwork scratches! well I don’t care if it’s a Bentley or a Banger I still find the scratches, so the motor industry also has its quality issues.

BP

Hello BP.
Historically the UK car industry had an abysmal Quality ethic, and you could almost guarantee that something fairly substantial would be wrong with most UK built cars. But now they have taken QA to heart and the level of failures are much lower than they were in the 1970's and earlier.

I do recognise that even now modern cars may have some problems, but in general they are far more reliable than say those of the 1970's and before.

It's been said by many people that the UK caravan industry today is working rather like car industry was 40 years ago.

It was almost certainly the rise of the Japanese car imports with their Kaizen approach to manufacturing that demonstrated that the public did not need to accept poor quality cars, that started the demise of the UK's indigenous car manufacturing.

The difference then was that there were no clear cut UK role models for manufactures to follow, but today the caravan manufacturers do have plenty of good world class manufacturers and can see how effective management can enable them to compete by producing far more reliable products. Its just a shame that caravan manufactures seem to live in ivory towers and are blind to the problems they cause their end users by failing to implement strategies that improve reliability and consistency of manufacture and assembly.

Caravan manufacturers are years behind the car and many other industries, and they need to wake up.