There have been numerous studies by all sorts of companies about the real costs of allowing a fault to reach the end customer.
One study that sticks in my mind, was a company who manufactured an electrical appliance. The design called for a earth wire to be fixed to a 3mm stud welded to the body of the appliance. It was specified by the designer (who was well qualified and knowledgeable about such things) to use a ring crimmped ring terminal sandwiched between a pair of shake proof washers. The design and bill of materials was approved and passed to the buyers. One bright spark decided to save £0.001 per appliance by changing the specification of the clamping washers, and it was slipped through into production.
Some 1000 appliances later, the issue with the clamping washers was highlighted, and in fact the product had its electrical approval rescinded because the earth connection was deemed to be insecure.
It cost the company about £25 per appliance to remedy the problem, plus the cost of re submitting the appliance for approvals.
The buying muppet saved the company probably less than £10, but the costs of correcting it ran to close on £50K
Caravan manufacturers do not seem to understand the real cost of their products leaving the factory with faults. The real cost of rectifying such things is far greater than if the manufacturers were to do it right first time.
The real costs are hidden, because firstly caravan manufacturers build into their selling price a quite hefty sum to cover some of the costs of warranty repairs. Its few years ago now but I came into possession of some information that suggested that a sum of nearly 8% of the RRP was budgeted per caravan for warranty costs. (do not ask which manufacture that was, as I will not tell!)
And that isn’t the whole story, because of the way the Manufacturer's warranty is structured, the end user has to subsidise those costs by providing the transport to and from the dealership, and covers any costs associated with that, such as loss of earnings, or overnight accommodations if its a very long journey and of course inconvenience of having a faulty product off loaded onto them, even ruined holidays or plans.
If caravan manufacturers were to really put customers first, and stop making silly and avoidable design and production errors, it is my guess they could easily reduce the price of a caravan by 5 to 8% and still maintain the same gross profit but from a lower turnover. That should impress the accountants.
To boot they would have far more satisfied customers, Dealers would have less essential fire fighting, and the industry would be seen in a much better light.