Caravan Satisfaction Survey

Q 1.

"Is this perhaps because the manufacturers of British caravans have put pressure on the CC not to run such a survey" ?

A.  Yes

B  Almost certainly

C  Highly likely

D Not sure🤔

Guess which category we fall into?

Can't remember seeing one for some time now. Did the industry ever take notice of previous surveys? There really doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest shown by the manufacturers (or dealers) to find out if the end user is satisfied or not. I've certainly never been contacted by any manufacturer for my views.

Nellie

Are you dissatisfied with your caravan?

David

No, but as it's now 8 yrs old, and has been used each year for over 250 nights each year, it is probable getting to the time I think about changing. So a survey of current models would might just point us in a different direction with regards to make.

Nellie

That is a remarkable record which not many of us would be able emulate. My inclination would be to look at the manufacturer of the one you already have, assuming they are still producing caravans. When I had caravans I had four new ones from the Swift stable over a period of about 23 years. At the time every forum and every survey was telling me what rubbish Swift vans were. My own experience of those four vans, which were kept for 8,6,6 and 3 years was very different and they were all reliable with nothing other than the odd minor issue with them over the course of ownership so my experience suggests reliability surveys can give a contrar view to my own experience so I wonder how reliable they actually are?  

I thought the Club did a reliability survey a year or two ago but were very slow to publish the results and when they did they didn't really publish any, what we as owners would think of as useful information.Didn't they just publish an Infographic rather than a detailed analysis?  I think at the time they said they wouldn't become a annual process as they had been in the past. I wonder if the reason for that was that in this internet age they get overwhelmed with information? I think Practical Caravan do an annual survey but probably on a smaller scale?.

David

Edit - Found the previous one here if it helps https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/globalassets/pdfs/content/whats-on/leisure-vehicle-survey-results.pdf

Thanks David. What concerns me is the number of bad reports about all the major British caravan manufacturers models. I appreciate that there will be lots of good, no problem,vans out there, but we rarely hear about them. The previous surveys, if I remember correctly, used to include the previous year's scores for comparison. I suspect that any current survey would show a steady drop compared to previous years.

what's changed (and JVB keeps telling us.....) is that emmissions standards have got tougher, engines smaller, cars lighter which have all affected the caravans that can be towed...

those vans have had to get correspondingly lighter for the same length which, inevitibly, has reduced robustness...add in an increasing desire to add more and more appliances and gadgets and even more strength has to be sacrificed..

yes, new materials are being found and explored but not necessarily available at the mid price most are happy to pay...

I don't understand what your post has to do with there not being a survey BB. The weight/lightness of vans should have nothing at all to do with the quality of the build. The sorts of faults that appear to be recurring are things like cracking windows, delamination of panels, faulty installation of electrical equipment, etc.

Why would UK users praise what they have,it is not the "thing to do" but if there is even a minor problem then every one has to be told,

It is well known that for every complementary letter  that companies receive there will be 13 of complaint as that is what we in the uk do.