Caravan Satisfaction Survey

Nice to see you take notice of correct information at times

This is endemic over the caravan clubs and caravan press.  You will read in all these places tests carried out by testers, some of whom seem to know, mainly, what they are doing.  The tests are invariably based on new machines (cars, touring caravans and motorhomes), which are borrowed from a source that knows what is going to happen to them.

The testers invariably give a favourable description of the products (could this be anything to do with advertising revenues or am I being cynical here).  They do not tell us what the product is like to live with for, say 3-4 years.  Quite a while age there was a very useful article in en route (the old CC magazine) in which users rated their caravans of different years and gave them marks for various features.  Very useful.

I can only speak from personal experience, but I read nothing but praise for a (new) car and a caravan that we have bought since retirement that have turned out to be the worst car and the worst caravan that I have ever had.  I have just had to replace the charger unit on the caravan after just over 3 years (out of guarantee they say, but they ignore the consumer protection act) and the new unit has been in for 6 months and is now already showing signs of erratic behaviour.  I have never had trouble with these units before in up to 12 years use in other vans.  I have had quite a lot of other problems with it too.  The car, which the camping and caravanning club voted towcar of the decade started going expensively wrong at 30,000 miles and by the time it got to 65,000 miles it was a wreck which needed about £6,000 spending on it to put it right.

All that I can advise from my experience is find out as much as you can about these products before buying and remember the motto   "caveat emptor - buyer beware"

Regards, Phil & Joan the wanderers 

We tend to buy second hand on most big things like cars. There's a balance between "of course there's a good reason they're selling it" and checking that it's genuinely in good nick, but on the whole we've been lucky, and somebody else has both taken the new price hit, and had any teething troubles.
If it's still going well after a few years, there's a chance it'll go on doing so for longer, without the costs of buying new.

Our best ever tent was second hand, the caravan we replaced it with  likewise.

I mistrust glossy magazine reviews. As  suggested much further up this thread, there's a strong chance the review has been sponsored.

Any reason why you haven't quoted names here? You say " They do not tell us what the product is like to live with for, say 3-4 years." so your giving names might well be useful to some members.

 

I think we might have some crossed wires here? The original post was about owner satisfaction surveys but Bucks Wanderer seems to be talking about product reviews in the club magazine which is slightly different. When a new model is reviewed it has to be taken at face value and if on test there were no issues how can anything other than a positive result be given. A world of difference between that and living with a caravan/motorhome for three years where you are in a better position to comment of shortcomings, if any. In a review of a new product you can't assume x,y,z will go wrong?

David

Tip-ask folk who own the LV/Car you are considering buying for a real life review. It worked for me & has done for a long time. This way you can approach folk who own-1/2/4 yr old LV/Cars. In my experience most folk are happy to help👍🏻

+1

As you spend a lot of time away chat to anyone on site who has a caravan you may be considering. 

I may be sceptical but I feel surveys don’t always give a true  ‘picture’ just a snapshot especially when %’s are used.  Example 50% were satisfied when only 300 took part in the survey (which is not always mentioned if at all) yet many more (possibly hundreds/thousands) bought the article/service etc. Good Luck.

I was replying to your 'concerns re UK caravan quality'....

even the specifics you mention will eventually succumbed to cost reduction....less time spent on inspections, poorer quality Windows and panels where weight is being chipped away to make room for a bigger fridge or cooker...

just compare a MFI kitchen to an upmarket one or an entry level caravan/MH to a top line one...

larger, more expensive vans are pulled by larger, more expensive towcars (or MH where weight isn't an issue)

quality costs kilos (as well as money) and keeping weight down on mass market vans is hard without sacrificing quality.

upmarket vans (and MHs) use upmarket, llightweight (expensive) materials whereas mass market vans have to do it within a much smaller budget which means using cheaper, thinner, poorer quality parts/materials.

the resulting loss in 'quality' is plain to see/feel in any modern mass market van....I spent a couple of hours in a stack of vans a couple of weeks ago and it's quite frightening...things like wobbly 'walls' that move.

yes, I didn't answer your point why there were no surveys (although I can see why many brands wouldn't want to be involved) but the reasons fo poor 'quality' are pretty obvious if you get stuck in and look at what's being produced...

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