British caravans
After reading lots of reviews on all british caravan manufacturer's and having owned several myself it seams the workmanship is going down hill it is going the same way as the old british car company's and we know the outcome of that but unless they start
improving especially bailey there will only be one outcome the end of british built caravan s
Comments
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Thats a bit of a sweeping asumption,considering the amount of c/vans built and sold in the UK,compared to the "problems" some seem to find,the majority of parts fitted to all LVs these days are made in mainland europe,whose builders do not give anywhere near as long a warranty as UK makers
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Dont think its a sweeping statement its easy a t hird of people who have had to return caravan back for warrinty work and I know if I upset a third of my customers I would be out of business
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Having owned a Bailey Valencia which twice went back to the factory for damp ingress I am sensitive to this topic. It is very difficult to get a balanced view but anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a problem with UK vans and damp but NOT with the
general standard of fittings etc., most of which are common to European manufacturers.Concerning the damp problems I feel sure that the UK problems arise because of the desire to reduce weight and manufacturing costs whilst offering more and more features. As we know, continental vans do not come as well equipped as UK vans and also some
are extremely heavy (for example, Hymer). Bailey and Swift have pioneered very different construction techniques and it appears that there are many teething problems.Not an excuse, just my take on the problems0 -
I thought that our hobby was becoming more popular. Not disagreeing with build quality issues, but business seems to be booming. If, as you reckon mick, the industry is coming to an end, it'll surely take a good few years, from its current rude health.
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C/Mick, I blame the customers. A company will only get away with shoddy workmanship as long as they are allowed to. The fact that they are still in business is due to either apathetic customers or it ain't as bad as folk say. Swift are expanding constantly.
PS-I have no axe to grind either way
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Caravan build quality has been going downhill for years. I think it became really noticeable somewhere around 2003-6. R2b is right in blaming the customers as for years we've eagerly bought the rubbish the manufacturers churn out - I'm as bad as anyone.
As long as we continue to buy the shoddy rubbish and allow manufacturers to treat us like dirt, they'll happily keep throwing together poor quality goods because they know they have a market for them.0 -
Its a good job caravan manufacturer's dont build boats there was a new british company that built a slide out caravan ive forgotten the name unfortunately they went bankrupt but I heard the build quality was fantastic
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Between 1989 and 2013 I purchased four new UK caravans from the Swift stable and had no major problems, in fact I had very few minor problems. The first caravan was kept for 8/9 years, the next two for about 6 years and the final one was about 3 years old when we swapped it for a motorhome.Given that we towed those four caravans about 75000 miles in total I don't think that is too bad?
David
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Having owned a Bailey Valencia which twice went back to the factory for damp ingress I am sensitive to this topic. It is very difficult to get a balanced view but anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a problem with UK vans and damp but NOT with the general standard of fittings etc., most of which are common to European manufacturers.
Concerning the damp problems I feel sure that the UK problems arise because of the desire to reduce weight and manufacturing costs whilst offering more and more features. As we know, continental vans do not come as well equipped as UK vans and also some are extremely heavy (for example, Hymer). Bailey and Swift have pioneered very different construction techniques and it appears that there are many teething problems.Not an excuse, just my take on the problems
...I have posted on CT before that "damp" issues are not just a UK "problem" as when we were next to a German family with their Hymer, which on return to Germany was going back again for repairs for water ingress and other "problems" with the build,its just we do not tend to hear about "over there"LVs,but as we know in the uk its a big "hobby" to knock anything by some
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Its a good job caravan manufacturer's dont build boats there was a new british company that built a slide out caravan ive forgotten the name unfortunately they went bankrupt but I heard the build quality was fantastic
...What about the Caraboat from a few years back ,none sank
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The last 3 caravans we have brought have all had to have warranty work one so bad bad we only kept it 18 months also asking many people on site I dont find that many who have had 100 percent van dont think we will ever be given a true percentage of vans
that have needed work0 -
A lot of warranty work that seems to be needed, IMHO is because dealers (not all)seem as if they want the purchaser to do the PDI (saves them money, )as on numerous posts the "warranty work" are things that a PDI should have picked up
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A lot of warranty work that seem to be needed,IMHO is because dealers (not all)seem as if they want the purchaser to do the PDI (saves them money)as on numerous posts the "warranty work" are things that a PDI should have picked up
I guess this may be the case sometimes, but I think you only notice the little things once you start living in the van.
David
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Our van is now just over two years old, no big issues but many niggling ones that require mostly labour and not replacement materials. I don't bother to get the dealer to fix them as I feel I can do it better myself, it's things like realigning cupboard doors, missing screws, screw fixings that just turn and turn and never tightening, an out of square door flyscreen that kept sticking, all minor things that shouldn't be there but needed rectifying.
So no, my van has never had warranty work carried out on it but the habitation build is questionable.
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Would you buy another one Dave? . . .You can see where this is going can't you?
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I do agree that a lot of it is down to poor pdi but also I think its rush to get new model out before anyone else and models changing to frequently so no continuity or long term testing we now make sure we exchange before warranty runs out0
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Other side of the coin here. Oened my Fendt from new for 12 years. Only things that have required attention in that time can be put down to fair wear and tear. CVertainly no damp problems.
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Our caravan is 32 years old. British made. We have owned it 20 years. The fact that it has a tiny bit of damp in one corner is purely our fault.
We recently had a look around a big dealership, both vans and MHs, and frankly were not impressed with either, lots of makes as well, including foriegn.
Wouldnt touch a new van of any make (except Eriba) with a barge pole, purely and simply because I would possibly commit a serious crime if I had to go back to dealer. Don't accept shoddy goods, never have, never will.
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...I have posted on CT before that "damp" issues are not just a UK "problem" as when we were next to a German family with their Hymer, which on return to Germany was going back again for repairs for water ingress and other "problems" with the build,its just we do not tend to hear about "over there"LVs,but as we know in the uk its a big "hobby" to knock anything UK built by some
.
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not being biased there JVB are you...?.
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I wish I could say "they don't make 'em like they used to" but our first van, 30 plus years ago, was an Abbey and that eventually was written off due to damp ingress.
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We had a Swift TA Conquerer from 1997-2004 in that time we had soft awning rail replaced and floor delaminate 3 times also 2 new water inlets, when changed the front end was full of damp,
,but we still got £8500 part exchange for a m/van
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Our caravan is 32 years old. British made. We have owned it 20 years. The fact that it has a tiny bit of damp in one corner is purely our fault.
We recently had a look around a big dealership, both vans and MHs, and frankly were not impressed with either, lots of makes as well, including foriegn.
Wouldnt touch a new van of any make (except Eriba) with a barge pole, purely and simply because I would possibly commit a serious crime if I had to go back to dealer. Don't accept shoddy goods, never have, never will.
This is the build quality that we are entitled to expect. Why should a caravan not last that long with proper maintenance.
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We bought our Bailey new in 2009. Under warranty we had a new centre front window, an new extractor fan as original gave up and a replacement hatch door that began to leak! Since then we've had to replace the shower wall last year as it cracked down one
corner - at a cost to us.Should all this have happened - probably not. Were Bailey good - yes, there wasn't an issue with the warranty work but it took ages to get the parts. Nothing else has gone wrong so far and it has done a fair few miles.
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I've had a UK caravan and I've currently got a German one. There is no comparison in build quality.
We hear of the damp Hymer when this discussion crops up but I'm not convinced it's as big a problem with that make as that single example implies.
I think it's a shame that confidence in home built vans is low. I personally wouldn't buy a British van again but not because of build quality. They just don't make what I want
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