Nasty surprise
In May we collected our brand new caravan. After a few short breaks to test it out we set off for France for our annual holiday. The caravan was a pleasure to tow, until we had nearly arrived at our destination in Provence, when I noticed that anything but
gentle braking resulted in a little "thump" on the back of the car. We continued our holiday and travelled home fine except the odd "thump" if I was forced to brake a little more heavily. Upon getting home the caravan was booked in with the dealer to rectify
a few niggles including the braking.
I was shocked to be informed that the brake linings and drums were "burnt out", due to towing the caravan with the handbrake activated. As this is not covered under warranty, it is going to cost in excess of £450 to repair! That is a caravan less than 6 months,
old at the conclusion of it's first tour.
I don't believe that I have towed with the hand brake on, this opinion is based on the following reasons:
1. We are experienced caravanners.
2. We had our old caravan for 16 years. As the new caravan is more complicated than the old one, having retractable aerials, a motor mover, ATC, etc. etc we had drawn up a pre travel checklist, both inside and externally to ensure that we were safe to travel
and had not forgotten any of these new features. We were hoping to look after the caravan and perhaps keep it as long as the last one! This was followed religiously, it includes the item: release handbrake.
3. Finally the caravan and car were loaded with all that we needed for a two month tour of France, it is a Mondeo, not a great powerful 4 wheel drive. Surely I would have found it difficult to move the caravan, if the handbrake had inadvertently been left applied.
Even if it had moved, presumably it would have had little power and this would have been very noticeable.
I am writing to ask if any other members have encountered a similar problem with a new caravan on an Alko chassis? Also can anybody with more technical know-how than myself, suggest any other reason for a caravan's brakes to be so seriously damaged in such
a short time?
Thanks for reading, I would be pleased to receive any advice or comments.
JSGJ