Protective Practices or Short-sightedness?
Cars are built and transported all over the world. I can buy a car made in Korea at the local garage, insure it without any particular problems and have it serviced at almost any garage in the UK. Yet a caravan made in Germany, to UK specification, and purchased new in the UK, can no longer be serviced in the UK by any of the ‘Approved Workshops’. The apparently are not competent to check the gas systems in the caravan. What would you think of a garage that turned around and said we can’t service your BMW; we cannot do an emissions test?
Our Insurance is due for renewal and being members of both the Caravan Club & Caravan and Camping Club (our current insurance provider) I called to get a quote from the Caravan Club for comparison. The Caravan Club will not insure our caravan – apparently because of the difficulty in obtaining parts. We don’t have some weird and wonderful caravan – simply and LMC – made in Germany – one of our very close EU neighbours.
I begin to wonder if the UK caravan market – in cahoots with the various Caravan associations are working against us the consumer? Or does the problem lie with caravan workshops thinking they can make a quick buck simply because we have a German caravan. For example the dealer in Wales where we purchased, and for several years took our caravan for service.
They are an ‘approved workshop’ by both the Caravan Club and Caravan & Camping Club. They serviced our caravan for six years without once saying they could not check the gas systems. They seemed competent and fairly priced until they discovered we had a broken axle. They wouldn’t give a quote for the repair – but told us we would be looking at a bill of at least £800.00. As we had driven the caravan all the way from Oxfordshire to Swansea without incident we drove it home again to make our own enquiries. My husband and friend removed the axle; we dropped it off at Al-Ko in Warwickshire. It was sent to Germany for repair and was delivered back to our door for less than £300.00. Al-Ko had no issues in dealing with us directly.
We chose a German caravan for several reasons. The built quality, warranties and guarantees far outstripped anything offered by even the best of UK manufacturers at the time. We had growing children and were fed up of looking at caravans where UK manufacturers thought they should sleep on tiny bunks under shelves and cupboards. We were fed up of looking at caravans where looks were more important than comfort. Cushions clearly designed to make comfortable seating areas without any thought for how to arrange them to sleep on without encountering lumps, bumps and buttons.
Both Clubs encourage us to use our caravans throughout Europe. But what sort of message must our European counterparts get when they reach the UK and encounter a problem with their unit? We can’t help – it’s not British.