Why is there no defence from the manufacturers?
I have been reading my sisters copy of the CC magazine and was intrigued by the Caravan and Motorhome tests. I would be very surprised if anyone believes the results are a true reflection of quality etc as the CC must be concious of the income derived in advertising from the manufacturing industry.
The result given for the build quality of the Eriba caravan ( foreign manufacture) was a very impressive 91%
Unfortunately the British built Bailey motorhome was given a build quality score of 74%.
Even if you accept this is a genuine score and not inflated by a need to "toe the line " with the industry, it is a truly shocking indictment of the state of the British leisure van manufacturers. Probably even more shocking is the total silence from the manufacturers, in fact one could ask the question are they infact happy with a score of 74% and were they expecting less!
In my opinion Matt Allwright should earn his money by investigating the scandal of the industry rather than answering a few innocuous questions at the Caravan shows
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Perhaps they have no defense? Perhaps they were pleased to have got a score as high as 74%, considering the number of complaints they must receive and the amount of warranty work they foolishly pay for?
Just a thought.....
I agree that the caravan / motorhome industry is well overdue for an 'expose' type programme on national TV. Because it's clear that neither of the two big organisations that are supposed to represent their membership is going to do anything.
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It's down to the buying public to make their feelings known. . . .With their wallet/purse. All the time we have buyers buying, complaining on forums then going out & buying again they will continue as they always have. Then again if the buyers are happy & don't need to complain-all is well. I take it Oval & Ian both have Eribs's or other LV's of 'foreign manufacture'
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Rocky, might I suggest that is a xenophobic ( or jealous) comment?
Our present outfit is a British caravan (with some damp) but when/if we change to a MH it will not be British.
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As far as I could see they in no way justified the marks for build quality unless of course they were using the data collected in their customer survey results. I don't doubt the quality of the Eriba but so they should be for the price being charged. As an owner of a Bailey motorhome I would question where the 74% figure came from as that is not my own personal experience.
David
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xenophobia
zɛnəˈfəʊbɪə/
noun
dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.Ovals, see above?, so that's an easy no, but you carry on suggesting I have no issues with it
. Congratulations by the way, you will buy an LV of foreign manufacture, so you will be part of the solution not the problem
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Thankyou Ian
. So you continue to be part of the problem
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My nephew has just returned from Germany where he has worked for the last eight years. He is also a caravanner and when I spoke to him regarding build quality he assured me that German caravan and car magazines are just the same as the UK regarding complaints about the build quality of home grown products.
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We have owned both British and German cars and caravans. The van was a Hobby 495 ufe and we had no issues with it so we perceive it to be of 'good' quality. We bought it because we fell in love with it and the fact that, at that time, it was light years ahead of the British offerings that we could afford-at the time the Hobby was €12000 and the exchange rate was over €1.5 to the £.
The British cars were various and almost all had problems BUT that was most likely due to the fact that I could not afford a decent car!
The current car,and the make for the last 31 years, is an Audi and has had a few issues but I judge it on the service that I have received and am happy.
The current van, a Lunar, is almost three years old and has had several issues but, due to my fantastic service workshop, were all sorted and I am happy.
I doubt that we will ever buy a British car but that is because we love the Audi brand. The van will stay British until we again get that wow factor from a foreign van.
So whilst quality comes into the equation it is very subjective and of course we only tend hear the negative opinions.
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If i was a caravan maker and selling caravans as fast as i could make them plus getting away with little or no quality control then i suppose i would,nt give a toss about any survey either.A sad indicment of the industry and sadly its not going too change in the near future if ever.There is no regulator for the industry and only a handful of makers its a win win situation for the makers.
v9
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Vote with your wallet !!If people don't buy the product,they will do something about it .
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I tend to disagree with that.
Shoddy products will almost certainly fail th test of public opinion in the end.
Like a lot of things, a few whistles and bells sell a product well for a while, but eventually the unacceptabilty of the product becomes too much.
A parallel would be British cars. British Leyland sold their rubbish, shoddy vehicles in droves for a long time. Then eventually competition from abroad showed how it could be done. British manufacturers had to up their game......many went bust.
Same is bound to happen with caravans. It is unrealistic to expect otherwise with such an expensive consumer item.
Perhaps when more people make claims under the 'equal liability' rules (when using finance / loans to buy) then we will start to see some forced improvements.
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- I have always said - if they can make one dry van then they can make them all dry! What the hell is wrong with the QC depts at these places! If they recorded every seam and who it was done by and who it was passed by on every uniquely numbered van and told them that if the van came back for a problem with that seam within 10 yrs, both the engineer and the QC guy who passed it would pay for it - watch quality shoot up then!! I will certainly look over the water for my next caravan.
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I suspect that the workers that assemble the caravans are paid on piece work in other words each team is paid on the number of completed units [c/van..m/h] so the more units turned out the more they urn ,if they do not complete many units it will affect their wages
this system is used in the manufacture of commercial refrigeraton by several firms in the east anglia area ,no work no pay
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Piece work does not preclude a quality control system.
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I have owned my Fendt caravan since 2004. Internally it looks new, externally it does not show it's age. At the time I bought it I believed it was the best build quality I could find. What I have read and heard over the years does not lead me to believe otherwise.
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I thought that giving Eriba a score of merely 91% was an outrageous slur on that company's reputation.
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If you look at the survey by Practical Caravan magazine and the C&CC you will see the results are appalling. Nobody bettered 90% for customer satisfaction and even the consistantly high marked Adria had dropped badly. The only firm doing as well as lasts year was Eldiss but they were still bottom and your chances of a fault free caravan is somewhere in the low 20's percentage wise.
The best buys seemed to be Sprite and Venus although their scores were nothing to write home about. Basically you get the impression that caravans are being churned out even more to meet the increased demand with less care than ever.
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Nothing will happen until the dealerships support the customer and not the manufacturer. I bought a new Bailey. The front double bed had a two inch drop in the middle section making it unusable as a double bed. The dealer suggested that I use a bit of memory foam to lift the middle section up to the level of the side seats. The dealer was quite happy to keep selling these caravans with a fault that would not have been acceptable 50 years ago. The dealers make too much cash to bother about the customer. It's never been any different in the last 40 years I have been caravanning. Best van I had was a home made campervan. No faults in seventeen years. Why? Because I was the quality control manager, I was the manufacturer. If you want the best make it yourself, don't buy British caravans.
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This discussion reminds me of a relative who would never by a Ford car. The reason? She worked for a while at a breakers yard (in Australia) and it was full of Ford cars. When I suggested that this might be because there were a heck of a lot of Fords in Australia she didn't understand my point!
So, we get many complaints about the two biggest UK manufacturers - Explorer Group and Bailey, and not many about Fendt (for example). Continental vans are not without their problems as many owners have reported on this forum.
I am delighted with my AS Motorhome and the quality rivals any continental Motorhome that I have seen. I am sure that one of the reasons is that the design has remained similar for some time so all the quality issues have been resolved. Every year we get different designs of vans including significant changes to construction techniques. I have been caught out with buying a prototype and will never do it again.
The biggest issue is still damp and the industry seems to be failing to learn in this regard.
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Why do you think they are the biggest UK manufacturers? Swift Group holds that position.
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I feel we've been very fortunate with caravans since '79, 2 x pre owned UK 'vans, 5 x new UK 'vans and since 2001 8 x German produced 'vans. We then last September swapped a perfectly good 2010 Hymer for a 2012 Coachman VIP, what a mistake ! It was made of matchwood, towed like I've never towed a caravan before and cost 4 mpg compared to the similar weight Hymer. Earlier this year we said good riddance to that and purchased a Hymer LuxusLine 541, we have just returned from a 1,860 mile trip to Vollenhove ( Northern Holland ) via Saumur, France and can honestly say it was a pleasure to tow ( I certainly would not have enjoyed tugging the Coachman ). We are now picking up a new Hymer Nova 580 GL next Friday. Purely my personal view but IMHO if the British public are happy with there purchase of UK 'vans so be it, if one tried the experience of actually towing and holidaying in a " Proper " caravan the Brit' manufacturers would be having sleepless nights.
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