Caravan Dealers - are any of them any good?
On another discussion thread everyone is advising me to go with a Caravan Dealer, rather than a private seller. We want to buy the best caravan we can, it will be our big jump over to caravans after many years of motorhoming.
But has anyone come across a really good Caravan Dealership that they would recommend? We've been to 6 different ones around the country and so far, we've found it difficult to even find one which has staff who are prepared to come and talk to you, let alone sell to you! At every one so far, they just vaguely wave their hands towards the stock and tell you to look around and then disappear and you are left completely on your own. Surely people MUST have had some good experiences and met dealerships they'd recommend?
Comments
-
Most dealerships are good when they’re taking your money. It’s the aftercare you need you look at. That is, how they respond when you go back with a warranty issue and it is that very 'going back' that makes buying close to home a good idea.
We've bought numerous caravans and MHs over the last 50 years and there isn't one dealer who stands out in my mind as being 'any good'.
3 -
That's a bit of a sad thing to read. You'd really think that some of them could be bothered to stand out in a crowded market place in this day and age, when reviews can really matter!
But I can really see your point about what matter is what happens when you contact them AFTER about problems. I can see why buying close to home can help with that.
0 -
I must have been lucky as the two dealers I have used over the last 23 years, three new caravans and two new motorhomes have been pretty good. I had three Swift stable caravans between 1998 and 2013 all of which I had no major issues with, in fact I would go as far as saying they were pretty much trouble free. I am now on my second Bailey motorhome both of which I have been pleased with. The first one did have a few issues but these were always put right by the dealer to my satisfaction.
David
1 -
We bought our Knaus from a dealer 150 miles away from home - so a 300 mile round trip. Not ideal by any means but the service we have received from them at Adventure Leisure Vehicles in Tebay, Cumbria has been excellent - largely down to (but not limited to) their Chief Tech who is totally trustworthy, very thorough and always willing to please. Yes, we have had a few issues with the van but they have been sorted out to my complete satisfaction and I've also had a few little jobs (non warranty) done as a 'favour' when it's gone in for service. I have had the opportunity to take it to another Knaus dealer much closer to home but have not been impressed by their initial response to my queries / requests and have therefore stuck with ALV, despite the travelling involved.
When we were buying from them - having made an appointment to view, we were looked after by the Sales Director personally and his attention to detail in concluding that sale has been reflected in our dealings with all of the staff at ALV that we have come across.
We got 'good vibes' when we were there looking at vans and took the opportunity to talk to most of the sales and after-sales staff. I think from what the OP is saying - he didn't - so he's best to continue looking until he feels he has confidence in the level of service offered by all the staff.
1 -
I'm not prepared to advertise on here and I think you need to find your van first and then see what the salesmanship feels like! Start looking and start talking at a dealership and you may find out all sorts of information, vans coming in, etc etc.
1 -
A dealership is only as good, or bad, as it’s staff and they change frequently. A company recommended as being good a couple of years ago could be completely the opposite now and one person's opinion of good may not be the same as yours.
1 -
We always had excellent service from Oxford Caravans at Thame but that was a few years ago. It’s always best to find a local dealer because you WILL have warranty claims.
1 -
I speak as a customer and also retired employee of a caravan dealership.When I was looking to buy caravans for myself and family I preferred to wander around a sales site,find something I was interested in and then find a sales person to talk to.These days it is harder as due to theft of parts a lot of dealers have found it necessary to lock the stock and you need to talk to a sales person in order to look inside a particular caravan.The dealer I worked for for 17 years still,as far as I am aware,allow browsing without interference (all easily removable items removed before put up for sale) and most people prefer this,but,as is the way of joe public,you cannot please all of the people all of the time!
1 -
Unfortunately the first of the two, Nene Court Caravans, are no longer in the business of selling caravans. They expired during the financial crash. We had two caravans from them and a third on order but they rang me to tell me about the decision to close and refunded my deposit. My last caravan and both motorhomes have come from White Arches at Rushden/Irchester. I am of the view that you should try and buy as close to home as you can. Worth pointing out that all my purchases have been for new units and I see that you are looking for a pre-owned caravan. Whether that should make any difference I am not sure? It's also not helped by the fact that it seems to be a sellers market at the moment, at least buying from a dealer should mean that the van has been checked and you should get some sort of warranty, even if only a short one.
David
1 -
We had consistently excellent service from Camper UK of Lincoln when we owned Burstner caravans and we have also had excellent service from Derby Autosleeper Centre over the last two years of ownership of our AS.We have had a some minor faults when the MH was new but they were speedily and efficiently rectified. Not faults which PDI would have identified to be fair but ones which developed later from faulty componentry.Thing is they were fixed properly for us.
1 -
Hi, Many good points made and would agree that making a recommendation is problematic when the contact is some time past-bought last van in 2017.
The one point I would make however is in regard to buying locally-if its possible, which it may be for you, that's great but if not I would not be put off.
In regard to new vans I have bought 5 and all but 1, a Hobby, had to have work carried out under warranty and since 1995 I have had this done at a local, well local for us at a near 130 round trip, service centre.
They are an approved workshop, NCC and both clubs, and can carry out warranty work on most makes of van.
As they do not sell vans they are more inclined to be customer focused and it may be worth looking into this, near to you, as a way of reassuring yourself that any issues you have, and sadly that's more likely than not, can be addressed 'locally'.
This then gives you the freedom to look further afield for the actual van.
Good luck!.
1 -
We bought from a dealer close to home for our last caravan and really wish we hadn’t!! The staff change so often you rarely see the same person twice.
Our previous van came from a dealer 70 miles away but they were much better for after sales, which as already mentioned, is far more important.
The salesmen have been good in both establishments, obviously they want your custom, but the quality of aftersales and dealing with problems have been poles apart. Would we recommend our present dealer, probably not, although we have seen better reports recently. We would hesitate to recommend our previous dealer as things could well have changed in 5 years.
I would try to read various reviews or ask some customers (if possible) to get more up to date information.
1 -
That's an interesting point which someone else on this thread has brought up (buy local, best in case of problems). Now you're saying, not in case of, you WILL have problems/ warranty claims. Owing to budget restrictions, we have to buy used not new so I'm not sure what kind of warranty we'll be offered. We visited Oxford Caravans and spent a couple of hours there looking around caravans. Only at the end did a member of staff show up to tell us they were closing and that we'd have to leave - that was the sum total of their interaction with us!
0 -
This is exactly what we've been doing. And only at one dealership (in Bristol) did a member of staff even approach us to ask what we were looking for and to make suggestions. Otherwise we were ignored, which is fine to a point but we did have some questions and could find no-one to ask!
0 -
Just to let you guys know that we have decided to HIRE a caravan for our up-coming break in September and see how we get on with it. Then, when we come back we have no more stays booked anywhere, so can take our time over the winter to look at lots of caravans and hopefully find our "dream van".
0 -
Golden Castle Caravans at Twigworth in Gloucestershire. We bought a new Coachman 575 Excel from them in April and cannot fault their sales and afters sales service. The sales process was very smooth considering the country was in lock down at times. The Sales team kept us informed of delivery delays from Coachman and provided a very comprehensive hand over. My limited experience of the After Sales service suggests that it is just as efficient. The caravans been excellent as well!
1 -
Absolutely the worst caravan I ever bought, was bought from a very large local dealership - probably the largest in the UK at that time - began with a W. I was assured it had been thoroughly checked for damp and would undergo a thorough pre-delivery full inspection and end to end clean.
Reassured by that, I gave it only a cursory inspection to ensure it suited our needs and agreed to buy it. When I collected it, I remember the guy dealing with me was obsessed about torquing the wheel nuts up - he wouldn't let it move until he had found the torque wrench and checked they were correct.
The thorough clean was nothing more than a quick 10 minute flick with a damp rag inside, the full inspection missed a long list of faults such that it was unfit to use safely - the hob top was completely unfastened, the oven filthy, the first time the heater was tested, on my drive, it set fire to the underside of the van due to an internal gas leak - I was just lucky there was a hose to hand to extinguish it. I had checked the main gas hose, found it 10 years out of date, so had replaced it. They might well have checked it for damp, but if they did, they simply screwed up the report and binned it.
I complained loud and long, in writing and on the phone, but promised calls back never came - in the end agreed to them inspecting it again, to see if something could be sorted out. I was asked to take it along to there repair depot, some 60 miles further from where I had collected it and for 8am. I was there on time, made myself known and was completely ignored for two hours by the staff. I then wrote a large note of complaint about the company with my contact details, which I put in the front window, uncoupled, left it completely blocking the busy site.
We eventually settled on them just rebuilding the front end, where the worst of the damp and damage was.
How I missed it when I first looked, I just don't know. That caravan was not kept for long - rather than pass it on, I sold it on to be scrapped.
0 -
Harry1000, was the dealer you refer to located in East Yorkshire, not far from Hull? If so it is probably the same large dealership that we bought our Lunar from. Never again will I set foot in their premises. Our handover of a brand new caravan took over three hours because of things that we found faulty or things not done that had been specified in the order. And the caravan was full of manufacturing dust and dirt so it was obvious that no PDI had been done at all. What I couldn't understand was that we were told that the caravan would not be available until April, (we had ordered in February) but we found manufacturing documents that had been left in it that indicated it had been completed and signed off by Lunar the previous October.
We also bought an awning whilst we were there waiting. When we got it home we found that this was also faulty. The dealer collected the awning from us and sent a new one. This was also received in a damaged state so we asked for our money back.
0 -
We've had 4 caravans over the years from the same dealer, 20 minutes down the road. The last one we had and are still using had a problem with the fridge which would only work on gas. This happened just after we bought it. Pointless when we always hook up. Despite numerous attempts by the dealer to fix it, I took up the problem directly with Dometic. Got a very knowledgeable guy who knew exactly what the problem was, arranged for the van to go back to the dealer, sent an engineer out and problem solved. They sorted it within a few days whereas the dealer had got nowhere in three months.
Otherwise, haven't been able to fault the dealer except for when it needs a service. Have to book months in advance and can only drop it off and pick it up when there is an "R" in the month. Very inflexible.
It's now 7 years old and this year I decided to take it out of the dealer service. Had it serviced last week by a guy who now works out of the storage yard. Dropped the keys off, he picked it up from the plot, did all the work plus one or two other little jobs that wanted doing, took it back to the plot and all I had to do was call in to pay and pick the keys up.
Job well done.
0 -
we have been caravaning for 30 years we change every 3 years and have to say we have never dealt with anyone better then winchester caravan cant recomened them highly enough
1 -
Hi
My key points are:
Don't touch anything with an ABS panel
Buy local
You can see some of our trials and tribulations below. It also says who our dealer was for the van we bought most recently. They have 3 branches - one in Wiltshire, one in Oxfordshire and one in Berkshire.
The chap we dealt with for purchase was at the Wiltshire branch (Andy) and we have no complaints. After sales service dealt with all issues with utter professionalism. And there have been a lot - still though wouldn't put me off a Swift.
See more detail about issues / resolution below, click on the link for details and photos
1
