Caravan Industry
As someone new to caravanning can I ask those that are seasoned caravan owners has the caravan industry always been as bad as it is now? I am basing this on the fact that repairs to caravans seem to take a ridiculous time to be carry out. My background was in the motor trade and yes we had some doggy people in it but if we had a motor in for repair it would be repaired the same day if possible, caravan dealers seem to me to be able take as much time to repair a caravan as they like and when they like.
Isn't it time the caravan industry joined the present day and had a kick up the backside?
Comments
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My van is currently in with a dealer having a new floor. It was taken in on the 3rd February after they told me they had all the necessary materials to complete the works and had 3days workshop time allocated and a return date of 2 weeks. I am hopefully going to pick the van up this coming Friday just in time for our trip to Germany?? The problem is that dealers are really only interested in selling new vans and doing what they need to do to get them out the door. Most have insufficient workshop space and I believe that they play customers off against each other and the one that shouts the loudest gets shifted up the queue. I will let you know on Friday. Fortunately I have everything in writing so if things go wrong I will be looking for caravan hire etc from them.
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I don't remember problems back when I started in the late 60s and we never had new vans either (I still don't). Even if I had the money now I wouldn't go for new seeing the problems people have!
Oneputt how old is yours that needs a floor? I hope you are looking for a free loan not hire! But hope yours is back in time.
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It seems to me that the caravan industry is pandering to the British disease of building cheaply so that they can sell their products on price rather than quality, which is what we seem to want.
All very reminiscent of the British car and motorcycle industry before the Japanese took that over and showed us how to do the job properly.
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Fingers crossed as I type this 😉. We bought our motorhome at almost 4 years old and haven't had any problems with it, he'll be 15 very soon, but it did need some work 2 years ago. We've found a great independent person reasonable charges swift turnaround as he doesn't have space to store what's not being worked on. I don't think we'd ever buy new or even recent like we first did having read what's written about on here. It seems they are churned out as fast and using as cheap as possible materials little or no quality control and dealers, with a few exceptions, looking to push them out quickly to make their money. It's very difficult to find decent independent people with capacity but I'd rather wait a month or two to know who is working on my pride and joy.
An aside on our local BBC East news they were saying that lots of caravan maker employees are now working on the blades for wind turbines as they have the required fibreglass experience 😲. I will be watching developments with interest.
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I supposed compared to the car industry caravans are a cottage industry. When I owned caravans I was fortunate enough not to have any major problems with the four new caravans we purchased. Any minor issues were dealt with at the regular services. I did have a caravan which needed a gel coat repair and that had to be done by a third party specialist. That did take longer but the dealer was happy to arrange that at a time convenient to me when I was not using the van. Perhaps I have just been lucky with the dealers I have come into contact with?
David
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I suppose one of the reasons they get away with it, is that folk are prepared to tolerate the delays. Many of us on here are retired and use our vans a lot, however many are only used a few times a year and if off the road for several months it is no big deal, as long as it does not coincide with the main holiday.
Compare that to a car, which most working folk use every day. The pressures on dealers / manufactures to be able to turn round repairs fast is that much higher.
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I don't wish to act as their defendent, but I can try to offer an explanation. As David so rightly says, compared with car manufacturers the caravan industry is a cottage industry. Their volumes are relatively low and it's not worth their while making just one specific spare part for a caravan that is out there at some dealer's. Therefore, they wait until they can make or order a batch of the same or at least similar parts and, due to the low volumes, that can take time. Anythings else would just be uneconomic and drive the cost of spare parts up even more.
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Hear what you say Lutz, but floors come in sections so I'm only guessing that Lunar must have quite a few being produced every day! I just can't believe that it took 6 months to manufacture and deliver. (they are probably brought in for a contractor)!
Another issue is that they only deliver spare parts to dealers once a month from the factory, obviously not heard of overnight delivery.
It seems to me that its not about customer service its more about what's convenient to the manufacturer.
Until is taken seriously by the manufacturers I for one won't be buying another new UK van.
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It's my belief that the whole caravan industry, manufacturers and dealers, goes from bad to worse year on year. I have a very low opinion of the industry and little surprises me now.
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Same here. We won't be buying brand new. We occasionally have a browse around at local dealers, some of whom are largest in area such as Lowdhams, Yorkshire Caravans etc... We are never impressed with what we look at, cheap quality fittings, insubstantial quality, most never look like they would last a first busy season, let alone a decade. We weren't that impressed by some of the foreign makes either to be honest, especially the budget variety.
If buyers are prepared to keep buying such poor quality, and put up with such appalling after sales treatment, then things will never improve.
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I have had an "enlightening" conversation with the grand fromage at our dealers.
Even he has had enough of the poor standard and attitude from the manufacturers.
He said.
We must bare in mind that a caravan is in effect hand built, there isn't any automation in the assembly, therefore you will always get human error. But that is no excuse for letting the van get sent out after so called quality checks. It has got to the point now where I can't see us selling new caravans in 3 years time, and most small dealerships are feeling the same way. We just cannot afford to keep a team of people processing claims and technicians putting them right, we don't earn as much as you think off a new van.
If I had 15 new units delivered to me, I can guarantee you that I will find at least one fault on every unit. All the manufacturers say is " just put claim in". I employ one person, full time to process claims to the manufacturers. We try to do our best for the customer, we go above and beyond just making good the faults, and we don't get compensated for some of the stuff we have to correct.
In the future I can see that there will only be big dealerships dotted around the country, or maybe the manufacturers will have their own retail outlets.
A bit sad that, I thought as I reamed off a list of things that need doing to ours.
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Another point he made about the lead times on replacement parts he said that they have a schedule and know how many, and what model of unit has got to be manufactured in a certain time frame, so they will only carry enough stock to complete.
Any other non scheduled parts will have to ordered and made on the next run of that certain model which could be between 3 and 6 weeks.
Very frustrating for us, but as the man said, the big names don't care just put a claim in.
Even if a van is returned to the manufacturers, the dealer has to stump up for the transport, then they are just turned round and sold to the big dealerships which they sell "sold as seen" for a discounted price.
I really can't see things improving as they have been working like this for years, they aren't losing out, thanks to your dealer of choice, it's those guys who are on the front line getting all the flack from irrate customers.
That's why the demise of the small friendly dealerships is on the cards.
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And yes there probably is unscrupulous dealers out there as well.
No one does anything for free.
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The problem to me is not that it is a cottage industry but the standard of workmanship involved. The systems used to build caravans should work reasonably well if the people involved did their job but they do not appear to. Frankly the level of complaints seems to be so high that it must be costing more to put things right than to do it right first time.
The manufacturers are slow in sending out bits but as they are all the same at this you cannot easily pick one on back up.
The dealers are generally working near flat out with workshops full. This is I think a legacy of the recent slump when several went out of business and have not been replaced nor have the remaining ones expanded enough to take up the further business available.
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