Modern caravan
For those who would like an in-sight into owning a caravan today, I offer this basic log without further comment.
An everyday service log of a modern SOLID caravan.
2015 took delivery of my new Compass Rallye 554. Love it. Still do.
2016 and its first service revealed two gas leaks: one at the barbeque point; one the main connector at the back of the oven. Rectified by the dealer under warranty.
2017 and the second service revealed damp under the front nearside window, and at the top of the back wall of the washroom. Rectified by the dealer under warranty.
2018 and the third service revealed damp under the front offside window, and below the bedroom window. Rectified by the dealer under warranty.
2019 and the fourth service revealed damp around the wheel arches. Hopefully being rectified when the Alko axle is replaced as the nearside suspension is beginning to fail.
Additional work has/will include replacement of the Alde fluid in the central heating (expected) and replacement tyres at five years old (expected as they were made in 2014).
Comments
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Hard hitting & brutally honest. WB, you have rounded up the reasons I sold my Caravan after 3yrs of ownership. I wish you well.
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If you look at the customer surveys carried out by Practical Caravan you will find that Eldiss caravans come consistently bottom for customer satisfaction, and in the years when the number of fault free caravans were checked, they were bottom there as well. One owner I spoke to last year had 20 faults on his, so beware of that make.
Having said that they do have good designers and the dealer we bought our caravan off says they have improved, but we will have to wait until the results of this years survey to see if that is true.
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They may have good caravan designers but in my MH there are some pretty basic schoolboy errors in the design aspect that could be improved.
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Problems with LV designers (like other things)is they are not the peopl who use them
1 we had a Luner Clubman (when they were better made) that never got warm i contacted carver as was, and when i mentioned the model they immediatly knew the problem,they said that luner had "consulted on how to balance"the heating system, but because it did not fit the design they ignored their advise hence the problem
2 we had an almost identical problem with our Bailey Orion that was rectified after much talking when we confronted Bailey at a show with backup from a whale engineerfrom their stand we got to show them the problem
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You are incredibly lucky Eldiss fitted 5 year fluid to the Alde heating. Mine was fitted with two year fluid and my dealer said all caravans were. The service manager was very honest when I asked why and I was informed it was one of the “big caravan cons” I loved the honesty!
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I think there is a big dilemma/ paradox in the caravan industry at the moment. Manufacturers are trying to produce caravans with all the 'expected modern facilities' and at the same time are trying to produce vans that are lighter and can be towed with lighter vehicles. This, together with optimisation of profit, results in more flimsy caravans, and users/ owners still reckon they can overload caravans to the same extent as they used to in the past. The two don't seem to fit! Personally, I would prefer a heavier, more substantial caravan, that I can load with all the essentials, but I guess I am the exception.
I'd rather have an Australian caravan built more like a tank than some of the flimsier caravans that are being produced these days in the UK. Just my opinion, of course.
David
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I won't bore you with all the problems with our Lunar, which went yesterday.
What concerns me is the integrity of the manufacturers/dealer. The caravan went back to the dealer for each of the first 3 years service. This year I had an independent engineer carry out the service. Whenever on here and there has been discussions about ATC I've mention how viscous the reaction is. I mentioned it to the dealer and each time they said it was fine. The independent engineer, on completion of the service he did, said to me 'do you realise you have been driving around with no brakes on the van'. The brakes had never been adjusted as they were wound right back which caused the ATC problems. So from manufacture, PDI and three services the problem was not identified and a major safety issue was left festering. Fortunately all sorted no so next owner shouldn't have a problem
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The failure is frightening and dangerous, the dealer should be ashamed. I would have thought though, that you would have felt that there was a problem when towing.
We are on our second Lunar and did have a damp problem which was handled well by the dealer and got a good deal against the second. They have not been perfect and there is evidence of careless assembly but we have had no other serious complaints. Basically all makes are suspect in my eyes and you do have to hope for the best when you buy.
I take it you have got a new model from a different dealer.
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