Frequently asked questions
Why and how do we do it? Here, we reveal the background to the awards and how your responses produce our overall league tables
Q Why did you start this awards scheme? A We wanted to provide help to potential purchasers by giving them the benefit of the experiences of current owners. This is achieved by highlighting and rewarding manufacturers and dealers who consistently deliver high levels of customer satisfaction. This also hopefully raises standards and makes buying a van less of a lottery. Q Why did you decide to feature pre-owned caravans in the survey?
A The pre-owned caravan market is large, and many readers and Club members buy them – pre-owned caravans accounted for almost a quarter of responses this year. We know many caravanners will not buy new, instead waiting for the first owner to sort out any problems. For some, committing £1000 to a caravan purchase is a bigger proportion of their disposable income than it is for others spending many times that sum. It might also be the case that a first-time buyer wishes to test the water, but sensibly doesn’t want to spend a vast amount on something that might not suit. The pre-owned market is a good indicator of how various marques stand the test of time, too, which itself offers insight for anyone intending to buy new. Q How representative is the survey?
A Responses to the survey come from readers of the printed or digital versions of Practical Caravan and visitors to its website, along with Camping and Caravanning Club members and those who filled in surveys at the major NEC shows. Last year three-quarters of respondents owned a new van, and just a quarter pre-owned. Most respondents this year own a new tourer (67.8%), but the proportion of pre-owned caravans increases to 32.2%. Over the past few years, the sterling exchange rate hasn’t always favoured purchasers of Continental marques that aren’t sold in the UK. Indeed, Continentally produced models accounted for just 5.4% of new and 5.7% of pre-owned vans in our survey, and the devaluation of sterling following the EU referendum is clearly affecting numbers of models imported. Another reason for buying a Continental marque is that owners might spend most of their time touring in Europe, or they live there and want a caravan with the door on the UK offside. But they will expect proper dealer back-up. Folding campers and pop-up roof caravans continue to be represented in the survey, along with micro-caravans from the likes of Freedom and Going. However, the number of respondents is too small for firm conclusions to be drawn. Q How do the Owner Satisfaction Awards fit with your Tourer of the Year Awards?
A They have different aims. The Owner Satisfaction Awards provide the owner’s perspective on how a caravan has lived up to expectations over a period of time. They also give credit to dealers who have
‘Responses come from readers, C&CC members and visitors to major NEC shows. The majority of respondents this year own a new tourer, but the proportion of pre-owned vans has risen’
delivered good service. Tourer of the Year is judged by a panel looking to recognise product design and innovation. Q How do you decide who wins a Gold Award and who a Silver?
A Gold is awarded to those scoring 80% to 100%, Silver to those scoring 70% to 79.9%. The overall winner for each category received a trophy at a special ceremony held in Manchester in January. Q How are the survey responses scored?
A The first few questions are for background information and are simply collated. The graded sections ask respondents to tick ‘good’, ‘acceptable’ or ‘poor’. These score 10/5/0 marks respectively, or 30/15/0, depending on importance. Under ‘Faults reported’, one to three faults scores -10 for dealer and manufacturer, four to six faults is -20, and seven or more faults scores -30. The final questions represent an overall judgment and are loaded accordingly. They are: ‘Would you buy another caravan of this make?’ and ‘Would you return to this dealer to buy another caravan?’ In each case, ‘Yes’ scores 50 marks, ‘Perhaps’ is 25 marks, and ‘No’ scores 0 marks. These scores are then tallied and expressed as a percentage. We believe that enthusiastic owners might overmark, but we do not downgrade responses. That’s one of the reasons why we require a minimum number of responses, so the results are statistically robust. Q Which complaints have been voiced most frequently?
A One perennial problem seems to be sourcing spare parts, especially for warranty claims. It’s unclear whether this is due to manufacturers or dealers, although we get to hear both sides of the story. Many caravanners compare the caravan industry to the automotive industry, noting that the industry standard for obtaining replacement parts is six weeks. This time period is not ideal, and delays of this length are hard to justify. Pre-delivery inspections (PDIS) remain a widespread issue among respondents to our survey. One could argue that, if a tourer passed all of its assembly-line inspections when it left the factory, the PDI shouldn’t be a long or complicated job. But we still hear about dealers having to carry out rectifications that ought to have been addressed before delivery. A poorly prepared caravan is an example of manufacturer and dealer failing to conduct thorough checks. In fairness, many dealerships now make a good job of PDIS. We hear of purchasers who prefer not to choose a new caravan, and instead wait for a nearly new model whose first owner will have had any defects remedied. Good dealers will look after their customers at all times, and should keep them informed of progress when problems arise. Many dealers do this, but a significant proportion do not. • Turn the page for this year’s league tables and full analysis.
‘Good dealers will look after their customers at all times, and should keep them informed of progress when problems arise. Many dealers do this, but a significant number do not’