How the survey works

Before we reveal the winners of this year’s awards, we explain the background to the survey 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 models accounted for more than a third of responses this year.

We know many caravanners will not buy new, preferring to wait for the first owner to iron out any problems.

For some, committing £2500 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 large amount on something that might not suit their needs in the longer run.

The pre-owned market is a good indicator of how marques stand the test of time, too, which itself offers helpful 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, as well as Camping and Caravanning Club members and those who filled in surveys at any major NEC industry shows that take place when the survey is open.

In the previous survey, 62.3% of people responding owned a new van; just over a third, pre-owned (37.7%). This year, most still own a new van (61%), but the proportion of pre-owned increased to 39%.

The market continues to be dominated by Uk-built vans. Of the big-name Continental manufacturers, Adria is the best-represented in the survey. Overall, vans built outside of the UK account for a modest 6.7% of new caravans and 4.9% of used tourers. Both those figures are down a little on 2020’s.

One 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.

Folding campers and pop-up-roof vans continue to be represented in the survey, along with micro-caravans. However, the number of respondents is too small for firm conclusions to be drawn. Q How do the Owner Satisfaction Awards fit with your Practical Caravan 2022 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

‘The pre-owned market is a good indicator of how various marques stand the test of time, which offers helpful insight for anyone who is intending to buy new’

also give credit to dealers who have delivered good service. Our Practical Caravan 2022 Awards (www.practicalcaravan. com/awards), meanwhile, were judged by a panel that was looking to recognise product design and innovation. Q How do you decide who wins a Gold Award and who wins a Silver Award? A Gold is awarded to those scoring 85% to 100%, Silver to those scoring 70% to 84.9%.

Q

How are the survey responses scored?

The first few questions are for background information only. The graded sections ask respondents to tick ‘good’, ‘acceptable’ or ‘poor’. These score 10/5/0 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 weighted accordingly. They are: ‘Would you buy another caravan of this make?’ and ‘Would you return to this dealership to buy another van?’ In each case, ‘Yes’ scores 50 marks, ‘Perhaps’ 25 marks, and ‘No’ zero marks. These scores are then tallied up and expressed as a percentage.

We believe enthusiastic owners might overmark, but we don’t downgrade responses. That’s one reason we set a minimum number of responses for a manufacturer or dealer, so the results are statistically robust. Q Which complaints have been voiced most frequently? A For numerous years now, 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.

As in previous years, predelivery 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.

‘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’