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Topic: Advice from caravan sales not good enough

Muthrduck

30/8/2016 at 11:26pm
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We have been caravanners for years and my partner became a mobile caravan service engineer due to his passion for caravaning. One of his pet hates is listening to customer's tales of how they purchased their caravans with little good advice from dealers. We were on holiday when our friends informed us that they had purchased an Abbey Safari from a well known dealer. As they had recently sold their house the intention would be to use the caravan as a temporary home until they found more permanent accommodation. By the time we returned from holiday they'd had a tow bar fitted to their tow vehicle and we're having the furnishings cleaned ready for use. Our friends were alarmed when my partner suggested that their tow vehicle may not be a good match to the caravan, as they had been assured on three occasions by the dealers and the tow bar fitter that they would have no problem towing with their vehicle - a Ford Grand Transit Connect. They took his advice to ring the caravan club for a towing match for their vehicle and we're informed their vehicle was NOT suitable for towing their selected caravan and that they could not be insured to tow that caravan with their vehicle. Our friends were shocked that the dealer would give them incorrect information when they had been clear in telling them they were new caravanners and would rely on their expertise. What is even more shocking is that when confronted with the problem they offered to put it right by telling them they could provide them with an insurance company that would be willing to provide insurance even though it shouldn't actually be towing it. Obviously dealers are more concerned with meeting their sales targets than they are about road safety and lives!

Opensauce

31/8/2016 at 1:15am
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They can still insure the caravan. Theres no requirement to give caravan insurer tow vehicle details. So there is no need for them to have the caravan uninsured.

Connect Grand has 1200kg max tow & there are a large number of Abbey Safari models, plenty with empty, ie Miro weight of less than 1200kg so if it is one of those models then legal to tow if they just want to tow caravan to site to live in it.

C&U regs only require trailer weight to be below car max tow weight so provided empty caravan is below 1200kg they can tow it & load gear into car as it has a 3145kg gtw.

The only way to check if towcar/caravan are a good match is the check weight plate on caravan, check weights in car handbook or brochure & not to rely on matching sites & secondhand info from 3rd party sources.

Post last edited on 31/08/2016 01:20:04

Muthrduck

31/8/2016 at 8:13am
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The Ford main dealers have confirmed that our friends could only tow a maximum of 870 kgs with their vehicle. My main point though is people go to caravan dealers as total beginners and expect expert advice and take what they day as gospel. Their towing vehicle should be checked against what they are buying and correct advice given. The caravan isnt just to live in they hope to holiday in it too.

Opensauce

31/8/2016 at 9:49am
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It is driver's responsibility to ensure car/caravan is correct match & best advice is that they should only use weight data taken from manufacturer literature &/or weight plate on car & caravan.

Your Ford dealer info conflicts with brochure data for Connect also so lesson learned here is what many of us already know & that is salesmen only sell. Their product knowledge is often woefully inadequate.

It is absolutely driver's responsibility that car/caravan is correct match & nobody else's. If potential caravanner cannot work out correct match from car/caravan manufacturer data or weight plates on car/caravan then they should not tow until they have learned for themselves.

Lesson here is that nobody should tow simply on advice from 3rd party without the knowledge to verify that information for themselves.

tango55

31/8/2016 at 10:05am
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I totally agree with 'Opensauce' as people should always do their own homework first.
When buying privately it's down to the buyers knowledge and responsibility disregards what the seller tells them and it's no different where dealers are concerned either. In fact even more so because as like you say, it's all about sales targets which is their sole aim but it's amazing how a sales person can brainwash a potential buyer with their so called good advice and manipulate new inexperienced caravanners to part with their hard earned cash.
Even on a forum like this, you sometimes get conflicting advice but the information received at least gives some indication what they should be doing in order to conduct their own calculations.

Francais

31/8/2016 at 10:18am
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Even as a non caravan owner, I would have thought that before you go to look at caravans to buy, you would have done the numbers first, based on the tow vehicle weight plate and vehicle handbook recommendations.

Surely to ensure that you buy a caravan that is legal to tow with your vehicle, even if not a perfect match in some folks eyes, you need to be aware of the legally max towing capabilities of your vehicle.

Or is there something I am missing?

Opensauce

31/8/2016 at 10:58am
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What makes it difficult for those without the ability/inclination to carefully check data & crunch numbers is that there are so many different variants of same car model & often there are widely different tow weights according to small details that many will not understand anyway. Amount of seats, engine version, ie low emission, even rear exhaust position that can forbid towbar fitting can make the difference.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to be suprised at how little actual product knowledge car salesmen often have & I guess caravan salesmen are much the same. They are good at financial figures like finance & so on because one needs to make product affordable to sell it but product knowledge is often lacking. I doubt many caravan salesmen are actually caravanners.

navver

31/8/2016 at 8:27pm
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The names of the various weights have changed over the years together with much confusion as to what is or is not included in those weights.

To make matters worse, governments own websites use incorrect names with much conflicting information.

To make it even worse, someone with a new car has one set of weights and their 30 year old caravan has another completely different set.

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