We're thinking about buying a brand new Elddis Crusader Superstorm (6 berth) at the end of the season.
With the current economic climate, I'm a bit concerned as to where we'd stand if we placed an order, paid our deposit and then the dealer went bump.
If this were to happen, would the manufacturer honour the deposit or could it be lost if the dealer hadn't handed it over? How much deposit do you have to pay & would it be safer to try to pay it directly to the manufacturer?
I think it might be a case of how well you know your dealer. We've just taken delivery of our new coachman which was a dealer special. We bought from Sussex Caravan Centre (who incidentally deal in Elddis as well) and would thoroughly recommend them. We know from experience that they are one of thye strongest players in our area which is why we chose them.
What i would suggest is this:
How about placing an order with one of the big dealers e.g. Micheal Jordan or similar who regularly have big advberts in the magazines. Buy your caravan from them and in the case of someone like Michael Jordan use the trip back to manchester to christen the van. For servicing/warranty issue presumably you can use the local elddis dealer i.e. same as a car - if I broke down in manchester in a vauxhall then it would be repaired by a local dealer as opposed to towing the car back to East Sussex where I live. Presumably you can do the same with a caravan - might be worth a try if you are unsure about the stability of your local dealer.
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Caravans dealers aint like car dealers, most will only service 'vans supplied by them. If you want to buy at end of season you would get a much better deal buying a caravan that is in dealer stock even if you did have to travel.
The dealer may have a deposit protection scheme, you can only ask.
You will love the Cruasder Superstorm, we just bought a new Crusader Super Sirocco a couple of months ago after searching for 4 months and shortlisting. We love the van and just cant get enough time in it although we go away nearly every other weekend. By the way you will love the bed, its mor comfortable than the one we have at home!!
regardless of how well you think you know your dealer there is no sure fire way of telling if they are going to the wall, even credit checking and putting a trace on their score is no guarantee. I would just pay by cc as above or even shop around nearer the time.
Dont forget to haggle - at this time of year dealers are pretty desperate to get sales so you could save a bundle or get loads of free stuff (or both - we did)
------------- hawk
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I see that you're in Manchester. Glossop are good at selling vans, but their after sales stinks.
As mentioned by others pay your deposit by Credit Card and buy the van on HP, even if you have the cash to hand by purchasing on HP you have a ace card up your sleeve. If, you were to have any after sales issues with your van and the dealer wsn't be to helpful in sorting them out for you, then you simply get in touch with the finance company and explain the situation and tell them that you're not making any further payments untill the probelms have been sorted.
Obviously that is only a last resort, but as you're near Glossop and if you were to buy from them and were to have any after sales problems, I can't see how yours would be any smoother a solution than loads of the other dissgruntled Glossop customers that we deal with.
Plus if you're buying on credit and the dealer that you purchased from goes bust before your delivery then you haven't lost any of your own money and your credit card company should provide recompense for the lost deposit (over £100 transactyions though).
Good luck
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