Your votes saw Vantage win big at our Owner Satisfaction Awards 2018.
Our annual survey of new and used motorhomes for sale in the UK plus supplying dealers, in partnership with The Camping and Caravanning Club, is your chance to tell the industry what’s what.
It lets you celebrate the best ’vans and dealers, and tell those who need to do better how they can improve. The results are a rich resource to help you and fellow motorcaravanners buy better.
So let’s dig into the full results of this year’s survey.
And if you don’t agree with our results (or you just want to have your say!) tell us about your new or used motorhome and supply dealer, and get involved in our next survey here – you’ll be entered into our fab prize draw.
The best new motorhomes for sale
It’s you, the readers of Practical Motorhome, together with members of The Camping and Caravanning Club, who complete our survey, so these are real-world results you can trust.
This year we were looking at new and pre-owned ’vans bought since January 2014.
And we were thrilled to see two great British brands at the top of the table in the ‘manufacturers of new motorhomes’ category: winner Vantage received an 89% rating, second-placed Shire with 88%.
Next in line were German manufacturers Knaus and Dethleffs, who scored 85% and 84% respectively.
These top four all scooped Gold Awards when the results of our 2018 survey were published, as did three more, Rimor, Hymer and WildAx.
We’re also delighted to give Silver Awards to a massive 17 brands. Top of this list was Chausson (78%), followed by Bürstner, Hobby, Pilote and Adria who all received a satisfaction rating of 77%, Auto-Sleepers next with 76% – check out the gallery at the top of this page for the full list!
Looking to buy a new motorhome?
Moving on to the ‘dealers of new motorhomes’ category, with a sparkling score of 97%, Vantage Motorhomes did the double!
And three other dealers had reason to be happy as they also picked up Gold Awards this year: Dolphin Motorhomes (89%), Geoff Cox Leisure (83%) and WildAx Motorhomes (82%).
In addition, 11 other dealers from across the country took home Silver Awards in recognition of their work.
Top of this list was Becks Motorhomes in Great Yarmouth with a satisfaction rating of 79%, then Vehicles 4 Leisure in Prestatyn (77%), Pullingers Motorhomes of Halstead (76%), and Banbury’s Elite Motorhomes and Tyne Valley Motorhomes in Newcastle which both scored 75%.
SMC Motorhomes in Newark and Spinney Motorhomes in Knutsford were both award ratings of 69%, while Highbridge Caravans in Dorset scored 66%, and Catterick Caravans in Catterick and West Country Motorhomes both scored 61%.
The pre-owned market in 2018
When we were handing out awards for used motorhomes for sale in the UK, just two manufacturers achieved a score high enough to warrant a Gold Award, so congratulations to Chausson and Hymer – both received ratings of 80%.
And it was an almost all-UK affair when it came to Silver Awards for this category!
Top was Shire (78%), followed closely by Swift‘s Bessacarr, sole non-British brand Bürstner and Swift itself, these three all scoring 77%.
Meanwhile, in the ‘dealers of pre-owned motorhomes’ category it was back-to-back victories for Dolphin Motorhomes, 2017’s top dealer of used motorhomes for sale in the UK repeating its success with a score of 88%.
MDG (86%), Spinney Motorhomes in Knutsford (84%) and Taplow’s Southern Motorhome Centre (82%) also scooped Gold Awards.
Of the four Silver Award winners in the supplying dealer of pre-owned ’vans category, Southdowns Motorhomes of Portsmouth was top (73%), Davan Caravans of Weston-super-Mare and Nottingham’s Oaktree Motorhomes next with 69%, Marquis Leisure scoring 62%.
Have your say!
Breaking down the results, the Fiat Ducato continues to dominate as the base vehicle of choice – will the recent recall affect this in the coming years?
In addition, owners of VW T6 Transporter-based ’vans reported that they were extremely satisfied with their choice of base vehicle.
The vast majority of new and used motorhomes bought by respondents are coachbuilts, continuing last year’s trend.
There are further graphs and charts breaking down the data in the gallery above – and in the April 2018 issue of Practical Motorhome.
Finally, be sure to have your say in our 2019 survey! It is open now so please click here and get involved – plus you’ll be entered into our fantastic prize draw.
The Fiat Ducato continues to dominate as the base vehicle of choice