Lots of great advice about paying £ deposits by credit card. I've had previous experience of claiming back the total cost of something when the supplier went into liquidation. It's a relatively simple process 👍
Two points, I would also add make sure your tow car will be matched to your new caravan before splashing the cash and tread very carefully if persuaded to buy a show demo! It may not be its first show and have had thousands on people bash it about … as we found out two years ago🥴
We bought our caravan last year at the Manchester show and our salesman, even though we had the money to buy 'cash' at the time advised us to put a small portion of the full amount on finance. He advised that this would cover us over the warranty period if anything unfortunate may happen and it was proved a manufacturing problem then if any disputes with the manufacturer the finance company would investigate on your behalf giving you some protection similar to using a credit card. Another plus point over using all cash!
What they are worth,is the amount a dealer would buy it from you for. Thanking dealers financially, by giving them a finder’s fee and prep costs is about negotiation, especially if they refuse to accept card payments. A warranty is a contract, not a discussion which depends on how assertive you are and what you know.
If you buy from the correct dealer you can trust, if you have a problem they sort it. Shouldn't ever be an argument to have things the way they should be. 👍
Payment by credit card is just as important on secondhand caravans as new,as they are very expensive too,So fo you to now saying you are taking that protection away, I don't think that will help your business, especially now you have told people to pay buy credit card ,but can understand its for cost reasons, but it might cost you more in the long run. Regards David
Do you deal with Caravans on PCP at all, as we're new to caravans etc, we'd like to probably go down the PCP route to start with so we can decide if the choice is right for us ,or should we buy a motorhome?
Mark you say to get in touch with dealers to get a price on your own caravan and I did just that with you, I sent a nice email asking what my caravan would be worth and you didn’t even respond to my email, not a good way to do business.
The car manufacturers pay a much reduced labour rate to dealers for warranty work and as such, many dealers do not prioritise warranty work over retail work. The caravan industry has been getting away with their nonsense for too long and the caravan manufacturers are producing poorly made products with poor quality fittings, wh8ch increases the risk of warranty repairs being required more often. I’ve had 3 brand new caravans and 2 brand new motor homes over the past 14 years and can honestly say that not one of them has been worth the money I paid and they were all higher range models. If you are not handy with a basic set of hand tools, the last thing you want is a leisure vehicle as they fall apart in one way or another on every trip.
I would never buy from any company who can not take a credit cards simple. We bought our Hymer 590 caravan from Highbridge and we live in the Ribble Valley. The reason was we wanted that caravan and there was not Hymer 590 new near me. When buying they did tell me if they don’t service the caravan it would not have a warranty I told them on the phone that it would not be serviced by them because of the distance but the caravan would be serviced every year and I would do another damp check between servicing. Under the sales of good act I would be covered so if they refused a repair I would take them to court and so far I have never lost because I can not lose and not only this everting is covered for 6 years. If you don’t like this then you have the opportunity to say we cannot sell you the caravan. For the first time in 26 years of German caravan ownership we did have a warranty claim at 3 years old so we booked in with no problems. We told them the caravan will have stuff in because we are going to book a holiday. We stayed close by for a week and on the 8th week of them having it we booked another sight on the way home for two weeks. The work was done to perfection. We did have a problem with the freezer door and they just posted the new part and I fitted it. There are ways of dealing with distance buying though I would agree it is not ideal and for us we would not just see a little money at a show it would need to be £1000 plus to make us think but we wanted a particular Caravan, so I had no choice. Big thing on sales if paying cash. Pay £101 or more on a credit card if they don’t take credit cards then walk If you are paying on finance they will and do help but only pay a very small deposit until pick up. I sued a caravan company and the manufacturer because of damp I got all my money back the interest on my finance and £7000 in compensation this was 31 years ago and enabled me to buy my first German Caravan cash. Love the videosI would love to see some repairs like changing a shower tap or a fridge door May be a realignment of the front door stufff like that. Keep up the great work James
You have just shot yourself in the foot. If you don't take credit card, I would not buy from your company. I am not alone in thinking that so you may wish to renegotiate with the credit card companies.
It's a double edge sword with the credit cards unfortunately. It's great for the customer and I would say to use it when can for deposits as mentioned etc. But it does hurt businesses and also the fraud on them is shocking and businesses don't get any protection from this. We have had 2 cases of fraud, and know many other companies have had the same issue. It's then also difficult to build card fees into sales prices, why should the customer who doesn't want to pay by credit card, pay extra if the costs were built into the sales prices. We haven't made a definitive decision on the cards yet, but we have been trialing without and haven't found any issues as yet. I see both sides of the argument so understand your point 👍
So we have tested this with buyers over the last 8 months, at our new site we don't have card facilities, as yet we haven't lost a sale because of it. It's made a difference to how we do business and is bringing costs down which we can then pass on to the customer.
He’s correct though all it takes is some hero with an Amex 🤦♂️ and that’s 5 percent merchant fees and five clear working days. Then if card holder not present the funds clawed back - his business his stock don’t blame him if he’s confident enough it’s the right thing.
