Practical Caravan Owner Satisfaction Awards 2025

Think of the survey as being able to ask the advice of a trusted friend. Only, instead of the view of one person, this year’s Owner Satisfaction Survey is the collected wisdom of 2,421 caravanners. That’s down on the sample size from previous years, reflecting a slow couple of years for the caravan market. However, it still represents a total spend of over £58 million.

Every one of those respondents has completed a detailed questionnaire, covering every aspect of buying and owning a caravan. From the first contact with the dealer, to the collection of the caravan, and then on to any servicing and warranty work, no aspect of the supplying dealer’s service is ignored.

Similarly, the caravan itself is analysed in detail. From fit and finish to white goods, from the electrics to the water supply – just about every feature you can think of is covered. Our survey asks whether the caravan has been a pleasure to use, and whether anything has gone wrong.

Whether you are spending £4,000 or £40,000, you deserve a high standard of service. So, our results are divided into new and pre-owned caravans. While the new caravan results show the qualities of very recent models, the pre-owned results show if older caravans from the same manufacturers hold up well.

A minimum sample size applies to ensure the statistical rigour of the results. However, manufacturers and dealers may deserve a special mention if they have satisfied customers but just fall short of the numbers needed to appear in the main results. Look out for these companies receiving an honourable mention.

Winning is the ultimate accolade, but there’s plenty of talent in the industry deserving of recognition. So, as well as the overall winner in each category, we have Gold and Silver Awards. To take home a Gold Award requires a score of 80% or over. Any company scoring between 70% and 80% earns a Silver Award.

You would think the same companies would do well in both the new and pre-owned categories. While that is often true, it’s not a universal rule. It takes sky-high standards, year after year, serving customers of all budgets, to do well across the board.

For that reason, the overall prize for Best Caravan Manufacturer is especially difficult to win. It has a higher sample size than the other categories, too, meaning only the most popular caravan makers for UK buyers make the cut.

So, that’s an overview of how the Owner Satisfaction Survey works. Let’s discover this year’s winners.

 

Congratulations to Adria. This year’s win makes it four in the past five for the Slovenian caravan maker.

A score of 82% in the New Caravan Manufacturer category secures the top spot and a Gold Award. Last year Adria was the only company to win Gold, but in 2025 Coachman closes the gap and takes a Gold Award with a score of 81%.

There’s quite a gap between Coachman and the best of the rest. The Swift Group takes the final podium spot with a score of 77%. That edges out Elddis, just behind on 76%. Bailey is next, scoring 73%. These three all earn a Silver Medal.

The scores for these three manufacturers are similar to last year’s, suggesting that standards are holding steady.

Barefoot Caravans is missing from the main results, as there weren’t enough survey responses to meet the minimum sample size. However, the retro-styled British caravans deserve a special mention, as the owners who contributed to this study are extremely happy with their caravans. With a few more responses, Barefoot would have been challenging the best caravan makers for the top spot.

Last year, there were five award winners with just one reaching the Gold standard. This year, there are two Gold Award winners but the same number of medallists. There might have been more if caravan sales had been healthier in recent months, with the likes of Eriba and Knaus missing from the results.

It’s been a tough few months for the whole industry, and many dealers have felt the pinch keenly. Some well-known names, such as Broad Lane Leisure and Robinsons Caravans, are no longer trading.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. While market conditions are difficult, many dealers continue to deliver an exceptional standard of customer service.

Couplands Caravans (with branches in Louth, Lincoln and Worksop) comes out on top of a strong field. The score of 88% earns a Gold Award with room to spare and sees Couplands jump from fourth place last year. Salop Leisure in the Midlands is very close behind in second place, following last year’s victory. Raymond James Caravans in Atherstone completes the podium, scoring 83% for a Gold Award.

Swindon Caravans (including branches in Oxford and Reading) is the final Gold Award winner, with a commendable score of 82%.

With fewer caravans sold and a drop in the number of owners completing the survey, fewer dealers have reached the minimum sample size. That’s reflected in a lower number of Silver Award winners than usual. Spinney (multiple branches) makes the grade with a score of 75%. Highbridge Caravans in Somerset and Kimberley Caravans (with branches in Nottinghamshire and County Durham) also pick up awards.

Of those dealers doing well with a small sample size, Barefoot Caravans again deserves a special mention. Selling direct means the company features as a dealer as well as a manufacturer, and it scores extremely highly.

Other dealers with an honourable mention are worth seeking out if there are no Gold or Silver Award winners close to home.

The full awards are:

Gold Award
Couplands Caravans
Salop Leisure
Raymond James Caravans
Swindon Caravans

Silver Award
Spinney
Highbridge Caravans
Kimberley Caravans

Honourable mentions
Barefoot Caravans
Chichester Caravans
Lee Davey Caravans

This year’s Pre-owned Caravan Manufacturer winner is Coachman. An excellent score of 83% means a Gold Award.

Bailey leapfrogs several rivals to take second place this year. The score of 81% meets the Gold Award standard.

Two more caravan makers earn Gold Awards. Swift is just a fraction behind Bailey. Lunar is just a little further back, all three being within a single percentage point of each other. Although Lunar no longer makes new caravans, this result shows a Lunar can still make a sound pre-owned buy.

There’s one Silver Award to give out. Elddis scores 79% to earn Silver for both new and pre-owned caravans.

Rewind 12 months and Eriba was the winner. This year it didn’t meet the minimum sample size, but nonetheless the German make deserves an honourable mention. With a few more owners completing the survey it would probably have been rated highly.

Adria has also dropped out of the main results. Again, this is due to a low number of respondents rather than any drop in quality.

Whatever your budget, a caravan is a big purchase. The best dealers take good care of their customers, whether they are buying a top-of-the-line new caravan or a pre-owned tourer. ,

This year, the top spot goes to Salop Leisure. The score of 91% is exceptionally high, comfortably clearing the bar for a Gold Award.

If you are based in the south, the Sussex Caravan Centre promises excellent service. An excellent score of 88% secures second place.

Highbridge Caravans takes Gold in the pre-owned category to go alongside Silver as a new caravan retailer, scoring 86%. Burton Caravan Centre scores 80% and also wins a Gold Award.

As with new dealers, the reduced sample size is reflected in fewer award winners this year. Whereas in 2024, we had seven award winners, this year that drops to five. There’s just one Silver Award, which goes to Glossop Caravans in Derbyshire.

The full awards are:

Gold Award
Salop Leisure
Sussex Caravan Centre
Highbridge Caravans
Burton Caravan Centre

Silver Award
Glossop Caravans

Honourable mention
The Caravan Company

Arguably the toughest award to win, being named Best Caravan Manufacturer demands a superb performance in the new and pre-owned halves of the survey. A higher sample size adds further rigour to the results, while effectively making this a scrap between the high-volume players.

This year, the prize goes to Coachman. A regular winner of this award, our survey shows you can buy a Coachman confident it will prove reliable and satisfying to own. Whether you are buying new or a caravan that’s already been enjoyed for many seasons, our findings suggest you’d be hard-pressed to choose a better tourer.

There’s clear daylight between Coachman’s score of 82% and the rest. The Swift Group comes closest, scoring 79%. The Elddis Group scores a commendable 78%, just ahead of Bailey on 77%.

The annual owner satisfaction survey doesn’t just reveal the best caravan makers and dealers. Look behind the headlines and there are always interesting trends and buying habits to uncover.

Last year we noted a shift towards pre-owned rather than new tourers. This year, a shade over half of respondents bought a pre-owned tourer.

The trend towards ever more expensive caravans shows no sign of slowing, putting a big dent in the bank balances of both new and pre-owned caravan buyers. The average price of a new caravan in the survey is now £32,747, up from £30,921. That’s an increase of 5.9% in a year.

Pre-owned caravans are also increasing in price. The average cost has broken the £15,000 barrier for the first time, with a typical price of £15,866. That’s a 6% rise.

Vans costing more than £30,000 account for 53% of the new tourers in our survey. It’s the first time that more than half of the new caravans in the survey have cost more than this amount.

Caravanners may be young at heart, but their birth certificates tell a different story. Survey respondents average 62.5 years old, closely in line with the typical age in previous years. First-time buyers are, on average, 57.6 years old. Just 5% of first-timers are under 35, and only 30% are under 55. Showing a commendable can-do attitude to touring, 4% of newcomers to caravanning are 75 or over.

The age-profile of our survey respondents is reflected in the relatively low number of child caravanners per household. Some 89% of new caravan owners have no kids living at home (although that’s not to say they don’t tour with grandchildren). Among those with pre-owned caravans, the figure is 81%. Both of those figures are higher than last year. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues in 2026.

As in previous years, the 2025 survey shows that spending extra for a new caravan does not guarantee trouble-free ownership. Even among the most highly-rated and reliable brands, pre-owned tourers develop fewer faults than brand new ones. It seems first owners are ironing out the kinks in new ’vans to the benefit of second and third owners. Should that be the case when new caravan buyers are typically spending well over £30,000?

Just 34% of new caravan buyers enjoyed owning a fault-free tourer. For buyers of pre-owned caravans, that improves to 65%. Both those figures are slightly worse than last year’s.

Some caravanners make several trips to the supplying dealer to have a problem addressed. A worrying 9% of new caravan owners had to make five trips or more to have their van fixed, up from 7% last year. Among pre-owned caravan owners, the figure is just 0.6%. That’s fractionally less than last year.

Although you can count yourself unlucky to need five trips to the dealer for unscheduled work, requiring between two and four trips is much more common. This applies to 30% of new caravan buyers, and 11% of pre-owned caravan buyers.

What kind of faults are these caravanners experiencing? Fit and finish is the most frequent complaint. This was a problem for 53% of new caravanners who experienced a fault. On the plus side, that’s down from 56% last year. Among pre-owed caravan owners, the same figure is 18%. This is also lower than last year.

Most types of fault are more common with new caravans. The notable exception is water ingress, which crops up for 24% of pre-owned caravan owners who reported any problem with their caravan. Among new caravans, water ingress is a problem with 18% of faulty caravans, also up from 14% last year.

Although water ingress is slightly worse than in 2024, there are some areas of improvement. One is white goods. Last year, a concerning 28% of owners with a faulty van had trouble with their fridge, oven or other appliances. This year that had dropped to 25%. Among pre-owned vans, the figure was 25% last time, this year it is 19%.

Although some steps forward have been made, the shrinking number of fault-free caravans repeats the pattern from last year. We’d like to see this trend reversed in the 2026 survey.

It hasn’t been an easy year for the caravan industry. The past 12 months have been difficult for some caravanners, too, particularly the customers of dealerships no longer trading.

Against this troubling backdrop, there’s still cause for optimism. The best manufacturers and dealers set a very high bar to which their colleagues and rivals must aspire.

Adria is among the standard-setters. It’s a tough task to win the New Caravan Manufacturer award once. To take home this prize four years out of five demonstrates a long-term commitment to building excellent products, backed up by attentive customer service.

Coachman is just a little behind Adria in the new caravan half of the survey, but it takes the top spot for pre-owned caravans and repeats its victory as the overall Best Caravan Manufacturer. To win this award is especially difficult, as it means building excellent caravans year after year in significant numbers.

Fewer manufacturers and dealers than usual have earned Gold or Silver Awards. We put this down to the lower number of respondents, which has made it harder to reach the minimum sample size for inclusion in the main results. We know that small home-grown manufacturer, Barefoot, and Continental makers, such as Eriba, are making high-quality caravans.

While caravan dealers have faced tough trading conditions, the best continue to offer excellent service. We focus on the positive when reporting the results of the survey, but there’s a huge gap between the customer satisfaction rating of the best and worst dealers. It really is worth seeking out the likes of our New Caravan Dealer winner, Couplands Caravans, and our Pre-owned Caravan Dealer champion, Salop Leisure.

Fingers crossed, we’ll have more winners to congratulate this time next year.