Ultimate Caravan Buyer's Checklist: Free and Easy Download

The consumer caravan buyers checklist for you outback adventurers seeking to drop your money. This checklist is free and it's the protective due diligence you need…

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This report is the ultimate caravan buyer’s checklist, designed to safeguard you from the variety of errors you’re likely to make buying your next aluminium box.

The checklist is free, so long as you have n internet connection, in which case, you wouldn't be reading this now without one. DOWNLOAD THE CARAVAN BUYER’S CHECKLIST HERE >>

The caravan buyer’s checklist is more valuable than uninformed opinion sourced from said internet, places like Facebook or Twitter, and certainly more reliably accurate than anything uttered from Australia’s motoring journalists who never tow or stay in their own caravans, ever. 

It’s the due diligence you need, if you feel the need to tow your effluent through the outback, in a brand new, acoustically transparent fallacy-compensation device, often known colloquially in Australia as a ‘caravan’.

If you’re going outback, the Australian Caravan Council is a useful resources and not one staffed by gold-medal pedants. The ACC contacted me in order to help more of you, if you’re into this kind of thing - caravanning, obviously.

It’s your money to waste, I guess.

Visit CaravanCouncil.com.au for lots of interesting info about audits of caravan and camper-trailer manufacturers, and need-to-know stuff generally. I like them. It’s a hard task for them to face off against all the unmitigated caravanning propaganda bullshit out there.

Colin Young is from the Caravan Council who sent me his checklist last week. It’s two pages; 27 questions and it all makes proper sense, despite needing a proofread, but it’s logical. It’s full of important questions most people simply would not think to ask. 

Col’s a professional engineer, so there’s no hope for him. Engineers never get the chicks - but they do make sense. They also help keep ungrateful caravanners and off-roading bogans safe from themselves.

Just like cars, it’s easy to say yes in the heat of the moment, spend the big bucks, and then regret it for years to come. Salespeople are so persuasive, and I get the feeling that the caravan retail environment is even wilder than the wild west of car dealerships.

It is so important to separate ‘research’ from ‘procurement’, which many people don’t do. Winston Chrchill said the most powerful argument against democracy was a five-minute conversation with the average caravanner - something like that.

The Caravan Council’s two-page checklist is broken down into three sections: History of the supplier and manufacturer (asking if they’ve got runs on the board). Then, second, there’s ‘business practices’, which covers things such as certification and contracts.

For example:

And this:

I’d want to know that, too, because the optional features you might have installed, like a Thermo King air conditioning unit, the Tempur mattress and king bed, the sliding side outdoor kitchen drawers and retractable 6-burner barbecue all add extra kilos.

And don’t forget, there always needs to be a GVM allowance for the beer kegs.

Yeah, this is pretty important, too. I wonder how many caravan buyers A) actually ask stuff like this, and B) bother to get it in writing. 

Every time you buy something worth more than a couple of hundred dollars, you want as much information in writing as possible, especially with very expensive retail products like cars, caravans, watercraft etc.

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THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL, RIGHT?

Now, finally on the Caravan Council’s checklist is the third section pertaining to your specific intended caravan. Your Taj Mahal on wheels, to which you couldn’t say ‘no’ to because: popularity contest? Do you even know, in writing, if yours is even allowed on the road?

Compliance is such a big issue, especially with the ‘towing arms race’ of overloading caravans and utes and 4WDs out there on public roads, all the way to Dingo Piss Creek. More is more, among the towing fraternity, when it comes to caravans and towing, generally. It’s almost as if you’re compensating.

Of course, the problem with that 3.5-tonne caravan, after which you lust, is that towing it is probably borderline impractical and unworkable. Even with the local aftermarket specialist’s LandCruiser makeover.

There’s a similar question in the Caravan Council’s checklist pertaining to the electrical system, too. Was it installed and certified by a qualified electrician?

I wouldn’t want any old handyman doing any of that stuff which has the potential to electrocute or blow me up. The fact that those questions even exist in the checklist implies to me that, unlike in a domestic dwelling (like, a house) where gas and electrics can’t be installed by DIY/handyman types, perhaps the same regulations about trade qualifications don’t pertain to caravans and RVs. Or maybe there’s an unspoken-about issue of people modifying caravans at home or in the back of their sale yard. There’s a sobering thought.

Anyway, this has been an introduction of six of the 27 total questions or queries raised in the Caravan Council’s free caravan-buyer’s checklist.

All jokes aside, the funds you are about to deposit on a glorified aluminium dropbox, it’s a significant purchase, not only in a dollar amount, but in terms of what’s riding on the level of safety adhered to by the manufacturer, dealer or previous owner.

So take this seriously.

And keep in mind, if you want to save some money, a massive glut of slightly used caravans, campers and RVs are going to come onto the market as soon as all the COVID travel restrictions come off.

I would respectfully suggest that due diligence is a thing, and it’s completely down to you, to ask the tough questions. They’ll be on the page, right in front of you when you visit CaravanCouncil.com.au for all that good stuff on caravans and auditing the manufacturers.

Seriously, download the checklist, and use it. Any manufacturer or caravan dealer who won’t work through said checklist with you should be a huge red flag from Hell.

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