Two caravan dealers at opposite ends of the country are looking to move more into providing storage sites rather than offering a full-time sales facility as caravan sales continue to weaken.
Cornish dealer Atlantic Caravans (pictured above) is switching its focus to offering caravan storage with used caravan sales by appointment only.
The Liskeard-based dealer at one time was the only Sprite dealer in the whole of Cornwall. But it stopped selling new caravans in 2023.
Now owner Darren Bull says he hopes to turn the 2.5ha site into a storage facility, with used sales by appointment only and the existing service centre run as a separate business on the same site. The accessories shop will continue running until the end of this year.
He insists the business is not facing financial difficulties, and says no customers have been left out of pocket by the move.
He said, “Because of the downturn it wasn’t really viable to carry on being open as a sales centre eight hours a day. The workshop can look after itself. If anything, since we said we were going to appointment only, we have seen business pick up.”
At the same time, Oaks Caravans, a used caravan dealer near Ipswich that was already offering sales by appointment only, has just won planning permission to turn a site near its current dealership into a storage site for up to 49 caravans.
Owner Lee Brown said the company is going through some “restructuring” and they haven’t decided yet what to do with the existing site, which has been running for 12 years, and along with caravan sales, also offers servicing and repairs.
He said, “We first applied for permission to convert the new site in February last year, so permission has been a long time coming and we are still deciding what to do.”
The current downturn continues to cause problems elsewhere, however. At the end of July used dealer Mansfield Caravans decided to call in the liquidators. Annette Reeve, of Beesley Corporate Recovery, who was appointed as part of the voluntary liquidation, said she did not believe the company was currently holding any customer deposits.
Meanwhile, over in Northern Ireland, Downshire Caravans, based in Warringstown, has also closed. It is advising all customers with outstanding warranty issues to contact the manufacturer directly.
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