It’s essential that you clean your caravan’s exterior before winter sets in, and then again before the touring starts again. Why do we say that this is essential? We’ve found that leaving a caravan dirty is guaranteed to result in the growth of mould and algae during the winter. Any scuffs or deposits of stickiness or mud will give algae a chance to stick to the surface of your van. By the time you want to go touring again in the spring, you’ll be faced with an unsightly green caravan, and possibly worse. Algae can invade nooks and crannies and sneak under the seals as it colonises the surface. It can be very hard to remove it once that happens.

You may be feeling content if you’ve paid out for special caravan covers to protect your pride and joy. However it’s even more essential to wash, dry and wax your caravan thoroughly before leaving it covered up. This is because the wind will blow the covers around, and if there’s any dirt or dust to be found it will act as a scourer, leaving your caravan’s exterior panels pretty scratched.

Prevention is better than cure, and all you need to do is give your caravan a good wash in autumn and spring. If you choose the right caravan cleaner the muck and dust will come off pretty easily, and then you can apply a layer of wax to protect it even further.

But there are lots of caravan cleaning products on the market, so which should you choose for the job? To find out, we tested Fenwick’s Caravan Cleaner Concentrate, which costs £8.99 per litre but gives 167 litres of cleaning solution. We also tried the Care-avan Hi Tec Shampoo, which costs £7.50 for a litre of concentrated cleaning power, which dilutes to 500 litres. Next up was the Blue Diamond Perfection Caravan Cleaner, costing £8.49 for a big two-litre container, but only gives you 133 litres of diluted cleaning solution. Finally, we checked the Silky Cream Cleaner, at a cheap and cheerful price of £3.99 for the tub, which seems to go a long way. You can read more caravan cleaner reviews here.

In this review we will focus on the MudBuster Caravan & Motorhome Exterior & Interior Wash & Wax, which was competitively priced at £8.99 at the time of our test on 2015.

Here’s a surprise: in terms of sheer cleaning power, this mix got under grime more easily than Fenwick’s excellent brew. Cleaning with this spray product really was effortless. But is it such a good all-rounder as everybody’s favourite cleaner? That depends. 

Value for money is not MudBuster’s strong point. The litre bottle only produces 70 litres of diluted cleaning solution. Then again, you could argue that you need to use less of it, because only the most stubborn stains will require repeat applications. 

What’s more, few rival caravan cleaning products tested are as versatile as this. As well as your caravan’s exterior, it can tackle most of the interior surfaces, even including the carpets and upholstery. The trigger-spray head is another neat touch, because it eases application on internal surfaces and on tough external marks that require a quick blast of neat cleaner to restore them to their former glory.