| RV FEATURE
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“It would be easy for
consumers to assume nothing
is being done to improve the
performance of the RV
industry,” Mr Lucas said. “But
this is far from the truth. In
fact, the CIAV released in
2012 the Victorian Caravan
Industry Blueprint, a 10-year
strategic plan for the industry
based on improving our overall
productivity and performance.”
Mr Lucas also pointed to
its establishment of the
National Caravan Industry
Training College, which has
become a division of the
association undertaking
industry manufacturing training
programs and workshops for
association members.
The idea is to educate them
on all aspects of compliance,
the importance of these
regulations, and the best way
to implement them.
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“While this program is in its
early days, we are seeing a
large number of our members
attending and getting a lot
out of the workshops,” Mr
Lucas said.
HONEST MISTAKES
Non-compliant manufacturing
should not be confused
with honest errors in
manufacturing. These are
two very separate issues.
And the purchaser has rights
to recourse enshrined in
Australian law.
It is not my wish to sound
like an apologist for the
RV industry, but it’s worth
acknowledging that a caravan,
camper trailer, fifth wheeler,
etc., are largely hand-built
products – the construction
process is far removed
from what you’d see on an
automotive production line.
That said, if I’d dropped
$70,000 on a new van, I’d
rightly expect it to be
pretty darn perfect.
“The challenges we are
seeing in some cases are
structural problems with
the legislation itself and
the dispute resolution
limits in some states;
however, an RV purchase
is also one of the highest
value items a consumer
will ever purchase in their
lifetime and one which is
tied to a high level of
anticipation, excitement
and aspiration. It is quite
understandable that
there is a high level of
emotion attached to an
RV purchase. Our
responsibility is to try to
manage the customer’s
expectation through the
RV’s ‘life cycle’ and improve
interactions between
consumers and industry
businesses wherever
possible,” Mr Lamont said.