Jayco Auckland — Attraction in Maungakiekie-Tāmaki

I wanted to offer a warning to potential new Jayco caravan owners. Just be aware of some of the issues you could encounter. Read my account and definitely think twice before purchasing one.

I purchased a Jayco Silverline caravan 21’6 advertised as meticulously crafted, premium finishes and high end fittings in March 2024 from Jayco Auckland, New Zealand.

On delivery we noticed a damaged kickboard beneath the kitchen units, a scratch on the kitchen sink tap and a piece of trim hanging off.

After 3 months we noticed that the jockey wheel and the frame holding the spare tyre under the caravan, the hubcaps and the wheel nuts all were rusting. The spare wheel bracket only had a 3 month warranty and was classified as running gear, it is only painted and not galvanised giving you the impression that it should be. It was all begrudgingly replaced after being told that people in NZ live too close to the sea.

13 months later I’m still waiting for the kickboard to be replaced. Apparently Australia does not have any in stock despite being told on numerous occasions that it had been ordered.

The tap has been replaced 3 times in all [the last 2 being faulty].

Around the same time it was noticed that a patch of gel coat [50x15cms approximately] on the front of the caravan had yellowed. We were told by Jayco Australia this was due to our sun. It transpires that this was damage done on the assembly line in Australia so therefore we were sold a caravan that should have been classified as a second.

On our 6 month check more issues were identified.:

-A warped boot lid -Screw hole in all pelmets left unplugged, one pelmet fell down, due to lack of fixation. -Passenger side roof required resealing -240 V outlet required resealing -Circuit breaker required resealing -Drivers side front cover required resealing -2 cracked windows required replacing -Cracked grab handle required replacing -Cracks in top of shower liner were identified, lead to believe shower liner would be replaced it has been glued.

-Incorrect wiring of the solar panels and system not set up to charge lithium batteries.

-All the sealing of fixtures on the outside of the caravan [including the top] are unprofessionally sealed and will need to be resealed to stop future water ingress.

Most of the smaller issues have been resolved.

One of my major issues has been that I requested a gel coat repair to the front of the caravan at a meeting with the manager of Jayco Auckland [followed up by several emails] reiterating that I would not accept a paint repair as I wanted like for like. I was informed that his agent had it all under control, but upon further investigation I discovered that the agent had done a very unprofessional job using car paint. The manager continues to ignore my wishes and the caravan is off to yet another agent who doesn't do gel coat repairs, despite giving him the name of a company who undertake that type of work.

Jayco states that they do a comprehensive 5 page inspection from front to back before you take delivery of your new caravan. Why were these issues not identified and rectified then?

Would I have bought this caravan knowing about all these issues? The answer is no. I have requested a refund or replacement last year and that has been declined as they say they have fixed all problems. They seem to think that the consumer guarantees act does not apply to them. The caravan has been in their workshop for almost 2 months with outstanding work still to be done.

I’m concerned other Jayco owners are getting bullied into accepting the poor quality fittings and end up fixing issues themselves. Good luck with your Jayco...

Well let’s say this was the worst experiences we’ve ever had with owning caravans (have purchased new 4 times) We brought a brand new van back in 2023 from Jayco Auckland, we left early in the morning from Wellington to make our 11.00am hand over to then get back on the road in a timely manner (they were well aware of this) We show up about 10.45 and told it’s almost ready just cleaning a few things so we waited… this went on for nearly 3 hours! Kept asking what was happening and they said it’s taking longer than expected to clean and do PD. Found out someone had broke the awning and they had lied to us for nearly 3 hours and we just sat in a showroom. If they had have been honest with us we could have at least taken our daughter and the dogs out to do something fun!

So once we go through to do hand over (3 hours behind schedule) we are given someone who has never done a handover before and being his first time you’d think someone would be helping him right? Wrong! He had no idea what he was doing (no fault of his own) so we told them not to worry we’ll work it out ourselves to get back on the road.

Well we got back to Wellington the next day, it was raining when we arrived and once parked we went in the caravan only to find our bed was wet!? Yip leaking roof from brand new (in 2 places). So they tried booking us into Jayco Wellington, 3 week wait and we park our van outside… So we ended up repairing ourselves. Then we plugged in for the first time, sizzling sound coming from the outside plug and some smoke, unplugged and pulled the external plug off, live and neutral wires almost touching on the pug causing an ark between them whilst melting the plug! So yea almost burnt down our brand new van! I can’t believe how terrible these vans are made and how bad the service is with Jayco Auckland.

We ended up selling that van and went to upgrade to a bigger size (mistakingly with Jayco Auckland again) paid our $5000 deposit and made the order. A week later we had an unfortunate life changing event happen to our family so needed to cancel our order. We were devastated but these things happen, rang Jayco Auckland and explained the situation, they refused to return our $5000 deposit even though it had only been a week and the van wasn’t getting built for another month or so.

We are absolutely disgusted with the service and no existent morals this company and their salesman hold! We suggested staying away from these scumbags and believe they shouldn’t even be in business!

Reply to Jayco Auckland’s response

Thanks for the generic BS response, I’d expect nothing less from Jayco Auckland. From other unfortunate Jayco owners we’ve spoken to you guys haven’t changed one bit, still disappointing people spending over 100k on something that’s not fit for purpose.

Unfortunately no the “non refundable deposit” was not explained to me, I brought this up and the response was I should have read all the conditions.

Why on earth would I want to transfer my deposit to another Junko or any van from Jayco Auckland for that matter.

Karma will catch up with...

Please, please, please do not buy a caravan or motorhome from Jayco Auckland.

Buying a caravan is a significant investment, which we saved long and hard to be able to do. We wish we had never given our hard-earned savings to these guys; they will say and do anything (including neglecting to tell you vital information) to get your money and once they have it, they really don’t care about their customers.

If you are looking to buy a used caravan, please take this one piece of advice - ask LOTS of questions regarding the history of the caravan and ensure everything is documented and signed by both parties.

If you are told the caravan or motorhome has been recently imported into NZ, ask for a shipping documentation and proof of its arrival date.

Ask if there have been any previous warranty claims due to manufacturing faults that lead the previous owners returning it to Jayco.

Ask if there have been changes to the caravan since its manufacture. Compare the used caravan to any new caravans in the yard to see if the ceiling or walls look different if they do ask why. If work has been done on the caravan, ask who did the work, why was the work undertaken in the first place. Ask for some sort of guarantee of the quality of work.

Ask if the caravan has been previously registered under a different registration number. If it has been, ask why it was de-registered and then re-registered under a different registration number. If there is a gap of several months between when it was de-registered and then re-registered ask where it has been during that time.

Don’t just simply believe everything you are told. If you don’t ask lots of questions the information will not be willingly disclosed to you at the time of sale. Should you ask these questions later you will be told you should have asked them at the time of purchase, and when you do ask for this information later their records will be lost due to a computer issue.

These guys are not very honest, dealing with them has cost us dearly. It has been heartbreaking (literally), the stress of trying to get them to be honest and decent has taken a significant toll on us. We just wish someone had warned us against buying from Jayco Auckland.

I strongly advise that you don’t buy a caravan or motorhome from South Auckland Caravans/Jayco Auckland, it really and truly is not worth the toll it is likely to take on your health and your finances. There are honest dealers out there who will look after you long after the initial sale, please shop around and find those guys because it certainly is not Jayco Auckland.

One star is far too generous!!

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