The good wife and I are finally retiring this April and we are 'virgin' caravaners! We are looking for a 19 to 20 ft Van and wondering if you good people have an opinion on the Salute model of caravan. Company based in Melbourne.
We are from Perth but like the look of these vans as they seem quality built.
No info re Salute caravans, but, being from WA as well I have wondered if it is wise to buy a van from over east and then if you need warranty repairs etc how hard it would be to sort it out.....Distance could make it hard re warranty claims.
Just a thought anyway given how many troubles you read about re new caravans these days.
Don't know much about Salute, but there are so many little manufacturers in Victoria. Definitely the van capital in this country. However with the question of warranty claims being in WA and purchasing a van in the East, it does add some level of complexity and I guess it comes down to the relationship you have with the manufacturer, how good they are at honouring their warranty, do they have a repair agent here in the West or failing that can you choose a repairer on their behalf. All questions you should ask.
For me personally, I had a van custom built in Melbourne. I had no issues with warranty taking the van back to the factory on my travels but having some minor issues fixed in WA caused some problems. I ended up getting the parts sent to me by the manufacturer and fixing them myself. I am pretty handy and have a well equipped workshop so not a huge problem. This ended up being the most amenable way of getting the work done. Could be a bit more of an issue if you need to get someone else to do it, although friends of ours, two lots, have had overwhelming issues getting warranty done by the local sellers and both eventually took a trip back east to the manufacturers to get some satisfaction which they did, so buying local is not always a solution.
Overall I would do it again if I were to purchase another van as the savings in cost and being able to deal direct with the factory I believe out way the disadvantages. There are always some frustrations along the way having to deal with the tyranny of distance with much of the business being conducted at arms length by email and phone which is not always easy. We did jump a plane in the early stages before putting our money down and did the initial business face to face. That way we could get minor changes to layout right and pick colours and make sure we were happy at the overall quality of the van we were ordering. Had a tour of the factory which we could see how they were built, which is very important. Getting a strongly constructed van is far more important than some salesman selling you a jacked up so called off road model that falls apart at the first look of a corrugated road, which is what happened to some friends of ours. There's a lot of very average vans out there so a trip to Melbourne to view the vans under construction is well worth the money. Look for things like depth of chassis rails, does the drawbar go back to the front axle, size of draw bar steel, how they attach cupboards to the walls and doors to cupboards, how far apart are the wall frames, or if composite walls how these are joined and fixed to the chassis. Plastic ends, how are they sealed to the composite, and with what adhesive. If they are using silicones on plastics stay away. It needs to be a polyurethane such as Sika. These are the real important things to look at not the bling inside. Pick out half a dozen or so manufacturers that catch your fancy before you go and then check those out. Ring ahead and arrange to view their factory. I think when I last looked there were over a hundred manufacturers in Victoria so you need to get it down to a small few that are practical to look at with sufficient time on a trip over.
Hope you find what you are looking for. I have been a caravanner since I was a child and it is an absolutely fantastic way to explore this wonderful country of ours. May meet you on the road somewhere.
I think the Salute is a model Kokoda Caravans.
They went into voluntary liquidation in Feb 2019, new owners in May 2019. don't know how they are going nowadays.
Don't know much about Salute, but there are so many little manufacturers in Victoria. Definitely the van capital in this country. However with the question of warranty claims being in WA and purchasing a van in the East, it does add some level of complexity and I guess it comes down to the relationship you have with the manufacturer, how good they are at honouring their warranty, do they have a repair agent here in the West or failing that can you choose a repairer on their behalf. All questions you should ask. For me personally, I had a van custom built in Melbourne. I had no issues with warranty taking the van back to the factory on my travels but having some minor issues fixed in WA caused some problems. I ended up getting the parts sent to me by the manufacturer and fixing them myself. I am pretty handy and have a well equipped workshop so not a huge problem. This ended up being the most amenable way of getting the work done. Could be a bit more of an issue if you need to get someone else to do it, although friends of ours, two lots, have had overwhelming issues getting warranty done by the local sellers and both eventually took a trip back east to the manufacturers to get some satisfaction which they did, so buying local is not always a solution. Overall I would do it again if I were to purchase another van as the savings in cost and being able to deal direct with the factory I believe out way the disadvantages. There are always some frustrations along the way having to deal with the tyranny of distance with much of the business being conducted at arms length by email and phone which is not always easy. We did jump a plane in the early stages before putting our money down and did the initial business face to face. That way we could get minor changes to layout right and pick colours and make sure we were happy at the overall quality of the van we were ordering. Had a tour of the factory which we could see how they were built, which is very important. Getting a strongly constructed van is far more important than some salesman selling you a jacked up so called off road model that falls apart at the first look of a corrugated road, which is what happened to some friends of ours. There's a lot of very average vans out there so a trip to Melbourne to view the vans under construction is well worth the money. Look for things like depth of chassis rails, does the drawbar go back to the front axle, size of draw bar steel, how they attach cupboards to the walls and doors to cupboards, how far apart are the wall frames, or if composite walls how these are joined and fixed to the chassis. Plastic ends, how are they sealed to the composite, and with what adhesive. If they are using silicones on plastics stay away. It needs to be a polyurethane such as Sika. These are the real important things to look at not the bling inside. Pick out half a dozen or so manufacturers that catch your fancy before you go and then check those out. Ring ahead and arrange to view their factory. I think when I last looked there were over a hundred manufacturers in Victoria so you need to get it down to a small few that are practical to look at with sufficient time on a trip over. Hope you find what you are looking for. I have been a caravanner since I was a child and it is an absolutely fantastic way to explore this wonderful country of ours. May meet you on the road somewhere.
Hi Greg. That is very interesting, BUT without paragraphs, a very difficult read for my poor old eyes.
Hi Greg. That is very interesting, BUT without paragraphs, a very difficult read for my poor old eyes.
Aussie Paul.
Hi Paul...if you cannot see that Greg's post is almost perfectly structured,I suspect that your eyesight is a lot worse than you think? Lots of capital letters,full stops,commas etc,which make it all very easy to follow and understand.Auto-spell (or whatever it's called) has reared its ugly head,but still the post is easy to understand.AND lots of good advice too! Cheers
No info re Salute caravans, but, being from WA as well I have wondered if it is wise to buy a van from over east and then if you need warranty repairs etc how hard it would be to sort it out.....Distance could make it hard re warranty claims.
Just a thought anyway given how many troubles you read about re new caravans these days.
Good luck if you do buy a Salute caravan.
Cheers AL
I agree. Most expect u to take the van back to the factory for warrenty repairs at your expence.
Sorry aussie paul but most of my posts are done from either my phone or tablet and even though when I type it, I do place it in paragraphs, the stupid thing removes the paragraphs when I post it. Doesn't do it on my desktop computer.
Sorry aussie paul but most of my posts are done from either my phone or tablet and even though when I type it, I do place it in paragraphs, the stupid thing removes the paragraphs when I post it. Doesn't do it on my desktop computer.
lol Greg, you can't trust those "bloody" smart Phones and Tablets these days.
Hi Mick and Lee-Ann,
We took delivery of a Salute Garrison semi-off road van 19"6 in October last year and couldn't be happier. Fabio, Cettina and Joe addressed all our concerns when we visited their showroom and they certainly know their stuff. I believe the Kokoda brand used them to build one of their models in the past, but they are now in business for themselves and they certainly produce a very high quality product for the dollars. We have only done 2 short trips so far, but are currently planning a trip across the Nullabor sometime in April, that will be our biggest test and we are really looking forward to putting the van through its paces.
