Caravan age checker: how to find the year of a touring caravan

Where the CRiS number is

CRiS describes it as a 17-digit number "which includes the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) code, axle description, manufacturer model codes, the date letter and a unique serial number", found "on the main door to the habitation area, in the bottom right-hand corner of each window" and as "a stamp on your chassis, often on the A frame". Every etching should show the same number; if they do not, stop reading the year and start reading how to check if a caravan is stolen.

How the 17 characters are built

The Caravan and Motorhome Club's guide lays the number out as a three-character manufacturer code (for example SG7 for ABI, SGD for Swift, SGA for Bailey), a group of model and axle characters, the two-letter make code, the date letter and a four-digit serial number. Most guides describe the date letter as the tenth character, following the international VIN convention; on the caravan itself it is the single letter sitting between the make code and the serial number.

Year letter table

1992 to 2018 are taken from the Caravan and Motorhome Club's caravan identification guide. K to T for 2019 to 2026 continue the same sequence (the guide's own table stops at 2018) and match the letters quoted by insurers and dealers we read on 15 September 2026; treat them as secondary until CRiS publishes a table. The sequence skips I, O, Q, U and Z, which is why H is followed by J and N by P.

Why we have not built a decoder

Three reasons. CRiS does not publish the year codes, so a tool would rest on secondary sources. The letters repeat after 30 years, so N, P, R, S and T now each mean two years and the tool would have to guess. And the number is etched in glass at knee height and misread more often than you would think. A table you check by eye, next to the caravan and its paperwork, is more honest than a box that returns a year with false confidence.

Caravans built before 1992

From 1987 to 1991 many makers used an NCC mark on the nearside A-frame or chassis: two digits for the year, two letters for the make and a serial number (the Club's example is 87 AB 007878). Before 1987 there was no uniform system; the Club's guide records maker-specific patterns, for example Swift using the first two digits for the year from 1983, Elddis following the car registration letter from 1984 with A, and Bailey ending its 1984 serials in A on the same basis. For those, the chassis maker's plate and the sales invoice are often the only evidence.

Confirming the year

The CRiS Registration Document records the caravan as registered, and a £17.95 CRiS check confirms it is registered to a named keeper and is not recorded as stolen, on finance or written off. Model year and registration year can differ: a 2019 model year caravan is often first sold in late 2018, so a date letter one step ahead of the invoice date is normal.