Ayup, all. (1 Viewer)

[SadGeek]

Hi.

We're just about to buy our first Motorhome. We've camped for years, bought our first caravan this year, and placed it semi-peranently on an emplacement on a French site for the year.

We tell people we have a little place in France, by the seaside. If they poke us for more details, we let out it's an old Abbey. At the point they think we're millionaire property developers, we come clean; it's a 26ft Abbey GTS.

REQUEST:lots of the advice in the forums on buying a new motorhome is; choose a reputable dealer above all else. Yet often people seem reluctant to name bad ones. I get there are forum rules about commercial activities, but is there somewhere I can go and check (polls, recommendations) so we can avoid the bad-eggs?

I have an electronics and computing background - if there's anything I can do to help anyone, please kick me.

 

[savantuk]

I'm not at all sure if I'm allowed to post this, but I'm sure Jim will hit the delete key if I'm not.

MMM magazine published their annual dealer satisfaction awards in June this year, I can't find the info on line, so this is a direct crib from the magazine.

Top dealers for satisfaction:

98% Cotswold
96% Hants and Dorset
91% SMC Motorhomes
86% Glossops
86% Todds
85% Webbs
85% Elite
84% West Country Motorhomes
83% Donaghey
83% South Hereford
80% Deepcar
76% Marquis
73% Discover group/Barrons
72% Lazy Days

Just for the record, the results of the manufacturers survey:

100% Murvi
100% Devon
100% IH
96% Rapido
92% Auto-Trail
90% Hymer
89% Auto-sleepers
89% Autocruise
89% Explorer
88% Lunar
82% Chausson
81% CI
79% Bilbos
78% Swift

Other makes may have scored higher on an individual basis, but the sample was too small to represent statistically.

I'd like to bet that owners on here have other views

 

[Molls-Phot]

Great name. Often been called it myself!

Can't help with your specific question but hello from me.

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[Brisey]

Hi Sad Geek and :welcome:to the house of Fun.

flyingwelcome

 

[nicklb]

Welcome to the fun, We bought ours from Discover and they have been O.K. so far, i would admit I would be nervous about spending £25k on a private sale but I know that some do. I have also visited Todds numerous times and the seem very good

Hope this helps

:welcomefunster:

 

[JayDee]

Hi.

We're just about to buy our first Motorhome. We've camped for years, bought our first caravan this year, and placed it semi-peranently on an emplacement on a French site for the year.

We tell people we have a little place in France, by the seaside. If they poke us for more details, we let out it's an old Abbey. At the point they think we're millionaire property developers, we come clean; it's a 26ft Abbey GTS.

REQUEST:lots of the advice in the forums on buying a new motorhome is; choose a reputable dealer above all else. Yet often people seem reluctant to name bad ones. I get there are forum rules about commercial activities, but is there somewhere I can go and check (polls, recommendations) so we can avoid the bad-eggs?

I have an electronics and computing background - if there's anything I can do to help anyone, please kick me.

From our own point of view we have dealt with Marquis twice and had little to complain about, other than their choice of tranmission repair company - which I believe they ditched the next year; and we've dealt once with Lowdhams at Gunthorpe and had no complaints about them either, still take the MH to them for its annual hab. check (expensive, as they live nearly 300miles away, but we always combine it with other stuff).
I'm sure other people have their own favourites (and otherwise), which they may pass on to you (if you grovel enough ).
I notice in Doug's list that Discover and Barrons are grouped together. From some stuff I've read this is maybe not a true reflection - I feel that Barrons, when they were in business, had a better reputation than Discover seems to have - could be wrong; only time will tell.

As for Motorhomes I would suggest looking at hundreds for the layouts, sitting for a while in scores, to check that the layouts are as useful as you first thought; then when you've narrowed it down to a somewhat less unmanageable number start looking at the build quality, mechanical condition and (very important) the amount of payload that will be available to you after you've fitted awnings, bike racks, extra leisure batteries, solar panels, sat dishes and air con. units. Then remember that each person and their baggage will take up maybe 100kg (unless you're a nudist, in which case say 85kg) your pyrenean mountain dog will be another 80 kgs (don't forget his bed), kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, entertainment stuff and wine (don't forget the wine). If you're anything like we were, our weight was dead on the max and the wife wasn't on board - no I didn't leave her behind

I know you didn't ask, but I was feeling in a good mood, so I thought I'd pass it on.


John

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[Wildman]

hi and welcome to the fun, go see a van or 50, try out the bed the loo and the seats make sure it has a layout you can love with. Don't forget we have a chatroom. as to helping us well I am in desperate need of a laptop if you are upgrading, this one is very nearly dead. Besides Noah wants it back.

 

[billy]

:welcomefunster:

We looked for 18 months before we bought ours both at dealers and privatly, we bought private and paid more than 25k.

But i guess we landed lucky when we bought ours it had everything we wanted plus extras and i got it well below the asking price.

The shower had only been used once the cooker had never been used in the two years that the previous owner had it.

We have had it for 10 months now and we have not had a single problem with it.

Hope you find what you are looking for

billy:thumb:

 

[scotjimland]

REQUEST

is there somewhere I can go and check (polls, recommendations) so we can avoid the bad-eggs?

There is a review section which may yield some info ..

Link Removed

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