F
foggyparrot
Deleted User
You all know how it is!
There's always a job needs doing and never any real quality time in which to do it, so you put it off. Not just once but, often as not, as many times as is necessary until the actual thing breaks or falls off.
My service (on the coach) has been 'due' since ( I suspect ) the day I bought it 20 months (3000 miles) ago.
From a running (and stopping) point of view the coach has behaved impeccably over those 3000 miles (apart from the cruise control box (but thats another story and well fixed by now!)). So with that in mind you always promise yourself that you will either a) get around to doing it yourself (daunting, but manageable) or b) get someone to do it for you (daunting, and expensive!).
Finally, I bit the bullet and went for option b).
The only question remained was where to have it done. 80 miles away are the main agents so I thought it only fair to ask them to quote me for the service.
I wanted all the wheels off, the brakes checked and shoes renewed if necessary, thoroughly greased and lubricated (I found 30 grease nipples which only turned out to be half of them!), engine fluids and filters changed, auto-box checked and all other fluids checked and topped and generally tweaked and tuned to improve performance and reliability and give me another years and few thousand miles peace of mind.
The quote for this (plus a few extras I didn't believe I needed which were to do with the locker hinges and other components not actually necessary to the safety and reliability of the go/stop genre) would have given me little change from a couple of thousand quid.
My next best option was going to give me even less change from £600.
Imagine my surprise when I found an RV specialist who could do everything I needed (a full engine, chassis, steering and brakes service) for well less than £250.
My initial scepticism was well rebuffed with the answer to my question as to why it was so cheap, by the answer: 'what you need to be asking is why are they so expensive?'
Cost aside, however, I don't believe I could have got a better service, mechanically or personally, than I have done.
There is a marked and noticeable difference in the way the coach handles, sounds, stops and performs. For an extra few quid I even had some annoying outstanding jobs done that I never quite got around to doing myself.
The company I went to was Mercury ARV which is owned and operated by a chap called Simon Edgecombe. He was courteous, knowledgeable, friendly and truthful. He did everything he said he would do in the time that he said he would do it and at the price that he quoted. He said that he would call me if there was anything extra that NEEDED doing and quote me a price before doing it. One extra unforeseen item, £23 and a phone call later and it was done.
I know full well that you can only base your opinions on your own personal experience but in my opinion he has been by far the most sincere and reasonable dealer I have met.
There's always a job needs doing and never any real quality time in which to do it, so you put it off. Not just once but, often as not, as many times as is necessary until the actual thing breaks or falls off.
My service (on the coach) has been 'due' since ( I suspect ) the day I bought it 20 months (3000 miles) ago.
From a running (and stopping) point of view the coach has behaved impeccably over those 3000 miles (apart from the cruise control box (but thats another story and well fixed by now!)). So with that in mind you always promise yourself that you will either a) get around to doing it yourself (daunting, but manageable) or b) get someone to do it for you (daunting, and expensive!).
Finally, I bit the bullet and went for option b).
The only question remained was where to have it done. 80 miles away are the main agents so I thought it only fair to ask them to quote me for the service.
I wanted all the wheels off, the brakes checked and shoes renewed if necessary, thoroughly greased and lubricated (I found 30 grease nipples which only turned out to be half of them!), engine fluids and filters changed, auto-box checked and all other fluids checked and topped and generally tweaked and tuned to improve performance and reliability and give me another years and few thousand miles peace of mind.
The quote for this (plus a few extras I didn't believe I needed which were to do with the locker hinges and other components not actually necessary to the safety and reliability of the go/stop genre) would have given me little change from a couple of thousand quid.
My next best option was going to give me even less change from £600.
Imagine my surprise when I found an RV specialist who could do everything I needed (a full engine, chassis, steering and brakes service) for well less than £250.
My initial scepticism was well rebuffed with the answer to my question as to why it was so cheap, by the answer: 'what you need to be asking is why are they so expensive?'
Cost aside, however, I don't believe I could have got a better service, mechanically or personally, than I have done.
There is a marked and noticeable difference in the way the coach handles, sounds, stops and performs. For an extra few quid I even had some annoying outstanding jobs done that I never quite got around to doing myself.
The company I went to was Mercury ARV which is owned and operated by a chap called Simon Edgecombe. He was courteous, knowledgeable, friendly and truthful. He did everything he said he would do in the time that he said he would do it and at the price that he quoted. He said that he would call me if there was anything extra that NEEDED doing and quote me a price before doing it. One extra unforeseen item, £23 and a phone call later and it was done.
I know full well that you can only base your opinions on your own personal experience but in my opinion he has been by far the most sincere and reasonable dealer I have met.
