Autotrail woes (1 Viewer)

[knokinonabit]

We have bought an Autotrail Comanche 3 weeks ago and traded in our 2011 Elddis 155.
The Comanche is also 2011 but has been unsold until we came along.
We did get it for a very reasonable price and to be fair 2 of the faults were pointed out to us with the promise of repair.
One was a crack in the habitation door handle mounting caused by people tugging at the door (allegedly) and the other was the drivers door blind mounting coming adrift. It has now come so adrift that if you open the drivers door the blind falls out.
Both the leisure battery and the vehicle battery have died (both replaced straight away).
The gas bottle locker catches are secured by plastic cable ties. one snapped at the first time of using and I had to grovel around with a long screwdriver to open the door from under the MH. Apparently this is the way they are all fastened !!!!!!!
The fresh and grey water taps are leaking (waiting for new ones).
The fresh water tank had a lot of plastic swarfe, from where the holes were cut for the pipes to fit, and I had to flush them out.
Reversing camera cuts out intermitantly when reversing (needs new camera head)
The water pump was exceptionaly noisy because the filter bowl was rattling off the pipes and its mounting points (rectified).
The light switch for the main hab lights only works when it feels like it (worked in the workshop, so they can't find a fault !!!!!).
Various info books are missing so I am downloading them from the appropriate web sites as I can't wait for the dealer to "find" them.

Just to add insult to injury, the Fiat reversing judder is very prominent, so this will mean a visit to my local Iveco dealer and more delays.

Other than that, we are very pleased with it, the one time that we have been able to use it. Hopefully all the bits will arrive from Autotrail and we can have a fully functioning MH to enjoy.

 

[peter marshall]

I hope its sorted for you soon for you to enjoy has you sould be. Pete :thumb::thumb:

 

[GJH]

Hope you have everything rectified soon.

For the benefit of others, which dealer was it?

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[Rugeley Tim]

we have just returned from a 2500 mile trip to spain (3 Autotrails) and we were all delighted with the performance of our vans. I am sure they are just teething problems and you will soon be as happy and content with your van as we and our friends are.

 

[tonka]

Hope you get sorted, it can all get so annoying, especially after you have traded in a van you have been happy with.

So people get a fair view, we bought a new Autotrail apache 700 back in January. In comparison to our 2005 model ( which we sold privatly later) the construction of the habitation side is definatly not as robust. The furniture seems more like a compressed card .!! hence issues with some small screws not holding etc.
However I am more than pleased with ours, just a week after taking delivery I went down to Costa Blanca and as mentioned above it ran like a dream. Slight issue with a warning light that came on but then dissapeared and has never been seen again. Suspect a damp / water in fuel issue as it was January and in the mountains. It's now on a second Spainish run with over 5k miles in 6 months. No major issues..

 

[the stig]

We have had two Autotrails, a SCOUT SE and currently a Chieftan. Have to say we also have had no problems with ours. Been very happy with both of them. The only reason we are about to sell our Chieftan is because I want more internal floor space so am going for an RV with slide outs.

oh tell a lie, on our first Autotrail Scout we had a light come on the dash, didn't stop the performance, but due to a safety issue (prevention rather than cure) it was a costly jim'll fixit jobbie. But hey aren't they all! also with same van we had a problem in the bathroom with the wall, but our dealer told us that it was quite usual, due to the very cold winter followed by a warm spring, but that was fixed under warranty and no quibbles.

So all in all we are in favour of Autotrail MH's, I know there are a few out there that are not. No major issues for us, therefore we are not one of them. Been very happy!

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[knokinonabit]

.

For the benefit of others, which dealer was it?

To be fair to the dealer, they have ordered the new parts on a warranty claim. I now will have to wait for the response time from Autotrail.
The dealer is Catterick Caravans, but the Comanche was first on the forecourt of the now defunct Discover Leisure, formerly Burtree Caravans I think. So it may have had a bad start in life.

 

[knokinonabit]

Thanks for all of your words of encouragement :thumb:
I'm sure that once all the niggles are sorted it will be a damn fine MH.

 

[GJH]

To be fair to the dealer, they have ordered the new parts on a warranty claim. I now will have to wait for the response time from Autotrail.
The dealer is Catterick Caravans, but the Comanche was first on the forecourt of the now defunct Discover Leisure, formerly Burtree Caravans I think. So it may have had a bad start in life.

Thanks. We looked at Catterick in January when we were after a replacement for our write-off and nearly bought a brand new van from them. The salesman seemed a decent bloke so hopefully they will sort you out quickly.

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[knokinonabit]

Thanks. We looked at Catterick in January when we were after a replacement for our write-off and nearly bought a brand new van from them. The salesman seemed a decent bloke so hopefully they will sort you out quickly.

I get on well with them but get as frustrated as the next man when things go wrong and seem to take an age to put right. 'Specially when they have had your money and a MH that only had a windscreen wash pump from new (warranty claim).

Overall we are pleased with the MH, it's just the niggles that shouldn't happen that are annoying.

 

[joner8888]

I have a 15 year old Autotrail Scout and other than age related problems ,i think it`s great :thumb:

 

[knokinonabit]

I have a 15 year old Autotrail Scout and other than age related problems ,i think it`s great :thumb:

I'm sure ours will be when it gets sorted

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[knokinonabit]

Another update.

So far we are still waiting for:
The new habitation door lock to be fitted
The new drivers door blind to be fitted
The new fresh and waste water tank drain taps to be fitted
A new control panel to be fitted (light switches that work intermittantly, gauges that give wrong information, the dealer thinks)
A new reversing camera head to be fitted
And finally, as I discovered when the V5 was returned from DVLA Swansea, the mistakes on that to be sorted. ie Two axles instead of three and the wrong MGVW, not counting getting my name and address wrong !!!!!

My patience and good nature are starting to fray at the edges, to say the least.

 

[knokinonabit]

New update

Another update.

So far we are still waiting for:
The new habitation door lock to be fitted
The new drivers door blind to be fitted
The new fresh and waste water tank drain taps to be fitted
A new control panel to be fitted (light switches that work intermittantly, gauges that give wrong information, the dealer thinks)
A new reversing camera head to be fitted
And finally, as I discovered when the V5 was returned from DVLA Swansea, the mistakes on that to be sorted. ie Two axles instead of three and the wrong MGVW, not counting getting my name and address wrong !!!!!

My patience and good nature are starting to fray at the edges, to say the least.

I have a date to have two of the faults sorted. The 25th of October.
The new blind and control panel have finally arrived, but nothing else.
I have had to take pictures of the crack in the habitation door catch to e-mail to the dealer, so they can e-mail them to Auto-trail, who will then make a warranty decision.

Eventually I had to sort out the V5 myself by gathering up the proof of the vehicle type and going to the local DVLA office. I'm still waiting for it's return from Swansea.

Everything else is pending, as "they" say.

One day it may all be sorted out and we will feel confident and proud of our MH. Until then we will continue to feel let down by the dealer and Auto-trail.
We have a factory tour booked in at Auto-trail at the end of November, so if all is not put right by then, sparks will fly in full gaze of the public attendees.

 

[GJH]

Hope they sort it all out for you without you having to spoil your day out.

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[knokinonabit]

Hope they sort it all out for you without you having to spoil your day out.

Won't spoil mine, but I'll spoil theirs

 

[f6c]

Seems fair to me:thumb:

 

[GJH]

Won't spoil mine, but I'll spoil theirs

Look out, Stowsla Mafia on the march

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[Phill D]

Regrettably, my experience with autotrails warrenty team ( not the dealer who was very supportive ) is that they do things in their time and how they want. It took me 18 months to get a habitation door fixed. Having jumped through all the hoops!, and communicating directly with the MD whos view was thats how it is:Angry: not impressed.... there were other issues but i really had to meke a nuisance of myself to get my parts.

Hence i now have an Adria.

Good luck, give Autotrail HELL,!

 

[knokinonabit]

Look out, Stowsla Mafia on the march

Ay, I'll larn em a thing or three
Don't mess wi t'Stowsla lot

 

[Phill D]

My advice,,,, do everything on email and keep full records of who said what and when if on the phone, even re ords of when the dealer applied for what and how etc. It was their dawnfall when i produced a file of effidence of their wiggling and feeble excuses. There was nowhere else to hide.

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[Phill D]

Appologies for spilling mistakesoh:

 

[knokinonabit]

Appologies for spilling mistakesoh:

Whit mistooks ?

 

[Jaws]

This might sound a TAD odd, but for me, all this sort of thing is actually part of our great hobby :thumb:

Just how boring would an awful lot of us find motorhoming if it all went smoothly ?

It is the trials and tribulations we all go through at one time or another that gives us things to talk about at meets, and things to keep us occupied and not bored :thumb:

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[knokinonabit]

This might sound a TAD odd, but for me, all this sort of thing is actually part of our great hobby :thumb:

Just how boring would an awful lot of us find motorhoming if it all went smoothly ?

It is the trials and tribulations we all go through at one time or another that gives us things to talk about at meets, and things to keep us occupied and not bored :thumb:

You have to laugh, don't you !!!! :help:

 

[Steve and Denise]

In 2008 we bought a 12 month old Auto Trail Cheyanne of which we had no problems apart from the door handle breaking. On the strength of that we then ordered a 'New' Auto Trail Cheiftain from dare if say ... Brownhills at Newarke, then it went down hill from then.

When we collected it the bathroom door was damaged, but usable, so we went off on our first trip. On our first trip, the garage leaked very badly, the passenger lounge window had a serious leak, there was no seal on the vent in the bathroom which meant that this also leaked.

Within a couple of months the water pump went, luckily we were in Cromer where there was a camping shop selling the pumps so I replaced it myself. The built in Free view box had to be replaced 3 times and never ever did work, the printed circuit board in the fridge/freezer also had to be replaced.

The final saw was when we had to be towed off a field in Yorkshire, and to our amazement found that we had been supplied with the wrong towing eye, it was too short. Auto Trail were not interested it was like phoning up for an argument, and Brownhills simply said bring it back ..... we told them that we would love to but how do we get off this field ???? We had no choice but to go and buy the correct length towing eye from a FIAT Car garage, which took 2 days to arrive.

These are just a few of the problems that we experienced with our van. Shame really because we liked the van, but these problems certainly took away the shine of having a brand new van.

Took us 2 years to get all the problems sorted, no thanks to Auto Trail !

Steve

 

[f6c]

Yes been there:Sad:

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[FULL TIMER]

I had all this type of crap when we had a caravan, what bugs me is when a dealer say's "they have to put in a warrenty claim", this dosn't help us at the end of the day they supply you with a van it is them who owes you the warrenty why should you have to wait for them to claim from the manufacturer, they should get the job done and then claim thier costs back what would they do if the manufacturer refused a warrenty claim after all you are still entitled to get your repairs done under the warrenty supplied to you by the dealer

 

[GJH]

This might sound a TAD odd, but for me, all this sort of thing is actually part of our great hobby :thumb:

Just how boring would an awful lot of us find motorhoming if it all went smoothly ?

It is the trials and tribulations we all go through at one time or another that gives us things to talk about at meets, and things to keep us occupied and not bored :thumb:

Thank you, John, for volunteering to take on all the trials and tribulations of every Funster. I'm sure that we will all ensure we are not bored by discussing your troubles whilst happy in the knowledge that we shall have trouble free lives

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

I had all this type of crap when we had a caravan, what bugs me is when a dealer say's "they have to put in a warrenty claim", this dosn't help us at the end of the day they supply you with a van it is them who owes you the warrenty why should you have to wait for them to claim from the manufacturer, they should get the job done and then claim thier costs back what would they do if the manufacturer refused a warrenty claim after all you are still entitled to get your repairs done under the warrenty supplied to you by the dealer

At the end of the day this is very true! (although it does depend on what the fault is and how it was caused and by whom!)

Peter

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