Autotrail woes

[GMLS]

Really sorry to hear of your problems. We purchased a new AT Scout from Premier in Chichester and overall very happy with the quality of the build itself and the service from the dealer.

The PDI and handover was very thorough with the majority of the minor issues that have arrisen to date associated with the base vehicle i.e

• EGR failed due to water ingress from poorly fitted scuttle.
• Passenger seatbelt fraying where it passes through the plastic trim (Fiat currently not accepting responsability and suggesting it happened in the factory so this might rumble on!)

Apart from a cosmetic issue with the habitation door handle, anything that needed attending to has been in rerlation to items Autotrail have bought in from 3rd parties and used across the industry.

Overall quality better than the Burstner we had previously which had water ingress issues in the habitation area. Fingers crossed though!

We have friends that have purchased new yachts and have had similar issues with the industry.

Overall I'd say choice of dealer is as, if not as important as choice of manufacturer. There is a lot of luck involved and I wish there was more choice of base vehicle manufacturer.

 

[Ber090]

Hi Knockinonabit, Just to wish you all the best in getting everything solved when your van goes in. We have had a very different experience with Catterick Caravans. Having used them for years we changed our Caravan for a Swift Bolero and now reaching its first birthday we have had some issues but have found Catterick to be always willing to sort things out and together with Swift they have delivered a high standard of Customer service.
I would add that we do have high expectations and can be quite demanding.
I have no connection other than as a Customer.
If you want to experience really poor service then try having contact with Dometic. We are in the middle of warranty repairs and Dometic seem to think that 4 or 5 days response time to a phone call is good. Email to them is a dark art that should be left a week before response. All this and it appears they never tested how their state of the art RMD 8555 fridge freezer would operate in the UK's damp,cool environment.
Hope you get everything sorted.
Cheers
Bernie

 

[knokinonabit]

Hi Knockinonabit, Just to wish you all the best in getting everything solved when your van goes in. We have had a very different experience with Catterick Caravans. Having used them for years we changed our Caravan for a Swift Bolero and now reaching its first birthday we have had some issues but have found Catterick to be always willing to sort things out and together with Swift they have delivered a high standard of Customer service.
I would add that we do have high expectations and can be quite demanding.
I have no connection other than as a Customer.
If you want to experience really poor service then try having contact with Dometic. We are in the middle of warranty repairs and Dometic seem to think that 4 or 5 days response time to a phone call is good. Email to them is a dark art that should be left a week before response. All this and it appears they never tested how their state of the art RMD 8555 fridge freezer would operate in the UK's damp,cool environment.
Hope you get everything sorted.
Cheers
Bernie

There seems to have been a lot of personnel changes at Catterick Caravans over the course of the last 18 months and suddenly they are bending over backwards to be helpful.
I don't think that you should label yourselves as having high expectations and being very demanding. It's just that you expect the things that you have paid for to work properly.
Here's hoping that ours do when the MH returns after it's week in "hospital".

 

[MitchandJenny]

"Fingers crossed" for you matey.. PS.. Our Tracker is due completion 21st Feb!! Pooping myself with excitement and trepidation !!
Mitch.. :thumb:

 

[MuddyPuddle]

Really sorry to hear of your problems. We purchased a new AT Scout from Premier in Chichester and overall very happy with the quality of the build itself and the service from the dealer.

The PDI and handover was very thorough with the majority of the minor issues that have arrisen to date associated with the base vehicle i.e

• EGR failed due to water ingress from poorly fitted scuttle.
• Passenger seatbelt fraying where it passes through the plastic trim (Fiat currently not accepting responsability and suggesting it happened in the factory so this might rumble on!)

Apart from a cosmetic issue with the habitation door handle, anything that needed attending to has been in rerlation to items Autotrail have bought in from 3rd parties and used across the industry.

Overall quality better than the Burstner we had previously which had water ingress issues in the habitation area. Fingers crossed though!

We have friends that have purchased new yachts and have had similar issues with the industry.

Overall I'd say choice of dealer is as, if not as important as choice of manufacturer. There is a lot of luck involved and I wish there was more choice of base vehicle manufacturer.

Have to agree with GMLS, we are loving our new TrackerFB and any minor snags we've identified have been swiftly dealt with and fixed. Any questions we've had have been fully answered. Maybe it's just a coincidence that our dealer is also Premier at Chichester but I doubt it....so far they have been excellent and their attitude to customer service is first class

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[knokinonabit]

Sometimes I could cry

I often wonder at my own stupidity and trust in others.
One of the problems we are having is the intermittent habitation lights.
Not coming on when they should and not going off when they should.
This is why we are on our 4th control panel.

On a whim I thought that I would contact Sargent myself to see if they could help.
Result :thumb:

I had a reply from Dan Howlett at Sargent, who explained that my particular control panel has undergone several upgrades to cure this very problem. If the dealer had contacted them they would have sent them the necessary info to rectify it. It is just a matter of re-programming the software.
He also said that he had not supplied the dealer with any EC 480 control panels. So where are they coming from ? Old stock at Auto-Trail perhaps !

So if anyone else is having problems with their lights (and I know that there are), and you have a PSU EC500 with an EC 480 CP151 PSU 111 control panel, tell your dealer to contact Sargent for the info.
You will find the identity on the panel when it is active. It is on the panel below the display.

I have told the dealer that I want the Aftersales Managers job



.

 

[Scout]

At least it nice to know its just a software problem and nothing to do with the wiring loom, that should get you part sorted, on with the list.

 

[knokinonabit]

Another update.

Should have had the MH back from Catterick Caravans today, but haven't.

Had a phone call to let me know what was happening.

So far they have:

Upgraded the control panel as per Sargent Electricals instructions. So I should have no more problems with the hab lights. Except that somehow one of the main LED strip lights down one side of the MH has blown. So this will have to be replaced. Waiting for one from AutoTrail.

Replaced the two side marker lights that were not working. This is now 8 out of 8 that have failed.

Applied the decal to the off side locker door that was missing when they fit the new locker door.

Fitted the new hinges to the near side rear locker door and the gas locker

Inspected the skylight seals and said that they are as they should be to allow for ventilation, but did concede that they have received complaints about the excess draught and cold coming in them from other owners.
I will seal these myself and block up the vents if necessary.

Re-set the tracker, which had stopped working. Phantom phoned me and told me it was "not talking to them", so they were on the ball.

Removed the drivers door blind and refitted it properly to stop the rattle.

Jobs NOT done yet:

Replace the grey water tank sensor with the upgraded one.
Apparently the MH won't go into their workshop and over the pit, so they are having to arrange to go to another garage to complete this job, as they have to remove the tank. A new workshop is being planned by them as the current one is not big enough for all the work they get in. Their words, not mine.
AutoTrail haven't sent the required upgraded harness for it either, so more delays.

Repair the side skirt where it is coming away from the main body and has left a gap.

Also, they are in contact with AutoTrail re the gas locker not being able to properly house 2x13kg bottles as they have had complaints from others. They say that AutoTrail are aware of this but don't seem to be trying to sort it out to the customer satisfaction.
No s**t Sherlock ! oh:

I will be in contact with them again on Monday about the outstanding jobs so I will be reporting in.



.

 

[MikeD]

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you :thumb::thumb:

 

[msyd]

Should have had the MH back from Catterick Caravans today, but haven't.

Removed the drivers door blind and refitted it properly to stop the rattle.

.

How easy was it to remove the window blinds.... a bit nervous about breaking something by forcing it off. Thanks:thumb:

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[knokinonabit]

How easy was it to remove the window blinds.... a bit nervous about breaking something by forcing it off. Thanks:thumb:

I didn't do it myself, Catterick Caravans did.
But from what I understand and have seen myself, they are held on with screws, which are behind the pop out brand names on the top corners of the blinds. There are also plastic clips that locate into the frame and these are easily broken if you are not careful.
Apparently it was the plastic clips that were not properly located that was causing the rattle.

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[knokinonabit]

Still waiting for the jobs to be finished.

The side skirt has been repaired now but the delay is waiting for the new harness to arrive from AutoTrail.
Catterick Caravans have been told by AT to go direct to Sargent Electrical for the harness, but the earliest it will be fitted is Monday or Tuesday of next week.

 

[knokinonabit]

Well the MH is back now, I went to collect it yesterday, but still not finished.

The waste water sensor is still waiting for the new wiring harness to arrive, so that will be another couple of weeks, at least, as we are going away for a week and a bit.

We are still waiting for 2 new main habitation LED strip lights that "somehow" stopped working when they were messing about with the control panel.

AutoTrail have e-mailed Catterick Caravans with the "solutions" to the gas bottles not fitting in the locker problem. Basically they are the same ones that I got from them. ie The bottles aren't seated correctly over the base retaining lugs (they are). Move the retaining strap from the back wall of the locker to a side wall (not an option as this would mean drilling through a galvanized mounting bracket, which would weaken it and compromise it's integrity. Also, the bottles can move about slightly). But the best one I have saved until last. The bottles are made of material that is too thick. Having exchanged the bottles several times, there must be a lot of "thick walled" ones around. They do acknowledge that they have had "one or two" customers who have mentioned this problem.

Oh, nearly forgot.
When I parked up at home I opened the side skirt locker door to plug in the EHU and there was a metallic clatter. The aluminium angle plate that the door catch locks onto had dropped off. This I will have to repair myself as I can't drive the MH with the door flapping about. oh: :shout:



.

 

[zulurita]

We had Auto Trails for 12 years. Got more issues with each new mh we purchased. Had a few issues with the Sargents charger! Even bought a new Auto Trail because the dealer/Sargent couldn't seem to rectify the problem.

Last year we bought our first ever Foreign motorhome An Adria Coral S670 SLT. What a difference. So much warmer, none of the draughts that we experienced in our Auto Trail motorhomes. We should have done it sooner.

Hope they manage to sort out all your issues. The delay from the manufacturer is very disappointing especially when you consider the amount of money you paid for your motorhome.

 

[robnchris]

Well the MH is back now, I went to collect it yesterday, but still not finished.

The waste water sensor is still waiting for the new wiring harness to arrive, so that will be another couple of weeks, at least, as we are going away for a week and a bit.

We are still waiting for 2 new main habitation LED strip lights that "somehow" stopped working when they were messing about with the control panel.

AutoTrail have e-mailed Catterick Caravans with the "solutions" to the gas bottles not fitting in the locker problem. Basically they are the same ones that I got from them. ie The bottles aren't seated correctly over the base retaining lugs (they are). Move the retaining strap from the back wall of the locker to a side wall (not an option as this would mean drilling through a galvanized mounting bracket, which would weaken it and compromise it's integrity. Also, the bottles can move about slightly). But the best one I have saved until last. The bottles are made of material that is too thick. Having exchanged the bottles several times, there must be a lot of "thick walled" ones around. They do acknowledge that they have had "one or two" customers who have mentioned this problem.

Oh, nearly forgot.
When I parked up at home I opened the side skirt locker door to plug in the EHU and there was a metallic clatter. The aluminium angle plate that the door catch locks onto had dropped off. This I will have to repair myself as I can't drive the MH with the door flapping about. oh: :shout:



.

Really sorry to hear that Auto-trail are still happy to let this poor level of workmanship continue despite so many of new owners having so many problems, it really is a disgrace that we are the only Quality Control this company appear to have.

Good luck with the led lighting, we`ve had them all changed twice and next time they fail we won`t be going back to Auto-trail theget them fixed but will source an alternative light as Auto-trails lights are just not good enough.

How is you external sealing, can`t believe ours on a 6 month old motorhome is coming away all over the place.
We wrote to Auto-trail and didn`t even get a reply, this has been our 3rd Auto-trail and we have had more problems with this one that the other two put together, the build quality certainly isn`t as good.
We definitely won`t be buying another.

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[knokinonabit]

We had Auto Trails for 12 years. Got more issues with each new mh we purchased. Had a few issues with the Sargents charger! Even bought a new Auto Trail because the dealer/Sargent couldn't seem to rectify the problem.

Last year we bought our first ever Foreign motorhome An Adria Coral S670 SLT. What a difference. So much warmer, none of the draughts that we experienced in our Auto Trail motorhomes. We should have done it sooner.

Hope they manage to sort out all your issues. The delay from the manufacturer is very disappointing especially when you consider the amount of money you paid for your motorhome.

I would not even consider buying another one. :Angry:



.

 

[knokinonabit]

Really sorry to hear that Auto-trail are still happy to let this poor level of workmanship continue despite so many of new owners having so many problems, it really is a disgrace that we are the only Quality Control this company appear to have.

Good luck with the led lighting, we`ve had them all changed twice and next time they fail we won`t be going back to Auto-trail theget them fixed but will source an alternative light as Auto-trails lights are just not good enough.

How is you external sealing, can`t believe ours on a 6 month old motorhome is coming away all over the place.
We wrote to Auto-trail and didn`t even get a reply, this has been our 3rd Auto-trail and we have had more problems with this one that the other two put together, the build quality certainly isn`t as good.
We definitely won`t be buying another.

So far only the side skirt has come adrift from the body, but the door seals to the lockers, especially the garage ones, leak like sieves.

No more AutoTrails for me, that's for sure.


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[Jaws]

And what is so sad, I believe the boss's of the firm really believe they are doing a good job.
At least I would hope that is the case as surely anyone with any sense of fair play and honesty would not allow people to continue to spend so much money on such shabby products

If they DO know about it then I would think they are just grabbing what they can from the firm before deliberately running the company in to bankruptcy as it seems there are more and more vans out there with serious issues and fewer and fewer solutions ( that actually deal with all the problems successfully ) being heard about

 

[motorhomewave]

I see on page 1 (many moons ago) that you exchanged an Elddis 155 for the Autotrail, we are at present looking at a new Majestic 155. I presume I don't need to ask if you still think it was a good decision ? We are drawn to the layout of an Autotrail but comments on this site have somewhat dampened our enthusiasm.

 

[peterc10]

With the length of time that Autotrail have allowed these problems, and therefore this thread, to run they have probably lost at least 5 sales with the number of people on this forum. And that is £250,000 worth of turnover and I guess £25,000 of profit?

It would have been much better for them have to taken it back into their factory and pulled all the stops out to make sure everything was fixed. How much would that have cost - £5,000??? So they have lost £25,000 for the sake of spending £5,000??

This just makes no business sense at all. Do they not understand basic business principles? There is an old adage that says that it takes many happy customers to get a good reputation, but only one unhappy one to get a bad reputation. And boy has this thread shown that to be true.

It would be interesting to see how many people are willing to state that they chose not to buy an Autotrail simply because of this thread. Any people willing to volunteer that info, so Autotrail can get an idea of how much all of this has really cost them?

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[Trikeman]

Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,, there should be a little balance here.

It appears (by forum comments and word of mouth) that most marques of MoHo's have their problems - yep, I've had one or two but nothing that couldn't be sorted and that's part of my hobby - 'tinkering makes better' is my motto.
We have an Autotrail 700SE, Ok a little older, but ours is great now that little things, like the screws could have been longer, but we are over the moon with ours (06) plate.
Could it be that just the later ones (since when I don't know) are having these problems, a sort of 'diminishing quality control'?
As mentioned, ours is everything we wanted (and more) and we have not had the issues in this thread - could it be one or two bad apples? Been along to some Autotrail Owner Club meets and there doesn't seem to be these 'issues' being banded about there.

I agree, if it were mine with all the problems I would be at Autotrail's gates, parked up across the gates until such things were put right - though there shouldn't have been problems in the first place, agreed.

Just seems the more newer ones.

Trikeman.

 

[knokinonabit]

I see on page 1 (many moons ago) that you exchanged an Elddis 155 for the Autotrail, we are at present looking at a new Majestic 155. I presume I don't need to ask if you still think it was a good decision ? We are drawn to the layout of an Autotrail but comments on this site have somewhat dampened our enthusiasm.

We only owned the Elddis for 8 months from new, and nothing went wrong, apart from a faulty windscreen washer pump on the Peugeot part.
This was rectified within days.
The AutoTrail looks better quality, but I would swop back now.

 

[Chris]

I am very happy with my Johns Cross supplied Autotrail Scout.

Very happy indeed:thumb:

 

[knokinonabit]

Trikeman

I am pleased that you are happy with yours.
It may be that there is the rogue element involved, but I believe far to many owners don't admit to faults, and as I have stated previously, we don't complain enough in this country. We keep a stiff upper lip because we don't want to make a fuss.
There may be owners that have problems but don't want to admit it to other owners because they may be seen to lose face a little. You know the thing, "mine is better than yours because yours keeps breaking".

 

[knokinonabit]

I am very happy with my Johns Cross supplied Autotrail Scout.

Very happy indeed:thumb:

I am pleased to hear that there are satisfied owners out there.
It just goes to show that they are not all bad.

Just my luck to get the ugly duckling.
If there was a raffle to win women I would probably win my mother. :Sad:




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[Scout]

I see on page 1 (many moons ago) that you exchanged an Elddis 155 for the Autotrail, we are at present looking at a new Majestic 155. I presume I don't need to ask if you still think it was a good decision ? We are drawn to the layout of an Autotrail but comments on this site have somewhat dampened our enthusiasm.

Please dont tare all units with the same brush, there many many happy autotrail owners on this forum, just ask.

I for one would buy another, no problem, but however I have never been a person to buy new or nearly new, older units dont seem to have same problems or perhaps they have been iorned out befor the second owner gets them?

I feel for the O/P I really do but I can honistly say my only problems have been with a faulty charger at about 7 years old and a small interiour panal that went a funny and the thin veneer peeled, and a pump go at 8 years. My m/o is 9 years next mouth I belive its as good as most on the road at that age.

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

We sell both brand new and pre-owned Autotrails, if we had problems we would not.

As to the last post about a side skirt coming off, I understand the supplying dealer was the last person to seal it, same as the door seals, not Autotrail.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Peter

 

[knokinonabit]

Please dont tare all units with the same brush, there many many happy autotrail owners on this forum, just ask.

I for one would buy another, no problem, but however I have never been a person to buy new or nearly new, older units dont seem to have same problems or perhaps they have been iorned out befor the second owner gets them?

I feel for the O/P I really do but I can honistly say my only problems have been with a faulty charger at about 7 years old and a small interiour panal that went a funny and the thin veneer peeled, and a pump go at 8 years. My m/o is 9 years next mouth I belive its as good as most on the road at that age.

As has been stated on an earlier post, I believe that the older models didn't have the same problems.
My cousin-in-law has an AutoTrail on an 03 plate and it is far better made than mine, which is a 2011 model.
Possibly something to do with Trigano taking over ?

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

I am pleased to hear that there are satisfied owners out there.
It just goes to show that they are not all bad.

Just my luck to get the ugly duckling.
If there was a raffle to win women I would probably win my mother. :Sad:
.

Personally if I could enter a raffle to win back my beloved mother, I would pay a million pounds plus for the winning ticket

Peter

 

[knokinonabit]

We sell both brand new and pre-owned Autotrails, if we had problems we would not.

As to the last post about a side skirt coming off, I understand the supplying dealer was the last person to seal it, same as the door seals, not Autotrail.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Peter

OK, stand corrected then.

The seals leaked from new and the side skirt was repaired by the dealer, the factory were the last people to touch it.

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