Dealer Recommendations; Sussex, Kent and Surrey (1 Viewer)

Andy H

Free Member
Sep 18, 2016
63
72
East Sussex, UK
Funster No
45,176
MH
IH Tio Savanah PVC
Exp
Newbie
We are currently looking for our first Moho, and will probably buy from a dealer in the hope of a bit of aftersales service if there are any issues.

Our two nearest dealers are Marquis and Stewart Mouland, neither of which seem to have very good reputations.

So, has anyone got and experience, good or bad, of these or any others in the area? For example;

Choose Leisure
Kent Motorhomes
JC Leisure
Michael Jordan
Meridan Motorhomes

or any others that we might not know about. I know Johns Cross have a good reputation, and we check their site often, but so far haven't seen anything we'd be interested in.

If we have to, we will travel further, but would prefer not to have to go up to the midlands or the west country for obvious reasons.

Thanks

Andy
 

EyUp

Free Member
Jul 3, 2016
260
396
Yorkshireman living in Surrey
Funster No
43,888
MH
Majestic 180
Exp
newbie
We are not far from Michael Jordan so we popped in a few times when we started looking. Dont seem to have a great deal in stock. Lots of swifts obviously and a few second hand that didnt do the trick for us. Tons of caravans though.

We ended up buying from Marquis in Sussex. So far so good, of course the real test is the after sales if we get any probs ! We shall see. We dealt with a chap called Adam. He isnt on commission so we didn't get the hard sell and didnt feel pressured at all. He answered all our questions and allowed us to take our time. The van was prepped on the date booked and we had a good handover. Like I said, so far so good from Marquis Sussex.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Nov 17, 2015
41
6
Hampshire
Funster No
40,250
MH
Pilote G600L
Exp
2 Years
If you are happy to travel to Southampton or Christchurch I can highly recommend Dolphin, I've bought from Dolphin Christchurch and they have been excellent on both sales and after service.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Jun 20, 2011
85
153
Kent
Funster No
16,988
MH
Coachbuilt
Exp
Since 2015
We bought our Roller Team from JC Leisure and was very pleased with the service we got.
 
Upvote 0
OP
OP
A

Andy H

Free Member
Sep 18, 2016
63
72
East Sussex, UK
Funster No
45,176
MH
IH Tio Savanah PVC
Exp
Newbie
Thanks for your comments, they're very helpful.

Southampton wouldn't be to bad. I guess we'd rather travel a bit and buy from a reputable dealer than a dodgy dealer nearer home. We've been to Marquis a few times to have a nose round. Most of the time we've been completely ignored. The Sussex branch never seem to have anything in our price range anyway. We went to Stewart Mouland once. They did have some decent vehicles, but they also had a couple of shockers. It had the feel of a less glamorous used car lot.

Andy
 
Upvote 0
Jan 22, 2013
1,246
58,420
London SE
Funster No
24,385
MH
A class Adria vision I707
Exp
since 1971
another recommendation for Premier motors Chichester, they couldn't have been more helpful with our purchase 3 years ago,

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Jun 16, 2013
1,228
820
Wiltshire
Funster No
26,522
MH
Low Profile Hymer CL 554
Exp
Since May 2014
Maybe a bit too far but we have had great service from Highbridge somerset. I personally prefer to be ignored until i want to talk to someone. I don't like being hassled and like looking around myself. In fact the sales people at Highbridge are like that you get lots of time to look around and when you want to speak they are very helpful.
 
Upvote 0
May 23, 2013
1,781
2,814
Not on the Coast East Sussex
Funster No
26,142
MH
Hymer B504
Exp
Since 2013
I would recommend Choose Leisure, when we purchased our used motorhome they were helpful, not pushy and the after sales was great when we had a couple of niggling issues just before our first big trip. Wayne the salesman was an ex-traffic cop so was really good during the couple of test drives we had as I was not used to driving a large vehicle and he was patient enough to assist when we almost cancelled the 3 month trip.
 
Upvote 0

JimJams

Free Member
Aug 29, 2013
249
377
East Sussex / Kent
Funster No
27,796
MH
RV, A Class
Exp
since 2003
Johns Cross really is a good firm as you already know, just keep an eye on their stock?

Stewart Mouland a friend of mine purchased a van from them and they were really good he said. We have done some work for them with our mobile units in the past but personally I have never purchased a van from them as yet..

The trouble is what ever dealer you intend to purchase from will always have a customer with a tail or two!!

Good luck with your van search (y)..

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Nov 10, 2012
900
8,542
Lincolnshire, UK
Funster No
23,638
MH
Just looking
Exp
2007
John Cross for me too, cant fault them. If your having work done you have a CC site within 2 miles , drop your van off then go into Hastings or Battle.:)
Enjoy your search.
 
Upvote 0

teensvan99

Free Member
May 17, 2015
231
250
Margate
Funster No
36,402
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
2005
Webbs. Very helpful and got good price on our old Burstner we fulltimed in for over 7 years

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Apr 29, 2009
1,193
725
West Sussex
Funster No
6,505
MH
Burstner Nexxo T740
Exp
since 2008
I would say dont limit yourself to local dealers - we live in West Sussex and have bought our Motorhomes from as far away as Newark and Taunton. It depends what you are looking for of course. We have been lucky it seems with our choice of dealers (although in our case it was the vans we chose rather than the Dealers)

We bought a Swift from Maquis in Sussex and had an issue with the step which they fixed, however they wouldnt look at an issue with the Bessacarr (purchased elsewhere) and we ended up at Johns Cross (we have not bought from them but have had work done on a couple of our Vans and always had goods service.)

Not so local dealers - we seem to like the initials SMC - we have bought from SMC Newark - the Bessacarr had a couple of issues which we had to return to them with. Its a fair old trek but we were in a lovely motorhome! They even went halves with us when we had the overcab condensation fix from Johns Cross without getting the ok from them.
SMC Maidenhead - they gave us a px price for our Rapido and were nice Guys to deal with. We went to look at a Swift Bolero 680fb and came away with a Hymer B634 which didnt need any aftersales so cant comment on them for that.
SMC Taunton - our latest baby - we only went in for some toilet blue and came away with a Vanatage Cub. No pressure selling and a good px price for the Bessacarr. Aftersales - when we picked it up we noticed there was a dink in the rear we hadnt noticed. No problem they said get a quote locally which we did and they paid to have it repaired. Last week the fuel filter gave up on us and again the work was done locally and the cheque arrived a couple of days later.

Other Dealers we have bought from - Hayes Leisure Nr Birmingham - excellent people to deal with - good px for the Swift and they replaced the Shower Tray in the Rapido under warranty and lent us a courtesy car for the day while the work was being done.
Wellsbridge - probably one I wouldnt go back to but it was our own fault - bought a Carioca 656 as we wanted a six berth but it wasnt up to the job - I uprated it to 3700kg to enable us to carry passengers but we didnt like it. We ended up selling it back to them after a couple of months and it cost us about 5k. Having said that they replaced the EGR Valve even though it wasnt covered by the Warranty.
 
Upvote 0
OP
OP
A

Andy H

Free Member
Sep 18, 2016
63
72
East Sussex, UK
Funster No
45,176
MH
IH Tio Savanah PVC
Exp
Newbie
Thank you all for your replies. They have been very helpful. I guess it sort of shows that most dealers are capable of providing good service, but that maybe sometimes they fall short a bit. So far no one has mentioned any real negatives which is re-assuring. I'd worried a bit that when I started this thread I would end up with string of bad reviews, people are more likely to post about bad experience than good. At least it seems as though there are no real Arthur Daly's locally. We have a pretty good idea of what we want so these comments give us the confidence to look at a local dealers should the right vehicle come up. If we haven't found the right vehicle fairly locally be the end of October I think we will end up extending the search area up to the Midlands and down to Exeter. Best scenario would be vehicle from Johns Cross, we'll keep looking.

Mr Colpot, you seem to have had an awful lot of vehicles, just how many vans Moho's have you had?

Thanks again

Andy
 
Upvote 0
Apr 29, 2009
1,193
725
West Sussex
Funster No
6,505
MH
Burstner Nexxo T740
Exp
since 2008
Mr Colpot, you seem to have had an awful lot of vehicles, just how many vans Moho's have you had?

Thanks again

Andy
Hi Andy
Since getting our first proper MH in 2008 we have had nine. (I didnt realise it was that many until I wrote them all down!)
Colin

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

Mother Ship

LIFE MEMBER
Feb 21, 2011
434
982
Jersey
Funster No
15,393
MH
Pilote 626D
Exp
Since 1986
Another recommendation for Premier motors Chichester, we have never bought a van from them but have ours serviced and habitation check done there every year - extremely thorough and care about their customers. Sorted many problems on van we asked to be sorted and found other little things that we hadn't and put right. As you can see not near where we live -Jersey but come to UK specially once a year to go to them.
 
Upvote 0
OP
OP
A

Andy H

Free Member
Sep 18, 2016
63
72
East Sussex, UK
Funster No
45,176
MH
IH Tio Savanah PVC
Exp
Newbie
Hi Andy
Since getting our first proper MH in 2008 we have had nine. (I didnt realise it was that many until I wrote them all down!)
Colin

Blimey, that's more than 1 every year, hopefully we won't feel the need to change ours quite so often.

Thanks for the other comments as well, they all help.

Andy
 
Upvote 0

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top