Getting a privately purchased Motorhome serviced/warranty work

[Bedspring]

Good morning Funsters,
I am still looking at my options of which motor home to buy and moving towards a purchase with glacial slowness.

One of my favoured options is to look for a private seller with an M/H less than a year old. There are a number of reasons why I think I may find a good deal here, however I thought of potential problem.

I was looking at brand new ones and the salesperson out right said that they will only do warranty work on homes they have sold, so Mr customer do not think that saving £x on a home from a dealer a 100 miles a way is such a good plan. A reasonable if slightly dodgy strategy buy the dealer, I am sure that if the bigger car industry tried this they would get their ass kicked.

Anyway thats the world as it is, and at 56 I am not going to try and change it. However say I do buy a 6 month old M/H will even the original dealer want to deal with warranty stuff and how about servicing ?
Cheers Beds

 

[GAVLAD]

It may be a tough one to crack.
My parents and sisters family are big caravaners and the caravan dealers are the same (majority anyway) when it comes to warranty work - unless you bought 5he van from them, they won’t take on the warranty work.

How about ringing some of the dealers and attacking it from a servicing point of view?
Tell them you have got a van and want to bring it to them for servicing and habitation and then ask if they also do work under warranty?
The sales dept will always pull every string to try persuade you to buy from them.
The service department of the business may be totally different.
You can’t kid me that every Motorhome dealership with a servicing garage is fully booked in mid week November & December and they’ll know that.
Also, there’s a number of independent garages who advertise to carry out manufacturers warranty work, so don’t be put off.
Plus, you can independently buy a warranty from a company like RAC (Oak Tree Motorhomes Notts use them) or Black Horse. I think you’ve got to have it fully serviced and Hab check to keep it valid.

Have you settled on a particular make/model? - why don’t you contact the manufacturer and ask them for a list of garages/dealers?

My Motorhome was advertised privately but the seller put me off by sending me stock photos of it off the internet instead of actual photos of his Motorhome. He couldn’t sell it and so placed it with a dealer, who was terrible to deal with but I ended up buying from them as I wanted a warranty. It was advertised as having a warranty included but upon paying the balance after paying the deposit the week prior, they then told me what the warranty included and wanted to upsell to the gold standard cover - which I ended up paying for as this level is what I called a warranty. But they way they went about it, I haven’t used them for any after work since.
So my advice is do your homework on the dealer warranty as to what’s covered too.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Opinion- and its ONLY my opinion because you have asked, it is unlikely that you will find a "receptive" dealer to do warranty work on any motorhome that they have not supplied
Bear in mind you are only talking habitation work- because they will refer you to Fiat/Ford/Other for any mechanical issues in any case
( You will also be extremely lucky to drop on the correct example that is almost new in any case)

Don't buy the WRONG one because it is £5000 " cheap"........'cos it's not cheap in the end

Again, if warranty is a concern/tickle/other....buy locally and beat the dealer up as much as possible. There are savings to be had, but beware of "Demos" that have done only 200 miles but 20 shows
Best of luck

 

[Spriddler]

Judging by all the reports of extensive warranty work needed on new m/h's I'd have thought that the last thing a dealer would want would be for the buyer to bring it back to him to sort out.
Surely the base vehicle stuff could be done under warranty by a (Fiat/Ford etc) main dealer. The habitation checks stipulated under the warranty are probably the stumbling block for a new m/h, although aren't some mobile servicing chaps 'approved' by manufacturers? I've used a really first class mobile firm for my m/h and my son's caravan who (obviously) comes to wherever they are parked (both of them at my home in my case).
It's time the manufacturers approved and published a list of their qualifying repair/service garages although they probably won't unless the market for new motorhomes weakens.

 

[Simon Select]

Interesting thread!

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[thebriars]

You might think it sensible to buy a 6 month old van , but maybe not such a good idea! We've given up caravanning and gone over to motorhoming. Our last caravan was so badly built that we got our money back on it eventually. However, I do know it ended up of another dealer's forecourt with none of the repairs carried out. He returned it and it ended up on a third dealer's forecourt with none of the repairs carried out. he was unwise enough to think a quick fiddle by the dealer would put everything right.

The moral of this is, if one has a good van one doesn't get rid of it after a short time. Yes there genuine reasons why people sell early but there are also the lemons out there!

Frankly you are going to pay a lot for a newish motorhome, and even if it is a 100 mile round trip, then bite the bullet.

 

[bobandjanie]

I know it's a different ball game in the UK, but we purchased a 11 month old motorhome in Germany imported into Spain and the main light inside started going off and on, contacted Pilote they said it's still under warranty take it to your nearest Pilote dealer, in our case was alicante, they looked at it, and ordered the parts, when we took it in to be done, they did all the inside lights and the outside one above the door.
So in our case great service, and can't fault them, but sounds very different with UK dealers, might be better to ask the manufacturers the same question. Bob.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

I think the issue with UK dealers is that the "Retail Rate" that they charge for MoHo work is , say, £100 per hour (guessing) and they are full to the brim with work that gets paid tomorrow
The warranty rate (paid in 3 months) by the manufacturer is probably half that if they are lucky

Warranty work generated by themselves they deal with, reluctantly, and probably categorise as an occupational hazard (on the back of them having made a dealer-profit on a sale)
I can understand why they wouldn't want to do work ( another dealer's occupational hazard) who did a cheap sale knowing you were 300 miles away

 

[TheDogMan]

I bought mine from Oaktree, its was 3 years old and Oaktree put 3 years RAC warranty on it, I have had a few small problems and had to have a complete new opening roof hatch in the overcab, they had it in workshop quickly and they dealt with the warranty claim. all I had to do was sign the claim form, price on any van is important BUT warranty repairs & service is really the No1 priority.

 

[rickwiggans]

Car franchises are contracted to do warranty work for any customer. The majority of caravan and motorhome dealers aren't. This side of the industry needs to catch up! There are exceptions. Rapido for one. The low rate that the manufacturers pay for warranty work is one of the reasons dealers won't do work if not bought from them.

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[tonka]

Motorhomes numbers are a fra

I think the issue with UK dealers is that the "Retail Rate" that they charge for MoHo work is , say, £100 per hour (guessing) and they are full to the brim with work that gets paid tomorrow
The warranty rate (paid in 3 months) by the manufacturer is probably half that if they are lucky

Warranty work generated by themselves they deal with, reluctantly, and probably categorise as an occupational hazard (on the back of them having made a dealer-profit on a sale)
I can understand why they wouldn't want to do work ( another dealer's occupational hazard) who did a cheap sale knowing you were 300 miles away

If you had a nail then I think you have hit it straight on the head and knocked it out..

In fact I know your right as I have heard a dealer say it..

As much as I know Autotrail get slagged off, at least if the hab checks are all up to date the factory will honour the 10 year ingress warranty.. Thats the only reason i sat with my Watertrail for so long.
I NOW HAVE A BURSTNER...

 

[TheBig1]

Don't forget that along with dealers there are manufacturers accredited workshops. I have used a couple of local workshops over the years to get warranty work done. No hassle of "we didn't sell it, so won't fix it" they will book you in, but there is often a wait in the summer.

 

[Bedspring]

Thank you for all the replies.
I kind of get the sense that the whole industry is a bunch of cowboys and sharks.

The Motorhome builders quite often turn out shoddy stuff.
The dealers are dodgy geezers who have no interest in after sales and want to make private sales as hard as possible.
And that the manufacturers are quite happy for the dealers to act in this way as it puts a firewall between them and the consumer.


I will research local workshops also and if I consider a 6 month old s/h van I will contact the manufacturer and locate a local workshops and have a chat with them.

I do detect a certain arrogance in the motorhome trade as it is booming, but I have been round long enough to know things are cyclical and booms go bust.

 

[Spriddler]

I think the issue with UK dealers is that the "Retail Rate" that they charge for MoHo work is , say, £100 per hour (guessing) and they are full to the brim with work that gets paid tomorrow
The warranty rate (paid in 3 months) by the manufacturer is probably half that if they are lucky

Simple economics. Evidently it is more cost-effective for a manufacturer to pay a dealer £50 an hour to correct faults under warranty than it is to make it correctly in the first place.

 

[Southdowners]

I kind of get the sense that the whole industry is a bunch of cowboys and sharks.

The Motorhome builders quite often turn out shoddy stuff.
The dealers are dodgy geezers who have no interest in after sales and want to make private sales as hard as possible.

There are very good dealerships and there are very bad ones. Personally speaking we have had experience of both types of dealership and the difference between them is staggering. It really does pay to check user reviews before stepping into a showroom.

I think buying from a dealer, whilst more expensive than a private purchase, is well worth it. No matter how expensive the motorhome there will be issues that need to be rectified. Having a good dealership backup is worth the additional cost in my view.

There is a dealership review section on this forum which may be of help to you.

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[Cheshirecat57]

Thank you for all the replies.
I kind of get the sense that the whole industry is a bunch of cowboys and sharks.

The Motorhome builders quite often turn out shoddy stuff.
The dealers are dodgy geezers who have no interest in after sales and want to make private sales as hard as possible.
And that the manufacturers are quite happy for the dealers to act in this way as it puts a firewall between them and the consumer.


I will research local workshops also and if I consider a 6 month old s/h van I will contact the manufacturer and locate a local workshops and have a chat with them.

I do detect a certain arrogance in the motorhome trade as it is booming, but I have been round long enough to know things are cyclical and booms go bust.

Unfortunately, i don't think you are far off the mark. Ido have a little sympathy for the "good" dealers who get lumped together with the ordinary /poor ones

It's a symptom and hazard of our hobby, if your eyes are wide open,as your's are, then choose to partake or not
i feel sorry for the people whos expectations and thousands of pounds are dashed by poor advice

Easy for me, I'm cynical about everything and comfortable with it

 

[eddie]

Thank you for all the replies.
I kind of get the sense that the whole industry is a bunch of cowboys and sharks.

Why because a business doesn't want to carry out work for you, that they may not get paid for? That makes them a cowboy?

Of course you could pay the "Cowboys" for your warranty work and then claim it back yourself, but you probably wouldn't like the sound of that, possibly being out of pocket, which is the reason of course that the "cowboys" don't want to get involved either.

The Motorhome builders quite often turn out shoddy stuff.

Which ones in particular? I bought my latest van about a year ago and am delighted with it, no shoddyness at all

The dealers are dodgy geezers who have no interest in after sales and want to make private sales as hard as possible.

Why on Earth would a sales company try to promote private sales, that would be illogical so how does that make them "dodgy"?

 

[Bedspring]

Which ones in particular? I bought my latest van about a year ago and am delighted with it, no shoddyness at all

Non in particular, but responses to this thread and from reading Motor Home fun, many people seem to say that its better to get an older van as the original purchasers have sorted the problems.
However its great that you have had no problems, it is how it should be.

 

[eddie]

To be honest the vast majority of all motorhomes manufactured are fine. Yes there are bound to be some issues, but I have been very lucky and have had a new van every couple of years or so for nearly 30 years and I have never had a lemon. The problem is with social media that when someone does have a problem it gets posted and re-posted, quoted and referred to for ever and a day.

If everyone that bought their new motorhome posted to say that it was what they wanted, as they expected and that everything was fine, the forums and FB would be clogged up with boring, unreadable stuff.

Working in the industry, I can't think of a single mainstream manufacturer that I would avoid buying a van from. I admit that there are vans that I wouldn't buy based on spec, size and layout, but that is a personal thing.

The only manufacturers I would avoid would be the smaller ones, that have gone bust, resurfaced and done the same again as it shows, sometimes several times as it shows a lack of business acumen and ethics which would worry me as a customer.

But then what do I know, I normally buy Yanks having always loved them from a lad!