Hymer Dealerships - Anything Up?

[Blue Knight]

Until recently we had two Hymer dealers in the NE of England. They both started trading in the Hymer brand during late 2016 and 17 but they now appear to be moving away from Hymer.

One dealer took delivery of his initial Hymer stock for MY18, which, incidentaly, they really struggled to sell while for this year they have only received a PVC or two and an MLT, but nowt else.

The second dealer told me the other day that there was now a conflict of interests between their various suppliers and have subsequently stopped supplying the Hymer brand.

Our area is now reduced to Marquis and its bespoke offerings plus a smattering of Autotrail, Swift, Bailey, Chausson and Elddis brands between the other two dealerships.

Do you guys know if the Hymer profile is changing in the UK or is just my area that is reducing its Hymer stocks.

Regards,

Andrew

 

[klaatu]

Perhaps the the Thor takeover is changing the way Hymer operate in the UK?

 

[SpeedyDux]

Perhaps the the Thor takeover is changing the way Hymer operate in the UK?

Very likely. A new Group owner would look closely at the existing independent dealer network. I'm guessing that Thor might change things to ensure the Hymer factory is working at full capacity during the off season and make UK dealers hold more stock.

From experience I know that big US companies use very one-sided distribution agreements with minimum order requirements etc. and they tend to be take it or leave it. Expect pressure on dealers who would otherwise only sell a handful of Hymers each year to raise their game or be fired.

What happens to the Elddis / Explorer group that was taken over in 2017 and became Erwin Hymer Group UK is going to be interesting. Where does that fit into the Thor plans? Or might it be sold to a new owner to offset the Hymer acquisition cost? Thor has sold Roadtrek to Rapido.

Uncertain times for the UK motorhome and caravan industry.

 

[icantremember]

Until recently we had two Hymer dealers in the NE of England. They both started trading in the Hymer brand during late 2016 and 17 but they now appear to be moving away from Hymer.

Funny you should say that ... we were at the Norfolk show last week and I remarked to her ladyship that Becks were only showing two Hymers, one coachbuild and one pvc.

I wish now I had queried it with them at the time and will do next time we are at their place.

 

[icantremember]

I have just looked on Becks website, they are showing a number of new Hymers in stock but all showing Special Offer discounts.

Edit; maybe it's a B****T thing or the poor exchange rate.

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[Ivory55]

I guess the over a 100k market is a lot smaller than the 50 k market so less of that stock held

 

[Lenny HB]

Just had a look on our local dealer's site (Premier Motorhomes) Only two 2019 Hymers in stock both low profiles & nine 2018 models of which only 4 were A Class & none showing on their "Due In list."
Our Belgium dealer carries well over 50 in stock & when we have been there are transporters delivering more.

UK dealers appear very small compared to continental dealers perhaps they are deciding it's not worth their while with the small quantities shifted in the UK.

Maybe just me but whenever I look at Hymers in UK dealers they always appear to be an odd spec, options are chosen to add bling and raise the sale price rather than selling a more basic van at a sensible price. I don't want a crappy Zentec stereo at £3k or alloy wheels etc., but if spending that sort of money I do want an Auto box, not the manual that most UK dealer stock.

They say prices are harmonised but they charge £2000 delivery & on the road in the UK, continental delivery charge is €500 (which our dealer includes in the price) doesn't cost that much more to ship one across the channel. Also UK dealers won't give anything like the same discount levels and also rip you off with silly low trade in offers.

Looking at Premiers site the prices for Low profiles they have are far higher than what I paid for my A Class in Belgium, UK punters are just getting ripped off.
Dealers like to pretend Hymer are a high class brand and charge accordingly but they are not they are just a mid range van.

 

[Jaws]

It may well be that Hymer are now insisting dealers become solas same as a lot of car and bike manufacturers

 

[Theonlysue]

Camper UK could not sell hymer and cathargo as they are in competition with each other. But they do sell other hymer brands.

 

[Electraglide]

Southdowns sell Cathargo, Burstner, Laika ,Concorde and others. Recently they havr been selling new Hymers even though Premier are only a few miles away.

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[The Wino]

Maybe the previous owners absorbed some of the drop in the pound but the new ones are loking at trying to get the same wholesale prices in the UK as europe but that doesn't make sense if its cheaper to import privately!

 

[Paddywack]

Very likely. A new Group owner would look closely at the existing independent dealer network. I'm guessing that Thor might change things to ensure the Hymer factory is working at full capacity during the off season and make UK dealers hold more stock.

From experience I know that big US companies use very one-sided distribution agreements with minimum order requirements etc. and they tend to be take it or leave it. Expect pressure on dealers who would otherwise only sell a handful of Hymers each year to raise their game or be fired.

What happens to the Elddis / Explorer group that was taken over in 2017 and became Erwin Hymer Group UK is going to be interesting. Where does that fit into the Thor plans? Or might it be sold to a new owner to offset the Hymer acquisition cost? Thor has sold Roadtrek to Rapido.

Uncertain times for the UK motorhome and caravan industry.

Thor didn't sell Roadtrek, it was excluded from their purchase of Hymer due to a massive fraud unearthed during due diligence. It then went into administration and Rapido then stepped in to buy the assets, leaving existing Roadtrek owners worrying about warranties.

 

[Blue Knight]

Some really informative posts.

I initially thought that the change in profile could be due to my local dealers not being able to support the brand properly; i.e. it must be incredibly difficult for a dealer to adopt a single high value brand when they have been typically trading at the lower end of the marketplace.

I know of a few guys up here in the NE, including Funsters, who have been forced to purchase their new vans from the established southern dealers since the NE Hymer Dealerships were unable to provide any competitive PX costs etc. Perhaps it's a case whereby the Hymer brand looked favourable on paper but in reality it proved a bit too tough to manage and make profitable.

That being said; with what you guys have mentioned above it'll be interesting to see how this pans out for Hymer in the UK.

P.S. There's also a wee chance that Lenny's great advice on how to purchase vans abroad has single handedly reduced the UK sales market by c.30% Lenny HB

 

[bellabee]

We went for a mooch round Travel World a couple of weeks ago, and were struck by the low number of Hymers in stock. They seemed to have more new Dethleffs than Hymers. We guessed, at the time, that they had probably run down their Hymer stock in preparation for release of the 2020 models, in the autumn.
Whether it was 'sales pitch' or whether it was true, one of their salesmen told us that they anticipated an extra 10 per cent price increase, on top of the usual 2 per cent annual increase, post Br***t. Maybe he was hoping that we were going to put our hands in our pockets and buy one of their stock vans . A vain hope, as we have bought two new Hymers from Germany/Belgium.
He also told us that the company doesn't particularly regard Hymers as being 'price sensitive' . Well they are to us - hence our purchases abroad.
When we traded in our last LHD Hymer against the current one, we got around £6,000 more for it in part exchange in Belgium, than TW had offered us. This, combined with the lower headline price of the new van in Belgium, made it more than worth out while going through the self-import procedure.

 

[Buster30]

Which dealer in Belgium do you all use

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[sallylillian]

We went for a mooch round Travel World a couple of weeks ago, and were struck by the low number of Hymers in stock. They seemed to have more new Dethleffs than Hymers. We guessed, at the time, that they had probably run down their Hymer stock in preparation for release of the 2020 models, in the autumn.
Whether it was 'sales pitch' or whether it was true, one of their salesmen told us that they anticipated an extra 10 per cent price increase, on top of the usual 2 per cent annual increase, post Br***t. Maybe he was hoping that we were going to put our hands in our pockets and buy one of their stock vans . A vain hope, as we have bought two new Hymers from Germany/Belgium.
He also told us that the company doesn't particularly regard Hymers as being 'price sensitive' . Well they are to us - hence our purchases abroad.
When we traded in our last LHD Hymer against the current one, we got around £6,000 more for it in part exchange in Belgium, than TW had offered us. This, combined with the lower headline price of the new van in Belgium, made it more than worth out while going through the self-import procedure.

I had the same issue with TW when I was ordering my Flair in 2014. Then again when ordering my Morelo, UK dealers are a struggle and if you are prepared to manage the import process the savings are worth the effort. German dealers start negotiations as 12% disc. I think the risk of 10% import duty is creating some confusion. Also the German market is apparantly still on fire so stock may be difficult to get? Who knows?

 

[Theonlysue]

Which dealer in Belgium do you all use

Campirama comes up a lot in Belgium.

 

[Lenny HB]

Campirama comes up a lot in Belgium.

They are the one & only Hymer dealer in Belgium, also the sole importer for Corado but they sell them on to other dealers as well.

 

[Lenny HB]

When we traded in our last LHD Hymer against the current one, we got around £6,000 more for it in part exchange in Belgium, than TW had offered us. This, combined with the lower headline price of the new van in Belgium, made it more than worth out while going through the self-import procedure

Got £12k more for our trade in than UK dealer offered and with the big discount saved £25k on the deal. What's not to like about importing.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

The price is too high for what you actually get , the newer ones are not much better than anything else at the higher end. The delivery charges and the price in UK are much higher than the rest of Europe. My model rose 13000 after the pound dropped from 1.4 to 1.01 not all exchange rate but a hefty (greedy) price increase as well. If I ever was in the market for another I would go to Campirama, I like the way they treated me when I visited them and the showroom was MUCH better than here as they are only a normal dealer for the area, They are also much closed to me than any UK dealer.
Brexit might scupper the self import path though, or pay VAT twice unless a dealis made.

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