Warranty Support for imported Motorhomes - any user feedback? (1 Viewer)

[Bustup15]

This is a carry over of a thread I started in the newbies section. Apologies for the long screed belwo but £80k is a large investment ands we have no experience of motorhome market. (Have had tourers, yachts, static caravans but no motorhome).

I want to purchase a LHD as intend to spend most of time in Europe and it seems to make sense. I was looking at the Mobilvetta 80 with rear lounge and drop down beds front and rear. I incorrectly assumed, as it turned out, that Marquis being part of the same ultimate group as Mobilvetta would honour any warranty work irrespective of where the vehicle was sourced.

Marquis at first gave me a total NO CHANCE, but when I emailed them again and outlined the ownership position they reconsidered and said if Mobilvetta would also confirm, then they WOULD honour and carry out any warranty and servicing work.

Received a phone call this morning to say Mobilvetta had failed to honour this and their standpoint is warranty only applies to the original country of purchase. Any required works - return the vehicle to original supplier.

QUESTIONS
1. Is this the same for other manufacturers?
2. Anyone any good or bad experiences of importing and having warranty work carried out? How does it work in practice, I suppose spending lots of time in Europe it may be easier to get warranty work doen there than purchasing in the UK and having to return for work to be carried out?
3. Any recommendations for 'good/supportive' manufacturers or dealers on the above basis?
4. Anyone got direct experience of Mobilvetta and Marquis - I can't see many reports on the forums but found a facebook group where generally owners like/love the model range but quality of original supply has been indifferent and warranty rectification times seem to be horrendous.
OR
Is this the norm for the motorhome market and Marquis/Mobilvetta are comparable to others in the same industry?

 

[DavidG58]

My view on it would be get any work done on it while you are already abroad

It is likely that any parts needed would need to be imported if done here (even if they would) and the delay could be huge

It does seem fair to me TBH warranty at least in country of purchase

Although I would also expect that the chassis side of things will have a full european warranty, presuming you are talking about new

 

[Bobby22]

Some dealers of British motorhomes will not touch warranty work of other supplying dealers. Even from other British suppliers.
Even if you return it to the supplying dealer you can have problems as the manufacturer will specify the time and hourly rate they will give for a specific job and if the supplying dealer disagrees with these figures you may be asked to make up the difference.

Warranty work is a minefield make sure you ask your supplier the ins and outs.
Some dealers will approve another repairer to do the work nearer home.

As i said it is a minefield, in a recent survey on this forum over 60%% of dealer supplied motorhomes had problems after delivery.

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[tonka]

AFAIK.. Even in UK law and your rights here, any initial guarantee / warranty work would be the responsibility of the selling dealer.. You often here stories about UK sales and brands such as Autotrail and others where dealers just wont do any work if they have not supplied the vehicle. Even warranty claim work is hard to get resolved with the supplying dealer as the manufacturer pays far less in labour charges, so if they are busy with their own work you will go to the bottom of the list..

 

[Speve]

We are on our second imported Hymer and I was able to get warranty work done in the Uk I approached Premier Motorhomes and explained my situation they were and are very helpful and as long as I didn’t expect to turn up and get work sorted immediately, they did any work required.
They did stress that the have to give priority to their own sales first but would do any work for us, the other thing that was mentioned was that Hymer were very slow at paying their dealers for warranty work and this does put a strain on them when people who have not purchased from them want warranty work carried out which is quite understandable.
My philosophy is to approach a dealer close by and be patient! It has worked for us.

 

[Wagoneer]

We are on our second imported Hymer and I was able to get warranty work done in the Uk I approached Premier Motorhomes and explained my situation they were and are very helpful and as long as I didn’t expect to turn up and get work sorted immediately, they did any work required.
They did stress that the have to give priority to their own sales first but would do any work for us, the other thing that was mentioned was that Hymer were very slow at paying their dealers for warranty work and this does put a strain on them when people who have not purchased from them want warranty work carried out which is quite understandable.
My philosophy is to approach a dealer close by and be patient! It has worked for us.

I seem to remember Premier had a test case a few years ago regarding warranty work on an imported Hymer.

It was eventually resolved after the intervention of Hymer HQ. I guess they now feel obliged to honour warranty work for vehicles purchased elsewhere......but you end up at the back of the queue.

I purchased a new LHD Hymer in Germany and just incorporated a visit to the German dealer in my holiday plans. I negotiated a 10% discount on the vehicle plus any extras fitted. They know you won't be back every 5 minutes to have things fixed - hence, they were happy to give a discount.

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[Lenny HB]

German vans normally have a pan European warranty but UK dealers are loathed to honour it even though it is part of their franchise agreement.
Our last Hymer Premier were very good current one not so helpful and want you to wait 3 months for an appointment. Easier to take the van back to Belgium.

This sort of thing doesn't happen on the continent go to any Hymer dealer in Germany and they are happy to help.

 

[ChrisL]

For reviews on Marquis Leisure see here

 

[funflair]

German vans normally have a pan European warranty but UK dealers are loathed to honour it even though it is part of their franchise agreement.
Our last Hymer Premier were very good current one not so helpful and want you to wait 3 months for an appointment. Easier to take the van back to Belgium.

This sort of thing doesn't happen on the continent go to any Hymer dealer in Germany and they are happy to help.

Maybe they thought if they looked after you you might buy your next van off them

Martin

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[Lenny HB]

Maybe they thought if they looked after you you might buy your next van off them

Martin

Could be but no chance at there prices.
Also all of the good staff that were helpful are now at Reliance who are independent but do servicing & warranty work for Carthago & N&B. you

 

[funflair]

Could be but no chance at there prices.
Also all of the good staff that were helpful are now at Reliance who are independent but do servicing & warranty work for Carthago & N&B. you

I wondered if Reliance might be something to do with it.

Martin

 

[Speve]

German vans normally have a pan European warranty but UK dealers are loathed to honour it even though it is part of their franchise agreement.
Our last Hymer Premier were very good current one not so helpful and want you to wait 3 months for an appointment. Easier to take the van back to Belgium.

This sort of thing doesn't happen on the continent go to any Hymer dealer in Germany and they are happy to help.

That’s what I think we will be doing as we travel accross the channel regularly and it would be easy to incorporate into a jolly.

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[cornish boy]

German vans normally have a pan European warranty but UK dealers are loathed to honour it even though it is part of their franchise agreement.

I dont know the relationship between the various German manufacturers and the UK sales network but would suggest some manufacturers will have a UK dealer network and enjoy european wide warranty cover, whereas I expect some manufacturers will have chosen to supply a UK distributor who most likely buys them free of warranty in-lieu of extra discount and therefore will only cover warranty for UK sold and supplied product and have no interest in supporting EU supplied product unless the manufacturer makes it financially worth their while to manage and process.