Damp staining in a used motorhome

[cmac160]

Hi, this is my first post here.

 

I went to see a used motorhome, a two year old Elddis Majestic 120, the version of the Accordo supplied by Marquis. It has signs of water ingress over the door, with tide marks on the fabric wall covering and a portion of the veneer has curled back. There is some evidence of ingress further back, on the walls inside the cupboards on the door side.

 

The vehicle has, I'm told, passed a habitation check and, to be fair, there is no active sign of dampness in the area - the fabric is all dry and there is no sign of mould. Slighly suprised it wasn't picked up in the check, but maybe that's how it goes.

 

I have contacted Marquis to find out if this would be repairable under a warranty claim. While I wait for their response, would a warranty fix normally deal with this properly or is the likely outcome that someone squeezes some silicone along the seam and says 'that's it done'. Would the warranty claim deal with restoring the interior to as-new condition, or does the warranty only apply to the external shell?

 

Basically I have to decide if it's worth buying the vehicle with a discount that recognises the hassle of going through a warranty claim process. The sensible thing would likely be to just walk away, but if the warranty claim goes ahead and the fix is done well then walking away means I got a motorhome that is the spec I want and at a price that works for me.

 

Does anyone have experience of Marquis and their warranty handling that would suggest one way or another?

[EJB]

Marquis don't always get good reports.

Elddis do tend to suffer more problems than most.

A £10 damp meter will answer one question....'Is it damp?'

The repair option is a gamble!

 

 

 

[stevec176]

Why didn't the original owner get it sorted before selling it? Sounds a bit iffy to me but good luck.

[Fred Duck]

I've been told off for my comments about Marquis in the past but I'll risk it again. Don't walk away from the van, run - as fast and as far away as you can. My experience is such that hell will freeze over before I'd consider dealing with them again.

 

FD

[Brian Kirby]

cmac160 - 2021-04-15 10:26 AM

 

Hi, this is my first post here.

 

I went to see a used motorhome, a two year old Elddis Majestic 120, the version of the Accordo supplied by Marquis. It has signs of water ingress over the door, with tide marks on the fabric wall covering and a portion of the veneer has curled back. There is some evidence of ingress further back, on the walls inside the cupboards on the door side.

 

The vehicle has, I'm told, passed a habitation check and, to be fair, there is no active sign of dampness in the area - the fabric is all dry and there is no sign of mould. Slighly suprised it wasn't picked up in the check, but maybe that's how it goes.

 

I have contacted Marquis to find out if this would be repairable under a warranty claim. While I wait for their response, would a warranty fix normally deal with this properly or is the likely outcome that someone squeezes some silicone along the seam and says 'that's it done'. Would the warranty claim deal with restoring the interior to as-new condition, or does the warranty only apply to the external shell?

 

Basically I have to decide if it's worth buying the vehicle with a discount that recognises the hassle of going through a warranty claim process. The sensible thing would likely be to just walk away, but if the warranty claim goes ahead and the fix is done well then walking away means I got a motorhome that is the spec I want and at a price that works for me.

 

Does anyone have experience of Marquis and their warranty handling that would suggest one way or another?

As you are looking at the van at Marquis, and as it is a Marquis "special", I assume it will have originally been supplied by Marquis. As it is two years old, I assume it has only one previous owner.

 

Current Elddis vans have a 10 year water ingress warranty - don't know whether this was the case in (I assume) 2019, but would be surprised if it was less than 5 years, so in nay event the warranty should still be valid - providing the van has had all the warranty conditions regarding damp tests and servicing fully met during the past two years. Marquis can readily confirm this.

 

That being the (assumed) case, I'm a bit surprised Marquis have not taken the initiative and had the faults fixed under warranty, and put it up for sale in "as new" condition.

 

So, has the first owner invalidated the warranty? Is the Marquis warranty on the same terms as the Elddis warranty? From what you have said it seems the leakage has been quite persistent, and involves a greater area than just around to door. So, possibly, an inadequately fitted (third party fitted?) awning, and the ingress is via the awing fixings, for which neither Marquis nor Elddis will take responsibility under warranty?

 

Simple test. Ask Marquis to get the repair carried out themselves - and then you'll consider buying the van. Once (if) it's fixed, you can use the fact that it has suffered leakage damage to knock the price back, and you get a fully repaired van to use.

 

But, first try to establish where the water was getting in and also get up some steps to inspect the roof for damage that Marquis may not have, er, "noticed". :-) If you buy it and then discover roof damage, good luck with trying to persuade Marquis that the damage was there when they sold it!! :-D Take a few pictures of it as it is now, so that you can prove its condition before the repairs, in case they cock it up and then deny its condition before they started.

 

Also, make clear that if you do agree to buy, it will be on condition that you are completely satisfied with the standard of the repair. You may even find they walk away at that point! What's to lose?

[TeamRienza]

You may need to confirm that any warranties on the van carry over from the original owner to any subsequent owner.

 

Davy

[Derek Uzzell]

Details of the Elddis warranty can be viewed here

 

https://elddis.co.uk/help-support/warranty

 

I’d expect the terms, conditions and scope to apply to 2019 motorhome models including those that were ‘Marquis labelled’. (Warranty transfer of ownership is covered in the final section.)

[cmac160]

stevec176 - 2021-04-15 12:34 PM

 

Why didn't the original owner get it sorted before selling it? Sounds a bit iffy to me but good luck.

He gave the impression of being surprised by the damp staining when I pointed it out. Impossible to know if that is genuine or not, of course, but he's getting the people who did the habitation check back in to look at it and comment.

[cmac160]

Brian Kirby - 2021-04-15 1:09 PM

As you are looking at the van at Marquis, and as it is a Marquis "special", I assume it will have originally been supplied by Marquis. As it is two years old, I assume it has only one previous owner.

It's a private sale, so Marquis are not currently involved.

 

I got a reply from Marquis when I asked if this kind of repair would be covered by warranty, but the reply was a generic "we only just started back on April 12th and we have lots of email and deferred jobs to work through." It didn't say "go away and leave us alone", but it may as well have done.

 

I will think about calling Marquis to get them to confirm if the warranty is at least still valid, based on what they know of the vehicle. That would be a start, at least.

[Brian Kirby]

Sorry, in reading your OP I obviously put two and two together and got five! :-)

 

There should be a warranty booklet of some sort with the vehicle documentation. It would be wise to check whether that coincides with those currently available on the web. If you go back to check, see if you can get a look at the roof while there, even with binoculars from an upstairs window.

 

There is usually a quite strict procedure for checking vehicles covered by water ingress warranties, that will involve at least an annual damp check to be carried out only by specified people, within a specified time window from first registration or delivery, usually to be recorded on the manufacturer's vehicle database and/or in the warranty booklet itself, possibly along with a habitation service or similar. If any of these dates or activities have not been met or carried out as specified it is likely the warranty will be void, leaving the owner liable for the full cost of repair/reinstatement.

 

Don't forget that with a private sale you will have no comeback on the seller under consumer legislation.

 

It seems odd that the present owner hasn't had the work carried out under warranty, which makes me wonder why. After all, it would cost them nothing more than the effort, and would reinstate the full value of the vehicle. I just wonder, therefore, why this avenue has not been followed, and whether the warranty has been voided.

 

Do you know where the van was bought? Perhaps the selling Marquis branch might be able to add some detail on the vehicle history?

[charleydog]

They should have dealt with this before offering for sale.Buy it,and you will have an uphill task dealing with Marquis. Had a hard time with them some years ago,never again!.WALK AWAY! Marquis probably gave the last owner a bad trade-in figure,was accepted to avoid hassle

[Derek Uzzell]

The motorhome being discussed is a (presumably 2019 model) Elddis Majestic 120 - a ‘dealer special’ version of the Elddis Accordo 120 model and sold through Marquis dealerships.

 

Marquis Leisure is part of the Trigano Group, while Elddis is part of the Ermin Hymer Group. Despite having been originally sold though a Marquis dealership, the Majestic 120 is an Elddis product and, if cmac160 buys the motothome privately and subsequently attempts to make an under-warranty claim, it’s Elddis that would need to ne contacted to authorise (or refuse) payment for the work.

 

I provided above a link to the Elddis warranty that has been in force since 2012. The terms and conditions of the water ingress and body integrity warranty are clearly stated, as are the requirements for transferring any unexpired period of warranty cover. In this instance, the following transfer of ownership conditions would apply

 

- A maximum of Six Years' Water Ingress and Body Integrity Warranty

 

The warranty is subject to the usual terms and conditions set out in the handbook and is only transferable on payment of a £50 administration fee. Full documentary evidence that the caravan or motorhome has been serviced annually should be provided at the time of transfer, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the warranty stated in the handbook. Transfer of ownership must be completed within three months of change of legal ownership. Please complete the Notification of Change of Ownership form in your handbook.

 

Just because the Elddis Majestic 120 model was originally sold by Marquis, that doesn’t mean that Marquis has any responsibility for under-warranty repairing the motorhome after the original owner has sold it on. It would be Elddis that would adjudicate based on whether the terms and conditions of the vehicle’s warranty and its transfer to later owners had been properly met.

 

The comments here may be worth browsing through

 

https://tinyurl.com/yz2aph7f

 

and this one seems particularly relevant

 

https://forums.motorhomefacts.com/189-elddis-motorhomes/239729-damp-2019-120-majestic.html

[cmac160]

Brian Kirby - 2021-04-15 4:11 PM

 

Sorry, in reading your OP I obviously put two and two together and got five! :-)

 

There should be a warranty booklet of some sort with the vehicle documentation. It would be wise to check whether that coincides with those currently available on the web. If you go back to check, see if you can get a look at the roof while there, even with binoculars from an upstairs window.

 

There is usually a quite strict procedure for checking vehicles covered by water ingress warranties, that will involve at least an annual damp check to be carried out only by specified people, within a specified time window from first registration or delivery, usually to be recorded on the manufacturer's vehicle database and/or in the warranty booklet itself, possibly along with a habitation service or similar. If any of these dates or activities have not been met or carried out as specified it is likely the warranty will be void, leaving the owner liable for the full cost of repair/reinstatement.

 

Don't forget that with a private sale you will have no comeback on the seller under consumer legislation.

 

It seems odd that the present owner hasn't had the work carried out under warranty, which makes me wonder why. After all, it would cost them nothing more than the effort, and would reinstate the full value of the vehicle. I just wonder, therefore, why this avenue has not been followed, and whether the warranty has been voided.

 

Do you know where the van was bought? Perhaps the selling Marquis branch might be able to add some detail on the vehicle history?

In reverse order, the van was bought from Marquis in Durham. When I contacted them all I got was a 'we've just restarted and we're working through a backlog of stuff' response.

 

The present owner claimed to have never seen the damage. That may be true - even though he has driven it to the shops just to keep it from going stale, current circumstances mean that the motorhome has likely not been slept in for some time so some combination of strong wind, rain and snow over winter may have caused the damage. Or maybe he's already aware of the damage and is hoping to offload the vehicle to someone with less attention to detail than I have.

 

It seems, from other replies, that the warranty is transferable, but I would really need Marquis to confirm that the warranty is still valid based on their documentation before I was to go ahead.

 

On the whole, I think there's just too much uncertainty over this particular vehicle to go ahead with the purchase. Something else will come up in due course.

 

Thanks for your help.

[cmac160]

Derek Uzzell - 2021-04-16 8:05 AM

 

The motorhome being discussed is a (presumably 2019 model) Elddis Majestic 120 - a ‘dealer special’ version of the Elddis Accordo 120 model and sold through Marquis dealerships.

 

Marquis Leisure is part of the Trigano Group, while Elddis is part of the Ermin Hymer Group. Despite having been originally sold though a Marquis dealership, the Majestic 120 is an Elddis product and, if cmac160 buys the motothome privately and subsequently attempts to make an under-warranty claim, it’s Elddis that would need to ne contacted to authorise (or refuse) payment for the work.

 

I provided above a link to the Elddis warranty that has been in force since 2012. The terms and conditions of the water ingress and body integrity warranty are clearly stated, as are the requirements for transferring any unexpired period of warranty cover. In this instance, the following transfer of ownership conditions would apply

 

- A maximum of Six Years' Water Ingress and Body Integrity Warranty

 

The warranty is subject to the usual terms and conditions set out in the handbook and is only transferable on payment of a £50 administration fee. Full documentary evidence that the caravan or motorhome has been serviced annually should be provided at the time of transfer, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the warranty stated in the handbook. Transfer of ownership must be completed within three months of change of legal ownership. Please complete the Notification of Change of Ownership form in your handbook.

 

Just because the Elddis Majestic 120 model was originally sold by Marquis, that doesn’t mean that Marquis has any responsibility for under-warranty repairing the motorhome after the original owner has sold it on. It would be Elddis that would adjudicate based on whether the terms and conditions of the vehicle’s warranty and its transfer to later owners had been properly met.

 

The comments here may be worth browsing through

 

https://tinyurl.com/yz2aph7f

 

and this one seems particularly relevant

 

https://forums.motorhomefacts.com/189-elddis-motorhomes/239729-damp-2019-120-majestic.html

Thanks for that link to comments on the possible sealant issues.

 

The owner took the van back to the people who did a recent hab check and showed them the damaged area. They confirmed that while there has obviously been a leak in the past, it isn't damp now. They had a look up top and found that there was a gap in the sealant. The owner will patch the sealant, but it looks a lot like this may be a problem vehicle.

 

When looking around the van I noticed, and pointed out, various places where the sealant was separating from one of the surfaces it was supposed to be sealing, e.g around the wheel arches and the corner trims. This tends to confirm some kind of problem with the sealant because there's no reason for those to be going that way on a vehicle of this age.

 

I think it's time to gracefully say no thanks on this one and wait for something better to come along.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Robbo]

I would be a little suspicious that the vehicle has been subject to a flooding event, especially if there is a tide mark.

 

I seem to recall such an event occurring, in the not too distant past, where a whole forecourt of motorhomes were affected.

[Hans]

Damp Is the biggest problem in Motorhomes. Roof and side walls. In our club members had to remove complete side Walls And Roofs. But under warranty. Why?