crbtaylor Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 We were in the market for a new van, so approached 4 dealers that had our desired van in stock. 1. despite 2 emails and 2 phone calls never got back to us with a price, although they did promise to phone us back within a day with a fantastic deal...still waiting! 2. Came back with a deal that was £9000 over and above. 3. tried very hard but couldnt match our deal 4. Did us a great deal, was courteous and very helpful. Picking the van up on Thursday. 1. Is a large nationwide dealer 2. was a local dealer 3. was a local dealer 4. Is 150 miles away. With the exception of dealer 4 why did I have to chase dealers to spend MY money. They made us feel like we were doing them a favour. Perhaps in these hard times they cant pay their phone bills or do they get too many time wasters/tyre kickers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 In truth it is because lots of "salespeople" aren't in fact sales people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolly1965 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 not just dealers, so far this week i have tried to spend my money with six different companies - none of which have got back to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypre65 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Hi,Most big dealers employ wasters,no knoledge and after the sale they dont want to know you,as they are seeing some one else,We went to the motorhome show armed with a cheque book and decided a hobby van was what we needed on entering the stand my wife was pushed over by a big guy who did not even say sorry, he turned out to be the boss of hobby, so as you can tell we never bought a hobby,went to southdown motorhomes and no one offered any help never got to speak to anybody, brownhills the same,the small ones are the best the same when buying a car maybe £100 more but you get the money back in attention H (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muswell Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Both our vans came from small converters. We got excellent service, both during the purchase and in dealing with the inevitable minor problem, maybe because they could see the relationship between their attituded to their customers and paying the mortgage. Another small converter we considered sends us a Xmas card, because maybe next time round? But, we did write and tell them why we hadn't bought one of their vans at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Went to a big dealers in the midlands, about 2 and half hours drive away to view a van.They knew we were comingIt was a new and pretty expensive van..When we got there they couldn't find the van!! We were directed to the coffee machine while they searched for it.Plenty of staff and we were the only customers at the time.Eventually van found and brought to the front.Dealer obviously had little knowledge of it and less interest.As it happens it had a good payload but dealer tells me even 200 kgs is a very good payload???? He then misquoted the price of the van to my husband by about 10.000 pounds on their side.BIG MISTAKE.When my husband corrected him he had to go and search for a price list! We didn't like the van enough anyway but even if we had I don't think I would have wanted to do business with this dealership.OH and when I first rang about it I was told to be quick as it was heavily upspecked (it wasn't) and would go very quickly.Its still available.Huge pressure was put on us to buy THIS PARTICULAR van as one one with say different upholstery would mean at lrast 6 to 8 months wait.No idea if that is true at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 To buy a motorhome many miles from home has to be a major decision. If on going problems are experienced getting them resolved aren't going to be easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 rolandrat - 2013-03-31 10:50 AM To buy a motorhome many miles from home has to be a major decision. If on going problems are experienced getting them resolved aren't going to be easy. I agree, unless the manufacturer treats their dealers well, and ADVISES them to repair vans sourced from other Dealers from 'afar'. Autotrail Do. Bought my van from 300 miles away. No problems, minor things done by 2 different dealers in places not purchased from. In fact ,no different than treatment on my new Toyota car. which, to my mind is 'as it should be' in a 'mature' industry. It is all down to the Manufacturer being firm, and fair though. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 a double post, but added a bit more. Agree that the small Dealerships seem to be more 'switched on' , and actively 'look after their Customers' bought our new Autotrail many miles from home, it was 'Just what we wanted' AND it was sitting on the forecourt 'ready to go' with all the 'extras' we wanted already fitted, got offered a very good deal on our existing van as trade in, clue: Autotrail dealership in Gt Yarmouth, highly recommend them. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 A Friend of ours is after a particular van, we found him one in the UK and he telephoned them. The van is up for £43995 he offered them £40000 and would send them a UK cheque in the post that day and didn't even want to see the van beforehand. Would they buddge, would they hell, they would drop it only £1500. I would have thought that a Company that can have a van sat on their site for £4000+ is missing out somewhere, they must have at least £7/8000 profit in the van already and as there would be no trade-in (its his first motorhome) it seems to me to be a no-brainer. By the way, this van is 6 years old. The same van here, but lefthand drive, is going for 40000 euros, but as he is going back to live in the UK he wants a righthand drive. Its only the Dealer who has lost out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I'm on my 3rd Auto-Trail and although there are one or two good dealers in my area in Lancashire I will always book my motorhome in to the factory workshop at Grimsby where all the knowledge and expertise is based. It's due for a habitation check shortly and it's booked in. I've had a bad experience with a main dealer in the north east, once they've got your big fat cheque in the bank they don't want to know. The only down side is the extra mileage that it's doing but a very big plus point is piece of mind. Mark Atkinson and his workshop team always go the extra mile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Rolandrat, that was the nearest dealership to us for the Hymer we were interested in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 When I bought our new van in 2011 I called around in the UK just out of interest. No one would budge on the 45k price, maybe an awning if I was lucky. One joker of a south coast dealer had no van in stock and no intention of stocking a demo vehicle and was adamant he would not budge on price...we had a frank exchange of views and when I had stopped laughing the conversation ended. I thought it important he realised we are not all mugs... I bought a much higher spec van in Germany with all the extras plus a good PX price for 36k. Poppy there is a very good Hymer dealer in Belgium, about 1.5 hrs from channel ports.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Thanks for that Judge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 rolandrat - 2013-03-31 10:50 AM To buy a motorhome many miles from home has to be a major decision. If on going problems are experienced getting them resolved aren't going to be easy. That depends who you buy from. A good dealer / manufacturer / converter should allow you to get it fixed locally and send them the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crbtaylor Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Does that apply to Autotrail, or do they have to be returned to the supplying dealer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Not just Motorhome dealers a couple of years ago I went with my daughter to test drive a Hyundai arrived 10 min before appointed time to be told by the salesman the sales director had just taken the car to get his lunch and would be back in an hour. Told the salesman what we thought of his company. My daughter is very happy with her Skoda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 malc d - 2013-04-01 4:38 PM rolandrat - 2013-03-31 10:50 AM To buy a motorhome many miles from home has to be a major decision. If on going problems are experienced getting them resolved aren't going to be easy. That depends who you buy from. A good dealer / manufacturer / converter should allow you to get it fixed locally and send them the bill. Unfortunately that isn't always the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 We had a new step fitted under warranty on our AutoTrail with no problem by a dealer other than the supplying one. For the record the supplying dealer was rubbish. We now use Johns Cross in Kent. Highly recommended. They know what they are doing and can't do enough for you. If they sell the make of motorhome we choose next time that's where we will buy it from. Good service pays and so it should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 malc d - 2013-04-01 4:38 PM rolandrat - 2013-03-31 10:50 AM To buy a motorhome many miles from home has to be a major decision. If on going problems are experienced getting them resolved aren't going to be easy. That depends who you buy from. A good dealer / manufacturer / converter should allow you to get it fixed locally and send them the bill. Plainly it won't always be practicable for motorhome buyers to have problems attended to by the dealership that sold them their vehicles - for example, if a buyer moves a long way from the seller. However, if you had deliberately chosen to buy 'long distance' for financial reasons and then asked a more local dealership that sells your make of motorhome to fix under-warranty problems, you'd be naive to expect such a request to be looked on favourably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Derek in my case it wasn't for financial reasons, they were the only ones who had a model that I was looking for available. In my area there is Richard Baldwins and Todds who have very good reputations but unfortunately neither of them had what I wanted otherwise I would have bought local, I can't speak highly enough of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 crbtaylor - 2013-03-30 9:32 PM We were in the market for a new van, so approached 4 dealers that had our desired van in stock. 4. Is 150 miles away. A 300 hundred mile round trip in fuel 8-)..............I hope you don't have any problems :-S..............coz that's a tank of juice each trip ;-) ...........plus habitation checks......servicing etc etc :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 rolandrat - 2013-04-01 6:49 PM malc d - 2013-04-01 4:38 PM rolandrat - 2013-03-31 10:50 AM To buy a motorhome many miles from home has to be a major decision. If on going problems are experienced getting them resolved aren't going to be easy. That depends who you buy from. A good dealer / manufacturer / converter should allow you to get it fixed locally and send them the bill. Unfortunately that isn't always the case. Very true. But it is not unknown. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 crbtaylor - 2013-04-01 4:40 PM Does that apply to Autotrail, or do they have to be returned to the supplying dealer My experience is that you can take the van to any Autotrail Dealership. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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