Don636 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Our van has just undergone it's first year habitation check and I was wondering how everyone else has got on with a new, or nearly new, motorhome during the last year or so. How has the build quality been? Did it live up to expectations or were there any problems? Did it let you down badly or were there just the inevitable teething troubles that are to be expected? I am particularly interested to see how PVCs compare to coachbuilts and how UK motorhomes compare to Euorpean motorhomes. I was only really interested in what happened in the first year or perhaps the first three years at most as after that I think you are likely to move from problems with the initial build quality to ongoing problems that simply arise after time and use. I will start this off: I have a Vantage Neo that has done 3,500 miles in the year and here are the things that needed attention: 1. One light fitting had a faulty switch 2. The fridge light was not working 3. The bathroom door needed some adjustment to the hinges to stop vibration 4. A window stay had a clip missing 5. A switch under the bonnet for the alarm needed some adjustment as the alarm would go off now and again I consider these all to be fairly minor issues and three out of the five were minor issues with bought in units rather than an issue with the build itself and two issues were just some adjustments. More importantly, there were no issues with any of the services during the year and nothing is coming apart, getting slack or falling off. Overall I am extremely pleased with the van over the year and, to answer the question posed by Lizzie, we think we got it right first time. I have heard a number of adverse comments on this Forum about UK motorhomes and poor build quality but, based on my own experience, this cannot always be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I feel like I've had more than my fair share of problems with my 6 month old UK-built van, some of which are still to be resolved, but actually none of them have been to do with it being UK-built. In fact the only component from the UK that has caused grief is the BCA control panel which still gives meaningless internal and external temperature values and whose fresh water tank sensor is pending replacement. The rest of my woes have been down to poor quality control from European component suppliers; French, German, Italian, Swedish and Dutch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 One should expect that in year 1 things that are wrong should be very minor.Also remember that,many of the checks are merely function, something you are doing every day anyway. No items are actually removed for inspection. What I suspect will concern many people is that the 'warranty' as such is pretty much dealer specific in as such how much attention he/she gives to any matters of concern. Some are excellent, others less so. So, really it is those matters that should not occur that will be of interest to most owners, and especially if a major fauly arises. For example a friend has a Autosleeper bought brand new. The fridge failed in year one due to the electronics going bananas and the fridge would not work on any fuel source.. It was 'fixed' by the dealer but failed again in year 2. My friend would like a new fridge as he feels the existing one is substandard under sale of goods etc, but the dealer refuses and will 'fix' again the existing one. Meanwhile the dealer is awaiting parts and my friend still has no working fridge. This in a van costing just over £50k. You could argue that it is not Autosleeper's fault as they just fitted a 3rd party fridge, but then again they sold the total vehicle and again the dealer took the money for it. So where liability lies is vague. So, with respect I feel you are asking a question that has so many answers, as to be not realkly relevant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleddytanhouse Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I have a now 3 months old Autotrail. It has had a number of issues, the most concerning being the shower water supply leaking through the floor. The dealer is ok, but, Auto Trail are not interested at all about their problems. I intend to wait until it is 6 months old and the have all the issues (hopefully) resolved by the dealer. It is however disappointing that Autotrail have no regards to customer satisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 If you bought a Ford van or car and the Sony stereo didn't work, would you contact Ford or Sony? I think it's always the dealer that is responsible.... Taking it further, tee hee, my tv probably has some Texas instruments chips or matsus**ta capacitors in it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Matsush1ta then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody. Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 cleddytanhouse Try an e mail to stuart.turpin@auto-trail.co.uk , saying exactly what youve said here , it worked for me , good luck . Ron ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeco Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Took delivery of a 2015 model Auto-trail Tracker FB in Jan. We have travelled 10,000 odd klms and the little gem has not missed a beat. Only issue was a small cupboard door hinge screw set pulled out due to poor adjustment, a DIY fix. If it continues as it has then we will be delighted. We also find it a very comfortable MH to live with. We feel we made a good first decision to buy British. Now that is a big call for one from the colonies!!Cheers Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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