Pat on the back for a manufacturer.

[Guest caraprof]

As many dealers and manufacturers seem to be coming in for a knocking on this forum I thought that I’d like to praise one manufacturer who seems to have the right attitude to its customers. I bought my Lunar Telstar in December last year from a dealer who is 200 miles away and he suggested that once a year I must return it to him for its annual habitation check. I know that this is a total pain but I was prepared to do it if I must because the dealer, who’d done an ‘end-of-season, get some cash-flow deal’ with Lunar on my model, sold me mine at £6000 less than the one that I was going to order locally for delivery in Spring.

As I’m not too fond of the local Lunar dealer’s service department, having dealt with them when I had a tourer, I didn’t even fancy taking it there so I phoned Lunar to ask who else could service it.

I was delighted to be told that I can have the habitation check done by anyone who is a member of some trade association whose name I can’t remember I’m afraid but it was something like NTTA or NCC, which apparently is almost any reputable firm which sells, services or repairs motorhomes.

I’ve just had a bike rack fitted by a firm called Crossley’s in Leyland and was very impressed by its professionalism, so I asked Lunar if Crossley’s qualified and was told that it did. Not only can it do my habitation service but it can also do any warranty repairs as well. Crossley’s doesn't sell motorhomes, it just repairs them and is probably better than most dealers at anything to do with the bodies or innards of a M/H and I suspect that it does repairs for many dealers.

This is incredibly reassuring, knowing that if I have any problems under warranty or need any servicing, that I don’t have to take it to a dealer who may be a long way from home.

So far, my M/H hasn’t had any problems and whilst I know that there’s nothing special about Lunars I think that the firm must be congratulated for its attitude to warranty repairs and its commitment to make things as easy as possible for its clients to get warranty repairs done.

[Champstar]

It is nice to see that you have had a good experience with Lunar...I had to wait nearly 2 months for a set of carpets for my model...mine was a showroom model and I thought that my dealer was stalling on getting them but since then I have had some minor and to me major warranty work all carried out by my dealer and the service has been not too bad.

I like my lunar but when i do get around to changing it I may opt for another make but I will probably go back to my dealer...not part of a big chain but the largest in Scotland.

 

Good luck with your Lunar

[RonB]

Frank

 

The facility to have service and habitation work carried out elsewhere has existed for some time now, by law, is industry wide and not therefore confined to Lunar. It was a facility long overdue in my opinion.

 

[davenewellhome]

The trade body in question is the NCC (National Caravan Council) and as long as workshops are members of the NCC Approved Workshop Scheme (AWS) then their work should be accepted for warranty purposes. I'm not a member of the NCC AWS although I do carry out habitation inspections. I always inform the customer that my work will carry no weight for warranty purposes as I feel it only fair to do so. Interestingly being a member of the NCC AWS has little to do with the standards of workmanship and more to do with admin. The criteria include such important things as displaying a clearly structured, priced menu of work and having someone within the organisation designated for customer complaints. ;-)

 

D.

[Guest caraprof]

RonB - 2007-08-22 1:14 PM Frank The facility to have service and habitation work carried out elsewhere has existed for some time now, by law, is industry wide and not therefore confined to Lunar. It was a facility long overdue in my opinion.

I'm sure you're right but the problem is that a lot of people aren't aware of this. I've read several times of members of this forum taking their 'vans long distances to have a minor job done. It's a pity that more publicity isn't given to this as it will give confidence to those buying 'vans from a distant dealer who may have a better deal.

Having dealt with Crossley's for instance, I'm now much happier taking my M/H to them as they seem to be a superb operation. A firm like this, whose job involves completely rebuilding motorhomes after accidents for instance, must be ideal for something as simple as a habitation check.

[madmick]

Both the CC and the CCC are party to the approved workshop scheme so check their websites for details and a list of workshops. I think Dave underestimates the standards that workshops need to achieve before being accepted as members - but then again, as a non member, Dave is likely to be cheaper!

 

You pays yer euros.......

 

madmick

[davenewellhome]

If all these approved workshops are actually operating to the required standards how can they possibly do a full habitation inspection in under an hour as many of my customers tell me they have in the past? It takes me at least two hours and more often closer to three to do a thorough inspection. Several customers who stayed with their 'vans while I did the inspection have commented on how detailed I was being. I was surprised that they were surprised but they all said the same thing "the last time I had a check done it only took them 40 minutes/1 hour.

 

More of what is involved in becoming a member of the AWS is about admin and customer complaints procedure than the actual standards of work being done on the shop floor.

 

D.

[tp002c784tp002c784tp]

Frank

I was fortunate that I have a Lunar dealer only 15 miles away and thats were I took my Lunar for its first habitation check, and after reading of all the vast difference in price that other members have payed or been quoted for the same service I was amazed the price I payed only £125, and it took them two and a half hours and were very thorugh in there checks.

 

Terry

[davenewellhome]

Good show Terry, why not share the name of this dealer with us all so that other owners can benefit from good service?

 

D.

[Mel B]

Wanting to know the name of the competition eh Dave so you can send the 'heavy squad' round?? >:-) >:-) >:-) >:-)

[Guest peter]

Like Dave says it's all about documentation. Take for instance ISO 9001, you can make a crap product as long as the paper trail is there. It's not a guarantee of a good product. I know, I was trained as a BSI auditor for my company, who made good product by the way (heatshrink).

[davenewellhome]

Never been afraid of fair competition Mel and I don't expect to service every motorhome built. I hear too many stories of workshops doing slipshod work and I get a bit bored with seeing threads slagging off certain dealers. It's nice to occasionally see the opposite side of the coin and praise for good service.

 

D.

[Derek Uzzell]

I believe RonB's advice is open to misunderstanding when it comes to 'habitation servicing' and any associated warranties. (Dave Newell's initial posting supports my view.)

 

It's certainly true that the buyer of your average new vehicle in the UK is legally allowed to have that vehicle serviced during its warranty period by non-'main agent' garages. Provided the servicing is carried out as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, and uses parts/fluids that meet the vehicle-manufacturer's specification, the vehicle's warranty should not be invalidated.

 

This meant that, during the 2-Year Ford warranty period of my Transit-based Hobby motorhome, I was able to have the Transit 'chassis' part of the vehicle serviced by a garage that was not a Ford Authorised Dealer. (This is explained in the Transit documentation and the Ford Service Record has tick-boxes to indicate whether or not the servicing garage is a Ford dealer and whether or not genuine Ford parts are used.)

 

However, if the Transit element of my Hobby had required repairs under warranty - the engine explodes, the steering-wheel snaps off, the cab-doors rust through, etc. - then I WOULD have needed to take the vehicle to a Ford Authorised Dealer for attention. It would be foolish to expect otherwise as, in the case of under-warranty repairs, the Ford company will be picking up the bill and will wish to have oversight of the work carried out, whereas non-warranty servicing is paid for by the vehicle owner and incurs no direct monetary loss to Ford.

 

When it comes to the 'conversion' element of motorcaravans, I believe there's no similar legal flexibility regarding who services the motorhome during its warranty period. If maintaining the conversion warranty of an Auto-Sleeper, Hymer, Lunar, Rapido, etc. demands regular servicing at specific intervals, then this work will need to be carried out according to the converter's stipulations. The norm would be to require the motorhome be serviced by an authorised agent of the converter (usually a dealer who sells that make of motorhome and has servicing capability), although this needn't be the original vendor. Evidently Lunar allows NCC Approved Workshops to carry out this work in addition to Lunar dealerships, but this won't necessarily be true of other converters.

 

What does need to be emphasised is a) the motorhome owner should read the terms of his vehicle's conversion warranty carefully BEFORE getting servicing/repairs done, and b) if he/she wishes to confirm or vary those terms then (as caraprof did) the converter should be consulted and agreement reached (in writing if felt necessary) as to what is acceptable. Where motorcaravan makes have strict conversion warranty terms and a limited UK dealer network, the motorhome buyer may well find that, to maintain the warranty, the conversion part of the vehicle needs to be serviced by a dealership he/she would prefer to avoid and at a price he/she may resent having to pay.

 

Hobby appears to have peculiar warranty terms. Hobby's sole UK agent is Brownhills, and a Brownhills representative recently told me that, for warranty claims to be entertained during the 2nd year of the 2-year conversion warranty, the motorhome needs to have been watertightness-checked at the end of Year One (by a UK Hobby agency of course) and the owner must be able to present the paperwork to prove this check had been made. Apparently the Hobby 5-year watertightness warranty (that does indeed need an annual inspection to maintain validity) is inextricably linked to Hobby's 2-year conversion warranty that requires no obligatory 'habitation' service at the end of Year One. If your Hobby's mattress interior starts to fall apart after 18 months (as mine did) due to shoddy workmanship, it's a mite hard to associate such a fault with potential water ingress!

 

(Incidentally, I mention the Hobby/Brownhills/mattress thing purely as an example of warranty restrictions, not out of spite. I've never bothered to raise the falling-apart mattress issue with Brownhills as it was plain where the problem lay and that I could fix it myself.)

[RonB]

You are probably right in what you say Derek but at the time of my post the subject was about service and habitation work being carried out to comply with the warranty - not warranty work itself.

 

I was under the impression that new laws were in force enabling people to have service work, etc, carried out by any suitably qualified organisation so long the correct procedures, parts, ect, were used. Again, this is motor industry wide and not confined to the motorhome trade or the NCC. Can anyone enlighten me if I'm wrong?

 

I should just like to add, in the light of all the warranty talk, that warranties are only as good as the dealers and manufacturers who offer them. I know this to my cost as I have recently spent over a year trying to get Chelston and Burstner to honour agreed warranty claims. The problems were nothing to do with lack of parts, which is the usual excuse, but just plain incompetance.

 

 

[Rayjsj]

As Vehicles get more controlled by their ECU and monitor almost everything it is getting more difficult for independant garages to compete with Main Dealers, even a simple blown bulb check light warning or brake Pad replacement means a reset of the warning code. Codes which the Main Dealers are keeping to themselves (mainly), I know it's against the EU anti- competition laws,but tell that to GM/Ford/Fiat. As for fitting a towbar... it is no-longer a DIY job. Oh for the days when life was much Simpler. *-)

[Derek Uzzell]

After my last posting, this idea emerged from one of the deep, dark recesses of my cluttered-up memory that the conversion warranty for Lunar motorhomes was somehow 'different', being backed by an insurance company-backed rather than by Lunar directly. I know this idea came from a discussion about warranties I had with a motorhome dealer some 2 years ago. This dealer sells several marques, including Lunar and I remember him telling me that one manufacturer had moved from the traditional warranty to an insurance-based one (rather like most 'extended warranties' are). I'm fairly sure he said it was Lunar, but I can't swear to it. I don't think it makes a scrap of difference in terms of the scope of the warranty, but it could explain why the Lunar warranty seems to have more latitude regarding who does the servicing.

 

Can any Lunar owner confirm whether there is substance in my belief, please, or whether my little grey cells are short-circuiting?

 

 

RonB:

 

Regarding your statement:

 

"I was under the impression that new laws were in force enabling people to have service work, etc, carried out by any suitably qualified organisation so long the correct procedures, parts, ect, were used. Again, this is motor industry wide and not confined to the motorhome trade or the NCC."

 

I believe that, whatever laws you have in mind, they do not apply to warranty conditions relating to the 'conversion' part of motorhomes. Dave Newell, who carries out habitation inspections/servicing, presumably feels the same - otherwise he wouldn't be warning customers about it.

 

[tp002c784tp002c784tp]

davenewell@home - 2007-08-23 9:03 PM

 

Good show Terry, why not share the name of this dealer with us all so that other owners can benefit from good service?

 

D.

Hi dave sorry for the delay I have not been on the computer much.

 

The name of the Dealer is

Tyne valley Motorhomes

Burnhopefield

Gateshead

Tyne and Wear

 

I shall be visiting them on Monday to try and find a replacment for our beloved Lunar Submarine I shall be looking for a model with catamaran pontoons on so that next year we will be able to float around Evesham and the cotswolds

 

Terry