Caravan Servicing Costs
Comments
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Yes same round here, keep getting a few emails from the local dealers.
I always assumed that people get their van serviced at or near the time in the year when they bought their van as it's a yearly service? And to keep their warranty up to date? So I expect fewer vans are sold in the winter months and hence fewer services required?
Ours is about £180 btw, not so much money to burn but tied in due to warranty?
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Over and above the cost of a service our local dealer is "offering" an Aldi drain and refill, with pink 5yr antifreeze, for £180!! Just how difficult is it to do this oneself?
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aldi? you mean drain and refill wine?
sorry
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Thanks, ET. I'll wait and see if he pops in here and can help.
Corners, I realised I'd mis-spelt Alde after posting , but couldn't be bothered to correct my spelling as I supposed that those that could help would understand what I meant.
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I am sorry if I gave offence, I actually thought it was predictive text
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This is exactly what Alde charge. We had ours done 10 day’s ago. There is plenty of information on how to DIY it on the net. The only reason I didn’t do it myself was ours is not a standard system, and to be frank I wouldn’t trust the local dealers here to change the fluid in the toilet
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Thanks for the heads up, Boff. I've seen your other post in the Technical Info section.
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I've just had our Barcelona serviced and the Alde fluid changed for £330 - £200 for the service (on special offer) and £120 for the fluid change plus a few extras - by Yorkshire Caravans at Bawtry. Since I was expecting the bill to be closer to £500 than £300, I was pleasantly surprised when I collected it.
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Where are they locate, AJB, We will need to get the Alde service done soon.
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Thanks, AJB. Will look them up.
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Caravaning & servicing & site fee,s are scandalouse caravan parts are ludicrose. A mixer tap at Lidl £9.99, one for a caravan about £50 to £60. My caravan is an Elddis & I would never deal with them ever again, £27.000 I paid for a new schooner in 2012 serviced every year lots of issues at each service Alde fluid changed at 2nd( problems) then at 5 years pink fluid changed still problems, Then damp in 4 places, here is the bombshell. The 4th service I got done by a mobile service agent half the price, he done a good job as I watched him for a while, then I had to go out, he said he would put service sheet in porch got home its not there rung him, I,m passing your house next Saturday. Never heard of him since, his liverey showed N.C.C. approved, I have all my other service sheets, My last service showed the damp I E.mailed Eldiss with all the other issues & the reply was sorry no 2016 service record hard luck pay yourself. I rung customer services & got the same answer, There parting words were take us to court you hav,nt got a leg to stand on. I have been vanning for 27 years I am getting Van sorted & selling up lock stock & Generator, Its disgusting
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if its anything like some of there pdi's.they should be paying us
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I have just had my van serviced. A 2011 Bailey Unicorn Valencia. £230 all in. No damp issues and no other major issues. These 1 shot wheel nuts are a nice little number aren’t they?? Can’t ever remember having a car that replaces wheel bolts every time they are taken off. Why can’t they have a castleated nut and a split pin that locks them on? Worst case scenario- new split pin. There may be a very good reason for it and I am always hungry for knowledge so please, if you know why I and everyone else has to pay every year for new wheel nuts, please feel free to explain. The one part that I absolutely refuse to buy for my Bailey is the Blind Clip. That’s the small clip that stops the blind from travelling south once closed. Bailey owners will know the part I speak about. I have 3 broken on my van . £5.99 + VAT Each! That is an absolute rip off. We manage. Other parts are, as has already been covered, ridiculously expensive for what they are. Thank goodness I can do most of my own repairs- Those labour charges add up significantly. I agree with Valda- they charge what they can get away with.
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If you look at the list of things to check you will see it is far higher than on a car. Our dealer says it takes four to five hours and charges £50 an hour so the £250 they charge would be about right if the time is right. We did have a mobile engineer service it before but he missed some serious damp in a known trouble spot so we have gone back to the dealer even though it means having to get the caravan there.
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Similar to other replies on here, we have started taking our caravan to a specialist caravan centre for servicing. We were on the wrong side of a caravan that hadn’t been serviced properly when buying our first tourer. Needless to say its an expense we pay for to make sure the caravan is checked throroughly, providing us with 12 months of peace of mind.
Considering the volume of things to check from damp to the electrics etc, 200 plus isn’t cheap but is a valuable investment I think.
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Mobile service engineer services my carvan every year and is fully approved. This year would have been my 6th year but awaiting delivery mid March of new caravan. Servicing is a full 4/5 hour task. Total cost £190. Always new one-shot wheel nuts fitted, no extras as some dealers do such as charge for grease used. With an engineer at your house you get a chance to discusssome of the niggly things that arise. Build up a good relationship with the engineer as mine evens lubricates the spare wheel carrier and makes sure it is not seized. Also every service, checks the security of all the moving parts on my Truma mover. Wouldn’t trust anybody else now. First class service and worth every penny.
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We had ours done by our local mobile engineer this Tuesday past. I'm mostly relieved he got it done just before the snows started the next day, though the temperature was dropping like a stone!
Total cost was £180 inc a new gas regulator, though to be fair it's a tiny van and there's not much technology on board, so maybe less to do.
My only worry is that while the water heater worked, and so it was warm water he was draining, it may have even so frozen on the way out, so I'm hoping nothing's getting cracked in there. Since he's booked until May there wasn't much chance of re-scheduling.0 -
It is with interest that I've read the previous comments.
Personally I did not grudge paying for servicing my caravan (or now motorhome). When you consider that expense of all the 'trade' tools the engineer has to own eg he's to be a plumber (gassafe annual registration, membership costs, etc,), mechanic, joiner, electrician with all the tools to go with that, insurance for vehicle, public liability insurance, stock and tools insurance, annual calibration of torque wrench, etc etc. Monthly overheads for all this is an average of £1200 per month! Think of fuel costs (which can be 10p per mile, plus office equipment he needs, printer, paper, inks, etc etc). A dealer shares these expenses between all his employees, mobile guy has only one person!
Plus you have the convenience of not having to travel, sometimes if rural, 2 lots of 60+ miles, take time of work -twice! Van can be at a dealer for weeks (I know someone who's van was with a dealer for 3+ months & it was still not fixed). They got mobile guy out and he had it fixed that day!
You pay for convenience of avoiding all the above hassle, see what is actually being done (I was ripped off by a dealer as he charged for stuff I did not want him to do, as I could do stuff myself), can see any parts that have been replaced - my guy shows me the old parts he's replaced as proof of what he's done, and watch what he is actually doing.
My mobile guy......he gives me a quote, tells me what 'common' extras can be and WILL NOT do anything else without checking with me first. He is reliable and trustworthy, gives me advice (foc) especially on how to do a job if I feel I can do it myself.
I've spent over an hour on the phone with him getting advice and he would not let me send him any payment for his time.
I do not grudge him approx £40 per hour, when you consider all he pays out, but I did grudge a garage charged me £97 per hour for their 'specialist' work!
So let's give these mobile guys a break. Dealers I agree are debatable but the mobile guy I use is brilliant.
Who is he........he's my son who I know has all the outlays I've mentioned, plus, more importantly, his customers have no hesitation recommending him.
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Fifer59, is there a clue there that you and your son are based in Fife and if so does he cover the Perth area?
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Just had our van serviced by a mobile caravan service company. He was here 3 hours and gave the van a thorough going over. And he leaves us with a full report of what he has done and highlights any areas to keep an eye on. Like slight delamination in the floor, but he said it doesn't warrant anything being done at the moment. His service charge for a single axle was £165.00, which given we live in West London and he has to come some 30+ miles away, we consider reasonable. He is based in Berkshire.
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I use a mobile engineer, cost £150 last year and £160 this year.
From phoning around that was the cheapest I found and convenient.
Two guys, took just under 3 hours.
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I'm looking for a reputable mobile engineer in South Cumbria/N.Lancs area. Can anybody recommend one?
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I’m fortunate in finding a mobile servicing engineer in the last 4 months or so. Having spent so much time with my caravan doing mods and cleaning etc, I guess it was inevitable that a mobile mechanic would show up at some time and so it was. Like the comment above, he is always there for advice if I feel I can do a job myself - and that is becoming more common as I start to undress the mysteries of a caravan!! There are certain things I won’t touch like gas, electrics and brakes and it’s worth the money he charges to know that everything behind you is in top working order as you drive towards your chosen site!
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We have just had our van (Sprite Quatro FB twin axle) serviced we were quoted £287 and they have just phoned to tell us it is ready and the bill is £421.46!!! apparently we have also been charged for waste disposal of the items used to clean the van. We won't be going back there!!!
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