Tier 4 restriction on caravan servicing
Hi All
Hope you all had a Happy Christmas.
As we enter the New Year with more Covid 19 uncertantly I was wondering if getting your caravan serviced has been a problem if you live in a Tier 4 area. I can understand caravan sales, motorhome sales, shop and accessories my not be able to open but are the work shops open?
Our caravan is booked in for its 1st service and warranty repair work in early January and although where we live and the location of the dealer are currently Tier 3 that may not last long.
Cheers
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I expect you'll have to wait and chat to the service provider when/if they reopen after Christmas. Fingers crossed they are COVID secure, a friends husband who's a mechanic and furloughed down the 1st lockdown has worked since that was lifted and will be working next week in a tier 4 area.
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If you and your dealer are in tier 3 then it should not be a problem ,but, if one is in tier 4 then you are not allowed to travel out of that area,
our dealer in tier 4 is open for servicing ,as we had a call last week and we are also tier 4
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Main dealers will be shut. From experience the manufacturers will extend the amount of time you have to get your service by an appropriate time while covid 19 restrictions apply.
You cannot travel outside of the tier 4 area, however you could use an approved mobile workshop engineer as they can work socially distanced. The mobile engineer AWS NCC approved will be the same as you going to your main dealer.
So the mobile engineer can come to your house and do a service if required as they cannot work from home they are allowed to still work.
If you just need your alde fluid changing you only need a trained engineer with a service kit they do not need to be AWS NCC approved.
At the end of the day your better off using a mobile engineer as the main dealers do not have to employ AWS or NCC trained engineers or even with any qualifications as it is the main dealer who holds the Qualification for following certain procedures. Which doesn't mean the engineer working for them will do a good job. A little known fact.
So go mobile they are trained and have to have the qualifications required.
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Our caravan has been standing for approx 15 months due to Covid-19, and it will have to be serviced within the next 3 months if we are to use it this year. We are in a tier4 area, and I think the service dept is in tier3. My intention will be to book in my service, then remain in the car whilst the service dealer carries out the work. Any conversation will be by mobile phone. After service, the service engineer will replace the caravan on the car, and I can return home. This would be essential work for the purposes of the regulations, and I would not expect to be penalised. Owners of many cars must be in the same situation where servicing and MoT testing is necessary. Providing that personal protection is not compromised, there has to be some ground given for situations such as this.
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Le Touriste. The basic question you are asking is it it ok to travel out of a Tier 4 area to get your caravan serviced. As you are in a Tier 4 area and your dealer is in a Tier 3 area the answer is that you should not travel out of your area for the reason given. Travelling to get a caravan serviced is not in the list of allowed journeys within a Tier 4 area which are: education, work, exercise, medical needs and essential shopping; traveling out of your area into a lower tier one must surely be a no. I would have thought that towing a caravan would attract the attention of the boys in blue and you would have great difficulty explaining that it is essential that you get your caravan serviced so that you can use it this year! Why not book a service in 3 months time and hope that your Tier level is reduced. Or can you find a mobile engineer who would come to you?
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On the 24th March a Dometic service engineer called me. “I have the part for your fridge and would like to fit it next week”
Being only the second day of lockdown I was taken aback and asked if he could do this. His answer, which made me feel a bit silly for asking, was “well I can’t fix it from here can I”.
No he couldn’t so, as you are allowed to travel to work, that’s what he did however, this was before Tiers came in but believe same ‘rules’ apply now.
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Hi, it’s simply that he is travelling for his work and you would not be.
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OK, if you cannot see that he is OK, as he is at work, can you say which exception to the ‘rules’ covers you towing your van?
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I find myself in a similar situation. To maintain the 10 yr bodywork warranty on our Knaus, it must be serviced within two months of the anniversary of the purchase date. That is now due and it is tentatively booked into ALV in Cumbria for mid-January.
Despite repeated emails from both myself and the dealer to Knaus in Germany, they have not come back with any meaningful response as to whether or not they are prepared to relax their warranty rules given the current situation. All the other manufacturers that ALV deal with have stated that the warranty is maintained providing the van is serviced as soon as reasonably practicable.
Cumbria is now in Tier 4 - we are in Tier 3. According to the strict letter of the guidance, it would appear that, technically, I could travel to Cumbria with the van providing I don't stay overnight and adhere to Covid secure principles, etc. However, what bothers me is that whilst this might be sticking to the letter of the guidance, it's clearly in contradiction of the spirit of it.
So what do I do - go and risk getting stopped by the police who might have a different interpretation of the guidance - or stay at home and risk negating the warranty on what was a very expensive caravan?
Mobile servicing is not an option because the service must be carried out in a 'Knaus Approved Workshop' - plus it needs to go on a ramp to have the underseal re-applied which is another part of the servicing requirement.
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Cumbria is now in Tier 4 - we are in Tier 3.
Hi, so a different situation form the OP who is in a Tier 4 area where, so far as I understand it, there is a 'stay at home order' which means any travel, is now allowed except for limited reasons-which don't seem to include what the OP wants.
Looking at it from the OPs position I might just consider that if the service centre staff are allowed to travel to work there is no point in them doing that unless there is work for them to do.
But that does not change the fact that the OP is not travelling in connection to 'his work'.
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DT, even under Tier 4 restrictions, Tradespeople can travel to carry out work......taken directly from Gov website.
Where it is necessary for you to work in other people's homes – for example, for nannies, cleaners or tradespeople – you can do so. Otherwise, you should avoid meeting for work in a private home or garden, where COVID-19 secure measures may not be in place.
If it was me, I would opt for mobile services. Safer than towing,
I think MOTs are still happening now. Not dissimilar, although possibly not as urgent except in terms of upholding warranty. You risk assess it for yourself, make a decision from there?
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We are in tier 4 and the dealer is in the same tier 4 area some 16 miles away. If their service centre is open our MH will be going for its service in February. If they are allowed by the government to remain open, it would be ridiculous to say I shouldn't take it there under the current tiering.
However things may change, under lockdown 1 service centres were only open for essential maintenance. I don't think ours would qualify as an MOT is not required and a delay to the service would not be a safety issue, although might well compromise the warranty.
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My thoughts exactly Steve. 👍
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The argument can go around in circles, because different points of view are arising in various sectors who are all recognised as being “official”.
Among our family connections we have a school headmistress. She has commented that, whilst she is not allowed to visit her close relatives (even in the garden), she can be in school among as many as 30 school children - simply because Boris claims that schools are a safe place to be.
When one considers that 30 kids can come together from 30 homes spread over a significant area - and that some will almost certainly be breaking the distancing rules - and one or two may be carrying the virus, and then they disperse back to their individual homes. Given these facts, one can see the logic of a caravan/motorhome owner taking the view that there is no hazard in travelling to the service dept, providing that all cautions (masks/disinfecting/distancing) are kept in place.
There is the prospect of being stopped by the police - with the dilemma that such officer(s) could either see reason in the argument, or could be firmly determined to exercise the rules to the letter and take punitive action.
Whilst we are all aware (or should be) that hygiene and distancing are paramount in helping to prevent infections, it does seem obvious that political and economic considerations are at work in the process of making decisions as to what is, or isn’t, safe.
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If the dealer collected the caravan for service that would be "work" - as it would be if a towing service was hired to move the caravan. Could be the easy way out.
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You need an analytical, open mind, capable of carrying out a detailed risk assessment to see the difference🙄
I will start you off......
One man comes to owners drive. He can legally work, as a tradesperson, in a Tier 4. Caravan has all doors and windows open, to allow as much ventilation as possible, he is wearing a mask, sanitised hands or gloves. Van owner communicates with him at a safe (coffin’s length) distance. He does what is required, packs up, heads back to base. Owner can either choose to sanitise van, close it all up, and leave unopened for a few days, as long as it takes for the virus to die.
Scenario two. Owner hitches up caravan, travels on what could be construed as a none essential trip. Might even have an accident, who knows. Has to wait around while van is serviced, outdoors of course, or sat bored in car. Dealer might want to sanitise van prior to commencing work? Work done. Hitch it back up, off we go, none essential drive number two, a second slight risk of accident. Unhitch, sanitise down, leave as above.
Now to me, option 1 is best. It’s legal, it doesn’t involve two none essential journeys, keeps both tradesperson and owner happy, and a tad less risk of an accident to put further strain on NHS. Purely a personal view🤷♀️
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Dealership, or workshop?
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Scenario two. Owner hitches up caravan, travels on what could be construed as a none essential trip. Might even have an accident, who knows. Has to wait around while van is serviced, outdoors of course, or sat bored in car. Dealer might want to sanitise van prior to commencing work? Work done. Hitch it back up, off we go, none essential drive number two, a second slight risk of accident. Unhitch, sanitise down, leave as above.
Scenario 3. Prices and work confirmed over phone and e-mail confirmation sent. Tow to dealer at confirmed time, park in unused main carpark. Dealer's man drives up with tractor. Unhitches van and takes it away with tractor. Driver goes home having been sent e-mail confirming van dropped off.
Dealer calls back in a couple of days to give a collection time.
That is the general arrangement I had for 12th Jan until dealership locked down again.
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Well said Easy. When I took my van to Marquis in the Second lockdown. You waited outside the door with window. The person inside came to you to outside desk with a bowl of disinfectant, you dropped your keys in bowl. Unhitched your caravan outside then left and and waited for the phone call to collect. On collection the same sort of procedure.
To TDA
As for having a traffic accident, what is to say that I have more chance of an accident than the guy driving to me.
As for NHS I think you will find at this time of year that they are always at full strain.
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