Hymer Habitation Check & Warranty
Hi
We purchased a 2 year old Hymer motorhome at the begining of this year from Travelworld. I have just contacted them regarding our habitation check and they quoted me £351.00! That seems very high, I have spoken to Heart of England who initially quoted
£170.00 which sounded better but when I asked if they would be able to stamp our warranty book they say it will be an extra £70 for this! This seems very expensive and not something we were made aware of when we purchased the motorhome. Having spent £50k
on the motorhome I don't think I am being mean but do feel this is a bit of a rip off. Has anyone else had any experiences similar, do I just shut up and pay up?
Comments
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Our Swift had to have a COMPLETE Habitation Service but when we swapped MH's I found out that a lot of the Continental ones only require a Water Ingress check. I would talk to Hymer first not the Dealer Network and ask what EXACTLY is required for your warantee to be kept upto date. You will probably find it has to be done by a Hymer Dealer as they have access to Hymer's Database to register the fact it has been done.
As to not being made aware .. You really have to do your homework before you buy. They are not going to tell you EVERYTHING. They like to give you a few surprises along the way.
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Thanks QFour, they have said that for the warranty we only need to £70 water ingress check, but how do we know that everything else is OK if we don't have the full habitation service?
This was certainly a surprise I could have done without!
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Our Swift had to have a COMPLETE Habitation Service but when we swapped MH's I found out that a lot of the Continental ones only require a Water Ingress check. I would talk to Hymer first not the Dealer Network and ask what EXACTLY is required
for your warantee to be kept upto date. You will probably find it has to be done by a Hymer Dealer as they have access to Hymer's Database to register the fact it has been done.As to not being made aware .. You really have to do your homework before you buy. They are not going to tell you EVERYTHING. They like to give you a few surprises along the way.
thats certainly the case with our Carthago...
at one year old, i had a damp check (mandatory and carries a posh sticker in the service book) and a hab check.....i think this was around £360...
i, too, have discovered that the hab check is not mandatory and i can have just the damp check (@ around £185). so my hab check was around £175.
however, i will be having a 24mth Fiat base service (not required a year ago) so i wont be saving anything....
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Just out of interest, ( never having purchased either a caravan or MH new) what exactly is involved in a habitation check? How long does the warranty last on a new Hymer? Interested because this is one of makes high up on our replacement list. Thank you.
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Thanks QFour, they have said that for the warranty we only need to £70 water ingress check, but how do we know that everything else is OK if we don't have the full habitation service?
This was certainly a surprise I could have done without!
Write your comments here...A "service" is not what is in the true sense of the word as apart from the Brakes there is nothing that is actually taken apart its just a check to ensure things work correctly
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I believe you need a damp test report and a sticker in your service manual. Dealers are a little reluctant just to do a damp check report. I use Travelworld now and its service has improved over the last three years. I've been told they are all Hymer trained
- it shows now compared to their earlier days as Hymer dealers.Peter Hambilton used to do my servicing up at Preston [Hambilton Engineering]. As good and slightly cheaper but cannot do damp checks for the Hymer warranty. Peter has retired but still has an interest in the busimess. I don't have any recent knowledge.
You could ask Lowdhams for a quote but they may have difficulty fitting in your van if you didn't buy it from them.Whoever you go with, check whether the price includes VAT and what, if any, additional incidentals.
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Hi takethedogalong
We didn't buy ours new it was just over 2 years old. We had a 10 year old Auto Trail previously but have always had a yearly haditation check to make sure all the internal things are working OK and there is no water ingress causing damp. The warranty should
be 3 years for the engine and 6 years for the habitation but I am starting to think it is not worth the paper it is written on seems to be just a handy way of them making lots of extra money out of you with service and habitation charges, thankfully not had
any problems so not had to claim anything which means we haven't really got a clue how good the warranty is. Love the motorhome but really don't like all the hassle and expense that goes with them keeping them on the road.0 -
Thanks QFour, they have said that for the warranty we only need to £70 water ingress check, but how do we know that everything else is OK if we don't have the full habitation service ?
Having watched while a mobile mechanic do the habitation service on our Swift there is not to much to do. He sprayed the blind tracks with Silicone Oil. He checked the tyres. He walked round and had a look underneath for anything that looked as though it might fall off. He checked the vehicle lights and habitation lights worked. He checked the water came out of the taps. He checked the fridge worked. He checked the oven and gas hob. Then he did a pressure check on the gas system. All this you can do yourself except the gas bit. I usually have a few tools with me and a can of silicone oil spray. Screw bits on as and when they fall off. I just keep an eye on things. Also check that the gas rubber tails are sound and they need changing every 5 years.
Have fun
.. Being broke is part of having a MH. It's a bit like owning a boat but CHEAPER.At the end of the day all he was looking for was extra work that needed doing so he could make a claim for it under the Swift warantee. Problem was that all the bits that had fell off had already being fastened back on
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Thanks for that. Is it just things like cold/hot taps working, gas getting to burners, heater working ok, etc..... We are used to doing our own checks and a certain amount of maintenance on our tourers, admittedly we never consider resale value, as we tend
to have them for a long time. We do have the MH serviced annually, the vehicle element, for example timing chain was replaced last year, but haven't had any issues with any aspect of the habitation, it all works as perfectly as the day we bought it. Everything
was checked fully before we collected it, and all explained on handover, with a good service contact supplied should we ever have any issues.I can understand the need for taking a new tourer in for checks, but to have to pay such an amount out does seem on the expensive side. But as I say, we have never bought new.
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I really think they are just a money spinner for some in the leisure industry. Most British makes insist you have it all checked at your expense when all they are doing is checking to see if they can find anything that needs fixing. All they are basically doing is what you do everytime you go away. Switch on the water, gas, fridge, heating, lights and make sure they all work.
On the other hand if it's out of guarantee you are just paying for someone to tell you what they are going to charge you to fix it
. It should really be called a Habitation Survey and should be provided FREE0 -
Thanks QFour, they have said that for the warranty we only need to £70 water ingress check, but how do we know that everything else is OK if we don't have the full habitation service?
This was certainly a surprise I could have done without!
Write your comments here...A "service" is not what is in the true sense of the word as apart from the Brakes there is nothing that is actually taken apart its just a check to ensure things work correctly
....a habitation service/check wont go near the brakes....
that is part of the base vehicle service....
a hab check will do just that, check a range of items (cooker, fridge, heater etc.....) and ensure that theyball work correctly on all fuel sources....
some will cover windows, blinds, cupboards etc....
apart from specific gas/electrics knowledge, someone spending weeks in their van, in all weathers and using all fuels will have a damn good idea how the van is sorted.
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You could ask Lowdhams for a quote but they may have difficulty fitting in your van if you didn't buy it from them.
When we had our Hymer we used to have the dampcheck done at their Huddersfield branch. We didn't buy the MH there. We never had a problem with getting it done on the date we wanted, but we did always book well in advance to make sure. Last time we had it done it cost £125, that was nearly 2 years ago. Apparently, or so we were told, it's the sticker that costs a lot of money!! If that is the case, then it certainly is the most expensive piece of paper I've ever come across.
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You could ask Lowdhams for a quote but they may have difficulty fitting in your van if you didn't buy it from them.
When we had our Hymer we used to have the dampcheck done at their Huddersfield branch. We didn't buy the MH there. We never had a problem with getting it done on the date we wanted, but we did always book well in advance to make sure. Last time we had
it done it cost £125, that was nearly 2 years ago. Apparently, or so we were told, it's the sticker that costs a lot of money!! If that is the case, then it certainly is the most expensive piece of paper I've ever come across.Their other branch told me that they had fixed the water leak on the water tank by re-cutting the thread in the tank. When I asked if they had fitted a larger adaptor I was told it just needed the thread re-cutting. On closer examinaton what they actually
meant was they had put even more PTFE tape round the fitting.How can a sticker cost a lot of money. We had them on the Swift just a sticky round thin plastic with year the check was done and who did it. It would be hard to believe they were more than a £1 each at most.
I came to the conclusion very early on that you can believe nothing that some of these MH Dealers say or say they have done or will do.
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One thing to watch is that they do not service the fridge on Gas. If you want the fridge serviced you have to ask for it as it is not in the list of items to do. They will check that it is safe, but do not clean out the flue etc as it is a timeconsuming
job. Most owners do not use the fridge on gas and those of us who do may not be aware that a service does not cover the gas fridge.0 -
We visited Lowdhams a few weeks ago, just for a browse. Not that impressed really, but doubt they are any worse than most dealers.
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We visited Lowdhams a few weeks ago, just for a browse. Not that impressed really, but doubt they are any worse than most dealers.
Write your comments here...I was there at the weekend as had to take to van in on Monday for a few issues. They seem no better or worse than most dealers to me. One thing to note though if you were looking is the lack of used MH's, apparently they are
selling new ones like hot cakes but to new MHomers so no trade ins to sell on. I wonder if its a trend across the industry?0 -
We have bitten the bullet and booked it in with Heart of England, slightly cheaper than Travelworld and although we have never brought from them they alwasy seem very customer friendly. Only time will tell if we have made the right decision, at the end
of the day it's only money just means any chance of early retirement have just gone back at least another month. They are obviously making lots of money as we wanted to take it first week in December but they are fully booked so got to take it the following
week.0 -
We visited Lowdhams a few weeks ago, just for a browse. Not that impressed really, but doubt they are any worse than most dealers.
Write your comments here...I was there at the weekend as had to take to van in on Monday for a few issues. They seem no better or worse than most dealers to me. One thing to note though if you were looking is the lack of used MH's, apparently they are
selling new ones like hot cakes but to new MHomers so no trade ins to sell on. I wonder if its a trend across the industry?We visited the one at Huddersfield. They had lots in, PVC's, British makes, continental marques. To be honest, other than a couple of brand new Hymers, we came away very unimpressed. We then went to look at another local dealers, taken over by Marquis. Their
stock was better presented, but again, only liked the Autosleepers. Benimars were just not for us, and the second hand Swifts looked very shoddy workmanship. No idea on servicing though. We use a local garage for our vehicle base service, and use all of the
interior, and it all works, so why worry? We keep looking online to compare trade in and private sales on models like ours, and holding up well, so we are pleased. Ours has years of happy touring for us yet!Our big fear will be finally trading in, getting something new and it turning out to be a nightmare!
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