Caravan Servicing Costs

They will charge what the market can stand, and unfortunately there isn't the amount of competition to bring prices down, like there is in the car servicing market.

Have you checked out what a registered mobile service engineer would charge?  We live in Yorkshire and I've seen adverts in this area, for an engineer who will come to your home for £145 or you can take it in to his workshop for £135.

Our caravan is in France now, and the last service was carried out by an engineer who visits storage depots and does the service there.  We paid £150 for our last service but the cost has now risen to £160.

We bought our van from Marquis. Their habitation service is £234. The terms of the 5 year warranty requires the annual habitation service to be carried out by Marquis alone. Apparently even work carried out at the Auto-sleeper factory service department must be first approved by Marquis to maintain their 5 year warranty.... Ah well, 3 more years to go and we can use a local mobile engineer. 

I think costs are reasonable. I use local mobile approved chap and think the costs (£150 I think) are OK. I stayed with him a few services ago and saw what he had to do. The equipment and specialist tools, van, and parts all have to paid for. If you say a service is 4 hours for full mechanical and habitation check, and it take him 30 min each way to get to site then this is about £30/hour which is reasonable.

Automotive garages vary from £36/hour to £75/hour for franchised dealer.

I use a NCC MCEA approved mobile workshop. Most brands give you the option to use a certified mobile to maintain warranty. I dont think the costs are unreasonable for the safety and peace of mind it gives me.

£75 an hour? And some. Citroèn in Bolton charge £80odd & across the road at Mercedes it's more like £120

They started calling unskilled people mechanics some years ago. Then they started the Technician and Master Technician nonesense. People working on caravan maintenance are often called Engineers. I have never met an Engineer yet who works on car or caravan maintenance. 

What hourly rate would you say an experienced caravan maintenance worker was worth today? What would be a sensible hourly rate for a dealer to charge for the same person? 

Master Technician nonesense..............

Back in 2013 we were looking forward to collecting our first ever new car. It had been a bit of a palava as, despite charging app £700 for a towbar, the car, an Audi, would not be capable of running any electrics in the van-battery charging and fridge-without an additional wiring kit which contained the necessary wiring, relays and fully working 13 pin socket.

Due to the issues I had been in touch with Audi UK who had agreed to pay for the kit and the fitting. The day before I was due to collect it the salesman rang me at 2.30 in the afternoon and asked why I needed the kit fitting, I made comment that I was surprised that less than a day before collection he was asking this and his reply was "our Master Technician says you don't need it".

I wont repeat what I said but I got my kit fitted later the next week and was compensated for my inconvenience.

Would you believe that I recently contacted 5 dealers,when looking to replace my car, none of who were aware of this ongoing issue?

In a word YES . They know how difficult it is to get your caravan serviced unlike a car where there are garages fighting for your work and an abundance of garages usually within easy reach of every car owner. Caravans are a specialised market some will only help you if you bought your van from them I personally take my barcelona back to where i bought it from which has just cost me 300 pounds in May this is for warranty reasons as soon as it is out i will be looking for a mobile service company which are around £185. It is defiantly a rip of but they know they have us by the short and curlies . 

I pay 150 / 160 here in Leicestershire. They come to me with fully kitted out mobile workshop.

I have been using a mobile service engineer for 15 years, family business ,first class and reasonable price ( call out caravan services )

I'm in South Nottinghamshire and use East Midlands Caravan Services, who charge £150 for Single Axle Service not too sure on Twin.

Comes to my home and takes around 4 hours, which saves me taking my van to Lowdhams at Gunthorpe, leaving it there then towing back and not having to book the service, 6 months in advance.

 I've nothing to compare it to, to know if it's reasonable, but it sounds expensive 😞

So if you had an issue at home with say your fridge, washing machine, boiler etc. you would probably pay £80-£90 call out which would cover some labour, add parts and time to fit and as you say a service  its probably about right.  A service on a CH boiler at home is probably about £90 plus any parts isn't it and that;s the same sort of concept as a fridge in a MH and as BB says he would have to remove and reseal the fridge again so there may have been sealing parts to be used.

£19.99 to £26.99 for the part for a Dometic fridge on ebay - and whatever the engineer who replaced it chose to charge.

Last Christmas Eve my oven packed up and OH diagnosed that it was a thermostat which needed replacement.  An 'Appliances Engineer' quoted us £50 call-out plus a half-hourly rate or nearly that (because it's Christmas Eve) plus the price of the part or parts  He said it was undoubtedly the element (it wasn't) and that it would be replaced anyway, and an extra parts charged for. My Oh found the part was available in Leeds for £14.99 - drove over and bought one, and replaced it himself.

If you can do it yourself it can cost very little - if you  pay someone to replace it, the price can be either reasonable or extortionate.

At this time of year a number of dealers start to offer cheaper servicing I have noticed. Presumably a slacker time.