What are other Members views about servicing just for warrenty assurance ? I know you pays your money and takes your choice but I am undecided wether to have a 1st service done for damp & warrenty reasons although I'm sure it does not need it for mechanical reasons yet. It's due end of Nov and AL say they are booked full for the next 5 months. (supplied new from them). Lowdhams quote £315 For 1st service and our Troll has no issues or faults (tempting fate I know) so I'm thinking of letting my local caravan dealer doing a basic service at a fraction of cost and forfeiting Hymers warrenty. Opinions please. Paul.

Good question. As you may know (or maybe not lol) new vans do not come with the log book of old into which one collected stamps whenever a service or damp test was completed but instead the owner is treated to an A4 size hard-backed folder into which a couple of information sheets are placed and later into which the dealer will supply you with another few bits of paper certifying what tests have been completed. Other than the pretty boxes into which the stamps went, the old log book type thing was somewhat confusing to say the least as to what should be inspected and when. The new information sheet is a bit clearer in this regard.

I won't give you the entire content here but simply the general gist of things:-

(a) The buyer is obliged to have the caravan inspected annualy. This inspection should be conducted by the seller or an authorised trade or service partner of Hymer...... and should be done in accordance with the guidelines of Hymer.

(Personal note in relation to this first paragraph. Note the words authorised trade and guidelines of Hymer. If you decide to go down the independent service technician route then I would suggest it would perhaps be advisable to obtain a list of what Hymer consider necessary to be serviced.)

(b) If damp is discovered it should be reported to the seller no later than 14 days after discovery.

(c) If the inspection is executed within 6 months of the expiry date of the previous inspection (i.e. within an 18 month period) then the guarantee will continue to be honoured. However, this should not be taken to mean that the following annual inspection should be executed within 12 months of this date but rather to maintain the cycle of annual inspection from the date of first registration/purchase, the following service would need to be exectuted 6 months later.

I've read the sheets mentioned previously a dozen or more times and there doesn't appear to be any separation of what one would normally understand to be meant by 'service inspection' and the 'damp test' - the text appears to bundle it all as one.

It wouldn't be fair of me to make any personal comment regarding this guarantee as each case/claim would be obviously considered upon it's own merits. Suffice it to say, that having had a couple of occasions to establish contact with Hymer via the dealer regarding guarantee issues I would personally recommend that the terms of their guarantee be followed to the letter. As you say, though, 'you pays your money and takes your choice'.

I think you'll find that 'Block Exemption ' (from June 2010) is only applicable to the Motor Vehicles. So probably safer to play the game and get Hymer Approved Servicing during the warranty period :(

To comply with Hymer's 5 year warranty (or however long it is these days) will probably cost the best part of £2k - you can get a lot of repairs done for that price if necessary.

A full service, say through an independent mobile AWS engineer, carried out at your convenience on your drive or storage site costs around £170 and will include a full damp test. If you have this done annually, any water ingress issues will be caught early enough and rectification would involve probably nothing more than a reseal to the affected area, avoiding more expensive repairs if left for a long period. You'll still have a full service history which will stand you in good stead when the time comes to sell on.

If you're inclined to trade-in your van for a newer model through a Hymer dealer every couple of years, then by keeping to the warranty conditions, the dealer may give you a more favourable part-ex price.

Of course, when you void a product warranty you give up your right to sue the manufacturer if something goes wrong and you accept full responsibility for whatever happens next.

However, that's when you truly own the product

Thank you for your replies , in my view it's a gamble money wise. We live in Essex, by the time I add on fuel cost, overnight accommodation, etc, on top of £315 it would be near £450 min. In the past and with Hymer , same situation spent hundreds of pounds on servicing (mostly checks) and at end of ownership (5 years) totalled approx £1500' me thinks i could put £50 a month in bank for repairs etc. I know theres no definitive answer to this and comes down to taking a risk. Paul.

If you are in the area (or would like to combine a service with a few days in the Lake District) then this dealer (who is NCC certified) is recommended.

http://www.adventurelv.com

I bought my 310 new from them in 2014 and it has been serviced twice now. £199 for the service, £99 for the damp check. I usually drop it off in the morning, have a look around all the Eriba's on display (plus the Airstreams and T@bs) and then collect around 3 hours later.

Quote: Pepé Le Pew wrote in post #5

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If I was fortunate enough to have a new van and be wrestling with this servicing issue, I think I'd almost certainly take a chance on nothing expensive going wrong during the second half of the warranty period and save myself a small fortune in servicing and water ingress tests.

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I agree Deeps. Personally I don't think there is a sensible decision other than keeping the warranty valid. Eriba repairs are expensive and I would argue that you cannot get much done for £2K. Don't throw it away for a ha'porth of cloth.

Stewart

You don't have to go back to AL for the service, any Hymer dealer can service your van. I bought a van from AL and had it serviced at Lowdhams in Huddersfield.

Quote: eribaMotters wrote in post #12

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I am also wondering what to do about service and water ingress check. I collect my new van from Lowdhams in Nottingham in Feb. This is about 3 hours drive from Essex. I am lead to believe they may do a 3yr service plan, payable in advance. If so I think I would go this route and then independant servicing after that. If I was unlucky enough to have a dreaded damp problem due to a build defect it would hopefully show up over the first 36 months.
Colin

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Colin,i went up to Lowdhams (Nottingham) last week for 1st service.Triton 430 gt.The water ingress test reveald window rubber was not correctly adhered to side panel at the Factory- they applied Dekalin sealant and suggest 3 month retest.This was on the customer Warranty report.You are correct about service plan.
They give 10% discount -£259.50 per service = 3 years -1 payment £24.58 then 31 payments of £24.32 .That incudes the Water ingress test.
I might take this offer up,still a lot of Dosh but peace of mind ! We stayed over night on site (FREE) with EHU for 8.30 AM service start,and collected van at around 3PM.Must say customer service was very good and cheaper than A.L. Malcolm.