Whilst reading the Forum I'm constantly reminded of the many shortcomings of our chosen form of recreation, and I'm concerned about the reliability of our vans and the dealerships that supply them. Having purchased 6 new caravans from 4 manufactures over the past 25 years, I certainly like our Eriba best. However, like the others, it does have a propensity to self destruct in some respects. So far this has been confined to cabinet hinges, door fixtures, flickering lights and scares about window seals. None of these faults should be expected, and when will manufactures ever make a van that won't leak for goodness sake? Fortunately Eribas are not too sophisticated regarding equipment, unlike WWBs with their wealth of high tech gadgets. At least we have a choice.

Being reasonable practical, I'm able to resolve most of these problems without having to return hundreds of mies to the supplying dealership. I've now experienced 4 different established caravan dealers, and have no desire to return to any of them. This dreadful admission is entirely due to the lack of back-up service and appreciation that I would expect. They are all lovely people when you sign the order, but once something goes wrong they are too busy to assist when you need it, or they don't have the part. When you want a service, expect to wait months! They don't seem to appreciate that some of us have to make at least two round trips of perhaps hundreds of miles to rectify a problem that should never have happened in the first place.

I think we are blackmailed into paying far too much for servicing to comply with warranty terms. Why should you have to pay to have a damp test to hopefully confirm that the van they sold you for the price of a decent motor car, isn't leaking? If we are put to the not inconsiderable trouble to have our van serviced at their convenience, we will soon have paid out enough money to nearly rebuild the thing! I believe that the manufacturers should appoint more dealerships to provide a competitive service to the thousands of people in the UK who pay out significant sums for the new caravans they make. I also think that the dealerships should have sufficient trained staff and premises to provide the service that their customers are entitled to.

I know that it might not be entirely reasonable to compare the motor car industry, but in all truthfulness, most cars these days are pretty reliable, and you get prompt aftercare service ( I dread the comments this might provoke, so lets stick to caravans!). Caravans cost similar prices to many of the average cars, but for some reason we are still encouraged to believe that they will leak, and we should expect locker hinges to come adrift and lights to malfunction etc.

After all these years, I've come to the conclusion that you should be prepared to be handy and carry out as many running repairs as you can yourself. And why not think about using the growing army of mobile caravan engineers who just might appreciate your repeat business, and keep your van safe and legal at a reasonable price? Is your warranty really worth what you will have to pay for it?

I've never purchased a new or nearly new caravan. If I ever did I would be relieved when it was out of warranty and out of their greedy clutches.

Second hand seems the best. I bought my 2006 Troll 540 a year ago from a well regarded independent dealer. I’ve used it 11 times so far and nothing has gone wrong.

I had it serviced by a mobile mechanic who did the work while I was staying at my favourite caravan site. I went to buy fresh crab for lunch while he worked. I have no warranty but expect to pay for repairs as they come up. I am sometimes tempted by a brand new Eriba but am already so attached to my ‘van that I’d rather put money into looking after it well.

We bought 2 brand new Eribas from Automotive Leisure, one in 2014, the other in 2018. Both had major issues, including the bed totally collapsing on the first outing with the first one (in addition to other more minor but nevertheless still annoying faults) and the fridge being totally unusable on the second (along with other more minor faults). Of course this is unacceptable with regard to the manufacture but, to be fair, AL did their best to rectify the problems. With the first van they repaid our diesel costs to return to them and covered the cost of overnight camping whilst there. For the second, we dropped the van off to have the fridge replaced as we were in the area and they delivered it back to us in Worcestershire.

I think it is fair to say that I am quite... shall we say 'persistent' in dealing with such things! and I got it all sorted. What I am less happy about is the fact that Eriba have persistent issues that they seem to do nothing about! They also just pass the buck to the retailer. Regarding the replacement fridge in our brand new 535, Eriba did nothing and gave AL no assistance either. It was me that rang the manufacturer and got a replacement organised to be fitted at AL.

If Eribas weren't so cute, Hymers Eriba business wouldn't exist.

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While I sympathise with the general nature of ROBMAR post I would like to point out that one has to speak as one finds! Yes, we have bought two new Eribas from an authorised dealer on the south coast. Yes we have problems with both models and while it is very frustrating to have to travel forwards and backwards to get issues rectified, however I must stand up and say that I have had no issues with the level of response or service received from the dealership!

I fully accept that Hymer has some questions to answer with the marketability of their product, but at the end of the day, that is their problem and I know from conversations with the dealership they are equally frustrated! I know that they keep on at Hymner about the recurring problems. Bottom line is it was our choice to buy an Eriba, as it was all of yours who have bought Eribas. I suppose Hymer will not address these issues until we stop buying them. I have been led to believe that Eribas are somewhat a sideline and a pain in the proverbial, compared to (sorry Roger I have to say it) motorhomes (camping-cars) which is the mainstay of their business. The UK requires a different spec to continental vans and that is an additional negative to Hymer, and I have been lead to belive that they would not deal with the UK if they could get away with it!

Having researched the issue of servicing for warranty purposes, and while the water ingress test is a warranty issue that must be carried out by an authorised dealership it is not the case with annual service. Anyone can carry out the service as long as they are recognised as being competent.

Going back to the dealerships, I have always found that a willingness to work with them and an appreciation of the situation they are in works wonders. It has for me and hence my defence of them.

So bottom line.... if you don't like what you are buying, then don't buy it!

Clippie

I've only been an Eribarist for 3 years, bought a 2012 550. Apart from the bathroom door falling off and a couple of loose cupboard hinges it's been happy camping. From what I've learned from you Eriba folk is that pre 2010 vans are better quality and build. I fix, repair and modify everything and have an independent MCEA approved service engineer carry out the service on my drive. It's the ideal van for for a hobby and to tinker with.

Two years ago I rented a 32' Mini Winnie RV in Alaska. What a well built machine they are. Last year we returned and we were offered a similar model but by a different manufacturer. The quality appeared nowhere near that of the Winnie. Although new, things started to fall apart during our orientation session. One draw needed fixing to stop it opening across the floor, a glass divider next to the hobs was wobbly. Overall the quality was very substandard.

I took it away not 100% happy after they fixed some of these issues but within 1/2hr I took it back. The plumbing didn't work and a fuse blew. I was worried something major would go wrong during our 17 day trip. It took some sorting by the renters but within 2hrs we were in a solid Mini Winnie again.

The rental company in question owns at least a 100 of these beasts and were changing them to the other brand. They had started to worry they had bought into a company that specialised in cheap and nasty.

The RV manufacturer in question is Thor. Thor now own Hymer. I wouldn't buy a new Eriba. I doubt they will last like my French built Puck.

Fingers crossed my 2019 418 will be ok then!
I'm wondering if the lack of service from Hymer is because we are outside Germany? I have a couple of German e-bikes and the manufacturer was rubbish when dealing with the UK retailer, took a letter from me to the CEO to get them to do the right thing.

This is the first caravan we've owned so all pretty new to us. What are the other makes like regarding faults? Common? Willing to fix them?

Quote: ross wrote in post #11

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This is the first caravan we've owned so all pretty new to us. What are the other makes like regarding faults? Common? Willing to fix them?

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Quote: Big Al wrote in post #8

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Thor now own Hymer. I wouldn't buy a new Eriba. I doubt they will last like my French built Puck.

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Quote: Clippie wrote in post #13

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Not wishing to cast aspersions, Al, but Hymer took back production from France as the German parent company was concerned about production quality in France!!

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I’ve been reading this thread from afar with interest now I’ve sold my 2005 Puck a few months ago (am I even allowed to belong anymore 😊)
I’ve now got an Autosleeper campervan that I bought brand new in November and sold the Puck after 3 great years in March with virtually zero depreciation and not a single fault in the time I owned it.

This thread is pretty much identical to many in the Autosleeper community and I’m sure in any other Caravan/Motorhome forum you care to visit.

IMO, quality these days in the whole industry has taken a massive hit at the expense of profit.

I’m really happy with my new van but the small details are quite frankly shocking. Luckily I’m technically minded enough to have fixed the majority of them and in Autosleepers defence their service/warranty team have been brilliant and allow direct phone calls and have sent out parts that I have requested (saves them money if I fix it rather than a warranty claim but I’m not complaining!)

Sorry, I’ve been going on a bit but I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that it’s not just the brand new shiny Eribas that suffer, it’s common across the whole leisure industry and as long as we keep buying them then there doesn’t seem to be an incentive for the bean counters to improve quality.

David