MH Service

HereAndThere

Hi

I have just bought my first motorhome (secondhand).

I want to get her serviced (and DOEd) and was wondering how much a typical service costs?

She is a Euramobil 585 KB 1999 Fiat Ducato 2.8 i.d.t.d.

She has 136,000 Km on her and the Timing Belt was done at 126,000 Km.

Need to get the fridge serviced, its not working on gas. Is this included in main service?

Also need the awning repaired on the righthand side as she is catching? Think it needs a spring of some sort ?

How much do you think this will all cost?

Also looking for a new leisure battery as original is knackered?

Anyone know where I can get a spare hub cap?

Cheers

Aidan_M_M

Okay , maybe I'll get shot down for telling the truth , but here goes . It's simply not possible to say how much all that will cost . I do that stuff for a living , 6 days a week , and no 2 campers , even the same make , are ever the same . Loads of 'vans have come in for a service , the owner assuming all was ok as he'd boughtit from a friend/alleged good source/other dealer who claimed it had been done etc , and there's always some few extra bits , be it suspension bushes , a torn CV boot , sticky brake calipers , leaking brake cylinders etc. Take a reverse lamp not lighting as an example... could be a bulb, which takes 2 mins , or a rev. light switch on the gearbox which takes around a half hour , or broken wiring somewhere , which could take 2 hours to trace!

Fridge not working on gas...again , a simple Gas check , burner strip , clean flue , new jet and refit , 20 mins. if the burner is rusty , hard to access etc , or the thermocouple or spark box or gas valve dodgey... could be from an hour to 3.


Because of that , we as a rule don't quote ballpark prices for services of vans we don't have history of , as you simply don;t know what's ahead of you . We just quote an hourly rate.

Not really what you wanted to hear perhaps , but plain old fashioned honesty .

HereAndThere

Thanks for the reply Aidan_M_M

What are we talking roughly though - whats the average service cost of a MH?

Whats the going hourly rate at the minute?

How do you know that you aren't gonna be ripped off by being charged an hourly rate. What if the mechanic has had a bad day and takes an extra hour than usual to do something, surely the customer shouldn't be penalised for this?

I suppose its a trust thing and you have to find a MH mechanic that you trust and are going to continually go back to. So its in his intrest to keep the cost reasonable or else fail to win regular clients? Would I be right?

Any ideas on the other bits?

Looking for a spare hub cap and a leisure battery?

Do most MH service agents do the DOE test or are you better going to a VTN?

Cheers

niloc1951

See other threads on here about the DoE test, there is no legal requirement to have it done , yet.

As regards service, all you can hope for is a good mechanic for the base vehicle requirements and a good caravan man (person) for the habitation bits.

Aidan_M_M

niloc1951 wrote: »

As regards service, all you can hope for is a good mechanic for the base vehicle requirements and a good caravan man (person) for the habitation bits.

...or one man who does both .

re the DOE , none of the MH dealers have the facility for it AFAIK , we send ours to the local Truck/Van DOE garage . Same place as does my SEAT Inca . In no way affiliated or related to us .

I'll pm you about t'other stuff , rather than clutter the thread with advertising .