Motorhome Dealers & Trade In Prices

Motorhome Dealers & Trade In Prices

Having dealt with a number of Motorhome dealers over the last few months I'm absolutely appalled at the way they operate...

We have viewed a number of Auto-Sleeper Broadway End Lounge Motorhomes in the £36,000 to £41,000 range and have been shocked at the dealers lack of interest, and presentation of the vehicles, never mind the retail prices

One Broadway being sold in Suffolk by a well known 'East Anglian' motorhome dealership for example.. had the bottom front grill missing, the bonnet & headlight badly aligned, the entire center section of the grill panel pushed upwards, and the plastic sump tray underneath the drivers front had been pushed down and back! Yet it was advertised as Excellent body condition..

I contacted the manager via email later that afternoon asking him if he was aware of the damage and that we were disappointed to have traveled there with the intention of buying it that day (due to the description) and he wouldn't even clarify or confirm the damage to the front end! It has since been SOLD so I hope whoever has bought it either got it fixed beforehand or look forward to a hefty repair bill in the near future!


My other gripe...

Or I should say my main gripe.. is the 'Magical' book price that they refer to, which is about 8-9k less than what dealers are selling them on for.. after a strong objection and 'Yer havin a larf' the price suddenly jumps up another grand or two grand before they bow out! What I would like to know is which book are they refering to because I've 'yet to see this book'
I'm aware of Parkers & Glasses guides but do these cover motorhomes? I thought not, but i could be mistaken...
Funny how they refer to the book price of your vehicle but fail to mention the book price of the motorhome they are trying to sell you

One idiot salesman pulled up Autotrader on his computer and used that as a price guide picking the lowest priced Nuevo he could as an example (without any thought as to the condition) with that we pulled out a sheet of vehicles printed off showing the prices dealers are selling them for... we have estimated that, that one dealer in particular based on the trade in price offered for ours would be making at least £6,000 (possibly more) so I can only presume if we bought the Broadway it would have a similar mark up? So at worst... I reckon they would see a minimum return of £10,000 for just that one transaction!

Robbing Barstewards comes to mind!


I will say when we bought our Nuevo through Spinney Motorhomes that there was no squit... (despite a few niggles later)
The salesman Andrew Cooper asked us how much we wanted for our Trident and gave us exactly what we wanted and a deal was done which was very fair and honest.

That was very good , I bought mine from there going back next Tuesday for hab check etc. would buy again from there.

I've brought this subject up of 'mark up' before when we part-exd our Symphony. It was sold within a week by a trader who takes the older ones from the main dealer with a marked up price of £5500 more than we got for it. Not saying it would not have been discounted for a cash sale but whatever it was sold for was a damn good profit for no work (we spent two days cleaning and polishing to make sure the dealer didn't try to lower his offer to us).
We bought the Symphony from Spinney with no part-ex and for cash. What Andrew did was the old double-glazing spiel of 'if you sign today, I'll knock off £1500' which really we should have ignored as I'm sure he would have offered the same the next day or the day after. We should have instead have bartered for even more discount. I'm sure sometimes dealers have a van for sale for a long time which ties up money but popular makes don't hang around for long and yes there is the preparation of a van (if they bother to make it presentable) and they have to provide a warranty which is all built in the price but it still seems an easy way to make a handsome profit.
When we part-exd the Symphony we were actually shown 'the book price',  same publisher as the car trade uses, the CAP black book.

With regards warranties the dealers in my experience all provide an insurance backed warranty which they obviously buy and factor into the price of the motorhome.

These warranties are About as much use as a 'chocolate fire guard' as we found out with our Nuevo, just as with any insurance claim the company do their best to avoid paying out!

Spinney's fitted a new handbasin in our Nuevo when we purchased it, and the very first time we used it it leaked and filled the entire swing wall with water,  the under slung fresh water tank also had a leak and the fridge also didn't work and needed a new element. Yet it had 'allegedly' just been through a habitation check as part of the purchase agreement, but no habitation test certificate was issued as we were told they don't issue a certificate!

We took the Motorhome to the AutoSleeper service Centre in Willersey with a list of jobs and Mark Burdett was even kind enough to ring the warranty company to make a claim but they were having none of it, I think eventually they offered to cover the cost of the fridge element but they had an excuse for everything to avoid paying out! A point worth noting that if it's an existing problem ie supplied by the dealer in that state then they won't pay out (as in our case) it has to be a new problem to be able to make a claim.

The only worthwhile warranty is one supplied directly by the dealer, if anything is wrong with the vehicle or anything goes wrong within the warranty period then it is the dealer who should have the vehicle back and correct any problems. But I'm not aware of any dealer that offers this kind of warranty  

Cotswold Motohomes, where we got our Nuevo from won't touch insurance warrantees but provide a 3 month  no quibble warranty (or if bought late in the year when likely to use it less, 6 months). At least you know where you stand.

That's good to know Paul, reflects a lot better on the dealer for standing by a vehicle in person in the event of problems.

If dealers checked vans out properly before selling them, then there really shouldn't be much go wrong with them. My general feeling is they do as little as possible to them and to rely on the insurance warranties to sort out any post purchase niggles, certainly the way it felt to us anyway.

In my experience Spinney do, well they did for me, and I cannot believe I am the only one, I cannot fault them, I had repairs and replacements done, I didn`t know at the time they checked van over they weren`t happy with the gas struts on the Heki2  and they replaced them, new windows the rest resealed, replace a tap, new side light, I will let you know how I get on,  on Tuesday, told to take it back while still under warranty, for a check.

I reckon we should have two threads running;
One for naming and shaming and one for good service.

I don't think there would be any legal issues re naming and shaming as long as we were specific and honest in our criticism ?

Well here's another in support of Spinney. New Duetto bought with no post-delivery 'issues' and it had no problems during the time we owned it. When we part-exed it for a very large new Laika (also a very big mistake) we got almost what we paid for it. (Normal disclaimers apply re our relationship with Spinney!)

Is there no level that dealers wont stoop to?

Listed our Nuevo in Autotrader a couple of days ago and noticed a well known motorhome dealer had another 2007 Nuevo on the very next ad to ours that was over £1,000 more expensive (which just made ours look a fairer price) But just looked a short while ago and they have edited / reduced the price to the exact same figure as ours... the sneaky so & so's  

Anyway it doesn't really matter now as we've just done a deal with a lovely local couple who have just agreed to buy it, but this is just another example of / & just goes to show what dealers are like! Trading up this time around has been a real eye opener If everyone was like us and insisted on a better deal then they wouldn't be able to behave and operate in the manner they do!

I had an email from Webbs motorhomes a few days ago blatantly rubbing my nose in it, by saying there would be a £7,000 profit for them retailing it compared to the trade in price they offered... They even had the audacity to add "When you've exhausted all other avenues, you know where we are" So, Up yours Webbs you greedy bleeders!

Fight for an honest and fair deal people, most of these dealers are just out and out crooks... At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

I did say further up this thread that I would say how I got on at Spinney when having a hab check after I was singing their praises.  

Well I feel let down, had new blinds fitted to the Heki2 , debris left all over the  settees and  the floor, on reading the report, it states after testing battery holding is above  is 9.
Another customer who was collecting his at the same time, remarked that they had washed his, " all part of the service " was the reply, mine wasn`t and with the dirt left inside I am not happy, have told them and had no response.
I did say it was a two tier service, one for newer vans another for the older ones.Would I go back, not when I have 2 hours there and two hours back.Thought it would be worth it.

Mike,

What gave you the impression that the hab check was free ?

I did pay, it was not a free hab check by any means ,plus I paid for the Heki blinds and labour, if anything needed doing they said it would be done under warranty, nothing did, the bill was £302.72 .

I did speak to the other customer, we were discussing MH`s and he was there for the same as I was,

Staff were not under any pressure from me at all, my appointment was for 11.30 am I was there for 11.15 am , after leaving home at 8am knowing what the traffic is like at Stoke. I left there getting on for 4pm. I wasn`t in a hurry, had a coffee, looked at the other motor homes there, had a meal.

I have notified them as I said and up to now no reply.

Also TV Aerial wouldn`t rise or lower, that was like that when I bought it,  turns out it wasn`t fitted properly,tried to put it up and the whole aerial was turning round,  so I paid £45 labour for that.
Regards,
Margaret


I would have kept going back there if I was satisfied this time, travelling is not the issue, if you get good service.

I am getting more depressed by the minute  There must be good stealers out there somewhere. To try and get more local service I went to Yorkshire Coast Caravans in Bridlington and asked if they could do warranty work for AS. Took my details and said would speak with AS then get back to me. NOTHING. 
So, Marquis Durham (90 miles away) bodged roof bars, Marquis Sheffield (90 miles away) bodged water tank heater and (cannot prove it was them BUT) found well bodged roof bar work. So with Spinney that's four off the list.
AS Willersey (200 mikes away) so far brilliant.
Marquis Tewkesbury (210 miles away) doing my hab check and a couple of minor warranty fixes late November. Fingers crossed.

Apology accepted Mike.

Has anyone had any dealings with E. S. Hartley Motor Homes ?

Would you Adam and Eve it 

We've had our eyes on a 61 plate Broadway for a few months, viewed it at the Malvern show and also at the dealers in the Midlands just two weeks ago, had just 5k on the plate and looked new! Because of the rubbish trade in price offered for ours we walked away but then decided to sell ours privately in order to buy it, still showing on their website but called them after selling our Nuevo and they've just flippin sold it 

Payback I reckon for my moaning about the general behaviour of my experience of dealers  (if you believe in karma)

So if anyone see's of hears of an Auto Sleeper Broadway must be an End Lounge layout, on the older style body with the grey skirts like our Nuevo, preferably as late as the change over in 2012 to the new design which I don't like but would consider anything 09 onwards, ideally 2010-2012

So far can only find one other and im not convinced it's the one for us due to be being such a fussy sod... Despite months of looking we've only found one so far that we deemed good enough to purchase which is shocking when you're parting with close to 40k (dealers take note)

Jaytee,
I wouldn't take Spinney off your list. I have had excellent service from them.Lets face it the whole industry are far, far from what you would expect from say a quality car dealer but from my experience they are better than most. I bought my first van from Lowdhams in Nottingham, believe me it was the most depressing experience I have had with this industry, I could hark on at their deficiencies but lets just say their after sales was absolutely * Inappropriate Word *!

daisy mae wrote:I did say further up this thread that I would say how I got on at Spinney when having a hab check after I was singing their praises.  

Well I feel let down, had new blinds fitted to the Heki2 , debris left all over the  settees and  the floor, on reading the report, it states after testing battery holding is above  is 9.
Another customer who was collecting his at the same time, remarked that they had washed his, " all part of the service " was the reply, mine wasn`t and with the dirt left inside I am not happy, have told them and had no response.
I did say it was a two tier service, one for newer vans another for the older ones.Would I go back, not when I have 2 hours there and two hours back.Thought it would be worth it.

Sorry to hear this... This is typical of my experience & just the total lack of respect shown for our vehicles. I'm presuming Spinney motorhomes will get back to you sometime today but having said that I've emailed them several times in relation to part exchanging our Nuevo that we purchased from them and never even got a reply which I find extraordinary when you have bought your current motorhome through them! From what I can see and in my experience dealers are making way too much money hence their laid back carefree take it or leave it attitude.

As I've said previously, we couldn't fault Andrew Cooper head of sales at Spinney, not even sure if he is still there? But we found him very easy to do a deal with and most importantly very fair, we got our Nuevo at a good price and they took our Trident in part ex giving us a very good price so I can't fault that side of things... I'm not sure and often wonder if Roger aka Roli had an influence in the deal we got as he viewed our Nuevo and spoke to Andrew prior to us buying it which may have helped us possibly?

We were disappointed with the post purchase problems we encountered which although not serious never should have happened, when test driving the vehicle there was a warning light lit on the dash indicating a rear tail light wasn't working, this was not fixed despite the motorhome being MOT'd  In the agreement of the sale we were told it would be serviced and come with a complete habitation check, at the handover we asked where the habitation test certificate / checklist was with the response 'oh we don't give those'  The shower wall hand basin was replaced after sourcing one from AutoSleepers first time the taps were turned on the pipes connecting the sink leaked and filled the swing wall, we could hear water sloshing around inside the swing wall as the van moved! This tells me it wasn't filled with water and even tested or checked during the imaginary habitation check  also as stated previously the fridge was not working and needed a new element, again the hab check would have picked this up surely?  All these problems were rectified at our own expense which is unfair when you've parted with so much money, if it wasn't such a long drive to Spinneys from Norfolk they would have found it back on their premises with a snag list to put right, this time around I'm prepared to NOT go through a similar post purchase experience!

Sorry to ramble on and go over all these details yet again, but it's based on fact and is my experience, which I honestly don't feel is good enough and doesn't represent a professional or caring industry. Personally I'm seeing an entire motorhome industry that needs a bloody good shake up!

Don't people think that if you buy local you will get a better response and service? If you have bought "on price" and live a distance away they are much more likely to be un responsive, wrong I know but in my experience true.

Claytaa wrote:Don't people think that if you buy local you will get a better response and service? If you have bought "on price" and live a distance away they are much more likely to be un responsive, wrong I know but in my experience true.

That's true, but finding a particular model especially an Auto Sleeper is no easy task, made even harder if like myself you live in rural Norfolk  I don't have any issues traveling countrywide to get the vehicle that meets my criteria but I do expect fair, and honest service which most if not all are seriously lacking.

mikethebike wrote:Hi CC.  About 7 on the Auto-trader site at present.

Regards

Mike

They are all End Kitchen Mike... It must be End Lounge... 

The AEG Motorhomes is the one we had intended buying is now gone (still listed on Autotrader) the second is located elsewhere and not sure it's going to be good enough but hoping to view the weekend. 

Having scoured the Internet this is the only End Lounge Broadway available that we are aware of  

Out of interest why are End Lounge models so sparse? Did AutoSleepers not manufacture as many? The layout just works so much better for us than the End Kitchen models