What accessories will we get in a new van?

When we bought a new van (not an A-S) a few years ago the dealer quietly hid a number of accessories.

It was only that we knew what should be with the van that we asked about them and they magically appeared.

We are buying a new Bourton and there is no clear indication of what accessories we can expect to find on board.

I'm thinking of crockery, electric hook-up lead, external gas connector plug-in, water hose.

I've seen glassware and fire extinguisher listed in one of the sales brochures, but why don't they list all of the essentials?

If we leave the old ones that came with the previous van for it's new owners and don't get replacements, it's a lot of hassle to get new.

Any views appreciated.

I may be wrong, but I think most, if not all of the accessories are itemised in the A/S brochure - possibly on the website as well?

Are you sure he deliberately hid the accessories, or just forgot to put them back in the van after its pre-sales preparation? I'm amazed if any dealer would be daft enough to try on a transparent scam like that, and just for a few pounds!!

With a new A/S you will certainly get crockery, electric hook-up lead, wine glasses, fire extinguisher, water hose and external water pump. I'm not sure about the external gas connector plug-in, but I expect it will be inserted in the outlet as it is so small and easily lost. (Must have a look and see if I've got one. )

I think that covers most of the essentials?

Dave


P.S. Welcome to the forum

Hi Delboy
Welcome to the forum from Bridlington , if your a real Delboy, I'm sure you will leave the dealership bulging with accessories.
Boaby

Thanks Gromit, we went to pay some money for the van today and had a better look through all of the cupboards. It looks as though everything is there as expected, but I went through the brochure and it isn't made clear anywhere. Maybe I'll let them know! I didn't think to check for an external gas connector.

Also, thanks burlingtonboaby, I'm not really that sort of delboy, though I am wondering whether we should put ALL of the bits back in the old van before we part with it!

You will get 4 crystal wine glasses clipped into a cabinet and a bag with a set on melamine crockery in it.

There will be a set of handbooks for the van and all of the installed appliances.

If the van comes new straight from the factory there will be a big plastic bag with a set of bits you need for that specific van; hook up cable, water hose OR external pump, gas barbeque connector, etc. If you ask your dealer he will be able to check with AS and see exactly what is included - with my last van there was a hose with the Truma fill connector and a pressure reducer but no external pump - I had to pay extra for that.

If the van has been 'dealer stock', the contents of the plastic bag may not be complete!

Check that you have the glass plate from the microwave. Quite properly our dealer removed this when the van was on the forecourt but it was forgotten. Getting it back to us was quite involved.

Hi Delboy
You might be able to get the dealership to fit a free set of mud flaps if not already fitted as standard.
Boaby

We have asked for an extra oven shelf and as (I believe) the freezer can be removed we have ordered an extra fridge shelf. The dealer said there would be no problem supplying these but did imply that if you don't ask you won't get. We got them added to our order form.

Delboy wrote:....................... I am wondering whether we should put ALL of the bits back in the old van before we part with it!

If you are trading it in, then don't bother.  The dealer will take out most of your bits anyway, [they are not allowed by law to pass on your hook up cable for example] so only stuff essential to your conversion should be left in. If you are selling second hand then you can let them have the lot as its buyer-beware.

Thanks everyone for all of the responses, there is a lot of useful information coming through from my initial question and I'm very grateful. I was going to leave in the original electric hookup cable and the original water hose which came with the van but I'll now hang onto those as they could be useful to us.

We had bought an extra oven shelf and have taken that for use in the new van but an extra fridge shelf could be a boon too as we have a much smaller fridge in the new van than in the previous one, we will almost certainly end up taking out the freezer box on some of our trips.

I've sorted through all of our documentation for the van, appliance handbooks, service history, habitation check history and really hope that all of those items are left in by the dealer, it will be a real shame if they are not, but there's not a lot we can do about it.

Thanks again everyone!

Re the oven shelf:

The second shelf is essential to us. We got one for the Wilton and kept it when we swapped for the Malvern only to find the apparently identical oven was a few millimetres different in width. You can get shelves of adjustable width but we found the correct sized one in a local caravan accessory shop.

Where would I store my boxes of veg while on the move if I had an extra oven shelf ? I find the grill pan rack works very well on the rare occasions I need an extra shelf.

Q

Hi Quilter, we did get the microwave plate although (even though I had read your post) I forgot to look before we drove off in the van! As for the box of veg, you could always keep the extra shelf underneath the stuff in the pan store, except everything would slide about and make a row.

We have a polystyrene box where the bottom, top and sides are all about 1" thick and all of our veg went in there in our 'old' van. We may reuse that in the Bourton if it will fit under the seat, otherwise it will go in front of the passenger seat for my wife to rest her feet on, plenty of room there.

Two things I  forgot which came new with the van (May 2014 Broadway):  a bag with spare lock barrels for the outside lockers and a gizmo which we could not identify ( and neither could the dealer) but we think it is something to do with the tyres - possibly from the  old pre- alloy tyres that were fitted. It came in a large felt bag !

Like the veg box idea...

Quilter wrote: . . . a gizmo which we could not identify ( and neither could the dealer) but we think it is something to do with the tyres - possibly from the  old pre- alloy tyres that were fitted. It came in a large felt bag !

Nor could we - I had forgotten about that!

Surely someone knows what it is? Can you post a photo - I don't know where our gizmo has been hidden stored for safe keeping!

Dave

I suspect that the metal plate inside the felt bag is to enable you to hang a punctured alloy wheel after it's been replaced by the steel spare wheel. The plate attaches to the steel wheel by means of a screw-in bolt (which should be in the bag). The plate is necessary because the size of the central hole on the steel spare is smaller than that of an alloy, and so without the plate it's not possible to re-hang the punctured alloy under the van.

Frankly, if I get that far, I'll carry the punctured alloy inside the van until I can get it repaired.

Cymro wrote:

Frankly, if I get that far, I'll carry the punctured alloy inside the van until I can get it repaired.

Which is exactly what we did in mid December when our tyre was screw drivered and destroyed outside Bilbao. We carried the written off tyre to the tyre depot inside the van. At one point we were expecting to have to carry the new tyre in the van as well but fortunately all was sorted. The gizmo in felt bag is somewhere, safe, at home. I'm going all over trembly at the thought that we might well have needed it and not had it with us !

Thanks Cymro.

That makes three of us!   I don't think I could hang the punctured alloy under the van, even if I was so inclined.

Dave

We have the gadget in the felt bag too, I've put it somewhere safe! The bag of lock barrels, we were told, are the original locks that were in the van, pre build. I don't know why I would need them, but they are there. We got the water fill kit and the external pump as well as everything else others have mentioned, also a TV mount bracket and usb cable for the radio.
When we collected the van, there was a bottle of champagne in the fridge too!

ajrm wrote: The bag of lock barrels, we were told, are the original locks that were in the van, pre build. I don't know why I would need them, but they are there. 

Interesting ! We were told they were new spares for the external lockers, presumably using the same keys that we already use.  Why would the base vehicle have external lockers anyway and why would we all get a packet with them in as they would clearly be useless ? 

Has anyone replaced a lock barrel from their packet of spares ?

I haven't even tried my keys in them. If I can find where I've put them, I'll see if my keys fit

ajrm wrote:I haven't even tried my keys in them.  If I can find where I've put them, I'll see if my keys fit

As a way of filling a boring afternoon marooned by high winds in the van, we've just tried the bag of lock barrels.

There are 5 lock barrels: 3 are small ones and one of our 3 locker keys fit them ( water filler cap for toilet reservoir, and underbed external locker key.)

The other 2 barrels are bigger and work with the cab key ie they are cab lock barrels.

Also in the package are 2 split pins about 1.5 ins long and 2 small shaped pieces of grey plastic with a hole in the centre and 2 opposing bits of plastic that look like tiny hooks. Also 2 stick on red plastic labels ( we think) which say VHB on them. We have no idea what these are.