Recommended vw topaz call out assessor- LONDO

Hi again,

So many nigglings issues with the topaz before we head out for the sunny season. I would like to get an assessment of the vehicles current well being. This should include both mechanical and internal functional 
Apparatus. I believe it is good to know what is coming around the corner with such elderly vehicles and so does anyone living in and around the London area have a recommendation of a call-out person or company that can deliver straight and frank facts about the status of any given A/S campervan so that one is left with a clear direction of what repairs and renewal should be prioritised for its and the owners peace of mind.

Any small, independent or experienced checkers details would be most appreciated for previous users.

Cheers

Try Saxons london.
You could start with a habitation service and see the results.

Micky

You're really talking two different things. One is getting the accommodation (habitation) assessed and the other is checking over the van mechanics, chassis, brakes etc (the base vehicle). The thing that's likely to have most wrong with it and potentially cost the most to sort is the base vehicle, so get it assessed and serviced by a good garage, asking them to list stuff that needs doing, maybe in a priority list, with estimates. Then get a mobile AWS person to check over the habitation aspects on the same basis.  https://www.approvedworkshops.co.uk/

Dai Jinks wrote:Hi again,

So many nigglings issues with the topaz before we head out for the sunny season. I would like to get an assessment of the vehicles current well being. This should include both mechanical and internal functional 
Apparatus. I believe it is good to know what is coming around the corner with such elderly vehicles and so does anyone living in and around the London area have a recommendation of a call-out person or company that can deliver straight and frank facts about the status of any given A/S campervan so that one is left with a clear direction of what repairs and renewal should be prioritised for its and the owners peace of mind.

Any small, independent or experienced checkers details would be most appreciated for previous users.

Cheers

Hi Just saying the Topaz is a Motor Home not a camper, Mhome has full facilities only on a smaller scale,  Campers usually have a porta potty in a cupboard next to the sink, nor a washroom / shower/loo 

Enjoy, love mine.

daisy mae wrote:

Enjoy, love mine.

To a degree I agree with your definition DM, but it seems the world doesn't. I even took Andrew Ditton to task on Youtube after he posted a video review of time he'd spent using an Adria Twin type panel van conversion complete with shower room, which he referred to as a campervan. Martin Dorey does the same thing now he's spread his net wider than the old VW camper that he used to run.

Indeed I had reason to go onto the Swift Group's Swift Go hire website and they refer to their Swift Select 122 PVC, with its shower room, as a campervan and the Swift Escape 612, which is sort of Nuevo like as a motorhome. 

My definition of a camper would be no fitted toilet/shower and usually with a poptop roof, though hightops without a fitted toilet may also qualify. Other items that blur the lines are whether the van is fitted with fresh and waste tanks under the floor, many campers having no tanks at all and whether they have an oven rather than just a hob and grill.

Really, to provide clarity, rather than 'campervan' as a description, they should be using 'panel van conversion' or 'PVC' which covers both 'campers'  as we define and those with a fitted toilet and shower.

Just to add a twist, two of my previous vans have been Horizons Unlimited Innovations, a '1' and a '3'. These were hightop but had a fitted Thetford swivel toilet and no shower room. It's stable mate the Cavarno, which, without exterior stickers would look the same and shared a mainly similar interior, was like a mini A/S Symbol ES inside with a shower room in the nearside rear. How would one define those? And what does the Adria Twin 500 qualify as? 5m long, with a fitted toilet, washbasin and shower opposite the rear kitchen, which involves swinging a modesty door across the van and removal of the kitchen floor to reveal a shower tray? Or what about Bilbo's Lezan, the Autohaus Camelot, Devon Firefly and Leisuredrive Vivante that all have a proper Thetty tucked up in the offside rear corner?

The definition lines are definitely blurred.

DJ's OP got me thinking. 

I've absolutely no experience of LEZ because we moved to North Yorkshire from London in 1993 and retired to North Staffs in 2009. I used to visit London by train on a fairly regular basis up until retirement, but have only been there once in the last dozen years, again, by train. 

So, if DJ has a '94 van, which presumably isn't compliant and lives in London in an area covered by an emission zone how does he go on? Do they only charge for the days the van is actually active, or do they charge for all the days they detect that it's inside the zone? I read there are dispensations for 40 year old and older vehicles, but DJ's is 27, so presumably doesn't qualify.

I must admit that what with emission zones and Thames toll charges I'm v glad I've stayed away, it all seems v complicated.

I assume we are to be charged on whatever given day we actually move across the new expanded LEZ border line that recognises number plates be that leaving or entering.
You will not be charged for a parked vehicle on say your drive or private land I believe to be the case.as your not moving.

We have private parking outside of the new LEZ zone which is a 20 minute drive away from the house and so a swich of vehicles with needed provisions and your off with out charge and away from rush hour jams in a bigger vehicle. Happy to pay mind if we wish to camper out within the zone, which has many attractive areas and parks all be it fairly close to home. Nothing like just crashing out after a vibrant evening in town.