Marquis

I'm getting closer to becoming an Autosleeper owner again. Hope to view a panel van conversion in Marquis  soon. Their website has a bit which says "make an offer". Has anyone successfully had a bit knocked off the price of their purchase by making an offer and if so any tips on how much of an offer I should try on van priced around £40,000? Thanks in advance for any guidance. 

Good luck with that. In my experience it's only the usual haggling you do when buying and, with the way vans are flying off the shelf, they'll not be very interested in reducing prices. You might get a bike rack included, perhaps.

Have you no alternative to Marquis? There are plenty of reports of them on this forum, including my own.

It's a long way from Anglesey to any Marquis branch for any warranty work.

I was thinking that Paul, might be different if they were reliable

Thanks for replies. As you are probably aware Paul, we don't have a huge choice of dealers this neck of the woods. Luckily we have family in Lancs so can drop in there when warranty issues  arise.  Spinney Fflint has a Duetto but an MOT check reveals corrosion issues. It is definitely a sellers market at the moment, hardly any choice at all locally for a decent panel based camper or a small coachbuilt. Beginning to regret selling ours now, but it was by now too big for our needs. There is a forum member selling a Nuevo but no reply to my enquiry so I'm presuming it's sold.

There's a Duetto in Chester ,mileage  a bit high but price is good. Not a dedicated motorhome dealer but a car sales that has a few motorhomes..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-TRANSIT-330-MWB-TD-AUTO-SLEEPER-/265360849216?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
There's also a Nuevo in Chester on eBay. Private sale, bit pricey..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-Sleeper-Nuevo-Peugeot-4-Berth-4-Travel-Seat-Motorhome-/194480658134?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Thanks Paul. Looking for something a little newer. We will probably have to do the same as we did over 5 years ago and perhaps look for something other than an AS. Mind you I have enjoyed getting involved in the forum again. Used to have a peep from time to time but didn't like to contribute as a non-AS owner.

I visited 2 Marquis dealers when looking for a Symbol 3 years ago.
At the first, I saw a year old van that I was seriously interested in but wanted to see the van at the second dealer.
At the second, the 2 year old van was in a terrible state, the skid marks in the toilet was the final straw. The salesman said that as we are all Marquis, I can do a deal on the first van that I saw at dealer one.

I went home to think about things and the next morning rang (left messages on answerphones) and also emailed both dealers wanting to talk about buying the first van.
Nobody ever got back to me, I had the best part of 50k in my pocket and nobody was interested. I was a Motorhome novice at the time and everything I’ve heard about Marquis since then rings true. 

Some knock Nick Whale but the following week I got my brand new (10 miles on the clock) unregistered Symbol from them for 2 thousand quid less that the unprepared skid mark version at Marquis!! The buying experience and after sales have been great IMO.

Oh my goodness, starting to get cold feet now. Thanks for your feedback!

If going up to Preston, check out Todd's who have excellent reputation.

Then there are the rest of us that can't speak highly enough about the service we have received from Marquis. I have bought three vans from them and they have always been excellent, if I recall my current van was £68K new and I drove them down to £62K to answer the OP.
Situation is much different now though with the demand.

Have read reviews and seem that Preston branch have the better comments.

groundhog wrote:Then there are the rest of us that can't speak highly enough about the service we have received from Marquis. I have bought three vans from them and they have always been excellent, if I recall my current van was £68K new and I drove them down to £62K to answer the OP.
Situation is much different now though with the demand.

Out of interest Hog, were all 3 of your vans from the same dealer? 
In not questioning your experience, it makes a pleasant change to hear of a great dealer experience but everything I’ve heard about regarding Marquis on here has backed up my admittedly limited experience which unfortunately was poor.

No, one from Sussex and two from Devon. A relative has also bought two from Surrey and everything was good.

The problem as I see it is when things go wrong we are quick to shout, but, when they go right most people say nothing, Not a criticism just a fact of life.
I also suggest a disproportionately high number of autosleeper vans are supplied by Marquis, therefore the balance to other dealers is not representative. When you supply a high percentage of the vans you will get a high percentage of the mud when it all goes wrong! When you have a number of branches and some underperform the whole brand is damaged.
Just the way it is I guess!
I had an awful experience years ago with a Brownhills branch but I wouldn't generalise that applied to every Brownhills branch.
I am sorry for all of those that have had problems at Marquis, certainly not excusing them or questioning the complaints.

My lengthy experience of Marquis, Devon (not Exeter) is that they’re fine until things go wrong. As ever, it’s how a dealer treats you and resolves the problem that is the measure of their customer care.

I first dealt with the branch when it was owned by Martin’s of Exeter - I am talking about the Lee Mill branch here, not the one at Exeter recently acquired from Martin’s. In recent years it’s become apparent that standards generally have slipped at Lee Mill and a fair few of the staff have moved on.

Sad to hear TW.

My experience of Marquis and warranty problems with a brand new van has been awful. It is booked in for a couple of weeks time, for what will be the fourth visit to rectify a fault with solar charging. Between waiting for workshop time, waiting for Auto sleepers approvals and waiting for Sargent to come up with replacement parts it will have taken 7 months, assuming it is even fixed this time. 

I also have a warranty claim regarding rust spots on the roof, reported and photographs submitted in June, no action approved yet by Auto-sleepers.

I am staggered in this day and age that between the dealer, the manufacturer and the suppliers, the service can be so bad as to make the warranty actually not worth the metaphorical paper it’s written on.

groundhog wrote:Sad to hear TW.

Yep. You’ll find ex-Marquis staff working at Highbridge, Devon and Eden Motorhomes at Scorrier which is owned by a former Marquis manager. Others went to work as Supermarket delivery drivers during the lockdown furlough and never returned.

Thanks for all your replies. Going to bite the bullet and view. Seeing a Trigano Tribute and Wildax  en route. Thank you all again.

Appreciate your letting us know your decision so many don't. Good luck in your choice of vans.

Nail- you never did tell us what van it is you are to see at Marquis .

Dorset ES. Same layout as the Symbol we had about 6 years ago.

Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! Now unable to view at Marquis, Preston as van is in another branch, which we knew about,  but won't be in  Preston now til Monday. So now looking at the following Saturday.

Nain wrote:Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! Now unable to view at Marquis, Preston as van is in another branch, which we knew about,  but won't be in  Preston now til Monday. So now looking at the following Saturday.

That happened to us last year. The van we wanted to view in Devon was at the Surrey branch and it took 10 days to transfer it. 

Apparently, the staff no longer do the transfers but this 'professional' company uses motorhome owners to drive the vans from branch to branch. If those MH owners are away and not available, then the prospective buyers have to wait. The drivers are under instruction not to eat or drink in the vans so I don’t know how the chocolate wrapper came to be in our brand new Warwick.

Eating or drinking I wouldn't mind, but if I get a sniff of cigarette smoke the deal is off. Apparently the van had been taken from where it was meant to be to one of the branches in the south which is why we can no longer view on Saturday. I've asked for a price adjustment due to the extra mileage on the clock