What price do you expect to pay for a habitation service on a motorhome? I have been quoted £150 and £141 by different companies so is this the going rate. I am located in South Wales so I wouldn't want to travel too far to save a couple of pounds.
I was also quoted £435 for a second service on my two year old Fiat Ducatto 2.3 diesel with 4000 miles at a motorhome dealer. A Fiat dealer garage then quoted me £220 for the full service.
I paid £75 for my habitiation service in Derby at a fully approved service agent.
As for the base vehicle service this is a little more sensitive of an area, servicing can be carried out by any garage using Fiat parts to maintain the warranty. However Fiat dealerships may contest this. I checked with my local dealership first who told me they would not be able to get a vehicle of my height in but would have to honour the warranty if genuine parts had been used. The decision is obviously up to you.
All said we had the unfortunate experience to break down in South Wales earlier this year and wer rescued by a garage (via Safeguards Insurance) from near the junction of the M4 and A49 called Highcross Garage, If your near it might be worth giving them a ring
Hi Mike- My first habitation check early this year cost me £ 80 + vat, I have not yet had its 1st main service, its a Peugeot, so remains to be seen what they intend to charge ! have heard that some folk coinside a holiday abroad and get a full warranty service done and the correct stamping of the service book and pay about half to two thirds the cost as the U.K. makes you think.. kiev
Hi Mike- I did not give the name because its in the Midlands miles from you , but it was at Hayes Leisure where I bought the van, waited for the check over and it took 2hours, so cant complain, They do not do the warranty services though ,that will be done probably at a main Peugeot dealership ( for the mechanics ) kiev
The few warranty problems I had were sorted by Brownhills at Newark and CR&S have carried out work since the warranty expired.
Finding a dealer to do the base vehicle servicing is more difficult and I suspect Platts are the nearest to you with those facilities. The base vehicle servcing for mine is now carried out by Crosshill Service Station an independant service agent
Most manufaturers recommend a habitation service on an annual basis. This is particularly important to validate the warranty. A habitation service is an internal service of the vehicle including a damp check. There is a list of items that should be checked on an internal service on most web sites.
Wow! Glad I came across this snippet. Lowdhams of Huddersfield charged me £151.85, kept the 'van a week and didn't even service the on-board generator or roof air con! They very kindly drained the water systems down to winterise the 'van for me but a word of warning to others who may not read all the small print in the paperwork they give you when you pick the 'van up. The paperwork tells you (when you eventually get around to reading it) that they leave all the taps open. Sensible I know for a proper drain down but this wasn't the case as I checked the kitchen sink and wash basin taps and they were off. When I turned on the master switch to check the batteries to see if they needed a good charge on the drive home, it was only by luck that I heard the very faint hum of the water pump and eventually traced this to the shower tap being open. Now we all know what happens when a pump is allowed to run when dry don't we! Makes you think how long it had been like this during the service!
Our Habitation service was done at the same time as our base vehicle service and I think we paid around £275 - £300 for both. Got all the paperwork and everything. Only thing that hacked us off was that when we took initial posession of the vehicle, they told us to only do the gas up just a little over finger tight with the spanner that was included with the vehicle (a rather thin flimsy thing, but they said that was so you didn't over tighten it). The first time we used the vehicle afterwards, the gas needed changing. They had obviously had it all off to check it in the service, but done it up so tight that Hubby bent the spanner trying to get it off. He had to walk into the nearest town and buy a monster of a spanner to undo it with I phoned the dealer and told him that if they are going to tell US not to over tighten it, they should tell their mechanics the same thing!
------------- Why live for tomorrow, when you can live for today and tomorrow is yet to come?
I know you say you don’t want to travel far, but why not incorporate it into your holiday.
I have had the vehicle service done over in France, full service € 116 (That's Euro not Pounds!!!) and the habitation service done for € 190 (This was by an approved Rapido dealer - Brownhills in the UK wanted to charge £ 200)
For the Fiat service just turned up at a small French garage, booked it in the following day and all done. Runs beautifully
For the habitation service they said a time for it to be taken in, we got it there on time, they said 2 hours to wait and 1 minute before the 2 hour period they walked back with the keys. They also changed an external light casing as it was cracked - only charged for the part not for fitting - try getting that type of service in the UK. They also provided tea/coffee and biscuits etc and colouring things for the kids
As long as the vehicle is serviced by a reputable dealer, using approved parts then the warranty is intact there was a court ruling on this some time ago as otherwise it meant the garages had a monopoly
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Topic: Service
I phoned the dealer and told him that if they are going to tell US not to over tighten it, they should tell their mechanics the same thing!
