Leaking Carthago

[Steve and Denise]

Well we have just bought an S plus from Premium 2weeks ago just hope we have better luck with ours.
You would like to think a dealer who sells vans costing upto almost £400k would have excellent service.
As said maybe the Carthago owners club will be able to point you in the right direction good luck.

 

[DerryW]

I feel for the OP. It is story's like these which provide valuable assistance to others when making decisions on where to spend their hard earned money, in this case £90k.

To some extent it is understandable that with so many different components that go into the manufacture of a MH, that from time to time some of these components may fail. What is not acceptable is the total disregard for any semblance of customer service by some allegedly professional dealer/organizations.

The other thing which really surprises me more than that is, the level of patience shown by so many customers/owners towards these dealer/organizations. If you paid c£90k for a car would you put up with such bad service. I don't think so.

Is there not a governing body such as the SMMT who provide a dispute resolution service, that MH dealers should belong to.

I for one was thinking of stepping up to an A Class in the new year, Carthago was one of the leading contenders for my hard earned, however reading the OP's tales of woe, guess what, no longer being considered.

 

[Lenny HB]

I for one was thinking of stepping up to an A Class in the new year, Carthago was one of the leading contenders for my hard earned, however reading the OP's tales of woe, guess what, no longer being considered.

As Motorhomes go they are pretty well built otherwise if you can afford it a Morelo or Concorde should be better but no good if you want a smallish van.

 

[Phill D]

I have always said; " crap happens in business"! " the measure of a well managed business is how they deal with the crap"!

the thing that i find disturbing is not that any components have failed, but the shody and ineffective workmanship that the OP has had to put up with.

 

[CazPaul]

As Motorhomes go they are pretty well built otherwise if you can afford it a Morelo or Concorde should be better but no good if you want a smallish van.

Is this Concorde small enough for you, 6.48 metres.

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[Lenny HB]

Is this Concorde small enough for you, 6.48 metres.

View attachment 450608

Smallest new one is 7.99m.

 

[funflair]

Is this Concorde small enough for you, 6.48 metres.

View attachment 450608

They don't build them anywhere near that size now though, or for a good few years.

 

[CazPaul]

They don't build them anywhere near that size now though, or for a good few years.

I know, actually we also looked at a 5.99 metre Concorde A class but I was horrified when I saw it was FWD with the Fiat badge on the front.

 

[funflair]

I know, actually we also looked at a 5.99 metre Concorde A class but I was horrified when I saw it was FWD with the Fiat badge on the front.

Indeed there was a time when vans were much smaller and Concorde, N+B Flair and MORELO were all available on Fiat FWD chassis.

 

[Campervan_man]

A local lady had a big Hymer with a similar roof leak. The cloth was stained a lot worse than your van.
I sprayed the stain with a clean £1 gardening spray bottle with some lemon coloured diluted with water auto glym 'clean all' solution. Simply spray the stain and wipe off with a clean damp cloth.
It's used at big dealerships to clean all types of things.
The rail at the back of your van has been cosmetically bodge repaired and still looks to be leaking.
Generally speaking the rail should be removed, leak investigated, cleaned up, degreased and re-sealed.
I was asked to repair a leaking Burstner skylight above a shower last week.
It was repaired twice by someone but still leaked { badly }.
I removed the skylight and investigated the leak. There was 6 holes in the roof that shouldn't have been there.
The skylight frame was barely covering the 6 holes so I made a 2.5MM thick larger area plastic frame to cover the 6 holes and sandwich tightened everything back down with mastic bedding tape, stix-all sealant and then over coated the circumference of the skylight { belt and braces repair }.
**Just over coating something leaking and crossing your fingers is not an effective repair.**

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[Minxy]

I have had Carthago warranty repairs carried out at Reliance of Chichester and they told me they get good rates for warranty works.

We were told the same, Carthago pay their dealers a good rate, better than many other manufacturers.

 

[Minxy]

I for one was thinking of stepping up to an A Class in the new year, Carthago was one of the leading contenders for my hard earned, however reading the OP's tales of woe, guess what, no longer being considered.

Don't let this put you off, this is a 2014 vehicle and the issue is to do with the dealer not fixing a leak correctly BEFORE it became an issue, the problem now is much more major due to their ineptitude. Many MHs, if not maintained/checked can have issues so don't discount the whole lot for the sake of it.

We've had many MHs including Rapido, Swift, Rimor, Autocruise, Chausson, Globecar etc, of those the Rimor was extremely well built followed by the Rapido and Globercars equally, but our Carthago is way, WAY above them all.

 

[Lenny HB]

We were told the same, Carthago pay their dealers a good rate, better than many other manufacturers.

UK Hymer dealers always winge about the rate. Our Belgium dealer only too happy to do warranty work, sometimes find things on the van we haven't noticed and get it sorted. They look at it as more work, Brit dealers appear too greedy.

 

[Compactliner]

Once your Carthago Owners forum membership is active, contact George Pennells, I'm sure he has a contact or two at Aulendorf factory.
I also second the recommendations of Go European and Reliance.
Good luck

 

[Ianj55]

Bought my Carthago from Camper uk in Lincoln. Had problems from day 1 but have to say they fought for me with Carthago and ended up with a 4 year warranty from new and never wavered on what required repairing. Also got 4 years free servicing given by the dealer. If it were not the Directors vigilance and fighting with Carthago it would have been a different result on my behalf. I wrote to Carthago direct and got a 2 line reply from their customer service advising they do not deal with customers direct it has to be through the dealer. Suggest customer service department look for another job ! Called at Premium Motorhome’s the other week for some spares and have to say the company are not the most helpful. Looks like your best bet will be a solicitors letter which I assume they are use to receiving and will have a good standard reply. Look for a good quality repairer and get it fixed yourself, keep all paperwork then take them to the small claims court and you will win. Good luck

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[Steve and Denise]

I know, actually we also looked at a 5.99 metre Concorde A class but I was horrified when I saw it was FWD with the Fiat badge on the front.

I thought most Concords were Fiat/Iveco powered up to 7.5 ton ?

 

[NoName]

Hi every oneI need help bought my cathargo s plus from premium Motorhomes Doncaster and it’s been leaking at the rear of side corner above the bed we’re the roof rails joins they have fixed it six times and it still leaks they won’t give me my money back and they haven’t responded to my email s or phone calls what can I do to resolve this 90k paid for the van still under 10 year warranty

Can I suggest the small claims court. Inexpensive and can be done online. If judgement is in your favour, the dealer will have to pay the sum agreed plus all your expenses. If dealer fails to pay use the bailiffs for a small fee. Again dealer would have to pay all costs.
Bailiffs have only to seize assets from the forecourt to cover your payment but the cost to them could be much higher than if they just paid the judgement costs.
Good luck

 

[funflair]

I thought most Concords were Fiat/Iveco powered up to 7.5 ton ?

Hi Steve

Paul is talking about Fiat FWD which is a thing of the past now at Concorde and a few other German A class manufacturers.

 

[Dorset Diver]

Hi every oneI need help bought my cathargo s plus from premium Motorhomes Doncaster and it’s been leaking at the rear of side corner above the bed we’re the roof rails joins they have fixed it six times and it still leaks they won’t give me my money back and they haven’t responded to my email s or phone calls what can I do to resolve this 90k paid for the van still under 10 year warranty

As Bognor Saint suggests you should talk to Chris at Reliance (Reliance). They are very good with Carthago and have an excellent working relation with the manufacturer. Good luck.

 

[Steve and Denise]

Hi Steve

Paul is talking about Fiat FWD which is a thing of the past now at Concorde and a few other German A class manufacturers.

Yes I realise that Martin the point I was making was the engine is the same (3.0 litre in both Fiat and Iveco although the orientation may be different

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[deemac]

I bought my Carthago A class from Premium in 2017 and felt that their service was quite good. We had a number of warranty issues. Front passenger seat was plucked and some interior trim was badly fitted. After two years the laminate on the bathroom cabinet doors separated and the hinge pins on an interior door kept falling out. Premium repaired all of it without question. It took Carthago quite a while to send new cabinet doors but they did it without quibble. When in Spain thr freezer door lock broke as ice had got into it. It was repaired under warranty at a Carthago dealer near Barcelona.
Before I decided on Carthago I looked at many other makes and felt that Carthago offered good quality and good design. After delivery I got the impression that the factory quality control should have been better on some small issues and they left it to dealers to sort out. This is common in the motor trade. Overall have been happy with my choice

 

[CazPaul]

Yes I realise that Martin the point I was making was the engine is the same (3.0 litre in both Fiat and Iveco although the orientation may be different

Steve, the 5.99 metre Concorde A class we looked at in Germany was Fiat 2.8jtd engine from 2005 year.

The Iveco 3.0 engine was introduced by Iveco in 2004 although the earliest motorhome I've seen it on is a 2005(ours is March 2005 Iveco 3 litre)

Fiat started the 3.0 engine from Iveco but not until 2007 although it was still FWD as opposed to the preferred RWD(To me that is) Iveco.

 

[Minxy]

Steve, the 5.99 metre Concorde A class we looked at in Germany was Fiat 2.8jtd engine from 2005 year.

The Iveco 3.0 engine was introduced by Iveco in 2004 although the earliest motorhome I've seen it on is a 2005(ours is March 2005 Iveco 3 litre)

Fiat started the 3.0 engine from Iveco but not until 2007 although it was still FWD as opposed to the preferred RWD(To me that is) Iveco.

Anorak alert!

 

[Roclaire]

I personally think you should put in county court ,not too expensive ,but you should clearly win your case against dealers.
You have all your evidence ect.the judge can award you all your money back for what you paid.
If they attend doesn't sound like they would win.
Then if they dont pay you you send sherrifs in costs ect £65.they get high court writ for you .they will attend and get you money owed ,or take motorhomes off them to sell at auction.that will soon get them to pay what they owe you.
We had same problem with swift motorhomes few years ago
It worked for us they had motorhome back and had to refund all monies we paid plus some ect for compensation.

 

[Kilroy]

As Motorhomes go they are pretty well built otherwise if you can afford it a Morelo or Concorde should be better but no good if you want a smallish van.

Similarly, Carthago has been one of my watched brands as I search for a MH......definitely dropping down the list now on reading this. Concorde or Morelo will require a streeeettchhh of the budget though..

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[Googlebot]

UK Hymer dealers always winge about the rate. Our Belgium dealer only too happy to do warranty work, sometimes find things on the van we haven't noticed and get it sorted. They look at it as more work, Brit dealers appear too greedy.

Travelworld wanted £950 to change my cambelt. Everywhere else wanted less than £400. Go figure!

 

[Minxy]

Similarly, Carthago has been one of my watched brands as I search for a MH......definitely dropping down the list now on reading this. Concorde or Morelo will require a streeeettchhh of the budget though..

All makes of MH can have issues, if you buy new (ie direct off the production line) you won't have the issue of a previous owner not looking after it, nor it sitting on a dealer's forecourt for months on end, so don't let a 6 year old one with an unknown history put you off.

There have been many more tales of woe from other makes of MHs, some of them very expensive ones, but the vast majority don't have any problems at all.

We wanted an A-class and one thing that was extremely important to us and not up for discussion was the narrower width which is why we looked at the Carthago range. Having had MHs up to 2.3m wide and changing to PVCs at 2.05m wide, we did NOT want to go 'fat' again or anywhere near it as we appreciated just how much better it was for us to get to the places we want with a narrower vehicle and hubby found it much more relaxing to drive. Our Compactline is only 2.12m wide and although we looked at the the Hymer Exsis range which is 2.20m so not massively more, we didn't like them and felt the quality wasn't as good, there aren't many that are narrow, many are now 2.35m which is just plain daft IMV. This 'narrowness' requirement helped reduce our choice massively however regardless of this if the quality hadn't been there we wouldn't have bought it and more than likely kept our existing PVC.

 

[DumfriesDik]

There have been many more tales of woe from other makes of MHs, some of them very expensive ones, but the vast majority don't have any problems at all.

I quite agree. It is the shear ineptitude from so many dealers in this business that staggers me. I visited three dealers and all provided such a bad customer experience I walked out from all of them.

It shouldn't be like this and I really feel for the OP. I hope the resolution is swift and without any recriminations.

 

[Pausim]

I for one was thinking of stepping up to an A Class in the new year, Carthago was one of the leading contenders for my hard earned, however reading the OP's tales of woe, guess what, no longer being considered.

Similarly, Carthago has been one of my watched brands as I search for a MH......definitely dropping down the list now on reading this. Concorde or Morelo will require a streeeettchhh of the budget though..

When a new Carthago arrives in the UK it should be drench tested before handover by the dealer. They should then be drench tested by the dealer to get their annual habitation sticker. Ours was also given a drench test at 3 months but I think this extra one may now have been dropped. The idea is to find leaks before they cause any damage, a proactive approach not adopted by all manufacturers. If buying second hand, ask for the service history and go through it to make sure all the habitation stickers are present. A careful owner will have retained all the records including the annual dampness readings.

You will probably not find any brands that have never had a leak. Sadly not all dealers take their responsibilities as seriously as others but again this applies to all makes.

 

[Plumb]

morning everyone and a merry Christmas often in my opinion motorhomes are built often with faults from manufacture and it's then left up to the dealer to try and rectify these problems. I have to say that I am not trying to defend the dealers in any way they are not obliged to deal with a particular brand !that is their choice and they don't mind taking large sums of money of customers.

My experience is they don't reply to emails and are economic with their replies because they don't want any record of communications for customers to retain when things go wrong .

My dealer rarely use emails they tend to use phone call communications which unless recorded no one knows who said what which can be convenient for them!

Any way good luck hope it will resolve soon for you fingers crossed and good luck to you all for next year

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