Mobilvetta & Marquis

[Bustup15]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and having read some pretty dire tales about Marquis and issues on delivery of Mobilvetta does any one have positive feedback?

I was looking at the yacht 80 for the rear lounge and drop down beds - any alternative suggestions for similar layouts?

We are visiting the motorhome show in Dusseldorf in August with a view to exploring sourcing a LHD.

Thanks

 

[Speve]

But why even put yourself in a position where this may happen when the vehicle you're after is readily available in the UK and not just at Marquis, you appear to be unconcerned about distance, why not have chat with the Motorhome Company in Perthshire?

Motorhome dealers tend to prioritise their own customers as many of them have been with them for a number of years and are on their 2nd or 3rd van from them. They'll rectify your faults but you'll be at the back of the queue.

You also have to consider the added cost of having the motorhome UK compliant and legal. For example the speedometer must primarily read MPH, an extra rear fog light maybe required etc. All of this work will cost and must be inspected for a further cost at a UK MOT centre and be classed as standard. There is reams of paperwork which must be completed in full and great detail.

You then have to consider the cost of the inspection to ensure it will receive type approval... after the work is done to replace the 2 pin sockets and possibly further electrical work... More money.

When you have all of that then you can pay your 20% VAT which goes on the base price and extras. This is on top of the VAT you've already paid in the Motorhome's country of origin.

Lastly you'll only be able to have 3rd party insurance until the vehicle is in the UK then there'll be the struggle to find an insurer to give you fully comp' until all of the above is satisfied.

I remember Brownhills had a large number of surplus Swifts built for Sweden, the Toscana. Brownhills were selling them well below the Bessacarr equivalent price but still needed to change a good many details.

Also as an example of motorhomes being different to cars... I drive a Yeti, within less than an hours drive I have a choice of five approved dealerships. For our Tracker there's one and Ebor in York will fit us in when and if they can. Brownhills get us in as soon as possible as we bought our van from them.

In defence of importing here are a few costs
Cost of compliance £50 speedo face
Rear fog most European vans will have two = no cost
MOT inspector £60
First reg fee £55 first road tax £165
Paper work 1form for VCA :VAT dealers invoice 1 multi page form for DVLA. All returned to us in ten days
Two pin sockets do not have to be changed use an adaptor.
As for VAT you have payed in Country of origin and can reclaim as soon as vehicle is registered in UK in our case we gained on it.
Yes third party insurance we got home without incident like lots of others and have successfully imported our van.
£320 in total plus of course your channel crossing and fuel and time,
We saved a very substantial amount by importing and got lots of extras included in the overall cost IMHO any hassle with warranty is well covered by what we saved.

 

[Speve]

You should try that with Swift they just refer you back to the Dealer who sold it to you in the first place. Tried to find another Dealer to repair ours but no one wanted to know. All said they were to busy to look at i

So essentially you bought in Uk and still cannot get warranty work done so what’s the difference buying in Germany? At least they do honour the warranty I’ve just had anew headlight sent over for me without any hassle.

 

[138go]

So essentially you bought in Uk and still cannot get warranty work done so what’s the difference buying in Germany? At least they do honour the warranty I’ve just had anew headlight sent over for me without any hassle.

No we sorted that. We bought a Laika A Class from Southdowns instead. You certainly cannot beat them for service.

 

[Xabia]

On the question of paying VAT, I have twice imported new Hymers from Germany, first from Hymer themselves, second from a dealer, in both cases they accepted a written assurance from me that I would pay the VAT in the U.K. and supplied them with a copy of the receipt from Customs.

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[SpeedyDux]

But you don’t have a Contract with the Manufacturer you only have a Contract with the Supplier / Dealer

Can you please post a link to the specific piece of Legislation regarding Pan European Warranty and 2015 Consumer Rights with regard to Motorhomes

As the Motorhome will be bought in Germany / Italy or somewhere else the Contact for the supply of said Motorhome will be based on the laws of the Country in which it was signed. You should also look at Consumer Law for Germany / Spain / Italy Etc.

I am not an expert in this area. However, it is to do with EU and UK competition law. Article 85 of the Treaty of Rome is the starting point. The EU derogates from this for specific industry sectors including the motor industry. This is called a block exemption. It allows selective distribution agreements between a manufacturer and distributor which gives the distributor exclusive or sole rights within a specific territory.

Block exemption permits to a limited degree what would otherwise be anti-competitive restrictions and obligations that would be banned.

The EU does allow parallel imports hence you cannot be stopped from buying the same MH from a German dealer and importing it yourself. The Manufacturer cannot prohibit the German dealer from selling it to you. I am not aware of any positive obligation by the EU that requires a pan-European warranty. Rather, the block exemption permits the manufacturer and dealer to agree to provide customer after-sales services including warranties in circumstances that might otherwise be regarded as a restriction on competition.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 effectively codifies the previous plethora of sales of goods legislation. It provides statutory minimum implied terms that apply to your contract with the UK dealer if you buy the MH from him. These implied terms are the basis of your consumer rights regarding the description and quality of the MH supplied and to have faults put right FOC regardless of the warranty. Any warranty is in addition to those statutory consumer rights, not instead of.

If you buy the MH from a German dealer the contract will be governed by German law - you need a German Rechtsanwald to advise on that.

Hopey helpy!

 

[Basildog]

Well as far as I have always been led to believe but I am no expert !
The motorhome dealers are not franchised dealers at all unlike car dealers.
As far as I understand they are completely different and therefore don't have any obligation to look after motorhomes sold by other dealers.
The base vehicles are covered through the vehicle manufacturers franchises but I understand that even this is negotiated as the final motorhome owners aren't the vehicle manufacturers customers ?

 

[Bustup15]

Payload payload payload and check the capacity of the fuel tank my mates is 45 litre

Hi TheDogMan,
Your comment was interesting as I thought I had read 120l in the spec, but that was water not fuel. Looked deeper and no where is fuel capacity listed, brochure, on line, manufacturers website etc. I thought this was odd so asked the dealer and they couldn't tell me either! Almost 3 weeks later they responded that it was 60l. This seems to be rather small considering my last 2 cars hold that much and obviously with much better fuel consumption.

Reading various reviews of manufacturers ranges it seems no one lists the fuel capacity - is that not odd?

My question then, with many manufacturers basing their build on the Fiat chassis, do they all use the standard Fiat fuel tank or do they custom build their own to suit the vehicle?

Does anyone change the standard spec and increase the capacity as 60l on a 25mpg consumption doesn't get you that far?

Incidentally I have had no response from the manufacturer regarding warranty rectification on imported vehicles etc. But as I'm going to Dusseldorf in August I will certainly pursue this in more detail.

 

[Jonno1103]

Auto Trail coach builds have a 90l fuel tank, which is a Fiat/Sevel standard, most also have 135l fresh and 100 waste.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Auto Trail coach builds have a 90l fuel tank, which is a Fiat/Sevel standard, most also have 135l fresh and 100 waste.

Hi
Just to correct, not ALL Autotrail coachbuilts have 90 litre tanks
‘18 model Imalas are 60 litre.....but you try finding that info anywhere

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[ramsthom]

Auto Trail coach builds have a 90l fuel tank, which is a Fiat/Sevel standard, most also have 135l fresh and 100 waste.

Its not always the case. When we bought our new 2018 Autotrail Tribute 625 I checked the spec on the Autotrail web site and nowhere could I find the fuel capacity so I thought it would be the standard 90 litre one. I looked at the base vehicle Fiat spec and it indicated a 90 litre fuel with an option of 60 and 120 litre option. Within the first week I thought the fuel gauge was faulty. Before I contacted a Fiat dealer I checked the spec on various dealer web sites and eventually found Marquise specified a 60 litre fuel tank on this model. It does take a while to get used to.

 

[Jonno1103]

Hi
Just to correct, not ALL Autotrail coachbuilts have 90 litre tanks
‘18 model Imalas are 60 litre.....but you try finding that info anywhere

Thanks for pointing that out...It looks like I was completely wrong. My post needs to be ignored totally!

AT's have 85 litre waste tanks and only recently had their fresh water increased to 135 from 100.

The Technical Data sub heading on the individual vans website page gives the fuel capacities for all but the Tributes, as ramsthom also highlights.

 

[Bustup15]

It would be worth your while starting a new thread in the Motorhome Chat section whereby you ask the exact same question(s) about the warranty, legal and contract issues from an international; manufacturers and dealer perspective.

Don't forget though that your contract will solely be with the dealer and not the manufacturer, unless you buy a van such as a Hymer which attempts to underpin its products by a pan-euro warranty.

Finally received a reply from Marquis today , although nothing to date from the manufacturer - not a good sign is it! Quoted below

For the Fiat side of your warranty you would need to enquire with a Fiat dealer.

For the Mobilvetta habitation warranty to remain valid, annual servicing should be done through your supplying dealer as anything we do may invalidate it as we do not supply LHD vehicles.

Any work carried out by us would be chargeable.

I'm rapidly going off Mobilvetta in general and Marquis specifically. They don't or can't supply the vehicle in the specification I want so they aren't bothered about any form of support.

The reply above seems to state , if you didn't buy from us we don't give a monkeys. I can't comprehend why a manufacturer would allow a sole country distributor to act in this fashion. Surely it is in their own interests to provide some form of reassurance to their prospective customers who increasingly are travelling away from their home/purchase base?

Can anyone provide specific examples of other manufacturers who provide some form of Europe or world wide warranty and service cover? When a buyer is looking to spend £70k - £100k+ it's an astonishing position to take.

Incidentally, what does a habitation service cover and what could be so different between a LHD and RHD drive setup that an authorised dealer could invalidate the warranty?

 

[The Wino]

I suppose if most manufacturers can sell all thay make as things are and get away with paying dealers a low rate for warranty work why change?

 

[Speve]

Hymer we had a 2015 Exsis LHD imported from Germany and I was able to have any warranty work done in UK I approached Premier Motorhomes and they were great and we have new van now and they have said they can do any work for us. What you do need to bear in mind is that they will treat customers who have purchased vans from them with priority so you just have to be patient and wait for a free spot.

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[Bustup15]

POSSIBLE BREAKTHROUGH WITH WARRANTY SUPPORT ON IMPORTED MOBILVETTA

Further to my earlier post below I received a phone call from Marquis. They have agreed that subject to Mobilvetta confirming the same, that they will honour habitation warranties and provide technical support and servicing on an imported vehicle.

That much more the response I would have expected and it will hopefully be confirmed in the next day or so - will keep you posted.

Finally received a reply from Marquis today , although nothing to date from the manufacturer - not a good sign is it! Quoted below

For the Fiat side of your warranty you would need to enquire with a Fiat dealer.

For the Mobilvetta habitation warranty to remain valid, annual servicing should be done through your supplying dealer as anything we do may invalidate it as we do not supply LHD vehicles.

Any work carried out by us would be chargeable.

 

[Bustup15]

BACK TO SQUARE 1 - WHAT A PITY
Received a further phone call from Marquis this morning. Mobilvetta warranty is only covered in the country of original purchase. Any issues return to original supplier for rectification.

 

[Blue Knight]

BACK TO SQUARE 1 - WHAT A PITY
Received a further phone call from Marquis this morning. Mobilvetta warranty is only covered in the country of original purchase. Any issues return to original supplier for rectification.

Well done for trying though. A good effort