New Benimars

[DelMar]

Tezza, I notice the DVLA now give an option to tax a vehicle monthly. To do this they add 5% to the cost. I think this works out about £20 50 per month.

 

[Tezza]

Yeah, was thinking of doing 6 months this time to split the timings up, but if I do 12mths first as last I can forget about it.
Dunno yet

 

[Newfie]

Warrenty problems now sorted, once we found out who to talk to.
You need to talk to the after sales manager at the branch you bought your Motorhome from.
Very good service from Marquis after we spoke to the correct person. He even asked to bring the van in the same day I spoke to him, I couldn't do this so next working day agreed.
Hab door latch replaced & new grey waste water handle fitted.
A very happy bunny

 

[Newfie]

Just replaced the mattress on our 201, almost twice as thick as the original need to sleep on it to see if it's any good.
While I was removing the old mattress it touched the roof mounted AC which appeared to be loose in one corner.
Checked the AC unit & found one bolt out this was a little worrying as we have only done 1800 miles. Checked the installation manual for the AC & it says the bolts should have loctite or similar thread locking product on them, to prevent the bolts from coming loose. The bolt that came out was dry with no sign of any adhesive product. Refitted using loctite & also did the same with the other 3 bolts, all 4 bolts showed no sign of any adhesive.
I was very surprised as the AC was a factory fitted unit ordered at the same time of the MH.

 

[Tezza]

Be careful, just changing the bedding and my shoulder caught the key in the motor switch, bent it and snapped when I tried to straighten it, luckily I took it out before messing with it I have a spare so not the end of the world right now, but what if I lose and break that one.

tried two local key cutters but to no avail, so will call Marquis to see if they can get hold of any.

T

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[Vanderek]

I've always worried that would happen to the key and I always make sure the "operator" takes key out as soon as bed stops

 

[Tezza]

yeah me too just today was the first day I didn't in the 12 months we have had the van and bang, caught the damn thing.
On a plus note Marquis stock them, on the down side they are £12 a pair, ouch, won't be making that mistake again.

 

[Jamwitt]

My bed has suddenly decided to go past the first stop position,snapped one of the clips on the safety netting lucky I was quick to turn of on the key!

 

[Tezza]

We replaced our mattress and the new one is thicker than the original one, this means it doesn't go all the way to the top, only by a cm or two but it confuses the bed settings and mine also drops all the way down and like you have to use the key to stop it.
We asked Marquis about it and there is a fix for it, but what a potch to do.
If you are calling past your local Marquis service centre ask them for a sheet on how to correct it.

 

[Jamwitt]

We replaced our mattress and the new one is thicker than the original one, this means it doesn't go all the way to the top, only by a cm or two but it confuses the bed settings and mine also drops all the way down and like you have to use the key to stop it.
We asked Marquis about it and there is a fix for it, but what a potch to do.
If you are calling past your local Marquis service centre ask them for a sheet on how to correct it.

Hi Tezza your bed bed doesn't lock on the safety seat belt when you travel and does it make any difference if it don't lock in place !

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[Steve N Tracy]

To set the bed stop points.
Raise the bed to its maximum height to confirm this the up and down arrows will flash if it activates the stop switch.
Press and hold the the hidden button between the up and down buttons and the up switch for about 7 seconds the spanner led will light.
Lower the bed to the first required stop height and press the hidden button and the down button the up and down arrows will flash to confirm.
You can record 2 more heights and then the controller automatically comes out of programming mode.

On ours the bed never went high enough to clip the retainer even from new, because the strap was so short, so I purchased a second hand center seat belt from a Fiat with the same belt buckle and cut the strap to fit.

The keys for the controller seem to be all the all the same least ways the original keys fitted the new controller Marquis sent me.

 

[Jamwitt]

Hi Steve does it have to be fiat seat belt are they not all the same !

 

[Steve N Tracy]

There are many different type of buckle fixings the Fiat one was the one that matched the one on the bed but there are other vehicle manufactures use the same fixing here are a couple.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alfa-Rome...320126?hash=item281ef8e5fe:g:TDcAAOSwGzlTvlz4
Link Removed

 

[Vanderek]

Mark and Steve just because there is a seat belt up there it does not mean you can use it as a travel seat

 

[Steve N Tracy]

Dale you told me that straps around the bed area are have many uses.

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[Tezza]

Hi

No can't get the belt in with the new mattress, Marquis say it should always be clipped in as it could drop whilst travelling if a problem occurs, but up to now had no issues.

We put the old mattress back in when we take it to the servicing centre, don't want to give anyone a chance to use it as an excuse, only difference I noticed is whilst it is clipped in no power gets to the switch, had me baffled for a mo until I realised, unclip it and hey presto power to the bed.

 

[Vanderek]

Dale you told me that straps around the bed area are have many uses.

Clunk Click every trip

 

[John & Liz]

We picked up our Benimar in April this year and are delighted with it, we did have one or two niggly faults but I think we got off lightly speaking to other motorhome owners at the shows.
I don't know Howard if you sorted the issue with the table but I took ours out and replaced it with a swivel arm set up and it has made the seating area so much better.
I have put a post on Top Tips & Tricks with pictures if anyone is interested.

 

[Jamwitt]

Mark and Steve just because there is a seat belt up there it does not mean you can use it as a travel seat

Hi Dale don't tell the other half I told her she fine up there when I got an early start she's a bugger to get up

 

[Vanderek]

Hi Dale don't tell the other half I told her she fine up there when I got an early start she's a bugger to get up

You know I wont tell - by the way thanks for the photo of the bed and belt - very useful

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[DelMar]

What made you change the mattress? and where did you get the thicker one from?

Regarding securing the bed while travelling, I have never succeeded in doing that, told Marquis at Tewkesbury when in for warranty work of this problem and they said there was no problem, on pick up it was secured but I have tried and failed ever since to secure it.


DelMar

 

[Tezza]

We bought a Duvaly duvalight two piece mattress for our last van and one of the conditions of any new van we looked at had to be that we could use this mattress as it wasn't cheap, this van allowed us to use it, very comfy everyone will have an opinion about the cost of them etc etc, but it's what we wanted and have no regrets, best nights sleep I have is in the van.
We bought in December when they had 25% discount offers on.

 

[elkmalc]

As we were approaching Peniscola our toilet roll holder dropped off. We called at the factory, but were not even allowed through the gate!

 

[Tezza]

HI GUYS

It's been a good year and a half/2 years since most of us first bought our Mileos, what the general opinion?

We have the 286 and must admit to being very happy with all aspects of our van, we don't seem have ongoing niggly faults as on previous Swift models, Marquis Tweksbury were fantastic sorting out the initial issues, Fiat side is driving great, we are on 19K at the moment and loving it.

 

[Howard H]

HI GUYS

It's been a good year and a half/2 years since most of us first bought our Mileos, what the general opinion?

We have the 286 and must admit to being very happy with all aspects of our van, we don't seem have ongoing niggly faults as on previous Swift models, Marquis Tweksbury were fantastic sorting out the initial issues, Fiat side is driving great, we are on 19K at the moment and loving it.

@Tezza had my 294 for 19 month and absolutely love it ,thought about changing it at two years but can't find anything that suits us better so we will keep it for at least another couple of years . Just about to set off 17/6/2017 for France for a couple of weeks again,we have not done the mileage you have done but we will have done about 70 nights in it .(blooming work interferes with my leisure )

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[gckimber]

Although we love our 286 we have been told by Benimar that after covering over 16,000 miles in the first year, that this is excesive for a recreational vehicle and they will not cover a particular warranty defect as it is outside normal use.

Any comments from other owners about similar treatment ?

 

[Howard H]

Although we love our 286 we have been told by Benimar that after covering over 16,000 miles in the first year, that this is excesive for a recreational vehicle and they will not cover a particular warranty defect as it is outside normal use.

Any comments from other owners about similar treatment ?

That does not seem fair as it's based on a commercial chassis that is designed to do a lot more mileage than that ,may I ask what the warranty claim is ?

 

[gckimber]

Howard I don't want to go into too much detail as I'm trying to resolve this with Marquis.
It is a problem with the habitation side not the chassis i.e. a crack in a "wood faced" panel inside the motorhome.
Note that it is a lightweight, faced honeycomb board not a solid wooden panel that has a tear like crack eminating from a securing screw.
I have photo's of the issue but will only publish them if I don't get the matter resolved.
My main worry is if anything else fails in the future will I come up against "the mileage is abnormal use" excuse!

 

[Howard H]

@gckimber good luck mate hope you get it sorted . Did they say what mileage is normal for a recreational vehicle ?

 

[gckimber]

No they didn't quote a normal annual milage and the Benimar warranty document dosn't state any maximum milage.
So I could full-time in it theoretically without a problem if I don't travel far!
But that's not what my intended use is, as we have had 5 longish mainland european trips so far since last March.

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