Word of caution

[Mick and Ruth]

Being new to motorhome life we purchased our Autotrail Apache 634 in November and having grandads rights of the old C1 I got it upped from 3500 to 3650kg to give me a bit of leeway for trips etc. I managed to negotiate an air con unit in the habitat and a gaz low system in with the eventual price I got them down to. Having read previous posts about payloads and having been away 5 times so far I decided to go to the local public weigh bridge loaded with the kit I’d normally go away with BBQ, wastemaster, camping chairs etc all lightweight by design, and a full tank of juice. (My two gaz low bottles are full)
So minus my wife my and 25 kilo labradour, clothing, food and empty water and waste tank I drove it onto the bridge and was dead on 3600 giving me 50 kg left. ( The Labrador can go just don’t take the wife I hear you say! However I am not that brave)
I spoke to Gareth at SVTech who was very helpful explaining my options and we will be up rating as we love the van and it’s layout is perfect for us. What is interesting though is he said about 4 years ago they had warned Auto-trail they were releasing vehicles above their mass in service weight (mine is3295kg on the V5 so I should have a 355kg payload)
I know I have added the air con and gas system so knew my payload would be down but not as much as that, but if you are considering getting a motorhome I have read in previous posts that buyers had requested the dealers to provide them with a weigh bridge certificate which I think is a cracking idea as know now how important payload is and I will certainly be doing that when we get our next van.

 

[Jonno1103]

We bought it as our children live in different parts of the country and they could stay over if they wanted to drive out and meet us and also if one of us feeling poorly on a long trip could use the overhead for a bit of sanctuary. I’ve been walking with a mate for a few days and they’ve been able to sleep in the overhead. I was also advised by dealers the high lines are easier to sell than low lines?

Ah... I can fully appreciate that regards family and friends. Both the hi Line and low line sell well, the super low line are often cheaper.

 

[nicholsong]

.......and even if the Dealer supplies a ticket - make sure you know what was in it when it was weighed as regards water,fuel and driver.

I have written before that the only way to do that is to be present at the weighbridge, because there is no way to tell whether the driver was actually in the seat or whether the dealer put more water and diesel in after the weighing.

If you are too far away to be present make the weight is a condition of the sales contract and when you take it for your own weighbridge check you have grounds for rejection/breach of contract.

I am too much of a sceptic where salesmen are concerned, but a few cases of rejection should soon reverberate around the dealers and may change attitudes. Even getting them to pay for corrective upgrades involving air suspension and SVTech fees, plus a course and test for C1 for some, would concentrate their minds.

Geoff

P.S. I used to handle airliner sales and handovers. In all cases one expected the buyer's engineers to thoroughly inspect the aircraft and all the technical paperwor to ensure all checks and mandatory modifications had been done - often took 2-3 days. Admittedly a MH process should be simpler, but the thought process should still be the same]

 

[MikeandKath]

Hi to you both from Spain. Only 20 degrees today. Mike and Kath