# Damp AutoTrail



## aldercow (Dec 29, 2009)

My AutoTrail Tracker RS had its first habitation check done in April being 1 year old. It was done by the supplying dealer who on collection of the vehicle sat me down & told me the bad news of it failing the damp check in two areas. They advised this would necessitate 22 hours of work to remove external panels & re-seal, the replacement of internal wall board in an under seat locker & a new rear locker door on the rear corner of the van. They advised this was not uncommon ! & were aware of several with the same fault. They were unsure if it was a faulty batch of sealer or if it had not been applied correctly during manufacture.
I was naturally pretty gutted about this, although not surprised as every time I lifted the rear bench seat to get things out it smelt stale & Damp.
The vehicle was then duly booked into the suppling dealer for repairs but these were then cancelled as AT had not supplied the parts.
I am afraid my time with this van had seen many frustrations so I made the decision to get rid of it. The suppling dealer offered a poor deal which was disappointing as they had sold me the pup in the first place. Instead I managed to strike an excellent deal with another dealer who is kindly taking the van off my hands & supplying me with a new van (not AutoTrail). He is going to get the work done under warranty. This was the first AT van I had bought (having had many makes over the 30 years I have been motorhoming). I would sadly be reluctant to buy another.


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

What is it with British built vans, are they assembled by untrained monkeys with fibreboard panels, and no quality controls. I've lost count of the number of vans with damp issues, with a 99% British builder involved.

tony :roll:


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

For every bad report, you will find a good one. And here is no exception.

Our AT Cheyenne is now coming up for 10 years old, and we havent had an ounce of damp problems with it. Nor of bits falling off.

Sure, we have had a few issues with the Mercedes engine, but nothing major - just very annoying. But the Mercedes chassis has been, and still is, just about perfect. No rot underneath on the chassis (just surface rust here and there - and no post manufacture underseal either) and no rust in the steel cab panels to date.

Maybe standards have slipped in recent years, I dont know, but we are very happy with our 'van. 

Carl & Flo


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## readyforoff (Dec 28, 2013)

Carl_n_Flo said:


> For every bad report, you will find a good one. And here is no exception.
> 
> Our AT Cheyenne is now coming up for 10 years old, and we havent had an ounce of damp problems with it. Nor of bits falling off.
> 
> ...


AT Apache - 2 yrs old - 140 nights out. No intention of parting with it but if we did we'd buy another. Punch any make of 'van followed by the words "damp problems" in to the WWW.


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## alexblack13 (Feb 10, 2013)

I have a Tribute built by AT and so far its been great.  

My hump with AT has been customer service as it took them 7 weeks to supply my dealer a new washroom door which had warped badly. 7 weeks!! And if I had not got really angry and 'lost it' on the phone to them I don't think it would have been repaired yet. Every time I called I got a different person with the same questions. No file seemed to be opened and it was very frustrating having to repeat myself over and over again..

The van is great though. Can't fault it really.

I hope all goes ok for you and I don't blame you at all for ditching AT.. What a pity! Typical British attitude it seems.

Good luck!

AB13


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## G7UXG (Feb 14, 2011)

On my second AutoTrail. No problems with either. 
I've looked at lots of so called 'quality' European vans and I fail to see the difference.... apart from the price.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

We have owned four Autotrail vans. The first three were fine, all bought second hand and all built before 2005 ish. In 2007 we bought a new one. It was a total lemon, damp in three corners of the roof and letting water in up between the outer rear panel and the cosmetic panel inside when the roads were wet. Nobody wanted to fix it. We traded it and bought a Frankia, which wasn't perfect though was much better and was at least always dry. No more Brit vans for us.

I am sure there are good Brit vans but to me it seems that there are too many bad ones, Alan.


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

Someone will no doubt prove me wrong but I googled damp problems Pilote and came up with nothing......... :wink:


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## srt346 (May 22, 2014)

duxdeluxe said:


> Someone will no doubt prove me wrong but I googled damp problems Pilote and came up with nothing......... :wink:


Probably best to check the home market where they are most sold.
'pilote camping-car humide' or 'pilote camping-car probleme d'humidite' searches seem to bring up some bedtime reading for you.

I can't find any damp French Autotrails though


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

GEMMY said:


> What is it with British built vans, are they assembled by untrained monkeys with fibreboard panels, and no quality controls. I've lost count of the number of vans with damp issues, with a 99% British builder involved.
> 
> tony :roll:


I dont know why tony but i think we are to blame sometimes. We kkeep buying the same rubbish. I have even heard several cases of people who have had loads of problems including some who get fed up and so go back to the dealer ...the same dealer ...and buy another van of the same make !! Of course we will get problems with all the different systems invans but its how these are handles that makes the difference and the OPs treatment was laughable. They had his money now he can wait to fit in with them. reeediculous

Gone are they days of a family type business building vans and really taking pride in what you do i am afriad. its a production line set up now with quotas to make. Look at autocruise. Once a name to be reckoned with in the 70s 80s and 90s .. than taken over by swift and buggered up so much they dropped coachbilding them altogether,

If you got lots of problems they will take you a nice tour of the factory which should make you feel better about wasting 40K+


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