# Recommended Motor Home Repairers



## mixyblob (May 3, 2011)

After being hit whilst parked up in a French motorway aire by an unmanned HGV at the beginning of November, we have just heard back from our insurance company.
They say the MH (Hobby 700 FML) is repairable but the insurance company's recommended repairer can't repair the vehicle as they don't do motor homes!!
Our insurance company (Equity Red Star) have asked us to get a quote from a motor home repair company who would be able to carry out the repairs.
Can anyone recommend a good MH repair company in the southern half of the country?
The vehicle is currently in Brentwood and we live near Newbury, so anywhere around those areas would be good.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

Looked a nasty incident, hope you get sorted.

I dont own a hobby so no actual experience of having a repair.

But I did a quick search on google

"hobby motorhome repair"

This gave several results.

Steve


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## neilanddot (Apr 4, 2008)

We used a mh repairer nr. Chacombe, Banbury and he did a good job for us, get back to me if you want his details. Neil


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I imagine that knowledge of your particular make and model might play a big part in pricing a repair, knowing which parts to order and in carrying out the work. 

I would ask Hobby if they have a recommended repairer in the UK. If it was mine I would insist that it was fixed by a Hobby recommended repairer, even if that meant it had to back to the factory for repairs.

I would thank my lucky stars that your Insurers recommended repairer refused to do it, clearly motorhome repairs are not their thing and they would have been making it up as they went along, Alan.


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## worky (Dec 30, 2005)

hya - as luck would have it (or not as the case may be !!) I,ve taken my Starburst in this morning to have a small knock seen too by this company
http://www.motswindon.biz/motorhome_repairs.html
they do all the repairs for West Country Motorhomes as well as other motorhome dealers in the south. My first dealings with them, so will have to leave a recommendation untill I see finished work.
hope this helps
Clyde


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## camallison (Jul 15, 2009)

Motorhomes Coachcraft seem to get extremely good reviews from many people. Never had the need to use them myself (touch wood), but they seem to be well liked.

Colin


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Why the hell should YOU have to find a repairer  ??

If it was my MH I would be saying to the (persons at fault) insurance company.

"Sorry but it YOUR responsibility to get my vehicle repaired to a suitable standard, not mine!!. 

However if you wish me to carry out research to find a suitable repairer I am prepared to do so at the rate of £XX per hour. 

Please advise me if this is acceptable, if not I wait to hear from you as to who will be tasked with the repairs" 

Good luck.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

Mrplodd said:


> "Sorry but it YOUR responsibility to get my vehicle repaired to a suitable standard, not mine!!.
> 
> Good luck.


And then you would get some back street boy that does not know his arse from his elbow.

I applaud the insurance company, this allows you to source a reputable repairer that you are happy with.


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## Addie (Aug 5, 2008)

Mrplodd said:


> Why the hell should YOU have to find a repairer  ??
> 
> If it was my MH I would be saying to the (persons at fault) insurance company.
> 
> "Sorry but it YOUR responsibility to get my vehicle repaired to a suitable standard, not mine!!.


Repairing motor homes is so specialist I don't believe there is the approved repair network in place like there is for auto body repairs. As such many insurance companies like Safeguard will happily settle a claim but you will often have to do the leg work to find your own repairers. This works both ways because the policy holder gets who they want to do it and its of a poor standard you can't blame the insurance company.

You never deal direct with the third party only your own insurers so the expertise should come from them, but rarely does. I would certainly look at damages / expenses for your holiday etc but obviously not all of the inconvenience is compensatable - such is life.

My concern would be this looks to be a major shunt, has the build been twisted or pushed in areas away from the point of impact? What are the residuals of a damaged-repaired motorhome when you come to sell it?

I hope you get it sorted satisfactorily.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

I would use a Hobby dealer who does his owns repairs, the one that springs to mind is 50 miles away from Brentwood down the A21,Not sure if I am allowed to name them,but starts with J and ends in S. :wink: :wink: 

cabby


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## mixyblob (May 3, 2011)

Thanks for all your input guys, it's greatly appreciated.

I contacted Hobby UK and they recommended a company near Doncaster who do all their Hobby repairs. 

The beauty of finding a repairer myself, is knowing they provide a quality service and have a good reputation, rather than the insurance company sending it to some "cut and shut" cowboy repairer.

The engineers report, arranged by the insurance company, has no mention of chassis, or suspension damage, even though the vehicle was shunted 8 feet, up and over a curb, with enough force to pop both tyres off the rear wheels.
The repair company have, of course, been advised of this.


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## VEEBUG74 (Apr 22, 2011)

Sure the tolerences are different to a road car for chassis,long wheelbase for stability etc.
At least if u have an alko chassis its like a meccano set and easily repaired,usually it a rear torsion tube suspension setup for rear wheels.
Main concern would how its effected the internal alignments,but saying that its all hand made and can be tweaked.
A lot of the repair methods are quite amazing.
Put x2 complete sides on my 1965 splitscreen vw van and bonded them on with metalbond adehsive and its actually stronger than in 65 .
Most of the steels in the chassis and front cab,then a wooden floor and plastic panels and supports etc for coachbuilt.Better that it crumpled and absorbed the impact ,rather than a steel monocoque car chassis which would be written off or put on a jig for re alignment.
If it were me i would visit the repairer and take pictures of various stages.From experiance its not until u remove panels etc that u know the full extent of the damage.Sourcing parts for the repairer will be time consuming.Hope ur going to get a hirevan  
Hope it all works out for u anyways


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

DMR
If this is the company they are only a couple of miles from me.
highly recomended http://www.motorhomebodyrepairs.co.uk/aboutus.php

Have a look at some of their photos on the site.
Dave p


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## mixyblob (May 3, 2011)

Our Hobby is with DMR at the moment (highly recommended to us by Hobby UK).
The original estimate for repairs, provided by the insurance company's engineers was for just over £6000.

After being inspected by DMR, they recon the bill will be nearer £24000 !
So the insurance company now seem to think it will be written off and hopefully they will be making us a cash offer so we can buy another Hobby.

If they decide not to write it off, the repairs will take about 2-3 months


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## paulmold (Apr 2, 2009)

I find it strange that your insurers say it is repairable before they have had a quote. As posted above, once a specialist had quoted they may change their mind.


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## mixyblob (May 3, 2011)

paulmold said:


> I find it strange that your insurers say it is repairable before they have had a quote. As posted above, once a specialist had quoted they may change their mind.


Why?
They said it was repairable after the original quote which was only a quarter of the specialists quote.
Surely if it was financially viable to repair it, they would.
They work to a 70% margin, if the cost of repair is more than 70% of its value then they will class it as a total loss,.


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## paulmold (Apr 2, 2009)

So who did the quote? A company that doesn't do motorhomes? You say it was a quarter of the specialists quote - what specialist? You've been asked to get a quote so what specialist has given a quote and why can't they do the job?


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Everything is repairble at a price.

There is a great deal of difference between an insurance company engineer who is probably not experianced in motorhome work, and a proffesional repair company.

Two recent examples of insurance quotes for repairs.
Son in laws motorcycle was written off by insurance company engineer.
He had no experiance in assesing motorcycles.

Pay out was £8k.

Bought back as salvage, by a friend who spent £1700 and put it back on the road.
Renault quote to repair Lady p`s car was £1500 + vat

Specialist repair company bill was £560.inc vat

Dave p


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## Sideways86 (Feb 25, 2009)

*hi*

From personal experience I had a smash in France and my ex Voyager was recovered to Campers UK in Lincoln

Alan Pickering there managed the whole process exceptionally and it came back better fitting than new

I live in South Wales and Alan sorted the whole thing and took a lot of stress and worry away from us

A1

Regards


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## mixyblob (May 3, 2011)

paulmold said:


> So who did the quote? A company that doesn't do motorhomes? You say it was a quarter of the specialists quote - what specialist? You've been asked to get a quote so what specialist has given a quote and why can't they do the job?


Didn't you read my previous post?


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

mixyblob said:


> paulmold said:
> 
> 
> > So who did the quote? A company that doesn't do motorhomes? You say it was a quarter of the specialists quote - what specialist? You've been asked to get a quote so what specialist has given a quote and why can't they do the job?
> ...


 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 
you beat me to it. Specsavers have a good range on offer :wink:

Dave p


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## bigfoot (May 16, 2005)

They pulled the same stunt with me,my reccomended repairer was in Clitheroe nearly 150 mile round trip,so I had it transported there and back apart from a claim for this I also costed 3 days of telephoning and waiting for recovery firm.I also had to chase them up for the engineer to visit.
Red star underwrite Insurers who'specialise in motorhomes' so why don't they have a network of repairers.
Also their office for reporting incidents,at the time,was only 9-5!


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## paulmold (Apr 2, 2009)

Apologies, I didn't look at the date of original post, assumed this had all happened over the last few days.


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