# Panel Repair



## SineadandTony (Jul 22, 2009)

I noticed some months go that a crack had developed under the kitchen area window in my Arapaho so I immediately contacted Autotrail. I sent a number of photos and the guy I was dealing with, (Mark) was most helpful. He informed me that a repair would be done free of charge at the Factory but it would not be until October and in the meantime to place some waterproof tape over the crack to prevent water ingress. I did this and we have had no problem since. I was also informed that the repair would take 2 weeks.
We were booked in for October 3rd with a collection date for October 14th. i asked if it would be possible to have the repairs carried out in the Republic of Ireland but was told this was not possible. So we made our travel plans Irish Ferries to Holyhead...drove to Grimsby.... dropped off MH and got Train to Leeds, bus to airport and flight home. This will all be done in reverse next Friday....
when we dropped off MH at Autotrail it was explained what had happened to cause the crack and what would be done to repair it. We were informed that Autotrail that they had to engage the services of the Engineering Dept of Manchester university to come up with a suitable material to use in the repairs as the initial batch of repairs they had carried out were unsuccessful.

Now comes my question......
This whole saga.....including the comings and goings....ferry travel, flights, trains and buses has set us back over €600.00 and we really dont think that its fair that we should have to pay the entire costs for a problem that was of Autotrails making. So we ask the question....Do we have any comeback against Autotrail for expenses and can anyone offer advice as to how we should pursue this???

All opinions welcome


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

It does not seem unreasonable to ask for out of pocket expenses. I would begin by explaining the cost and ask nicely to see what answer you get. I do think though that if they are willing to pay it may only be for one person. 

Perhaps it would be worth making a couple of phone calls to see what it might have cost to have the van collected and taken to them for repair and delivered home afterwards as I think you could reasonably have asked them to do that. Bear in mind that they will probably have hauliers working regularly collecting and delivering for them. Savilles at Hillsborough are listed as a dealer so perhaps it could have dropped off and picked up from there. 

What ever they might have done I doubt a two way journey could have been arranged any cheaper that the 600 euro your costs amount to, Alan.


----------



## SineadandTony (Jul 22, 2009)

I did ask about the possibility of going to Saville's but was informed that it had to be carried out at their Factory in Grimsby. I was also informed that they could not commit to a shorter timescale to complete the repairs other than the 2 weeks they initially said.
A breakdown of our costs is something along these lines...

Ferries return approx €400
Trains Grimsby to Leeds return €110
Flights Leeds to Dublin return €100
Diesel. approx €200

Total €810
This does not take into account the bus transfers to and from train stations and airports.So allowing for only one person travelling would only reduce the cost by a maximum of €100/150 at most leaving us out of pocket by €650


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Good luck with it. My home is near Savilles, tractors and agricultural machinery is their thing, they have only been in the MH game for a very short time, so even if they could have attempted a repair ....... ? Alan.


----------



## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

I think that you should have asked this question of Autotrail, prior to returning the vehicle to them, and if they then said you had no claim for out of pocket expenses, then a solicitor should have been your first port of call.


----------



## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

The giveaway is in your first post.

Autotrail said *'the first batch of repairs were not successful'*.

It sounds like a design fault and you should be entitled to all reasonable out of pocket expenses. Ideally, the van should have been picked up from your house at Autotrail's expense.

If you went down the path of 'not fit for purpose', I think you would be successful. That scenario is a long way off and if I were you, I would settle for your expenses.


----------



## pomme1 (May 19, 2005)

Surely your first port of call should have been the dealer from whom you purchased the vehicle. It should have then been for him to negotiate with Auto-Trail.

Roger


----------



## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

If you bought the motorhome new or if its still within warranty, then surely your dealer should have been sorting all this out and arranging for the transportation? If you bought it secondhand and its out of warranty then I imagine that your "claim" will be against Autotrail. I would think that you should push them for an ex gratia payment in a sum equal to reasonable out of pocket expenses.


----------



## SineadandTony (Jul 22, 2009)

We purchased the MH second hand in a private deal and the warranty was never transferred so going back to a dealer was not an option.

We are not looking to make a profit out of this or even cover all our expenses as we will have managed to have a 2 weekends in the UK that would not have happened otherwise but that said these weekends were achieved out of necessity rather than anything else.

Perhaps i could suggest they carry out a comprehensive habitation check free of charge which in my opinion would not be too much to ask....

What do you think????


----------



## bazzal (Apr 15, 2006)

Hi SineadandTony, sorry to hear of your problem and the cost of travel from your pocket. But at least you are getting it fixed.

You are not alone when it comes to Autotrail not wanting to help. I have just had my 2008 Cheyenne 840D which I bought new repaired at a company on the mainland and the problem was caused by Autotrail when they built it, they did not fit and seal the rear r/h wheel arch correctly and so since new had been letting water into the kitchen area under the sink-cooker-shower and was not detected for 2yrs even with 2 hab/damp checks.
When I asked Autotrail what they had to say about the problem they said its not there problem as it was out of their 1st year warranty and was told to find someone to fix it and so I did and then went back with proof that it was their mistake and that it cost £1700 to repair and cost me £900 to get over and back by sea/rail twice and my time of work I was told thats my fault for living in the Isle of Man. I will be putting a full story about my ordeal with Autotrail once I have received a full report from the repairer. Good luck. Baz.................... :evil: :evil:


----------



## pomme1 (May 19, 2005)

Hi bazzal, 

Sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick, but again, surely your recourse is to the dealer and not Auto-Trail. The warranty in these circumstances is almost an irrelevance.

If as you say, the fault existed since new, and the 'van has been properly serviced, then even after three years, it is manifestly not fit for purpose and it is still the dealer's responsibility to put it right. 

I am slightly concerned, however, that by having the repairs carried out independently, you may have let the dealer off the hook.

I am sure that if we all started to make some dealers face up to their responsibilities then they might just start putting pressure on the manufacturers to start building the things properly in the first place.

Roger


----------



## bazzal (Apr 15, 2006)

Hi pomme 1, 
I did get in touch with the dealers first "Brownhills" and they told me that they would look at the problem but it would not be covered by the 2nd/3rd year warranty as this would only cover water ingress due to a factory fitted seal (rubber seal) failing. They told me that it would cost around £4000 even though they had not seen the van to find where the fault was.
That is when I went to Autotrail. It was only when it went to the repairers that we found where the problem was and that was only possible by taking out the whole kitchen area also by taking off the skirt on the outside which runs the full length of the van. And I thought it was from a leaking window, well I got that wrong!Big time. Baz..........


----------



## pneumatician (May 1, 2005)

It would be interesting to see a copy of the universities findings as to the cause of this failure. As I recall this is not the first such failure reported on MHF. Wasn't the last a 6mm crack from a window corner across a panel ?

Steve


----------



## SineadandTony (Jul 22, 2009)

Firstly a big thank you to everybody who responded......and now an update on my correspondence with Autotrail.

I mentioned earlier that I was dealing with a guy called Mark...so I e-mailed Mark this morning and outlined the expenses we have incurred and asked if there would Autotrail reimburse all or any of these expenses as it was a design fault that had caused the problem.

The response I received was that Autotrail did not reimburse travel expenses and they had carried out the repair outside the warranty period out of goodwill.

I responded stating that our initial contact was 3 months prior to the expiration of the warranty period and once again that the problem with the MH was due to a design fault with Aototrail and not caused by any abuse or misuse on our part. I informed Mark that i was not looking to profit from the whole saga but suggested that as a compromise that they carry out a comprehensive habitation check free of charge. To be honest I wasn't expecting a positive response but this afternoon I received an e-mail from Mark saying that they would carry out the Habitation Check as a show of goodwill. 

So all in all we are very pleased with the response of Autotrail and in particular with the help of Mr Mark Atkinson who was more than helpful since our initial contact several months ago..


----------



## rogerblack (May 1, 2005)

It's always a good tactic in a situation like this to offer the other party an opportunity to provide something in compensation which costs them much less than the actual value to you. It's also easier for them to authorise this sort of internal action than cash compensation, which would probably require higher level management approval.

Excellent result, glad you ended up satisfied. ccasion5:


----------

