Keith Gooden
In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast…
Matt Sims
We’re investigating the top three most common newbie motorhoming errors and how to avoid making them.
Keith Gooden
And we’ve got a new way that you can support this podcast this week – please help!
Matt Sims
And we answer your questions on Mercedes warranties, windscreen covers and the 2030 EV legislation and weight ticket.
Keith Gooden
Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans, and it’s all brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.
Matt Sims
Now remember, please do follow on your favourite podcast app and make sure you subscribe on YouTube, sponsored by the lovely people at www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
Vote for us in the British Podcast Awards 2024
Keith Gooden
What’s that in your hand, Matt? The other one… vote for us, please! The British Podcast Awards – they usually give out these awards to people who do half an hour on Bavarian nose flute music and jails in Outer Mongolia. But we’re a useful podcast and proud of it.
Matt Sims
Just rewind – Bavarian nose flute?
Keith Gooden
I’ve got many albums. But this is a useful podcast, and we’re proud of it, and we thank you very much for listening. Can you help us? Please make an impact on the British Podcast Awards by voting for us. They have a listener award. It’ll only take a couple of minutes of your time, and we would really appreciate it if you could do it. What do you have to do then, Matt?
Matt Sims
Just go to mhmp.info/vote.vote. Enter Motorhome Matt into the podcast search box and register your vote.
Keith Gooden
So we’ve got a little bit on the Motorhome Matt podcast website which takes you there immediately. So no long addresses. It’s mhmp.info/vote.. We really would appreciate it. We know it takes your time, and your time is precious, but let’s push the podcast forward together, is what I say.
Matt Sims
Just trying to get a little bit more into the mainstream. I think as an industry, we deserve some positive airing in mainstream media. So hopefully this will be part of that.
Keith Gooden
100 percent. Thanks to Tracy from @travelsinmyvan and Warner shows for voting and sharing. Share your vote and tag us for a shout out in a future episode.
Matt Sims
Please do, yeah. Just add it to your story on socials. We would love that. Thank you. And tickets are on sale. The Big Show – coming in October.
Save on Motorhome and Caravan Show 2024 tickets
Keith Gooden
Le grand show.
Matt Sims
The Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC is 2024’s big event! It runs from the 15th to the 20th of October and you can buy tickets now, but you can save a few pence with the code MATT. Just enter mhmp.info/necshow, and it will take you straight to their ticket buying page on their website, and will have already applied the discount code for you.
Keith Gooden
Matt will be there on the expert panel every day, won’t you, Matt?
Matt Sims
Yeah, every day at 11:45 there’s an expert panel on the main stage.
Keith Gooden
11:45 in the morning, by the way.
Matt Sims
In the morning, yeah. No, I’m on at night when no one’s in the hall.
Keith Gooden
And it’s locked up.
Matt Sims
Just Dora with the vacuum! 11:45 a.m. I think it’s a 45 minute session. We’ve done it many times in the past. They have been brilliant, really good, because what I love about it is we’ve no idea what question we’re going to get from the floor. They’re always well hosted as well with a compère I don’t know who’s compèring it this year. They’ve not told me yet.
Keith Gooden
They haven’t asked me.
Matt Sims
No. For good reason.
Keith Gooden
Some other Z-lister.
Matt Sims
You might bring your Bavarian flute.
Keith Gooden
No flute music. I hope it’s Paul Merton, because I love Paul Merton and Sadie’s Motorhoming with the Mertons on Channel Five. I love that.
Matt Sims
They’d have to pay them.
Keith Gooden
A considerable amount. They are, “Considerably richer than you.”
Matt Sims
That’s very true. Fair cop. But if you’re going to the show, head to mhmp.info/necshow and save a bit on your ticket. We look forward to seeing you there.
Keith Gooden
It’s not Sadie, it’s Suki, by the way.
Matt Sims
I was going to say, who is Sadie? Is Paul having an affair?
Keith Gooden
Sorry, Suki. Sorry, Suki… that’s a good name for an album, isn’t it, or an autobiography? Sorry, Suki. It’s time for our That Leisure Shop product of the week, and we love the product of the week. It has recently been reintroduced by public demand.
Matt’s product of the week
Matt Sims
Indeed, yeah. I haven’t got one with me this week. It’s too big. On YouTube, we’ll show you a picture right now. They are amazing. That Leisure Shop branded festival carts. If you’re listening, these are the wagons you drag along behind you with all your stuff in heading to the beach.
Keith Gooden
A drag along wagon.
Matt Sims
A drag along wagon. That’s another album title. It’s your Bavarian music hits title.
Keith Gooden
How much are they?
Matt Sims
They are just £99.99, but get 10% off with the code MOTORHOMEMATT. £90. Happy days.
Keith Gooden
Happy days. Get that cart when you’re going to the big show and everything you buy, you can tow around. And I’ll tell you what, if enough of you do it, we could have a cart race around there.
Matt Sims
We could do!
Keith Gooden
What would the organisers do to us then?
Matt Sims
Yeah, I can guess. They’re available in a choice of colours. We’ve got black, and we should have orange and blue available as well. So there’s a choice of colours. They are branded That Leisure Shop. We have spent months designing these with the factory that built them for us. They got really wide tyres, reinforced. They take 150 kilos. So I could drag you around in one, Keith.
Keith Gooden
I’ve lost some weight. Did you know orange wasn’t a colour until Elizabethan times?
Matt Sims
Really?
Keith Gooden
Really. They used to call it red or shades of red.
Matt Sims
What was it before? Then
Keith Gooden
Shades of red. I’ve just said.
Matt Sims
It still is a shade of red.
Top 3 mistakes that new motorhomes make
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt. It’s all brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com, and the main part of the podcast this week, it’s all for newbies! The top mistakes that people new to motorhoming, caravanning or camping make. Matt, what are they?
Choosing the wrong layout
Matt Sims
Well, you know what? They’re not all newbie mistakes, I have to say. For one of them I wasn’t a newbie, particularly when I did this, but I’ll explain in a minute. So the first one I’ve heard a lot. As a company that hires and sells motorhomes, we get a lot of people asking about, how do I avoid getting this wrong? And so on and so on. It’s buying the wrong layout.
Keith Gooden
The layout is really important, as you’ve said before, for new people into motorhoming. Maybe somebody’s listening to this and thinking of buying and hasn’t got one – the layout is the way the inside is configured.
Matt Sims
Absolutely.
Keith Gooden
They’re not all the same, are they?
Matt Sims
No, they’re absolutely not. And it can feel like a minefield, and it can get really confusing. So buying the right layout is so important because, as you say, it’s what you’re going to live with. So we did it years ago. We went to a show, walked in a motorhome with a rear lounge, and thought, wow, this is amazing. Loads of space.
And there was, but it was nothing more, in reality. We bought it. It was nothing more than a motorhome with a really uncomfortable rear bed because it was made up out of the cushions. And it had no storage.
There was no garage area at the back because it had a rear lounge. So we drove around with the bed made up all the time and all our stuff in the motorhome. It was a nightmare. So to go to bed, or even just to live in it, we’d have to empty out the barbecue, the bikes and so on outside the motorhome every time we stopped.
That didn’t last long. In fact, it was about eight or nine months, and we sold it and then bought something else. And then we went on, actually, and bought a bunk bed motorhome. By this time, we had three kids, and I thought the bunk beds were great.
I put the kids in the back, two of them in one of the bunks, and we would sleep in the over cab bed. So this is like a Luton van bed, above the driver. I hated it. Every time I went to bed, I woke everyone up because the van would rock around.
I’d be up early as well. Again, I woke everyone up because the van would rock around. And I didn’t like being in the overcab bed. I just didn’t like it. So that didn’t even last as long as the last one!
Keith Gooden
It is a bit claustrophobic. It can be if you don’t like enclosed spaces.
Matt Sims
I don’t.
Keith Gooden
I mean, you found that out with your prison cell, didn’t you?
Matt Sims
What do they call it when you’re on your own?
Keith Gooden
What, just generally or in prison?
Matt Sims
In prison!
Keith Gooden
Solitary confinement.
Matt Sims
That’s the one. Yeah. I tell you, I was in an MRI scanner the other day. Blimey, that was horrible. I hate the MRI scanner. It’s the most expensive tube you’ll ever get in. Honestly. Horrible. Anyway…
Keith Gooden
If you don’t know, Matt had some heart trouble, and we nearly lost him. We really nearly did. So he’s been having treatments, and they put him in the MRI. It was the cheap one at Bristol, wasn’t it, the one where they’ve got the person peddling next door?
Matt Sims
It’s one and a half million quid, he said! Yeah, a lot of money. Anyway, I nearly smashed the heck out of it trying to get out. But anyway, I didn’t. But not a nice experience. So yeah, claustrophobia is not good if you don’t like sleeping in an overcab bed, which I don’t.
So then we went and bought the best layout, which for us was a fixed rear bed with a big garage and a double overcab bed. Anyway, the point is, it took us a while and some money to find the best layout for us, and it can be a very expensive mistake.
And I hear people say, “This is our forever motorhome.” I never believe them. I just laugh. I say, “Really?” Because you need to change! Kids get older, or you start doing different types of holidays, so there are lots of considerations with the layout.
And my advice is to try before you buy. Go and hire a few different layouts for a weekend, invest a few thousand pounds if you have to, because that could work out to be a lot cheaper than buying the wrong one and then having to trade in and buy another one.
And really do your research. Look at loads of layouts, go to shows, and go in as many motorhome layouts as you possibly can. Really start to try and figure out what works best for you.
Keith Gooden
Absolutely. It’s one of those occasions where your head really has to overtake your heart. You’re excited. You’ve got the money, you’ve finally got the finance. You want to buy it. But as Matt says, get that layout which is going to work for you now.
You might have to change it in the future as perhaps the kids get older, or maybe you have a change in your health or physical ability or whatever, but get it right now and it will be cheaper for you in the long term.
Matt Sims
I hate the phrase, I’ve said it before, but you don’t know what you don’t know. So until you actually go and use that particular layout, you don’t know if it’s going to work for you. So you know, we thought the bunks and the overcab bed were ideal, and they really weren’t. I didn’t like it at all. If we’d hired one, we’d have known straight away after a weekend that that was the wrong layout for us.
Keith Gooden
Yeah, come to the big show in October, because you’ll get some great ideas by going around some of the motorhomes. We’ve said it in the past. Design has caught up with motorhoming and caravanning, hasn’t it?
It’s not just a few cupboards and a bit of laminate anymore. There really are some serious designs and designers – and some of the things that they come up with you just would never have thought of.
Matt Sims
A lot of innovation, and some very clever bathroom designs. Yeah, there’s loads of choice out there, which kind of makes the problem even bigger! So go to an indoor show like the ones at the NEC. Go to one of the Warners shows outdoors.
There are lots of second hand motorhomes for sale. Go around as many dealers as you can. You’ll be left to your own devices, which isn’t always good, but you won’t be bothered, and you’ll be free just to wander around and go and look at loads. That’s my advice. Look at as many as you possibly can.
Keith Gooden
Come and see us when you’re there as well. We’d love to say hello. I’m a bit reticent about this one.
Not learning how to use your motorhome
Keith Gooden
This is mistake number two for nudies… sorry, newbies, who are buying a motorhome or caravan. Matt’s toilet story!
Matt Sims
Is that what it says here? Yeah, we were in an American RV. So an American motorhome has a different type of toilet system to a European or British built motorhome. It has a big tank and has a pull lever, the same as many waste tanks have.
And you pull the lever and out comes your toilet waste down a pipe into the sewer. That’s how an American RV works. It has a holding tank, not a cassette you take out and you do the walk of shame with, and drag it away and tip it away.
So we’re in this American RV in a campsite in the winter, and it’s really muddy. So much so the RV had actually sunk up to its axles in the mud, and we couldn’t move it. So we decided we were going to change campsites, and we couldn’t.
We thought, we’ll just stay here for a few more days. The weather’s set to improve, and then we’ll try and get out. Loads of people were stuck being towed. We were too big to be towed out by the little campsite’s mini tractor. So we thought, we’ll stay here.
But the problem was we had the kids with us, and the toilet was getting full. And I thought, right, what should I do? I can’t get the motorhome to the toilet, which is a problem with an RV. So I got a gorilla tub, you know, one of those black kinds of feed tubs that you give animals their food in.
I got one of those and thought, I’ll just drain a bit off. How hard can this be? I fit in the waste tube, fed it into the gorilla tub, pulled the lever. I didn’t account for the fact there was probably half a ton of weight in the tank…
Keith Gooden
Because it’s what you’ve been eating!
Matt Sims
And of course, all the heavy stuff went to the bottom… you know what I’m saying. And I pulled the lever, and the lever was forced open. It just went straight out into the gorilla tub, bounced back off the edge of the gorilla tub onto me.
Keith Gooden
Oh…
Matt Sims
The gorilla tub went over and it started pumping itself all over the campsite grass. I pushed the lever in as quickly as I possibly could, and I did have a bit of a battle. And where I thought I would just drain a bit of fluid off, you know, just a few bucketfuls, I ended up draining that quite a bit all over the campsite grass.
So I did confess to the campsite what had happened, and explained why I’d done it. And to be fair, they were very understanding. They came over with loads of hay, a wheelbarrow and a shovel, gave them to me and made me clean it all up. Fair enough! We put loads of straw down. It’s the best bit of grass in Cornwall!
Keith Gooden
There were the best tomatoes the year after they’ve ever had! Is that going to happen to newbies?
Matt Sims
It could do! Why not? And I’d been motorhoming for quite a while when I made this decision to open my toilet valve like that. So my advice is, don’t ever do that! Don’t try it for yourself. It went really wrong. It was a mess. So, yeah, horrible.
Keith Gooden
But what if you are faced with something which is full up and you need to do something about it? And you know, as you say, you were stuck at the time. Iff it’s a bit of a catch 22, what do you do? Keep your legs crossed?
Matt Sims
Use the campsite toilet, I suppose! The problem is, we had kids with us who were using the loo in the RV, and it was pouring with rain. I mean, it was really, really raining. We didn’t want to walk all the way across the campsite – it was a big site – to the toilet block. So, yeah, that was our logic for doing it. But I won’t be doing that again.
Keith Gooden
So don’t mess with the poo then, Matt. But the real story on this one is to make sure you read the instruction manual. Know your motorhome or caravan!
Matt Sims
RTFM. Don’t explain what that means! It is understanding how to use your motorhome correctly. Absolutely. Read the manual. Do your research as well. There’s now so much information – on this podcast, across YouTube, across loads of blogs.
The magazines and the shows are brilliant at putting content out there. There are loads of vloggers and bloggers. So you could spend hours, and I know many of you do, watching and reviewing all this content. There is so much you can learn on the internet.
And when we had this RV, the internet probably did exist, but it wasn’t like it is now. I don’t think YouTube existed. So, you know, getting information was much harder. It was all about conversation. Go into a library. Remember those places?
Keith Gooden
Absolutely. Going to the reference library to look things up.
Matt Sims
Yeah, but now it’s easy to research. So do your research and learn how to use your motorhome properly. When you’re getting the handover from the dealer, film it. Get your phone out and record the handover. I’m sure the dealer wouldn’t object.
Many dealerships now are doing video handovers. In our hire business, all the handovers for our hire customers have been done on video post COVID, and there’s a user manual in the motorhome. So there’s loads of content out there. Just go and research it and consume as much as you can.
Keith Gooden
Know your motorhome or caravan and read the manual. That is the lesson. And as you say, particularly with YouTube – I did it. I had to dot and dab a wall with plasterboard a couple of weeks ago. Never done it in my life. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and did the job. Didn’t need the plasterer! Sorry, guys.
Matt Sims
To any plasters who are listening, can I just apologise that Keith would consider the university of plastering, according to YouTube, to be an adequate training ground for him to replaster his house?! These people spent years learning their craft!
Keith Gooden
Yeah, they say. They say…
Doing too much
Keith Gooden
Newbie mistake number three, not sticking to less it is more. Packing and travelling and stuff like that.
Matt Sims
Yeah, just packing too much stuff. So we talk all the time, don’t we, about payload and how much weight you can carry in a motorhome. It’s a massive topic. It’s a big challenge for many motorhome owners – carrying too much stuff.
When we sold that American RV that I dumped the toilet from, I emptied all its lockers. It was a big eight or eight and a half tonne vehicle. It was a big truck, and I found four house bricks in the bottom of a locker. And I said, what the heck are these in here for?
Why are we carrying house bricks? And we would use them to put the little disposable barbecues on the grass so we didn’t leave a little burnt patch on on the grass at the campsite. And we had four of them in the van. I mean, we’d been carrying them around!
Keith Gooden
Is it like for boats? It’s just ballast. Lowering the centre of gravity!
Matt Sims
I had been, yeah! I mean, the motorhome could take the weight. That wasn’t an issue. I wasn’t compromising anything. But the point was that I was carrying this stuff around without realising it.
And it’s easy just to throw stuff in a locker. It’s like at home, isn’t it? It just ends up at the back of the cupboard. And one day in the spring, you’re done with the spring cleaning and you think blimey, how long have I had this?
Just be mindful of how much stuff you’re carrying around. It’s so easy to pack too much stuff. You know, in a motorhome you need to take different types of clothing in this country because our weather is so changeable. But empty it out after every trip. You know, if you’ve got tinned food in there that’s 14 years old, just take it out and throw it away!
Keith Gooden
Absolutely. And you don’t have to take everything. There are shops nearby, and it’s not really an extra expense, but we do. We’re British, and so we like to pack everything. The jar of Marmite, the tea bags. But these things are all available, and they add the weight to your motorhome, you know, when you want to get people in!
Matt Sims
Well, I always say, go shopping at your destination. Go and actually make a positive impact on the local economy you’re visiting. The other consideration is how you load it. So loading it incorrectly – this is really important, because your front axle has a maximum weight.
Your rear axle in a motorhome has a maximum weight. So it’s really easy to overload one of them. Putting heavy weights up high, that is a no-no, because if you go around a roundabout, or worse, you have an accident…
Keith Gooden
Lower the centre of gravity.
Matt Sims
Yeah, put it down low. And if you’re a caravanner, it’s very tempting. We had a caravan with what’s called a French bed. So it’s a bed, a double bed, in the back corner of the van, and the corner’s usually cut off so you can get through to the bathroom. It was popular in the French market, hence it’s called French bed.
And we would load that bed up and we would overload it. We put the awning under it, all the tables and chairs and chocks – everything went under the bed. Of course, it’s all at the back of the van, and you don’t want loads of weight at the back of any trailer or caravan.
You want it across the axle and over the front tow hitch as well. And again, there’s a limit there on how much weight you can put as a tow hitch, so be very mindful of how you are loading a motorhome.
Keith Gooden
And we’re recording this in the middle of holiday season, in the summer. I know you’re not listening to it at that particular time. Just a little quick one. We record this at Matt’s place near Weston-super-Mare, and so it’s on the holiday route.
It’s been carnage over the last weekend, the last week on the M5 M4 interchange and into Wales and all the rest of it. So it really has just been awful. Drive carefully. But today on the way here, Matt, I was behind somebody, and they had a trailer, you know, a two wheel trailer on the back of their car. But it could easily be a motorhome. Remember, if you’re towing a trailer, you can’t go in the overtaking lane on the motorway.
Matt Sims
Lane three.
Keith Gooden
Yeah. And this bloke, and it was a bloke, because I looked when I passed him, was out in lane three most of the time. Another expert – I’m sorry, I do consult with other experts – once told me when you’re pulling those trailers, you must always check the speed rating of the tyres, he said, because they’re never rated above about 50 miles an hour.
So if you want to go fast in them, then you need to change the tyres. You shouldn’t be in the third lane anyway, but they will blow out. If you go at 70 on a speed rated tyre of 50, you are putting a lot more pressure on it, pardon the pun, and it gets hot, and it could quite easily blow out. So don’t do it.
Matt Sims
It overheats and expands. And then it goes pop. That’s what happens, yeah, and the side walls give out, hence you get a blowout. So yeah, you definitely shouldn’t be in lane three with a trailer. The other mistake here is not just over cramming stuff, but actually over planning as well.
So it’s part of this kind of overdoing the whole motorhome bit, where people focus too much on the motor and less on the home. And particularly in the hire business here, Motorhome Holiday Company, we see people come in and they book a week and they’ve got six or seven campsites planned for the week.
It’s like, blimey, you’re going to need a week off to recover from this holiday. It’s going to be awful. So it’s no fun doing that. I have this rule of three. I’ve talked about it before, where we would camp on a site for two nights and on day three, we would travel for no more than three hours, and I called it the rule of three.
We would also have a rule where we would apply the rule of three if it’s raining, so if on day three it’s still tipping down, or it looks like it’s going to be, we’d pack up and go home – give in. But we would try and stay there for three days if we could.
Particularly importantly, we’ve got kids, and we’re trying to keep them entertained, but the rule of three – two campsite nights, stay on the same site. Take your time, slow down, and just enjoy the area you’re in a little bit longer, and don’t drive too far. You don’t need to drive for hours to enjoy your motorhome or caravan. You can drive down the road to the local campsite and still have a great weekend. So, yeah, don’t over plan!
Keith Gooden
There you go. So those are the top three – there could even be four there or five – mistakes that newbies make when they’re motorhoming or caravanning, according to expert Motorhome
Matt Sims
. Now, we want to hear your stories. What was your biggest mistake when you started this fabulous pastime?
Matt Sims
We’d love to know! Leave them in the comments or send them in to us at mhmp.info/info/askmatt. You can record them there or fill in the form, and we’ll read them out for you. Make us laugh if you can! We’d love to hear your newbie mistakes.
Audience Q&A
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
It’s brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. It’s time for our questions and answers, where you ask the questions and Matt Sims, Motorhome Matt, will give you the answers. If he doesn’t know himself, he’ll ask another expert. So this is the font of all knowledge.
Matt Sims
Okay, no pressure.
Keith Gooden
Robert Cruickshanks is in the Outer Hebrides.
Robert Cruickshanks
Hi Matt. I have on order a Hymer ML-T 570 Xperience. I’m aware that when you buy a Hymer with a Mercedes chassis, you only get a two year warranty in the UK, as it is a German warranty, and not the three year UK warranty. My question to you is, are you covered by Mercedes MobiloVan from the date of registration, or is it from the first service? Or are you covered at all? Nobody seems to be able to tell me, and I’m finding it very frustrating. Many thanks and all the best.
Keith Gooden
Cheers. Robert, what did we say earlier? RTM, read the manual. Is it not in the manual?
Matt Sims
It might be. I don’t know. It’s a very good question, Robert, thank you. What’s interesting is, Robert’s surname was Cruickshanks, and they’re a massive Mercedes van dealer in Bristol. So I did contact them, Robert, on your behalf. I wondered if you owned the business, and this was a trick question! Maybe! But they haven’t responded. So there we are.
You are right though, Robert, because it’s an imported vehicle. So the Hymer is a German built motorhome. This is exactly the same with Mercedes, with Fiat, with Peugeot and with Citroen. If it’s a European built motorhome, it only has a two year chassis warranty.
If you’re buying a British built motorhome, so Bailey, Auto-Trail, Auto-Sleeper, they are UK supplied chassis still from Europe, but they come into the UK, and therefore they have a three year chassis warranty. Many people get confused by this. So you are right, and the warranty starts at the date of registration.
Now, a quick note on Fords. Same applies to Ford. It’s a two year warranty, but when you have the vehicle serviced for the first time, you need to get Ford to extend the warranty for the second year. Now also to note, as well, with the Stellantis group vehicles, so Fiat, Peugeot Citroen, you can buy a five year warranty for the chassis from the start date, the registration date.
But you only get I think 10 days from the date of registration to do it. It comes at a cost of around £1,000. That might be different now, but if you don’t do it in the first 10 days of registration, you lose the ability to buy that five year warranty. So hopefully that clarifies it for you. It’s from the day of registration.
Keith Gooden
Why do these companies make it so complicated? You’ve got to ask yourself that question. Mercedes, you know, it’s a premium quality brand. Why do they make it so difficult?
Matt Sims
It’s not just Mercedes, it’s all of them. I don’t know why there’s a difference. Why is there a disparity between a European provided vehicle that has a two year warranty and the same vehicle built by a British manufacturer that has a three year warranty?
Keith Gooden
Is it Brexit?
Matt Sims
No, it’s been the case for donkey’s years. Yeah, it’s pre-Brexit. I don’t know why. Maybe the British manufacturers negotiated with Stellantis and others that they can have a three year warranty. I mean, obviously they did. But why should it only be two years on a European built motorhome? I don’t know. So if you buy an Adria, for example, it’s a two year chassis warranty.
Keith Gooden
Robert, thanks for the question.
Keith Gooden
Maureen and Bill Lowman are in Auckland, in New Zealand. “My second reach out to you,” they say. “We tune into YouTube on Monday down under and watch while we have our morning coffee. Love the camaraderie between you and Keith.”
Camaraderie – had it once, didn’t like it. “So much fun while learning. Our question is, as temperatures drop, do you have a polar windscreen cover manufacturer that you would recommend, particularly one who would export?
We’re into our first winter with our Dethleffs A class Pulse, and while being warm and cosy most of the time, we’d like to keep it that way and keep condensation to a minimum. How can you help? Thanks in regards to you both.”
Matt Sims
Brilliant. Well, I can help. Yeah, I did some research for you on this, and I can recommend to you www.rainbowscreens.co.uk. I gave them a call. They’re super helpful, and they will ship to New Zealand.
But the chap there did say that costs had shot up for doing this in recent years. It used to be £197, but it was £300. So it’s not going to be a cheap way of getting a cover, but you can get one, and you can choose A class on their website. I went and checked this for you as well. And it’s easy to navigate through. And the Dethleffs magic is the one they list, and that’s probably the one that’s closest to your Pulse.
Keith Gooden
Thanks very much for the question. Pete’s in Accrington. “Hi Matt. I’ve got a couple of questions,” a couple, Pete?! “If you don’t mind. Firstly, naming no names, but a dealer I spoke to recently told me that as motorhomes are classed as commercial vehicles, they will not be affected by the 2030 EV/hybrid legislations. This seems to contradict what I’ve heard you say about 2030. Please could you clear this up?”
Matt Sims
Easy, yeah. Well, they are affected. It’s all diesel vehicles.
Keith Gooden
So the bloke’s wrong?
Matt Sims
Yeah, absolutely. I thought, well, I’m going to double check this. So I rang Paul Kirby, the electric van man, who’s featured on the podcast before. He said, “The 2030 ZEV mandate was extended to 2035 and covers cars and vans and thus motorhomes, because of course they’re built on a van.
Labour have stated they will reset the ZEV mandate date to 2030 to bring it forward again, despite this not being included in the King’s Speech. It will state that 70% of new vehicle production must be zero emissions by 2030 or the manufacturer will suffer an £18,000 fine per van they build, and £15,000 fine per car. So this is going to happen. And if Labour are true to their word – let’s see – it will be back to 2030 where manufacturers have to produce 70% of all new vehicles as zero emission.
Keith Gooden
It’s amazing, isn’t it? And you know where that £18,000 or £15,000 is going to end up? In your pocket. Second question from Pete. “Would it be reasonable to expect a dealer to provide me with a weigh ticket for a newly purchased motorhome?” That’s weigh as in weight, not waiting in a queue. How heavy you are!
Matt Sims
Not queuing for cheese?
Keith Gooden
Yeah. The English language, eh? “Would it be reasonable to expect a dealer to provide me with a weigh ticket for a newly purchased motorhome? Or would the dealer expect me to pay a charge for this as an extra? Loving the podcast. Thanks in advance,” says Pete in Accrington.
Matt Sims
I reckon the dealer would probably expect you to organise it and pay for it. Now, it might be the dealer has to take it to the weighbridge. This would be about cajoling your dealer to help you with this, but it’s a very, very sensible thing to do. They might drive it there on trade plates, because if it’s not registered yet, it won’t be taxed.
Honestly, it’s going to cost five quid. It’s going to cost buttons. The two local places that we take motorhomes here, if we don’t want a receipt, they don’t charge us at all. And if we do, it’s five pounds in cash. So it’s not going to be expensive at all.
Keith Gooden
Is it worth getting into a fight about?
Matt Sims
No, definitely not. It’s definitely worth doing, though.
Keith Gooden
Nice little review here from Eddie and Alison. “Hi, Matt, thanks for the advice, by the way. Just to let you know, we had the best holiday ever. The tow car made it to France, Germany, Switzerland, Portofino in Italy, and back up to Mont Blanc. The weather changed. So we did the south of France and made our way to Belgium to pick up two dog passports.” Le passport de chien.
“We could not tell you the roads we went down. You wouldn’t believe me. Simply the best time. Thanks again. Don’t think I would have gone without talking to you and Keith. Kind regards, Eddie Alison, Tilly the Frenchie and Bobby the Scotty.”
Matt Sims
Thanks for the invite. That’s brilliant. What a great trip! And thank you for sharing. It’s lovely to know we gave you some confidence to do it, and you towed a car as well all the way around. That’s really interesting – without getting stopped. So well done!
Keith Gooden
Send your reviews to mhmp.info/review. We mentioned this earlier, but can you vote for us in the British Podcast Awards for the Listener Choice Awards? We would love to win it, you know. That’s mhmp.info/vote.
Ask Matt
Keith Gooden
Now, Matt, if people want to ask you a question, what do they do?
Matt Sims
Easy. Please do, because if you’ve got a question, I guarantee there are a thousand people with the same question, possibly too afraid to ask it. Head to mhmp.info/askmatt. Just click the orange button and record it, and we’ll play it into the podcast, or you can fill in the form and we’ll read it for you.
Keith Gooden
I’m a newbie who’s feeling YouTubey. What should I do?
Matt Sims
Please hit subscribe and the little bell, and then the gods of YouTube will tell you when we bring out a new episode. And our YouTube channel is sponsored by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
