[00:00:00] Keith Gooden: It’s Christmas.
[00:00:02] Matt Sims: Merry Christmas!
[00:00:04] Keith Gooden: In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast, it’s our Christmas special and we’re diving into the gift of warranty claims and the process behind them.
[00:00:14] Matt Sims: Even Santa needs a warranty, and we answer your questions on getting better campsite Wi-Fi, screen sharing to your TV and whether or not lithium is worth an upgrade.
[00:00:32] Keith Gooden: Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
[00:00:35] Matt Sims: And I’m Motorhome Matt.
[00:00:36] Keith Gooden: Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans and brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com
and sponsored by Ripe.
[00:00:44] Matt Sims: Remember to follow on your favourite podcast app or if you’re watching on YouTube, click subscribe and that little bell.
[00:00:50] Keith Gooden: Ah, the mince pies. It’s Christmas. Have you got any mince pies?
[00:00:55] Matt Sims: We have a secret.
[00:00:57] Keith Gooden: What? What’s the secret?
[00:00:58] Matt Sims: We’re recording this in September, and I went to the shop this morning and said, have you got any mince pies? I can’t find them. She said, it’s September. So we’re trying to record ahead of time. And we thought, this one’s coming out on the 22nd of December, so we went Christmas for you. So I’ve got apple pies.
[00:01:16] Keith Gooden: Well my dietary regulations mean I can only lick these.
[00:01:19] Matt Sims: Well, not all of them.
[00:01:21] Keith Gooden: Yeah.
[00:01:22] Matt Sims: You can lick one. I’m allowed to eat one, so I’m gonna. So yeah, they are the famous Mr K’s apple pies, not mince. They look like mince pies.
[00:01:30] Keith Gooden: They do, but you’ve just given the game away.
[00:01:33] Matt Sims: It was too early for mince pies.
[00:01:34] Keith Gooden: So we’re recording this in September. But I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard was recorded in the hottest day of the year in August, in a studio in Marble Arch.
[00:01:43] Matt Sims: You said that before.
[00:01:44] Keith Gooden: Yeah, well, I’m saying it again now.
[00:01:46] Matt Sims: It’s very true. Anyway, hopefully next week I’ll be back with Keith post-surgery. So I think next week’s episode is planned to be the first one we record in real time, so I will be post triple heart bypass by then.
[00:02:01] Keith Gooden: Matt, you’ve actually been spending time with the Ripe team, haven’t you?
[00:02:05] Matt Sims: Yeah I have. Their customer service team is based in Manchester, about 26 people. And when you call, you’re getting a real person, not a robot or a call centre based halfway around the world.
[00:02:16] Keith Gooden: So what’s the wait time like?
[00:02:18] Matt Sims: Well, when we spoke to them last about this, their average wait time was six minutes. But they’ve now reduced this to just two minutes, with their ultimate goal being to reduce it to under one minute. You can also make changes to your policy yourself easily online mid-policy if you need to, and you get to know people by name, like Amy, who Chris Hunt, one of our listeners, always seems to get on the online chat.
[00:02:41] Keith Gooden: So it’s a proper personal service.
[00:02:43] Matt Sims: Exactly. Yeah, real people and real answers. Click the link in the description to get a quote from Ripe. And remember, you’ll get 15% off your premium too.
[00:02:53] Keith Gooden: Ho ho ho! In this week’s Motorhome Matt podcast, it’s a very Christmassy topic. I mean, it’s just non-stop cool Yule. Cool Yule warranties. So why are we talking about these again then? Well, especially at Christmas.
[00:03:10] Matt Sims: I know. Well, we wanted to talk about what happens when you make a warranty claim. So earlier this year I discovered the team at Warranty Solutions Group.
[00:03:18] Keith Gooden: Who are very good.
[00:03:18] Matt Sims: Yeah, they stepped into the motorhome market and they’ve had a long provenance in the car market, so motor trade. And they stepped into the motorhome and campervan market and made a splash, let’s just put it that way. The product they’ve launched is amazing. 6,000-plus items that they cover. They’ll cover consequential damage. And I was really impressed. And they are Motorhome Matt Approved as a result. And I’ve been working really closely with them, and I had the pleasure of going to their offices earlier this year and talking with Dennis, who is ex-Bentley and used to dealing with claims for Bentley customers, and it was fascinating watching him process a claim. And I said, you know what? I’ve never ever seen what goes on here behind the phone, as it were, on this side of the fence. And what really happens when you make a claim. So I thought, well, let’s unpack that. And they said, yeah, sure, come on in, bring the crew and we’ll film what happens when you make a warranty claim. And so I thought I’d unpack that with Dennis at Warranty Solutions Group. So this is the nerve centre here at Warranty Solutions Group. And I’ve been allowed behind the scenes to look at what happens when you make a claim. This is their senior claims manager Dennis.
[00:04:31] Dennis Brett: Good afternoon.
[00:04:32] Matt Sims: Dennis, for the purpose of this exercise we’ve created three businesses here, haven’t we? We’ve created the customer, a dealer, a main dealer and a repairer because they may not be the same.
[00:04:43] Dennis Brett: Yes, indeed.
[00:04:44] Matt Sims: So let’s just start with the customer experience. They have a breakdown. They have a problem. What do they do?
[00:04:50] Dennis Brett: Customer would read his booklet and would then contact us by phone or email, depending on what system he wanted to use. He would then call, speak to one of the engineers in the team, of which we’ve got 26.
[00:05:02] Matt Sims: Yeah, they’re sat around us here.
[00:05:04] Dennis Brett: They’re all sat around us here in various desks. And we would go through the system, see if we could assist them as to what’s wrong with their vehicle, if they know. Right. Even if we did know and they had some idea, we would direct them to a local garage of their choice and ask them to authorise the diagnosis so that the garage can contact us themselves with what’s wrong with it, with prices and cause of failure, for us to assess and see what we can do to assist with the claim.
[00:05:29] Matt Sims: Right. So it’s very unusual that you deal direct with the customer. You normally deal via a garage.
[00:05:34] Dennis Brett: Yes.
[00:05:35] Matt Sims: But if I’ve broken down on a Sunday, you’re closed, I couldn’t get this sorted out. So it’s extenuating circumstances. I’ve called a garage. They’ve fitted the part. I’ve paid for it. You will make an exception there, won’t you, and deal with the customer?
[00:05:49] Dennis Brett: We don’t want a customer stranded on the side of the road overnight, whether it’s a motorhome, a vehicle, a motorbike or whatever. If we’re closed, we will address that situation and deal with them accordingly on the first available day that we have.
[00:06:01] Matt Sims: Okay, cool. So you’ve referred then me, the customer, we’ve called. What have we called the customer?
[00:06:07] Dennis Brett: The customer is Motorhome Matt.
[00:06:09] Matt Sims: Right. Okay. You’re referring me then to a main dealer.
[00:06:14] Dennis Brett: Whether it’s a main dealer, people have to be careful with the name main dealer because people associate that with buying a new vehicle.
[00:06:20] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:06:21] Dennis Brett: What we’re talking about is either the selling dealer, if they want to go back to the selling dealer where they bought the motorhome from, or they go to a local garage, which would be normally either a franchise garage, an independent garage, whatever they’re comfortable with. They may well have historically a garage they’ve used for 20 years in the family. We’re happy for them to go there. We don’t insist on where they go. Wherever the customer is happy to go, we’re prepared to deal with that garage.
[00:06:48] Matt Sims: And what criteria do you have for that repairer? Do they have to be accredited to any repair scheme or VAT registered? Are there any criteria for repairers?
[00:06:58] Dennis Brett: VAT registered is not an essential for repairing work. To keep the policy live, it needs to be a VAT-registered garage. That’s normally because a VAT-registered garage will keep their paperwork and we can assess it if we need to, whereas it’s not always the case with non-VAT. So it’s just a process to protect the policyholder.
[00:07:18] Matt Sims: I understand. I’ve often wondered why warranty companies want VAT-registered garages.
[00:07:23] Dennis Brett: Because you have to keep your paperwork for six years, so we may need to refer back to that.
[00:07:26] Matt Sims: So show us on the screen then. Talk us through what happens when the customer calls in.
[00:07:31] Dennis Brett: Right. When the customer calls in, we’ll open the agreement. And this particular agreement is here. And we’ll open that agreement, ask the customer for his registration number, first line of his address and his postcode so we can adhere to data protection or GDPR, as it’s also called. Yeah. Once we’ve done that, we will open a claim.
[00:07:52] Matt Sims: So it’s worth pointing out this is a fake claim.
[00:07:55] Dennis Brett: This is, yeah. We’re doing this to demonstrate how the system works rather than doing a genuine claim. And we can see on the system that we have a policy that is on risk. We have a policy on here that’s been cancelled or it may have expired. We can still open that, but we’re going to refer to this one. And then it brings up the details of the customer. It brings up all the details of the vehicle, the policy type and the selling dealer.
[00:08:25] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:08:25] Dennis Brett: So this is the selling, that’s where you as the pretend customer purchased your vehicle. That’s all your detail. You bought it from yourself. And for some reason, you’re going to take it to yourself for repair.
[00:08:37] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:08:38] Dennis Brett: We check the mileage. We will ask the customer for the mileage because we need to know what that is. If we know it, we can put it in.
[00:08:46] Matt Sims: And you would know it from MOT history, I suppose.
[00:08:49] Dennis Brett: Yeah. If there was a query on MOT history, we could look it up. Otherwise we can look it up once we’ve got the information from the garage. So we’d start a new claim and then it brings up the claim page. If there’s any checks that need to be done that flashes up before the engineer. And now we’ve got what’s called the claim page. It’s created a claim number and it’s got the details of the product. It’s got the person that owns the vehicle, it’s got the details on the vehicle, it’s got the people that sold the vehicle. And it’s also got the account manager that looks after the selling dealer.
[00:09:25] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:09:25] Dennis Brett: So if we got a problem, we can automatically click on there, call to the customer.
[00:09:30] Matt Sims: So you would know the selling dealer because they supplied the warranty to me.
[00:09:34] Dennis Brett: Yes.
[00:09:34] Matt Sims: Gotcha.
[00:09:35] Dennis Brett: They’re the people that sell it to you. We administer on behalf of you and them.
[00:09:39] Matt Sims: Okay. So the problem I’ve had is, what are we going to say, an alternator has failed.
[00:09:43] Dennis Brett: Okay. I wouldn’t use the word alternator because I was testing it earlier. I would say you’d find out the starter motor’s failed.
[00:09:50] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:09:50] Dennis Brett: All right. So I can create a repairer because we know where it’s going to go. And I just put in the postcode. We’ve got 18,000 repairers on our system currently that we deal with. And it will bring up the nearest one to that postcode that I happen to know. And this is a company called MHC Storage.
[00:10:14] Matt Sims: Also me.
[00:10:15] Dennis Brett: Which is also you. But as I say, we’re doing it for the purpose to describe exactly what’s happening. Then we go to the next section. What we will do in here, we will check that the policy is paid. It’s not been invoiced yet because it’s brand new, but because these are checks that the engineers will do. We check that it’s taxed, insured, MOT’d and serviced. We confirm that the mileage is correct because if the mileage is less than 100 miles, it won’t automatically allow you to process a claim.
[00:10:48] Matt Sims: Right.
[00:10:48] Dennis Brett: Because the likelihood is an inherent issue. So the engineer, any one of the engineers, would look into it a bit deeper to confirm that there’s, we cover from day one. But if something’s just happened.
[00:11:02] Matt Sims: Inherent issue, you mean a problem that was there before I bought it.
[00:11:06] Dennis Brett: Yes.
[00:11:06] Matt Sims: Got you.
[00:11:06] Dennis Brett: And we will dig a bit deeper into the claim.
[00:11:08] Matt Sims: So this is important. You mentioned MOT and service. If an MOT is required, it has to be in play for the warranty to be valid. And equally it has to have been serviced.
[00:11:17] Dennis Brett: Yeah.
[00:11:17] Matt Sims: As per the manufacturer’s schedule.
[00:11:18] Dennis Brett: Manufacturer service guide is there for us to look into. However, we work from the date that the policy goes live. Right. So if it’s not your service for six months, it’s not due. So that’s fine. The insured, MOT’d and taxed in theory, that’s because we need to see that the car’s road legal or the vehicle is road legal. If it’s not road legal, in theory, it shouldn’t be on the road.
[00:11:39] Matt Sims: So you require.
[00:11:40] Dennis Brett: It can’t break. Yeah. And it shouldn’t be on the road and therefore it can’t break down.
[00:11:44] Matt Sims: Right.
[00:11:45] Dennis Brett: Okay. But we will look at that. You know, there may again be mitigating circumstances as to why it’s not on there. It was booked in and it’s on its way. It’s booked in for the day after and it’s broken down the day before, in which case we’ll be compassionate and look.
[00:11:58] Matt Sims: So they’re not criteria written in stone, but sensibility.
[00:12:01] Dennis Brett: The engineer has to do that.
[00:12:02] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:12:02] Dennis Brett: Otherwise it will not. These boxes have to be ticked, otherwise, and I’ll demonstrate that by leaving that open. Okay. Because if these aren’t ticked, it will not allow you to process the claim. This is the status of the claim. And what you will find is once that’s been logged and it’s been assessed, an email will have gone to the owner of the vehicle and it will have automatically gone to the repairer of the vehicle with the details of the claim and how to make a claim.
[00:12:33] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:12:33] Dennis Brett: In a document that goes direct so that there’s complete transparency with the two people that we’re theoretically dealing with, i.e. the repairer and the customer. And that will go along. Now we know now from talking to the repairer who’s called up that the starter motor, we’ve got a list here of loads of known faults, as you can see. It’s substantial.
[00:12:53] Matt Sims: 6,000, yeah. So we cover an awful lot. So we’re going to call it the fact that a starter motor has failed. We just tick that box and go back to the claim system. And it’s looked up there and it’s logged in. Then we go to the quotes section and you can see, you may have missed that, that move down one section automatically.
[00:13:18] Matt Sims: Yeah.
[00:13:18] Dennis Brett: So the system is dealing with it instantaneously effectively. So we’ve now got a quote. We know that this particular dealer has a labour rate set at £65 an hour. So we know no matter what MHC Storage charge, the policy will pay out at £65 an hour. If they’re at 50, we’ll pay 50. If they’re 100, we’ll pay 65. And the balance will be down to the policyholder.
[00:13:43] Matt Sims: So how do dealers update you on their hourly rate?
[00:13:45] Dennis Brett: We negotiate with them. They will talk to their account manager if it’s a selling dealer. And that will then be agreed within the company and the dealer. And then we’ll increase the rate or, if they want it reduced, highly unlikely.
[00:13:59] Matt Sims: Yeah. Well you never know. So that’s part of the phone call between the repairer and you?
[00:14:02] Dennis Brett: Yes.
[00:14:02] Matt Sims: So MHC Storage is the repairer.
[00:14:05] Dennis Brett: MHC Storage is the repairer, may well say, well, we charge £80 an hour. We will then explain to them that the coverage is only 65 plus VAT. The balance of the £15 will be down to the policyholder.
[00:14:15] Matt Sims: Right.
[00:14:16] Dennis Brett: And they will negotiate with the policyholder. Now we go to the next section, which is the quotes section.
[00:14:23] Matt Sims: Now just on the hourly rate you do pay, there is a policy that carries a rate up to £200 an hour.
[00:14:29] Dennis Brett: And my dealer labour rate, yeah.
[00:14:30] Matt Sims: Yeah.
[00:14:31] Dennis Brett: So we deal with main dealers on, not motorhomes as such, but, you know, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, whatever. And they can be £260, £270 an hour. Right. Providing the policy has been set up for that, we will pay that main dealer rate. So we literally put in the labour rate and the alternator, now I happen to know because I’ve been doing this a while, that the average price of a starter motor for this kind of vehicle, you’re probably looking at about £235. Now I can check that on various systems that we have, but I happen to know the price. And to fit this job, this job again, we have systems that we can look up the labour rate. But I know it’s 2.2 hours to do that. The system is calculating it as we speak, and as long as I’m happy it’s going to be VAT payable, I’ve got the labour rate, I’ve got the labour time, I’ve got the cost of the component. It’s calculated it all automatically. Once I accept it, then that has gone to the accept system. It’s priced it all up. I need to know who we’re paying. So effectively, the customer is going to pay so he can get his vehicle back instantly.
[00:15:47] Dennis Brett: And normal payment terms are between 7 to 14 days, depending on the system. But if the customer wants his car, if the repairer will trust us to pay them, the customer can pick the vehicle up and take it away. If the garage, whether it’s one of our garages we deal with regularly or it’s an independent we’ve never dealt with before, they may invoice us direct. If they’re not, they’ll invoice the customer. Customer will pay, forward us the invoice and we’ll pay them. And that’s normally done by bank transfer. Now if I put the customer in there, it won’t log the bank details. So I will need the bank details emailed through. We don’t take them over the phone in case we get it wrong. We will ask the customer to email in details. Now if I put it as the repairer, then we’ve already dealt with them before and we have their bank details stored. So I can then approve the quote. It will send another email, and you see it’s not let me finish it off.
[00:16:46] Matt Sims: Big red box.
[00:16:47] Dennis Brett: Big red box, which says you failed. The system has failed to save the changes because I’ve got to confirm I’ve checked with the owner of the vehicle that the mileage is correct. So once I’ve checked that I can tick the box.
[00:17:01] Matt Sims: The big green button gets pressed.
[00:17:03] Dennis Brett: And then the button gets pressed. No, you’re not allowed.
[00:17:07] Matt Sims: You wouldn’t let me last time.
[00:17:08] Dennis Brett: I wouldn’t let you last time either. And you’re not doing it today in case you increase the costs. And then claim completed. Another email with the payment amounts and all. The decision document will go to the customer who owns the vehicle, and it will go to MHC Storage, the repairer. The engineer that’s doing it, whether it’s myself in this instance, or any one of the other 25, will do it in theory. We’re waiting here and the finance team or the finance admin team, which is part of the claims team, will wait for the invoice to come in. Once the invoice comes in, which will be by email normally or by WhatsApp, they’ll invoice it. They’ll check it to make sure the invoice matches these figures.
[00:17:55] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:17:56] Dennis Brett: Once they’ve done that, it goes through to the checks completed. Once they’ve confirmed their checks, they will log the invoice onto the system. And then Sage, or our accounting system, will automatically see that. And then it will go through to claims paid. If it’s doing a manual payment that needs to be checked again by one of the accounts team, and then that will go, and then we will get a final invoice to the customer and the garage to say that the payment has been processed. You will receive your payment in your bank in the next few days. Right. And that will go and it’s as simple as that. And we’ve done all that in, what, 14 minutes?
[00:18:33] Matt Sims: So how long does a claim normally take then from someone ringing you up? How long till you answer the phone?
[00:18:39] Dennis Brett: When we answer the phone, we normally answer the phone within 20 to 40 seconds, depending on how busy we are. If it’s a garage that’s doing a simple claim like this, that whole claim has taken 15 minutes. Yeah. And that’s done and authorised. Now we’ve cheated slightly because I’ve pretended we’ve had the invoice, but the claims process is still the same. The authorisation, where we can, is done in under ten minutes.
[00:19:03] Matt Sims: Right. And what criteria are there for authorisation? Because the cynicism is the computer says no. Now you’ve just made the computer say yes. Well what are the criteria that would mean you wouldn’t pay?
[00:19:16] Dennis Brett: Those particular items here.
[00:19:17] Matt Sims: So untaxed, uninsured.
[00:19:19] Dennis Brett: Yeah.
[00:19:19] Matt Sims: Out of date MOT.
[00:19:20] Dennis Brett: Yeah.
[00:19:20] Matt Sims: Unserviced as per the manufacturer’s schedule.
[00:19:23] Dennis Brett: Yeah.
[00:19:23] Matt Sims: And the mileage incorrect.
[00:19:25] Dennis Brett: Yes.
[00:19:25] Matt Sims: If you’ve got those five boxes ticked and the policy is paid for, the policy is valid. If you’ve got those six things ticked, and it’s a part that’s covered in that list of 6,000.
[00:19:36] Dennis Brett: Yeah.
[00:19:37] Matt Sims: You would pay?
[00:19:38] Dennis Brett: That would be covered in ten minutes. The engineer will speak to the garage. The garage would then reiterate that to the customer. But the customer is going to know because the system will automatically keep them involved by giving them an email.
[00:19:59] Matt Sims: Yeah.
[00:19:59] Dennis Brett: Because I think it’s, from memory, it’s five emails go to the repairer and six emails go to the policyholder.
[00:20:00] Matt Sims: Keeping them informed of the process.
[00:20:01] Dennis Brett: All the way through the process. Now, if it’s a complicated claim, it might be we need to do some research into parts availability, costings, etc. They will know that because they won’t get the email automatically, they’ll get an email that says effectively we’re looking into it. And then we’ll come back to the customer. We’ll say to the garage, we’ll need to do some checks. We’ll call you back in half an hour. And it’s normally within half an hour to an hour, depending on the phone call volume, that we’ll get back to that garage. And once we’ve got back to the garage, we’ll confirm that to the garage by clicking the next box. And it will keep the customer informed automatically.
[00:20:46] Matt Sims: Gotcha. So the process is, from our point of view, as simple as we can make it within reason, bearing in mind we’ve got to check certain things.
[00:20:46] Dennis Brett: Yeah.
[00:20:47] Matt Sims: Now I mentioned dealer, so the supplying garage. They may not have a workshop, but you’re happy to deal with a dealer who will outsource it to a workshop.
[00:20:56] Dennis Brett: 100%.
[00:20:57] Matt Sims: And you know that they’re putting a little margin on maybe the hourly rate.
[00:21:02] Dennis Brett: We accept that because if they’ve got their friendly local garage, it might only be a small business that hasn’t got the time. Even if it’s only 10 to 15 minutes, they haven’t got the time to speak to us over the phone and come back to us with prices.
[00:21:15] Matt Sims: Well, there are a lot of smaller repairers that don’t want to deal with a warranty company.
[00:21:18] Dennis Brett: And we accept that. As long as we get the information and some customers like to deal with it themselves, i.e. policyholders. We will deal with the policyholder. All we ask them to do is deal with the garage that’s doing the repair and get written information. It might be we want fault codes. We want an estimate. We might want pictures. We might want a video. If the customer is prepared to do that, we’ll deal with the customer as long as we get the information that we can assess. We’re happy to do it.
[00:21:46] Matt Sims: So the truth is then the sign-off and approval for a warranty payout is actually pretty binary. It’s yes or no.
[00:21:53] Dennis Brett: 100%.
[00:21:53] Matt Sims: It’s not grey. It’s not depending on how many sugars you had in your coffee this morning.
[00:21:59] Dennis Brett: No.
[00:21:59] Matt Sims: It’s fulfil those six criteria, policy is valid, it’s got current tax insurance, it’s been serviced as per the schedule and mileage is correct. And is there a mileage limit on some of the policies? There is, isn’t it?
[00:22:14] Dennis Brett: There is on some of the policies. But the criteria for the policy is set. You’ve got three levels of agreement. And that depends on the age and mileage of the vehicle. On a motorhome as such, it’s slightly different because the criteria is the weight of the vehicle. Some motorhomes these days are over seven tonne. Yeah, that’s not the same and they’ve got a lot more in them. So as you know from our conversations, the policy document or the coverages vary depending on, because there’s no point in covering something that’s not on a vehicle. So as the motorhomes get bigger and more comprehensive, we cover more components and therefore the cost is more. Let’s use an old-fashioned phrase, all-singing, all-dancing agreement, when you don’t need one.
[00:22:54] Matt Sims: You don’t need it.
[00:22:54] Dennis Brett: Because you don’t want to pay the extra.
[00:22:56] Matt Sims: But it is making sure the policy you’ve got is right for your vehicle.
[00:23:00] Dennis Brett: 100%, yeah. We rely on the selling dealers, who’ve been doing it for many years, to sell the right agreement for the right vehicle to the right person.
[00:23:07] Matt Sims: I could do that.
[00:23:09] Dennis Brett: No comment, is all I’m prepared to say. We are being recorded. That’s all I’m prepared to say. What I will say, just to finish off, is all the emails that have been sent are all recorded in the system.
[00:23:20] Matt Sims: So you have this historical log as well?
[00:23:22] Dennis Brett: Yeah. We can bring that up.
[00:23:24] Matt Sims: And restart a failed claim tomorrow.
[00:23:26] Dennis Brett: And there’s a copy of the email that’s gone out. And that’s an email that’s gone out to you, MHC the repairer, saying this is it, the policy’s, we appreciate your assistance and look forward to working with you again. The claim is closed because the payment has now been completed and that’s that particular one. This is another one. Thanks for notifying us that the repair is complete. If the customer hasn’t already paid you, we will arrange your payment now. We will contact you to confirm the account details for a bank transfer. So everything is transparent. Yeah, and it’s all there. And we have the ability on the system, which is very common on most things, because we don’t include the selling dealer in this because the last thing they need is loads of emails keep coming to them when they might have sold 100 vehicles. Not specifically motorhomes, but we’ve got some dealers that sell 1,000 cars a month. The last thing they want is hundreds of emails coming through every day. But we have the ability on the system, if the dealer wants the details, we can forward these to the dealer if required.
[00:24:29] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:24:29] Dennis Brett: But apart from that, the job is simple and it’s done very simply. The simpler the better, because we’re taking probably in excess of 600 calls a day within the team for potential claims, claim updates, etc. And all those have got to be answered. The simpler we can make the system, the more calls they can answer.
[00:24:51] Matt Sims: And these aren’t just motorhome claims. There are cars, motorbikes, vans?
[00:24:56] Dennis Brett: Vans.
[00:24:56] Matt Sims: Yeah, you cover everything.
[00:24:56] Dennis Brett: Caravans, yeah. We cover as many things as we can in the trade.
[00:25:00] Matt Sims: Dennis, that was really good. Thank you so much.
[00:25:02] Dennis Brett: Pleasure.
[00:25:03] Matt Sims: Appreciate you sharing your little world with us.
[00:25:05] Dennis Brett: My little world.
[00:25:08] Matt Sims: So that was Dennis Brett, senior claims manager here at Warranty Solutions Group. Now I’m joined by group director Steph Newbury. Steph, you run the ship here and you’re a formidable force, I have to say. And you’ve been responsible for creating this motorhome policy that we’re launching.
[00:25:30] Steph Newbury: Yes.
[00:25:30] Matt Sims: And what has been your experience of doing that?
[00:25:30] Steph Newbury: It’s been absolutely incredible, to be honest with you. So I’ve worked in the motor trade for 20-odd years now. Moving into motorhomes was a natural progression for us. We’ve done really, really well in the car trade. So we’ve moved into motorhomes and it’s been one hell of a journey and it’s really exciting. We’ve got some amazing plans for next year. Obviously we’re working with yourself. We’re working with the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Lots of things going on. We’ve got a fantastic product range that we’ve put together. Obviously I help with that, but I work very closely with the different departments here, claims, customer care, etc. We’re all about the customer, the customer experience.
[00:26:08] Matt Sims: That’s absolutely at the heart of what goes on here, isn’t it? I agree. You’re also working with the National Caravan Council?
[00:26:14] Steph Newbury: Yeah we are.
[00:26:15] Matt Sims: Yes. And their network of repairers, but you’re also building your own network.
[00:26:19] Steph Newbury: We are. Yes.
[00:26:20] Matt Sims: I mean, yeah, why not? I mean, let’s build our own network. How do people get involved in that if they’re listening to this and they’re a repairer?
[00:26:28] Steph Newbury: So if they email us at claims@wsgwarranties.co.uk
, one of our lovely team here will pick that up and we’ll send some questions over. And they’ll just have to answer them and come on board.
[00:26:39] Matt Sims: Love it. Now you’ve got not just the consumer warranty policy, but you’ve got a dealer one as well. So you’re looking for dealers to come on board.
[00:26:47] Steph Newbury: Yes.
[00:26:47] Matt Sims: And you’re looking for people that want to add a warranty to their own motorhome.
[00:26:51] Steph Newbury: Correct.
[00:26:52] Matt Sims: As I have done for the purposes of today. And people can find out more about that on the Motorhome Matt website. I’ll give the address for that in a second. But what would you say, Steph, to someone who says, well, as a warranty provider, you’re just looking for a reason to say no?
[00:27:07] Steph Newbury: Well, I would say obviously you’ve sat with Dennis today. You’ve seen the end-to-end claims experience. It is a process. As long as that part is covered and the customer follows the process, we will pay that claim, no questions asked. We’re not anything like other warranty companies, and this is one of the reasons why warranty companies traditionally have a bad name, because they do look to reject claims. We are the polar opposite.
[00:27:31] Matt Sims: And you said to me before, we are here to pay out.
[00:27:34] Steph Newbury: Absolutely.
[00:27:34] Matt Sims: And we will look for ways that we can. Is that true?
[00:27:37] Steph Newbury: 100%. That’s what the whole company was based on.
[00:27:41] Matt Sims: Right. It’s a breath of fresh air. Steph, thanks for coming into our little world of motorhomes and campervans. Now, I happen to hear that we’re recording this, as you know, in September, that you are up for multiple awards.
[00:27:55] Steph Newbury: I am.
[00:27:56] Matt Sims: They’re going to be announced in December before this is aired. So we wish you luck and we will have celebrated hopefully your win. What awards are you up for?
[00:28:02] Steph Newbury: Thanks, Matt. It’s the Women in Motor Trade Industry Awards, hosted by Motor Trader magazine. A bit of a mouthful. Yeah, I’m up for Woman in Warranty of the Year, Outstanding Leader of the Year and Woman of the Year, which is pretty amazing. So I’ve got some great competition there from manufacturers and large dealer groups, etc, so really exciting.
[00:28:23] Matt Sims: Very well deserved.
[00:28:24] Steph Newbury: Thanks.
[00:28:24] Matt Sims: And we’re going to celebrate that and hopefully we’ll be celebrating you winning as well. So good luck. Fingers crossed.
[00:28:30] Steph Newbury: Thanks.
[00:28:30] Matt Sims: For inviting me in today. It’s been a real insight. It’s not something I’ve ever seen unpacked before, so it’s a real honour to be allowed behind the scenes and meet Dennis and the team and have a chat with you. So thanks.
[00:28:41] Steph Newbury: Brilliant. Well, thanks for coming. Appreciate it.
[00:28:44] Matt Sims: So there you go. That is the team here at Warranty Solutions Group. I think a must-have bolt on to any motorhome or campervan. Perhaps you’ve bought a motorhome or you’re about to and it’s coming with a main dealer warranty. Check the terms and conditions, but it might be worth buying an aftermarket warranty from these guys, because it could mean you don’t have to take your motorhome all the way back to the supplying dealer. You can get it repaired locally to you with their main dealer hourly rate, which is just fantastic. It’s £499, but there is a special offer. You can find out the discount code and the offer at mhmp.info/warrantysolutions. I’m delighted to say that they are Motorhome Matt Approved, so do go and check them out.
[00:29:31] Keith Gooden: Quite useful to see the steps that are gone through and Warranty Solutions Group are of course Motorhome Matt Approved, aren’t they?
[00:29:38] Matt Sims: They are. Yeah. And you can find out more about them and a special discount code and offer on their product. Head to mhmp.info/warrantysolutions.
[00:29:49] Keith Gooden: It’s not a discount code. It’s a little Christmas present.
[00:29:51] Matt Sims: It’s a Christmas present from us to you. I think their product is a no-brainer. Whether your motorhome is brand new, the hourly rate they’re prepared to pay, your main dealer rates up to £200 an hour, means you could get your motorhome fixed locally to home and not have to take it back to the dealer that supplied it, because the motorhome dealer close to you is probably going to be happy being paid full rate, unlike most warranty companies that offer a much lower rate. So I think it’s a no-brainer, whether your motorhome’s brand new or used. It’s a fantastic product. I’ve got it. I think it’s great.
[00:30:22] Keith Gooden: Matt, do you ever worry about campsite Wi-Fi?
[00:30:25] Matt Sims: I do sometimes, yeah. Insecure Wi-Fi can be ripe for hackers and phishing and that’s why I use NordVPN. It locks down my connection so no one can snoop, even if I’m tethering through my phone abroad. It keeps my data private. And the bonus, I can stream TV as if I’m sat at home in the UK so Mrs Motorhome Matt can keep up with Love Island and Strictly as much as she wants.
[00:30:50] Keith Gooden: Well, that sounds like peace of mind and a bit of entertainment as well.
[00:30:54] Matt Sims: Exactly. If you love Love Island, which I don’t, but if you want to try it, click the link in the description and you’ll get extra months free on the two-year plan. And there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
[00:31:07] Keith Gooden: It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
[00:31:09] Matt Sims: And me, Motorhome Matt.
[00:31:10] Keith Gooden: Brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com
and sponsored by Ripe. I’ve just got to say, before we go into the Q&A, poetry again. Got to say before the Q&A, rhyming, I’m wearing my Christmas 2025 shirt.
[00:31:24] Matt Sims: Fascinating.
[00:31:24] Keith Gooden: I bought this from a very well-known auction site and I thought, oh, that’s not bad for £13. And it came along and then I read it and it says Merry Christmas. And then it says, here, can you read it out? What does it say?
[00:31:37] Matt Sims: Well, on the green strip on the front it says set of design elements.
[00:31:41] Keith Gooden: So clearly in the country where they don’t speak English, where this was printed, they got the computer program and didn’t put their own slogan in there, for instance.
[00:31:51] Matt Sims: Basically it’s a text placeholder and they’ve printed it with the words “set of design elements.” Merry Christmas Keith.
[00:31:58] Keith Gooden: It was only £13.
[00:31:59] Matt Sims: Don’t stand too close to the fire. Pure silk, like polyester is, that’s gonna melt.
[00:32:06] Keith Gooden: It’s the Q&A, the questions and answers where you ask the questions and Motorhome Matt, for it is he, in his Christmasy hat, will answer them, and if he doesn’t know, he’ll jolly well ask somebody, ho ho ho ho ho, who does.
[00:32:18] Matt Sims: Very clever.
[00:32:19] Keith Gooden: Thank you very much indeed. Douglas Maxwell is in Hamilton.
[00:32:24] Douglas Maxwell: Just a quick question about your Pathway 4G product. If you come to a campsite that has free Wi-Fi, how do you use that product to access the internet under the free Wi-Fi, rather than just connecting to the nearest 4G signal? If it isn’t capable of doing this, what product does?
[00:32:49] Keith Gooden: So thank you very much for the question, Douglas. He wants it for free. If it’s free Wi-Fi on the campsite, what’s the point of having the Pathway is basically what you’re saying.
[00:32:58] Matt Sims: Well, yeah, that’s very true. I’ll come to that. So that’s, excuse me, I’m eating a bit of this apple pie. The Pathway is not a Wi-Fi extender unless you can connect to a different LAN, a local area network, by the little network cable. It then becomes a transmitter for that network, but it’s not a Wi-Fi extender. I use a Deco mesh. We’ve got them here at the office, we’ve got one at home. And what that does is it takes your internet connection and spreads it around the house so you get really, really good internet everywhere you walk around the house. I’d say if the campsite Wi-Fi was good enough and fast enough, use that. Otherwise just use the Pathway, the ideal Christmas gift or New Year gift. Still time to buy one. I would also suggest, though, consider security. If you’re using the internet and the Wi-Fi on the campsite, it may not be secure, and that’s where a VPN-type product comes in, someone like NordVPN, who we’ve been talking about this year, and that will keep your pipe to the world secure.
[00:33:57] Keith Gooden: Your pipe to the world.
[00:33:58] Matt Sims: Yeah, it’s a bit like a rubbish Christmas hit.
[00:34:02] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Pipe to the world.
[00:34:04] Matt Sims: You can hear it, can’t you? And that’s where the Pathway is great because it’s your own unique connection, so it is secure. So it won’t do what you’re talking about doing, which is become a Wi-Fi extender.
[00:34:15] Keith Gooden: Right, I’ve got you. So it’s not a Wi-Fi extender, but what you do is you put your little dingley dell in there, and your dingley dell, and it gives you the Wi-Fi if you’re using…
[00:34:25] Matt Sims: A SIM.
[00:34:25] Keith Gooden: SIM.
[00:34:27] Matt Sims: Yeah, yeah, a SIM card. A dingley dell?
[00:34:28] Keith Gooden: A dingley dell.
[00:34:29] Matt Sims: I’ve never heard it called that before.
[00:34:30] Keith Gooden: It’s Christmas, it’s Christmas. Thanks, Douglas. Stephen Dolby is in Exeter.
[00:34:35] Stephen Dolby: Hi, Matt and Keith. I was just wondering, is there anything on the market for a motorhome 12 volt and 240 volt TV or monitor I could use in my campervan to stream movies on my phone, mirror casting I believe they call it. I was wondering if there is anything on the market. Thank you very much. My name is Stephen Dolby and I come from Exeter.
[00:34:58] Matt Sims: Are you sure you’re in Exeter, Steve?
[00:35:00] Keith Gooden: Cheers, Stephen. Thank you very much. What he wants to do is cast from his phone to his TV wirelessly. Well it should be fairly easy, easy.
[00:35:09] Matt Sims: So the key here is a television with a Wi-Fi connection, a smart TV. So something like an Avtex TV. They do a whole range of them, and it’s really important that your phone or the device you’re playing on is on the same Wi-Fi network as that television, and then you can use your screencasting option. So when you’re in video, watching say you’re playing YouTube, there’s an option. You see two little squares, one’s lower than the other. And that’s the screencast or mirroring facility. Press that, select the television and away you go. And you can share photos, video, or stream live video from your phone or iPad onto the TV.
[00:35:46] Keith Gooden: There’s another little thing that you can put in the back of the HDMI socket in the TV as well, Stephen. If you’ve just got the apps like for Netflix or Prime or whatever, and then you can cast via the app through this thing stuck in the back, the same thing.
[00:36:00] Matt Sims: Yeah. I mean, if you’ve got a wireless television, you would use the TV. You don’t need to cast from your phone.
[00:36:06] Keith Gooden: No.
[00:36:06] Matt Sims: You just watch it natively on the television. But if you want to watch something on your phone or on an iPad and you can cast it. So say you just want to look at photos, you can cast them onto the screen, provided that both devices are on the same wireless network.
[00:36:18] Keith Gooden: Yeah. And they do that for licensing reasons. So can you do that with the Pathway 4G?
[00:36:23] Matt Sims: You could. That would be the Wi-Fi network. You connect both those appliances to that, devices, both of them to the network and away you go.
[00:36:30] Keith Gooden: Stewart Ainsworth is in Huntingdon. Hi, Matt. There’s a lot of talk about lithium batteries. Having just bought a new campervan with first timers, he says, should we be content with the standard fit or is lithium the way to go? We’re not particularly wilders, probably a couple of days off-grid at a time. We have a 240 watt solar panel fitted and seem to manage okay. He’s grateful for your view and advice. Can you help Stewart?
[00:36:56] Matt Sims: Yes, I certainly can. Great question. So if the way you’re using the van means that the lead acid batteries you’ve got are absolutely fine, then don’t worry about lithium. I think there is a lot of talk about lithium, and it’s kind of the Joneses, keeping up with the Joneses type product, and people think they have to have it. We do have a lithium battery in our motorhome, but that’s because we have an inverter. That means we can use the mains-powered coffee machine, which is 240 volt, and it runs from the 12-volt battery via this clever little box called an inverter. So we run our coffee machine. I charge my laptop in the van, laptops drain loads of power out of a battery. Some people are running dishwashers in their motorhomes. Yeah, our good friend Darren, The Urban Motorhome, famously runs a dishwasher and an ice maker in his motorhome. But then he’s living in it full time.
[00:37:44] Keith Gooden: So it’s only him, so it’s two dishes and two lots of…
[00:37:49] Matt Sims: Only Darren knows why. So for you, lead acid is working and you’ve got your 240 watt solar on the roof, which is keeping it recharged when it’s sunny, of course. And that works. Or every few days you’re driving somewhere, so you’re starting the engine and that recharges it. Or you’re going to a campsite where you’re plugging in, so you’re hooking up. Then you’re going to recharge those lead acid batteries. So if it’s working fine, it’s fine. Don’t be distracted by lithium. It can be a huge distraction.
[00:38:16] Keith Gooden: Just for people who are sitting there thinking, nobody’s ever explained this to me. What is the difference between a normal lead acid and lithium?
[00:38:22] Matt Sims: The big difference is how much use you can get from a lithium battery versus a lead acid. So a lead acid battery, say it’s 100 amp hours. That’s the kind of size of it. You can only have got 50 amp hours of use out of it, because the voltage goes from 12.8 down over time and eventually gets down to 11.8.
[00:38:42] Keith Gooden: So the battery gets weaker.
[00:38:43] Matt Sims: Once it gets to 12, it’s flat. It’s absolutely flat. A lithium battery, 100 amp hours, stays fully charged until you’ve used all of the 100 amp hours and then it turns off. So you get double the usage out of it. They also charge much faster. They need a specific voltage to recharge. And this is where people get confused. And we have loads of content in our back catalogue on lithium, which you can go and check out and deep dive this. But your motorhome has to work with lithium technology, and it is derived by the charging system on the van and the battery itself. So you need to make sure that the two fit. So speak to an expert. It’s not just a case of you can take the acid out and put the lithium in. You might be able to. We were able to, but our problem is that our lithium battery never recharges to 100%. It only manages about 95%. And that’s fine for us. We’re only off-grid for.
[00:39:36] Keith Gooden: But they do that for protection, don’t they? Because when it discharges, sometimes it just goes down to about 10%. It says it’s still got 10% in it, but it will stop operating.
[00:39:44] Matt Sims: A lithium battery will go to 0% and it will stay fully operational until it runs out of charge. And then it turns off. And you ask what’s the big difference. That’s the big difference, is usable power within a box between lead acid and lithium. That’s the main difference.
[00:39:59] Keith Gooden: And is it true that lithiums tend not to run down if you don’t use them?
[00:40:03] Matt Sims: Oh, no. They stay fully charged. That’s right. That’s absolutely right, yeah. And they charge much faster on solar, on 240 volt hookup and from the engine. But your van has to be compatible. So my advice is speak to an expert. There are lots of people around. B-Blue Fix are my go-to guys. They are Motorhome Matt Approved. If you tell them what motorhome you’ve got, what charging system is in it, they will then advise you on the best solution, whether a battery can go straight in, or whether you need to have some ancillary equipment fitted to make it work.
[00:40:33] Keith Gooden: Yep, it’s not black magic. If you need to know any more about it, then why don’t you ask Matt? I’ll tell you how you can do that in a moment. Just quickly take a moment to say very Merry Christmas to you and yours. And thanks for watching and listening for another year of the Motorhome Matt podcast.
[00:40:48] Matt Sims: Yeah, I know, four years, four plus years.
[00:40:50] Keith Gooden: Unbelievable.
[00:40:51] Matt Sims: And we’re going to keep going.
[00:40:54] Keith Gooden: Still going? Oh, I tell you what. Santa, come and visit me, please.
[00:40:57] Matt Sims: Absolutely. Ho ho ho! Only if you’ve been a good boy. Have you been a good boy?
[00:41:03] Keith Gooden: No.
[00:41:03] Matt Sims: No, no. But, so before we go and wrap up, we’ve been talking about Warranty Solutions Group and their warranty, and they are happy to answer any question you might have on warranty. Maybe you’ve had a bad experience in the past with a different provider. Maybe you’re worried about something that you might feel is not covered within a warranty. Would you please ask it of us? And we are going to give the questions to them for them to answer. And I really want to bust a few myths around warranty. You started this episode by going, oh, warranty, and it’s not an exciting topic, is it? It’s something that often is said it’s not worth the paper it’s written on, but I want to find out. Is it? Because I think their product is worth the paper.
[00:41:45] Keith Gooden: It’s very useful to have, isn’t it?
[00:41:46] Matt Sims: Yeah. So if you’ve got questions, concerns or you’re cynical about it, please tell me and I’m going to pass them all to Warranty Solutions Group, and we’re going to put them under the spotlight. We’re going to do that next year. So can’t wait to do that. It’s going to be really interesting.
[00:41:58] Keith Gooden: And of course, if you’ve got any videos or photos of you making your Christmas dinner in your campervan or motorhome or caravan, then please send them to us as well. We’d like to see if you’re actually doing Christmas in your motorhome, campervan or caravan. Send us some pictures.
[00:42:14] Matt Sims: There’s thousands of people now going to go out on the front drive and pretend they’re going to mimic a Christmas dinner.
[00:42:20] Keith Gooden: No, don’t do that.
[00:42:22] Matt Sims: There’s no prize for this, by the way.
[00:42:23] Keith Gooden: No, there’s no prize. Don’t cheat. It’s Christmas. How do people get in touch?
[00:42:27] Matt Sims: We’d love it if you did. Send your questions to Ask Matt. You can record them. If you do, please tell us where in the world you are or fill in the form and we’ll read them for you.
[00:42:37] Keith Gooden: And if you’re looking for trusted brands and services, then make sure you visit the Motorhome Matt Approved directory. It’s at mhmp.info/approved.
[00:42:50] Matt Sims: And would you give us a little Christmas gift? A small favour from you to us. We would love it if you would leave us a five-star review. You can do that at [unclear from transcript].
[00:43:01] Keith Gooden: And what do people need to do if they want to share?
[00:43:04] Matt Sims: Please do. If you think someone you know would enjoy this podcast, please send it to them. Send them a link. And if you’re watching on YouTube, make sure you click subscribe. And if you’re listening, make sure you follow on your favourite podcast app.
[00:43:16] Keith Gooden: Merry Christmas.
[00:43:17] Matt Sims: Merry Christmas.
[00:43:21] Keith Gooden: Thanks for listening to the Motorhome Matt podcast. Remember to check back here for more episodes full of hints and tips and helpful advice. We’ll see you soon for another Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.
