Caravan servicing

Jul 18, 2017
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Apparently there may be some dealerships who are charging extra due to "sanitisation" when your caravan goes in for service and before you collect it. Others are requesting that carpets etc are removed and that the caravan is completely empty? Surely if you are going to remove the carpets you might as well remove the curtains, seats, mattress etc. In a way I can understand it, but are they checking their staff on a daily basis when they arrive at work?

Also on more than one government website it states that the virus will not survive longer than 9 - 10 days on material. Life span is even shorter on other materials like wood, plastics etc. So if you drop off the caravan a few days before its is due for the service by the time the service is to be done the virus should be dead plus the fact that the service department could ask you who has been in the caravan in the past couple of days and do a test on those persons when the caravan is dropped off.

After all when your car goes in for service, are they going to sanitise it or ask you to remove seats and carpets? It seems that in addition to the usual scammers there are others that may be taking advantage and using Covid19 as an excuse to increase their profits and get us to part with our cash. What will the service company do to sanitise a caravan? Would you be happy to pay the extra for the "sanitisation" that is if it even happens?
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Apparently there may be some dealerships who are charging extra due to "sanitisation" when your caravan goes in for service and before you collect it. Others are requesting that carpets etc are removed and that the caravan is completely empty? Surely if you are going to remove the carpets you might as well remove the curtains, seats, mattress etc. In a way I can understand it, but are they checking their staff on a daily basis when they arrive at work?

Also on more than one government website it states that the virus will not survive longer than 9 - 10 days on material. Life span is even shorter on other materials like wood, plastics etc. So if you drop off the caravan a few days before its is due for the service by the time the service is to be done the virus should be dead plus the fact that the service department could ask you who has been in the caravan in the past couple of days and do a test on those persons when the caravan is dropped off.

After all when your car goes in for service, are they going to sanitise it or ask you to remove seats and carpets? It seems that in addition to the usual scammers there are others that may be taking advantage and using Covid19 as an excuse to increase their profits and get us to part with our cash. What will the service company do to sanitise a caravan? Would you be happy to pay the extra for the "sanitisation" that is if it even happens?
They could use one of those “mist” blowers 24 hours before the service. They are probably the most effective.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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They could use one of those “mist” blowers 24 hours before the service. They are probably the most effective.
What is a "mist" blower? If it is so effective then maybe it should also be used after the service and before the customer collects the caravan? When we take the caravan in for its service, we leave most of the stuff in it except stuff that will be in their way i.e. aquarolls, wastemasters etc that are on the floor.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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What is a "mist" blower? If it is so effective then maybe it should also be used after the service and before the customer collects the caravan? When we take the caravan in for its service, we leave most of the stuff in it except stuff that will be in their way i.e. aquarolls, wastemasters etc that are on the floor.

You see them being used on news programmes. Large battery powered units in operating theatres and on trains and coaches too. My car service dealer uses a hand held aerosol similar to the one shown below.



 
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May 7, 2012
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We have had our caravan serviced with no extra charge even though we were told that due to current safety procedures that it may take longer. I did drop it off the night before and picked it up the day after.
If the numbers worked on drop the overheads are spread more thinly, which might tempt some workshops to try to increase prices. Long term though they may lose out by this if customers are not happy.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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We have had our caravan serviced with no extra charge even though we were told that due to current safety procedures that it may take longer. I did drop it off the night before and picked it up the day after.
If the numbers worked on drop the overheads are spread more thinly, which might tempt some workshops to try to increase prices. Long term though they may lose out by this if customers are not happy.
Did you have to remove everything that never came standard with the caravan from the caravan i.e. crockery, cutlery, bedding, aquarolls etc?
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Did you have to remove everything that never came standard with the caravan from the caravan i.e. crockery, cutlery, bedding, aquarolls etc?
Our service Center a Swift dealership started to ask for an empty Caravan back in April 2019 when I last took it for a service. They must have had a premonition 🤭
 
Jul 18, 2017
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Our service Center a Swift dealership started to ask for an empty Caravan back in April 2019 when I last took it for a service. They must have had a premonition 🤭
I will need to check with ours as we were proposing to spend 2 - 3 nights on their site prior to handing the caravan over for service. No way could I fit everything from the caravan into the car so it looks like it will be a drop off, but will check with them.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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We have had our caravan serviced with no extra charge even though we were told that due to current safety procedures that it may take longer. I did drop it off the night before and picked it up the day after.
If the numbers worked on drop the overheads are spread more thinly, which might tempt some workshops to try to increase prices. Long term though they may lose out by this if customers are not happy.
It would be nice to be able to assume that servicing costs do fairly represent the time and materials used to perform the service. As we know labour rates vary across the country due to local effects (housing costs etc) so its unreasonable to assume there will be common price across the country. However the time to perform a service should be fairly consistent. But under the present C19 contingencies, employers have to consider the health and safety of their employees and have in place protocols to avoid C19 cross infections. This does mean extra work/time and materials both of which are going to have an impact on the costs of providing a service.

This also means fewer services can be completed within a fixed time period, but your still having to employ a similar number of people. There is only one way to retain fiscal balance and that is to increase the cost of the service to the customer.

If you are in any doubt as to the danger of the C19 virus, I suggest you watch the BBC programme called Surviving the Virus: My Brother & Me broadcast on Wed 5th August 21:00. The impact of becoming infected is actually far more diverse and devastating and complex than we might have thought, and as yet we still don't have any practical answers apart from avoiding becoming infected in the first place.
 
Jan 3, 2012
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When our caravan went in for a service there was no carpets , cushions , curtains, in fact the van was empty in future he would prefer it this way . we said no problem ..
 
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May 7, 2012
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There was no problem with things in it when it was serviced and despite using several different workshops this has never come up for me. Having said that it was only partly loaded, and there should have been nothing in it to cause any problem.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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There was no problem with things in it when it was serviced and despite using several different workshops this has never come up for me. Having said that it was only partly loaded, and there should have been nothing in it to cause any problem.
Different times though Ray. Prior to Covid, the possibility of cross contamination was not a concern.

Just think, would you trust handling anything from some one you don't know very well. Can you trust them if they tell you they don't have C19? Can you take that risk, when there is a relatively simple solution of assuming every one has it, and treat everyone and thing accordingly?

Every thing that comes into the house since lock down has been quarantined, and wiped down with a Milton solution. Even the post, and of course the food deliveries. I simply can't afford to risk either my wife or I becoming infected, so I have to minimise the risk. I am lucky in so far that being retired we don't have to interact with others widely, and we can quite effectively isolate.

Its only fair to trades people to present then with work where they can most easily disinfect before working on a job, and after wards to leave the job safe for the customer.
 
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Jun 20, 2005
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I thought the main players had given a few months of grace on servicing, particularly as the workshops have been closed for months, until very recently?
covid-19 is on the way back according to what I read. If you are not using the caravan why have it serviced? Do you think Swift and Bailey etc are going to penalise you if you don’t?
This C19:is a killer. I just don’t understand why anyone wants to take a risk!
 
Mar 14, 2005
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covid-19 is on the way back according to what I read. If you are not using the caravan why have it serviced? Do you think Swift and Bailey etc are going to penalise you if you don’t?
This C19:is a killer. I just don’t understand why anyone wants to take a risk!
I totally agree that too many people still underestimate the impact this virus has, and yes its still out there waiting to find new victims, which it will as lockdown is relaxed and idiots think they can go back to their old habits.
Most of the caravan manufacturers have extended their periods of grace for servicing and inspections in recognition of the lockdown the virus caused, but I don't see them being prepared to extend much more, as age as much as use still causes increasing problems to caravans.

What will be interesting is to see manufacturer's decide to handle a caravan where its warranty period expired during the total lockdown, but when it is next inspected it has a fault that could only have occurred during the lockdown. Don't ask me what kind of fault that might be, its just a scenario.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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What will be interesting is to see manufacturer's decide to handle a caravan where its warranty period expired during the total lockdown, but when it is next inspected it has a fault that could only have occurred during the lockdown. Don't ask me what kind of fault that might be, its just a scenario.
Water ingress is a good probability?
 
May 7, 2012
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Our caravan was serviced immediately after lock down finished and had been locked in storage for 3 months, so no Covid problem there. Possibly there would have been more risk if I had emptied it, as I would then have had to touch many more areas than those needed to move it.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Our caravan was serviced immediately after lock down finished and had been locked in storage for 3 months, so no Covid problem there. Possibly there would have been more risk if I had emptied it, as I would then have had to touch many more areas than those needed to move it.
The problem is Ray, some people (and I'm not suggesting you are one of them) might claim their caravan had been untouched for 3 months when in fact they'd been all over it a few days ago, just to get out of doing the responsible thing of emptying it. How can a business take that risk, when they would be held in breach of health and safety if one of their employees contracted covid from working on that customers caravan, that had not been properly sanitized becasue it contained personal belongings etc.

Also consider the reverse scenario that one of the employees may bring C19 into your caravan during the service, and becasue its not empty, its nigh on impossible to sanitize completely before its returned to you, and you then contract C19 from it.

I pointed to a very startling BBC programme earlier, and whilst we knew C19 has a high morbidity rate, its not plain sailing for survivors, there are multiple subsequent conditions that are life changing, even for people who were considered fit. I really can't stress enough how foolish it is to ignore sensible precautions to avoid becoming infected.
 
May 7, 2012
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I do understand that others may lie. The workshop knew mine would have been left for three months because the storage was closed for that period. On picking it back up I touched very little and took wipes with me. It has stood unused since, so although there was a slight risk, there is very little alternative, unless the caravan is to be left unserviced until we have a vaccine, presumably next year. Everybody has to make their own deciscions on the risk factor though.
 

Mel

Mar 17, 2007
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Covid doesn’t get into your body through your hands. It gets in through your hands touching your mouth, nose, eyes etc. Neither will it leap off untouched items to get you. 72 hours of item quarantine before and after servicing together with hands sanitised before, frequently during, and after servicing (plus gloves during servicing to help remind the servicer not to touch the face if necessary) will do the job. In fact with really good hand hygiene on the part of the servicer, you don’t need the pre service quarantine. The caravanner who empties all all his stuff out the day before the service will not make the van any more Covid secure than the one who doesn’t. The servicing company needs to take whatever precautions are necessary themselves and not rely on what the owner says, as should the caravanner to whom the van is returned.

mel
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I had my caravan serviced at home by an AWS mobile gentrleman, who requested it was left unentered for 72 hours before the service and 72 hours after the service. No problems no extra charges - very simple.
 

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