What is done in a service to a caravan lets have a 4 berth tourer?
Lights, tyres,wheel bearings, towing hitch, brakes, all checked as a definate?
Internal lights, sockets, boiler,?
Why i ask is my mate here at work is dropping his off today for a service it's 2yrs old and to keep it's warranty has to be done similar to a car i guess but what is done to one?
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You missed the gas checks and damp check!
Here's the approved workshop scheme list
www.readcaravans.com/service/aws_caravan_checklist.pdf
Last edited by: Tigger on Sat 31 Jul 10 at 09:29
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Thanks for that list above £220.00 is his service cost does anybody bother out of warranty?
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I would, some of it is safety critical.
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...I would, some of it is safety critical...
So would I, and that service invoice could help cover your back if something unfortunate happens on the road.
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Every couple of years should do it given a few weeks use a year and only 2000-3000 miles. If you do miss a year though I'd jack it up and check for play/noise in the wheel bearings. Mine had a rumble in the bearing a couple of years ago, so the hub/drum and bearing was replaced. They normally take the drums off anyway and repack the bearings, there are always two new one shot nuts on my invoice (some hubs use reusable castellated nuts). As with tyres on caravans, prevention is better than cure.
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Here in Germany caravans are plated as are all trailers and have to pass a TUV test including the gas and electric internals its quite a tough test and of course its not free.
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It should have a test here too seen a few at the roadside with tyres blown off probably due to age.
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>> It should have a test here too seen a few at the roadside with tyres
>> blown off probably due to age.
Please no. Not more pointless red tape and cost for the law abiding.
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BUT a lot of trailers/caravans are left rotting for months, and are a potential deathtrap.
I've seen countless accidents where muppetsn have just hitched up and go... only for the tyres to burst, bearings to seize etc etc etc a few miles later.
Same idiots who probably never ever service their cars, or check that lights etc work...
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>>BUT a lot of trailers/caravans are left rotting for months, and are a potential deathtrap.
Potential, maybe. Does anybody know how many "lives would be saved" by a whole industry being constructed around this? Not many I suspect. Many more worthwhile things to legislate on, and lots of ways people can still hurt themselves if they are stupid enough.
>>Same idiots who probably never ever service their cars, or check that lights etc work...
Precisely. The idiots and low lifes do it anyway. And there's no law requiring a car to be serviced.
Sensible folk already fork out to look after their caravans. No need to invent another load of trouble and expense.
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Caravan servicing does tend to be expensive, not helped by a lot of the items being 'check x works'. You can save quite a bit of money with mobile fitters - there are some good ones out there, and they tend to come to home/the storage yard.
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Its not just a matter of tyres and running gear, its also a matter of suffocation by carbon monoxide, or electrocution from hookups or generators. (tho I assume they have good rcb's or elcbs)
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>> Its not just a matter of tyres and running gear, its also a matter of
>> suffocation by carbon monoxide, or electrocution from hookups or generators. (tho I assume they have
>> good rcb's or elcbs)
Fair point, but no obligation to have those checked in your home...
As it happens I do have a service and a 'habitation check', and I use a CO detector. So I wouldn't be very happy to have to drag it to a test centre and fork out a fee on top.
Excepting the hob, the gas appliances are flued. There is a 'consumer unit' fitted with double pole breakers, so it's very like a house.
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>>Please no. Not more pointless red tape and cost for the law abiding.
I fully agree.
The MOT in terms of cost per life saved is also very poor value.
Last edited by: Number_Cruncher on Sat 31 Jul 10 at 22:50
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"The MOT in terms of cost per life saved is also very poor value"
I'm sure you have some stats. I can remember pre-MOT days and there were certainly lots of death traps on the road. Did the MOT really make little difference?
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I think you have to realise that governments don't introduce regulations based on the cost-effectiveness of lives saved. There are only 3 reasons laws are introduced:
1) to make some money for the government
2) to buy some votes by pandering to popular opinion as expressed in the tabloid press.
3) to prop up an industry employing people who predominantly vote for the party advocating the regulation.
Once a course of action has been determined on these criteria, it is a simple matter to drum up some safety statistics to prove the need for it.
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...There are only 3 reasons laws are introduced:
1) to make some money for the government
2) to buy some votes by pandering to popular opinion as expressed in the tabloid press.
3) to prop up an industry employing people who predominantly vote for the party advocating the regulation...
I'm afraid this statement doesn't stand up to even cursory scrutiny.
For example, much of what Thatcher did was driven by ideology, so to say there are 'only three' reasons laws are introduced is claptrap.
I also wonder about reason 1 - make money for the government, and 2 - buy some votes.
If I am an MP, and all I want to do is keep my snout in the trough, why would I vote for a reason 1 measure?
Tax is never popular, so that automatically knocks back reason 2.
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So what do you advocate then CP. No MoT test, No requirement for seatbelts, no drink drive, regulations, asbestos in break linings, no driving licences, no speed limits. Were all of these laws solely introduced for the cynical reason you give?
Government isn't perfect and nor are the people in it but sometimes laws and regulations are made for the common good and we all benefit form them.
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I think Cliff's reasons are pretty close to the truth, but as CGN says you need to add "(4) Because it's a sensible idea". It does happen occasionally.
The gun laws would be a good example of a populist measure - only affects a minority, the majority think something is being done, and it has minimal useful effect. Ditto the banning of hunting. Of all the tendencies of the last 13 years, this demonising of minorities has to be the worst.
Stealth taxes were a Broon speciality -
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/garbagegate/item2/stealth.htm
I'll have to think about the other one while I have brunch.
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Caravan servicing................................. - Tigger
