The Purchase Experience

A visit to Brownhills in June 2022, during the Platinum Jubilee weekend led to the purchase of the Auto Trail Tracker LB. We were incredibly lucky to notice that the dealer, Brownhills, had just released the vehicle, as an ex-demonstrator, used at the NEC in February and the showroom for sale ahead of this weekend. So we took a trip!

Why this particular motorhome? Andy is a fan of Swift and Jamie has always liked the Auto Trail. We provisionally ordered a Swift from the motorhome show in the February but long delays and this popping up meant that we cancelled that and went with the Tracker! We had looked at the Tracker FB’s at Brownhills in 2021 before getting the Bailey so it is fitting we have come back to this. The Tracker LB offers the best of the features we liked in the last caravan, a spacious bathroom/ensuite arrangement and a better shaped kitchen. This particular motorhome came with a host of extras as the demonstrator we would not necessarily have chosen – well not all. For example full leather seating, tow bar, drop down bed etc. We are happy that the tow bar and drop down bed are included, however. It also came with the Avtex Media Pack and running rear view camera.

Why now? Simply an opportunity. We had the bulk of the equity in the Bailey we traded in and in effect lost money with the status of the motorhome market at the time. The offer from Brownhills also meant an MOT free three years, 2 years of habitation checks and Fiat service in year two included in the deal, membership of the Club Brownhills and their onsite aire when travelling up or down the A1 and for servicing days. The new one is also under a full Auto-Trail warranty and this is proving invaluable in the shake down trips to identify any faults and reparations.

Collection and Handover

Arrival at Brownhills saw our part exchange taken for final appraisal and checks and was described as ‘immaculate’ as they signed off. This was then taken to the camping area of the site ready for us to go round with the new motorhome and transfer our essentials for the nights stay to test and check everything.

Handover was very thorough. Every detail of the Auto Trail motorhome is explained and demonstrated with a knowledgable member of the Brownhills team. We liked that they took their time and nothing was too much trouble, including ironing out some loose cable connections and locating the tool kit! This is completed in a dedicated area next to the showroom before it goes round to the camping area for the nights stay.

Shakedown Trips…

We chose to take two trips to test everything out, shakedown and identify any potential warranty issues from the outset. Following multiple blogs, Facebook groups and Instagram accounts and groups you get to hear of some stories. Now, we are not the sort to be put off by another experience, but any advice or experience is useful to know. Getting to know our new motorhome quickly was important, anything that didn’t feel right could be addressed.

After the overnight at Club Brownhills, we decided to head straight to Ferry Meadows CAMC for a night (this was on the route home) and test out at our leisure. How did this go?

From here we had already got booked a reservation at Pinewoods in Wells-next-the-Sea for a couple of nights the following weekend so this was a perfect opportunity to fully test the motorhome and give it a good drive. What did we learn from this experience?

Firstly the operating systems were totally new and different to the control panel we had in the Bailey and those in the former caravans, The Truma heating control was however the same as that we had in the Swift caravan, so at least we could get heat and hot water! We are delighted to have the fixed island bed back – we had this in the last caravan and we prefer this over the French bed set up. We know its six of one and half a dozen of the other with the Truma v Alde heating – what we do notice is the more comfortable bedroom area – one of used to sleep on the French bed with in effect a radiator radiating in your face if you rolled to the side of the bed!

The drive of the vehicle is superb. Despite having 20bhp less than the Peugeot engine in the Bailey, a larger capacity engine meant that gearing is better organised and allows for a more progressive drive – the Bailey always ‘felt’ heavy and did sometimes struggle with the 2.0 engine – not the case with this Fiat Ducato. The narrow body makes for a less bottom quenching drive along the roads, although you don’t overly notice the difference once inside – the motorhome still feels spacious.

Warranty Items to date…

The simple list of items identified at this stage: microwave surround panel loose, missing offside reflector at the rear, air vet in the cab loose/not attached, a towel rail that was too short for the holders, missing fridge container, broken drain off pipe in fridge, broken door hinge protector and missing waste handle. All of these were addressed either by posting out parts or at the first warranty visit – this has been excellent service.

Summer Tour – Scotland

Our great adventure for the summer came shortly after getting the new motorhome. A chance for a good drive and explore across the east, central and west of Scotland. This added almost 1250 miles to our travels so really helped us in getting comfortable with the new motorhome and its features and differences from the last one.

Some additional warranty items became apparent at this stage and this included: a bolt coming loose from the drop down bed.

Awning Installation – September 2022

At purchase the motorhome had not been specified with a factory fitted awning. We enjoyed having this in the last one so ordered one of the Thule Omnistor. The dreaded delays with goods getting into the UK – honestly just this – meant that this would be delayed from June to September.

Warranty Work – Completed!

A warranty visit in July and the awning fitting in September which included the final warranty bits meant that we entered the autumn all good to go!