Bessacarr 412 potential purchase

Mischief2

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Hi, Having had my Autosleeper Duetto stolen from my drive in November I am considering replacing it (via Motorhome Depot) with a 2016 model Bessecarr 412 which I am going to view tomorrow. Any views, thoughts, experiences or advice would be very welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.
Colin.
 
Hi, Having had my Autosleeper Duetto stolen from my drive in November I am considering replacing it (via Motorhome Depot) with a 2016 model Bessecarr 412 which I am going to view tomorrow. Any views, thoughts, experiences or advice would be very welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.
Colin.
As it’s part of the Swift group i would personally avoid like the plague. I would imagine they are made in The same facility.
I had a new Swift in 2013, everything went wrong 6 months into ownership, back to factory twice for water ingress. Plus water pipework in shower cubicle came adrift flooding the rear end of motorhome, water pipework under kitchen sink came adrift, again major floods.
To many minor annoying faults to mention, I fixed most of them. I was glad to see the back of it even though I lost a small fortune.
Get on google and I’m sure there will be plenty of info regarding quality issues.
To be honest regardless of what brand you research they all have faults it’s just some appear to have more than others.
 
As it’s part of the Swift group i would personally avoid like the plague. I would imagine they are made in The same facility.
I had a new Swift in 2013, everything went wrong 6 months into ownership, back to factory twice for water ingress. Plus water pipework in shower cubicle came adrift flooding the rear end of motorhome, water pipework under kitchen sink came adrift, again major floods.
To many minor annoying faults to mention, I fixed most of them. I was glad to see the back of it even though I lost a small fortune.
Get on google and I’m sure there will be plenty of info regarding quality issues.
To be honest regardless of what brand you research they all have faults it’s just some appear to have more than others.

Thanks for that Ob666
 
Swift do seem to have more than their fair of problems there is a big recall at the moment on the touring caravan side . That said I own one and it has been fine ....so you pay your monies and take the chance ....German marques seem to fair a lot better but only the other day here or wildcamping an owner was berating a hymer that is unusual though
 
We had a Bessacarr 412 2013 model. (Turned out to have a 2012 chassisIt suited us quite well as a Tardis. The greatest issue I had with it (apart from the abysmal performance of the dealer at fixing things) was it had an excessive overhang for such a short wheelbase van. Being a rear kitchen model all the weight was dangling on the overhang. It was impossible to load up to full capacity without overloading the rear axle even after upgrading it. Also it had abysmal traction on the underloaded front axle, and scrubbed it’s way through a set of front tyres every two years. At leat it had a large overcab cupboard so you could place some weight over the front axle.
I was gobsmacked therefore when in 2014 they added more length to the model, all rear of the back axle increasing the overhang even more robbing the front axle of more load. At the same time they removed the overcab cupboard (so nowhere to put weight on the front axles) and put in a ruddy great overcab window to roast you in summer and freeze you in winter. They had to bump up the rear axle to 2000kg to try, unsuccessfully by all accounts, to try to compensate for the imbalance. A triumph of marketing gloss over practical engineering good sense. A few years later they gave up trying to sell them and abandoned the model.

Oh yes, we too had water ingress problems fixed under warranty.

If you want a first hand ear bashing about this model ask Izwozral, he couldn't wait to get rid of his.

In short, not with a barge pole.
 
Swift do seem to have more than their fair of problems there is a big recall at the moment on the touring caravan side . That said I own one and it has been fine ....so you pay your monies and take the chance ....German marques seem to fair a lot better but only the other day here or wildcamping an owner was berating a hymer that is unusual though
Thanks for that Channa
 
We had a Bessacarr 412 2013 model. (Turned out to have a 2012 chassisIt suited us quite well as a Tardis. The greatest issue I had with it (apart from the abysmal performance of the dealer at fixing things) was it had an excessive overhang for such a short wheelbase van. Being a rear kitchen model all the weight was dangling on the overhang. It was impossible to load up to full capacity without overloading the rear axle even after upgrading it. Also it had abysmal traction on the underloaded front axle, and scrubbed it’s way through a set of front tyres every two years. At leat it had a large overcab cupboard so you could place some weight over the front axle.
I was gobsmacked therefore when in 2014 they added more length to the model, all rear of the back axle increasing the overhang even more robbing the front axle of more load. At the same time they removed the overcab cupboard (so nowhere to put weight on the front axles) and put in a ruddy great overcab window to roast you in summer and freeze you in winter. They had to bump up the rear axle to 2000kg to try, unsuccessfully by all accounts, to try to compensate for the imbalance. A triumph of marketing gloss over practical engineering good sense. A few years later they gave up trying to sell them and abandoned the model.

Oh yes, we too had water ingress problems fixed under warranty.

If you want a first hand ear bashing about this model ask Izwozral, he couldn't wait to get rid of his.

In short, not with a barge pole.
very informative info 'Barge' much appreciated. Thank you.
 
It’s difficult to recommend a make of van as people experiences will all be different and most will recommend the marque they own.
We have owned 3 British built vans, and although we liked them and none had any serious issues ( apart from the Autosleeper kitchen waste pipes coming apart, twice, flooding the van) so we thought our next van would be British built too, but couldn’t find one with the storage we needed so started looking at European vans, which seemed to be built more for all year Round travel.
We were impressed with our old Swift though. 20 years old and no damp issues!
 
I don't remember details, but I don't think motorhome depot have a great reputation either...
 
I don't remember details, but I don't think motorhome depot have a great reputation either...
I was going to add that comment as well! One members experience of them was very disappointing and having seen the van in the flesh, I think their attitude to deal with the issue was very wrong.
 
I don't remember details, but I don't think motorhome depot have a great reputation either...

We went to see a Dethleffs being advertised by them, looked lovely but when we got there there was a large aluminium chequer plate down one side that was covering up a large scrape in the body and it turned out that the pictures on Gumtree were around 5 years old :mad:
The guy didn't seem to think it was a problem so I would never buy anything they were selling regardless of make or model

Regards,
Del
 
It’s difficult to recommend a make of van as people experiences will all be different and most will recommend the marque they own.
We have owned 3 British built vans, and although we liked them and none had any serious issues ( apart from the Autosleeper kitchen waste pipes coming apart, twice, flooding the van) so we thought our next van would be British built too, but couldn’t find one with the storage we needed so started looking at European vans, which seemed to be built more for all year Round travel.
We were impressed with our old Swift though. 20 years old and no damp issues!

Thanks for your help full thought snapster.:)
 
We went to see a Dethleffs being advertised by them, looked lovely but when we got there there was a large aluminium chequer plate down one side that was covering up a large scrape in the body and it turned out that the pictures on Gumtree were around 5 years old :mad:
The guy didn't seem to think it was a problem so I would never buy anything they were selling regardless of make or model

Regards,
Del

Thanks for your interesting comment Alwaysared :)
 
I was going to add that comment as well! One members experience of them was very disappointing and having seen the van in the flesh, I think their attitude to deal with the issue was very wrong.

Thanks for that Wildebus :)
 
Hi. My own personnel experience. Purchased a mhome through Home Depot. Milton Keynes area. Drove mhome to Folkestone. Clutch. Slipping. Under mhome wood floor rotten ( ask wildebus). Roof leaking. Although told it had had a damp test and passed. Contacted motor Home Depot. They said they would contact seller. After asking them 7 or 8 times for sellers details tel no Nothing heard. Complained to Home Depot. There response ,,,,read our agreement. No guarantee,,,, warranty,,, support they said that they are on the sellers side and not the buyer. And as I had signed the form on hand over I had no readdress. so it has ended up costing a few thousand more on top of purchase price. I think now that anyone dealing with motorhome Depot should read there splurge about their warranty guarantee CAREFULLY. On casual reading it's ok. Only when you really read it do you see all the exclusions. I know my fault should always read the small print. But I am a bit to trusting of other people. Still motorhome Depot might be the ideal seller. But definitely not for a buyer. Brian
 
Hi. My own personnel experience. Purchased a mhome through Home Depot. Milton Keynes area. Drove mhome to Folkestone. Clutch. Slipping. Under mhome wood floor rotten ( ask wildebus). Roof leaking. Although told it had had a damp test and passed. Contacted motor Home Depot. They said they would contact seller. After asking them 7 or 8 times for sellers details tel no Nothing heard. Complained to Home Depot. There response ,,,,read our agreement. No guarantee,,,, warranty,,, support they said that they are on the sellers side and not the buyer. And as I had signed the form on hand over I had no readdress. so it has ended up costing a few thousand more on top of purchase price. I think now that anyone dealing with motorhome Depot should read there splurge about their warranty guarantee CAREFULLY. On casual reading it's ok. Only when you really read it do you see all the exclusions. I know my fault should always read the small print. But I am a bit to trusting of other people. Still motorhome Depot might be the ideal seller. But definitely not for a buyer. Brian
Thanks for that Carrots, yes "bought as seen" is in their T&Cs. I have decided not to go ahead with the purchase now.
 
Bessacarr 412 potential purchase.

Thanks for all you comments on this thread, I have decided not to go ahead with the purchase for a number of reasons the main one being "no test drive possible due to insurance issues. I would have thought a nation wide franchise could sort something out with an insurance company ???
 

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