Warranty work question

I have just bought a new Westfalia Joker High Top and am a little surprised to learn - rather late in the day - that there seems to be rather a shortage of dealerships qualified to deal with any warranty work that might be needed on the Westfalia part of the vehicle.
Am I right in thinking that it's either go to the South Coast or East Yorkshire?
OK, the latter is "only" an 80 mile round trip for me, but having made 3 such trips already in my first month of ownership, sitting in their hospitality suite for up to 3 horus at a time, notwithstanding a charming lady serving tea and coffee, has lost its appeal.
The average Westfalia owner will live much further away which makes me wonder how they cope with this, or are there other qualifying workshops that do not advertise on the net?

Typical motorhome dealers are independent not franchises so it’s normal to have to take it back to whoever you brought it from. It may be possible with the supplying dealers agreement to have the work done by a third party (the other Westfalia dealer, possibly an Approved Workshop Scheme member or another agent).

The issue is your contract is with the supplying dealer not Westfalia and they made the profit so others are reluctant to do work due to having their own customers and low rates the factory pay for warranty work. Hopefully your dealer has warranty arrangements to help out.

Thanks. That's at variance with what Wandahome gave me to understand which was that warranty issues with the VW element could be dealt with by any VW van dealership and similarly, any Westfalia authorised dealership would deal with Westfalia issues.
On the face of it, that's either of 2 such places! But perhaps I've misunderstood the situation - would not be the first time!
How do owners in West Wales or the Highlands deal with such issues, I wonder?

I feel spoilt for choice….. 2 Westfalia dealers and Breeze within an hour!

I was really interested in the Club Joker City and had it been the same cost as the Cali I'd have given it serious consideration as they seem to be outstanding conversions. But other than the cost the thought of a 300 mile round trip to my nearest dealer for servicing/warranty issues really put me off.

To be fair both Westfalia dealers were really transparent about the logistical issues. Westfalia really need to consider increasing dealer numbers in the UK as this will be a real barrier to business in my view.

Barry Chuckle said:

I was really interested in the Club Joker City and had it been the same cost as the Cali I'd have given it serious consideration as they seem to be outstanding conversions. But other than the cost the thought of a 300 mile round trip to my nearest dealer for servicing/warranty issues really put me off.

To be fair both Westfalia dealers were really transparent about the logistical issues. Westfalia really need to consider increasing dealer numbers in the UK as this will be a real barrier to business in my view.

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Is that not the problem with any “ Conversion “ and an advantage of the “ California “?

WelshGas said:

Is that not the problem with any “ Conversion “ and an advantage of the “ California “?

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Definitely true about your latter comment, but other conversions such as Hymer seem to have enough dealers spread around the UK

Barry Chuckle said:

Definitely true about your latter comment, but other conversions such as Hymer seem to have enough dealers spread around the UK

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Agree, but many still have a 2 stop system for vehicle/ conversion warranty work.