Hymer Aktiv... our first RV!

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by Navanod

UPDATE:
Mike Thompson called to confirm all repairs are complete. They are reimbursing us for ticket cancellation fees and all flight cost for our delays (8 weeks to the day). Michael Snell from Hymer is also providing us with a Fuel Card (for how much, I'm not sure). We are flying down this Sunday to do the orientation, review the repairs and sign the final paperwork. Hope to post a successful update on Monday!!!

+1

Can't wait to see the RV

[techfan]

Originally Posted by Navanod

UPDATE:
Mike Thompson called to confirm all repairs are complete. They are reimbursing us for ticket cancellation fees and all flight cost for our delays (8 weeks to the day). Michael Snell from Hymer is also providing us with a Fuel Card (for how much, I'm not sure). We are flying down this Sunday to do the orientation, review the repairs and sign the final paperwork. Hope to post a successful update on Monday!!!

Sounds like they are making amends. Hymer is also stepping up. Best wishes and enjoy.

[mumkin]

Can't wait to hear how things go with the walk through and the trip home.

I suspect that this board is monitored (as any sensible company and dealers would do) and they want you to be able to come back and tell us that all has been made right.

[ClassB4Me]

Originally Posted by mumkin

Can't wait to hear how things go with the walk through and the trip home.

I suspect that this board is monitored (as any sensible company and dealers would do) and they want you to be able to come back and tell us that all has been made right.

In 2016, it is incredibly easy for companies with commercial software to monitor Interweb comments about their company and avoid bad press and be proactive.

Glad to see the O.P. is being taken care of.

[booster]

We know that Roadtrek monitors this site regularly, based on lots of comments made by them about us, on other sites . They generally weren't what might be called complimentary.

[4DMTNS]

Woohoo!

Looking forward to hearing about your drive back to Oregon, seeing pictures and hearing about how the breaking it in goes!

If your rig came from the Pomona show, I'm guessing you have the Aktiv badging, Lithium batteries and Volt Start setup. I chose to build without the Lithium option and am having the Aktiv badging and stripe omitted. Pretty sure we both have the granite color.

The rig we both saw at Blue Dog RV sold, and there are three others sold and ordered that are also headed to Blue Dog RV.

When mine gets here it would be fun to meet up somewhere in Portland to compare rigs.

~ Chris

[Marley]

When we get our B we will be sure to let our opinion known on the interwebs so that all others may be enlightened.

We will be looking at the Hymer Aktiv as an option in the next few months.

[Navanod]

Thanks everyone!
We will not be driving it back for a couple reasons. First being the fact we are Oregon residents purchasing in California. We want to avoid sales tax and the only way to do so is to have it delivered past the California border and have a notary sign documentation stating that it was delivered. We are having delivered via flatbed truck. The mountain pass is currently snow covered and I want to prevent any damage prior to getting paint protection film installed on the front. Hopefully we can get it picked up and delivered soon.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Navanod

Thanks everyone!
We will not be driving it back for a couple reasons. First being the fact we are Oregon residents purchasing in California. We want to avoid sales tax and the only way to do so is to have it delivered past the California border and have a notary sign documentation stating that it was delivered. We are having delivered via flatbed truck.

It's difficult to imagine a more self destructive effect on California vehicle sales than this policy which requires physical delivery out of the state to preclude the imposition of sales tax. Other states typically issue a temporary permit that permits the buyer to travel back to their state of residence that imposes the applicable sales tax. This idiocy practiced by the California Board of Equalization has to have cost billions of dollars in sales by California automotive dealers.

[Navanod]

Oh, I agree 100%.
This isn't the first time I have bought a vehicle from California, so I'm quite familiar with the process though.

[booster]

Doesn't California have tighter emissions than Oregon, and thus more potential stuff to go wrong?

[NorthPotomac]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

It's difficult to imagine a more self destructive effect on California vehicle sales than this policy which requires physical delivery out of the state to preclude the imposition of sales tax. Other states typically issue a temporary permit that permits the buyer to travel back to their state of residence that imposes the applicable sales tax. This idiocy practiced by the California Board of Equalization has to have cost billions of dollars in sales by California automotive dealers.

It's not necessary that the vehicle be picked up in the state of residence; it's sufficient that it be picked up outside California. When I bought my BMW motorcycle from BMW of San Jose in 2006, they told me to fly from my Maryland home to Las Vegas, where they delivered it to me. I thought that was crazy, as I intended to ride it right to California (my one and only ride to Ojai, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, Carmel, etc.), but that was the crazy California law. I came with my Maryland tag (which I had already purchased) and just screwed it on my new bike.

I've never heard of such a silly law in any other state.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by booster

Doesn't California have tighter emissions than Oregon, and thus more potential stuff to go wrong?

As I understand it, it is not common for vehicles to be specially modified for California sale. Mostly, the vehicles are "50 state compliant" and are identical throughout the country.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by booster

Doesn't California have tighter emissions than Oregon, and thus more potential stuff to go wrong?

There are now 16 states that have implemented the California CARB emission standards including Oregon and Washington. CA requires the OEMs to provide an extended warranty on the emissions equipment which is 10 years/150,000 miles.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

There are now 16 states that have implemented the California CARB emission standards including Oregon and Washington. CA requires the OEMs to provide an extended warranty on the emissions equipment which is 10 years/150,000 miles.

I wish the 10 year/150,000 warranty were true. That period applies
PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicle).

My 2012 Sprinter in Maryland has a 5 year/100,000 mile warranty on diesel emission systems based on CARB requirements. Mercedes just extended the warranty on the EGR valve to 10 years/120,000 miles for 2010 to 2014 Sprinters.

Here is link to CARB fact sheet on emissions warranty period.
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/warranty.pdf

[SiennaGuy]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

This idiocy practiced by the California Board of Equalization has to have cost billions of dollars in sales by California automotive dealers.

If cars weren't such an integral part of California culture and politics, I might agree with you. The California economy is now the sixth largest in the world, surpassing France. There's plenty of money here to buy cars and we buy plenty of them. We wouldn't have our almost 24/7 insane traffic and congestion if car sales were hurting. While most county fairs have pie-baking contests, the San Francisco county fair has a contest to find a parking space. I doubt that anybody who wanted to make it easier to sell more cars here would be listened to. We just have way too many of them already.

Here's some background: If you want to learn about how cars and the automotive industries have shaped California history, read the article below from the Los Angeles Times. The big players in the automotive industry were active and often unethical participants in hastening the end of the age of the urban streetcars in southern California. After that, unlike almost every big urban area in the country, southern California had no subways, no light rail and no commuter trains, until very recently. This was true even though Los Angeles was and is one of the county's most populated cities. Car culture influenced urban planning, as well. Entire middle class suburbs (like Huntington Beach) were built without sidewalks in a lot of areas, because they assumed that everybody would drive. Without sidewalks, walking to school or to a bus stop was and is difficult and dangerous. In much of the state, there was and is no reasonable way to get anywhere without a car. Before the recent resurgence of rail transit in southern California, the running joke was that the only place in that part of the state with decent mass transit was Disneyland. And it was very true.

The automobile smog requirements are also related to the history of southern California. The Los Angeles region is surrounded by a ring of mountains--a natural bowl or basin. It's called "Los Angeles" or "the city of the angels," because when the indigenous people lived there and the Spanish missionaries arrived, the smoke from their fires combined with fog from the ocean and built up in this bowl. This combination of smoke and fog ("smog") made the surrounding mountains look like they were floating above a layer of heavenly clouds. When millions of people with hundreds of thousands of cars started operating in this natural bowl, the air pollution eventually became intolerable. It wasn't crazy environmentalists who complained--the problems arose in the late 1940's and 1950s, long before there was an environmental movement. Air pollution not only threatened the health of the area's inhabitants, it also threatened tourism and all of the other industries that relied on sunshine and blue skies, including the real estate, outdoor athletics, agriculture, and even the television and movie industries. As a result, California's emission standards were passed. Yes, they're tough and are often inconvenient. Yes, they probably make no sense to people outside the state. Still, just about anybody who tried to breathe the smokey yellow or brown air before these laws supports these standards.

Here's the article:
Did Auto, Oil Conspiracy Put the Brakes on Trolleys? - latimes

[SiennaGuy]

Most cars these days are built to be "50 state compliant." It probably doesn't make economic sense to build one car for the gigantic California market and another one for the states that buy fewer cars.

There are now national standards for emissions equipment warranties. For more information, go to the EPA web site:
https://www.epa.gov/air-pollution-tr...nd-air-quality

In the 47 years that I've been driving cars in California, the only problems I've had with smog controls and smog tests were:

1. I had a 20 year old car and they stopped making parts for it. Even though my old VW Beetle was a very popular car when it was newer, third party companies also stopped making parts for it and junkyard parts became unavailable when it got old. The door rusted off soon after it failed the smog test, so it got junked.

2. A car needed a tune up. After the regular tune up, it passed the smog test with no problem.

[NorthPotomac]

Just contacted Hymer to ask who the closest dealer was to us in Montgomery County, Maryland. Their answer was:

Alpin Haus
36 Route 6 Port Jervis, NY 12771
(206.58 miles)
Alpin Haus RV Dealership Group Amsterdam NY, Port Jervis NY, Saratoga NY | New York dealer of New & Used Class A, Class C, Fifth Wheels, Travel Trailers, Pop-Ups, Truck Campers and Destination RVs | Get Parts, Service, Repairs, Financing and more!
845-672-0255

Note: 1) it's more like 282 miles than 200 miles, perhaps they are calculating distances as the crow flies; 2) we live in the DC metro area, not exactly the boonies. Nothing near DC, near Richmond, near Baltimore, near Philly, etc. Big RT dealers nearby, none of them authorized (as of today) to sell the Hymer Aktiv.

Wow!

[Popcorn]

Hello Navanod,

Congratulations on your new coach! From what I've read this would be the one I'd buy. Therefore, I've been following this thread and the AKTIV with interest.

Could you answer a question? Where is the fresh water tank located? Is it under the coach or above the floor?

Thanks,

Bill

[BobB]

Originally Posted by NorthPotomac

Just contacted Hymer to ask who the closest dealer was to us in Montgomery County, Maryland. Their answer was:

Alpin Haus
36 Route 6 Port Jervis, NY 12771
(206.58 miles)
Alpin Haus RV Dealership Group Amsterdam NY, Port Jervis NY, Saratoga NY | New York dealer of New & Used Class A, Class C, Fifth Wheels, Travel Trailers, Pop-Ups, Truck Campers and Destination RVs | Get Parts, Service, Repairs, Financing and more!
845-672-0255

Note: 1) it's more like 282 miles than 200 miles, perhaps they are calculating distances as the crow flies; 2) we live in the DC metro area, not exactly the boonies. Nothing near DC, near Richmond, near Baltimore, near Philly, etc. Big RT dealers nearby, none of them authorized (as of today) to sell the Hymer Aktiv.

Wow!

Yes, WOW. I live outside Philly and at the Hershey Show Alpin was there. Still a long hike for service, etc. especially when there are RT dealers closer. On the Hymer site, there is a "dealer locator" and if you pull up the map and "see all", you will see large gaps in coverage, like the Mid Atlantic and east.

I expect that dealers will be added as time goes by, including some of the existing RT dealers. Part of the issue may be (my guess) is they want to train dealers first, then add them to the network (much better than the other way around) and that takes time.