Ghislain, recently retired, gave himself an end-of-career gift. It is a Ford Transit motorhome dating from 1994. Handyman and traveler, he wanted to combine his two hobbies to celebrate the end of a very diverse career. Ghilsain chained jobs in the army, the building, but also officiated as a chief operator at the airport of Liège.
This pensioner then planned to travel to southern Europe during the winter months in Belgium. “I have osteoarthritis, so the cold months are hard on me here,” he tells us. To do this, his motorhome would have to undergo some repairs, small modifications and a refurbishment. Even if the latter is no longer very young, he has always passed the technical controls. This is what convinced our witness to finalize his purchase. Except that, when he passed his technical control last summer, it was a surprise. Ghislain’s motorhome is being rejected, he explains to us via the orange Alert us button.
The Esneutois does not understand. He is told regarding some minor repairs to the lights. But above all, the technical control center told him that his air suspensions were no longer in order. The latter, dating from 2004, are nevertheless recommended. They are described as providing more comfort and better chassis support.
Overzealous ?
Ghislain considers that this is an excess of zeal on the part of technical control. He is not happy to have to pay another 75 euros for technical control for something that makes no sense to him. “This motorhome has passed every year since 2004 without any problem. The suspensions have never been a problem. In December 2021, another technical control center accepts my suspensions and mine does not accept them in 2022?”, he wonders.
In reality, new legislation passed in 2022. Ghislain was unaware of it and the technical control did not explain to him. The auxiliary pneumatic suspensions that the camping-car of l’Esneutois has are no longer authorized. Only original suspensions are now accepted on mobile homes.
A famous overcharge
If you find yourself unable to change your suspensions and they are not original, it will cost you dearly. You will have to ask for an administrative control at the technical control in order to obtain an isolated document. 400 euros of costs are to be expected.
The specialist garage that we contacted does not understand the logic behind this decision, especially since these types of air suspensions are still authorized in France for example.
