are you using the vray "raw" image option? try rendering normally, you can save as exr and do regions that way. I think the issue may be that with raw format, it breaks up the image into the tiles, so maybe it's trying to render a region of just that tile...
V-Ray for SketchUp was developed by ASGVis - they where not 100% consistent with the UI labels that V-Ray for Max used. Now that ASGVis is part of ChaosGroup this might (hopefully) change.
Only way around IMO: Copy - paste Normaly, then on the Materials menu, right click on the materials you need fixed and select Import Material. This will replace the model materials with the ones in your Library. Thanks
We have recently reinstalled Vray so quite possible it was from the old version... thanks! At least it shouldn't be a problem with future projects. Thanks for your help!