Rotten Caravan

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

ushills

Veteran
We've recently brought a caravan off a guy who we know through his family. Had a good look around and the man seemed genuine enough.

However, got the caravan home and discovered new trim had been placed over the corners where the wood behind was rotten and basically it is unlikely to be habitable or indeed roadworthy.

Any one have any advice of a non-violent nature as I believe he may have misled us as to the caravans condition and deliberately hidden faults.

Private sale so any come back?

I have invited him round to have a look and hope to appeal to his better nature but no holding my breath.

Solicitor we know mentioned Trading Standards but unsure myslelf.
 

Panter

Just call me Chris...
Sorry, can't advise on where you might stand with getting your money back but, if the worst comes to the worst, they are repairable.

We got ripped off a couple of Years ago, turned out the entire front was rotten. Choices were to either scrap it, or try and repair it.
Personally, I have absolutely no DIY ability whatsoever, seriously, none at all.
But, with time, and lots of stress, we slowly dismantled and rebulit the entire front section.
It didn't even cost very much but to make life even more difficult, there is no mains electric where our van is stored so everything had to be either battery powered, or run off the 12V converter.
It's also not under cover so everything had to be meticulously covered with plastic after every session so it is doable.

This website has lots of inspiration (our repair may be on there actually, can't remember if I uploaded it or not)

http://www.1carpc.co.uk/wcdr/favorites.htm
 
OP
OP
ushills

ushills

Veteran
Hi Wizard, seen your site online and has been helpful, but not only is the back rotten but so is all the front and not too confident with stability now when towing, I have visions of the body flying off.

The guy is the grandad of my daughters friend at school so we trusted him. A neighbour has said that he seems to always be buying and selling, but seems to me a case of don't crap in your own backyard.

Annoyed with him and us for trusting him in the first place.
 

Panter

Just call me Chris...
Hi Wizard, seen your site online and has been helpful, but not only is the back rotten but so is all the front and not too confident with stability now when towing, I have visions of the body flying off.

The guy is the grandad of my daughters friend at school so we trusted him. A neighbour has said that he seems to always be buying and selling, but seems to me a case of don't crap in your own backyard.

Annoyed with him and us for trusting him in the first place.

Good luck either way, hopefully he'll be decent enough to return your money. It's bad enough being scammed by a stranger let alone someone you trust.

(I'm not Wizard by the way)
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
However, got the caravan home and discovered new trim had been placed over the corners where the wood behind was rotten and basically it is unlikely to be habitable or indeed roadworthy.
....

Private sale so any come back?
It's not just a private sale, it's secondhand, so your rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 are minimal:-
- it has to be correctly described
- it has to be his to sell.

If he didn't say anything about its condition and just invited you to come and inspect it, I think you have no recourse; your only legal argument would be that it had 'hidden defects' i.e. defects which he knew about and which you could not have discovered on a reasonable inspection. That's not easy to prove.

If he did say it was in good roadworthy condition and you can produce e.g. a written advert, you may have a claim. But Trading Standards aren't going to get involved in a private sale, and don't underestimate the hassle of taking a County Court claim. Unless you have paid well into the £hundreds, I think you'll just have to write it off.
 
OP
OP
ushills

ushills

Veteran
It's not just a private sale, it's secondhand, so your rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 are minimal:-
- it has to be correctly described
- it has to be his to sell.

If he didn't say anything about its condition and just invited you to come and inspect it, I think you have no recourse; your only legal argument would be that it had 'hidden defects' i.e. defects which he knew about and which you could not have discovered on a reasonable inspection. That's not easy to prove.

If he did say it was in good roadworthy condition and you can produce e.g. a written advert, you may have a claim. But Trading Standards aren't going to get involved in a private sale, and don't underestimate the hassle of taking a County Court claim. Unless you have paid well into the £hundreds, I think you'll just have to write it off.

Yes, aware of our limited rights. Our solicitor friend has suggested that he may be a shadow trader or make deliberate attempt to mislead so going to see how it goes face-to-face first then write him a letter if needed.

TBH cannot believe that he would sell it to us knowing our links to the school and his grand-daughter.

If we had paid a few hundred I wouldn't be too bothered and put it down to experience but we paid a lot more than that, carbon-bike kind of money.:angry:
 

DiddlyDodds

Random Resident
Location
Littleborough
I bought one three years old for £7500 and did not have a service and damp check after twelve months , then the following year i noticed damp in the wall , turned out all one side was damp and as i have not had the twelve month damp check (didnt even know you had to do it every year) neither the seller or the manafcturer would touch it.
Had to pay for the repairs myself and put it down to experiance.

Serves them right when they went into recevership, what goes around comes around , Karma.
 
Top Bottom