New caravan falling to bits and the sellers aren't interested

jennifernil

And......meant to say before.............

go to ukcampsite.co.uk and join up. If you put on a post there about your wheel falling off, you will get a lot of advice.

GillsMan7

5 pages and no-one's asked if the OP likes dags? Poor.

Freddie_Snowbits

Jenni, good post

Gillsman ????????????

Mark1971

jennifernil wrote: »

The warranty on a caravan is a very important asset. If you do not keep it up then you may be faced with huge repair bills further down the line if you get any water ingress. Water ingress is death to caravans if left unrepaired. You have a valuable asset and need to look after it.

Yes, the servicing is not cheap, though I think what you were quoted was quite high. You can shop around with other Lunar dealers, but be aware that some dealers will not service a van that was not purchased from them. You will probably have to go with your present dealer to get this sorted, but after that you may well be able to change. You do already seem to have found an alternative dealer, are they authorised by Lunar?

To get the matter resolved you really need to decide either pay for the repair yourself, or claim on the insurance. I think your insurers are being unhelpful here. They should have contacted the chassis manufacturer if they thought there was a defect, not leave it to you. Has their engineer inspected the damage?

Is the dealer insisting you have to let them do the repairs if they reinstate the warranty? Is there some reason why they will not let you buy the parts and repair yourself if the damage is only cosmetic? Or was there damage to the wheel arch? Is there damage that could let water in?

Caravan repairs are expensive, the market is much smaller than the car market so parts are expensive.

The lights.....did the missing plastic bits just fall off in your hand? If not then you really don't know what happened to them. Being under the lockers is no protection, they are quite easily hit with a head, a hand. However, I presume the dealer has agreed to replace them if you do the warranty bit? These lights can be sourced on the internet fairly reasonably anyway. Your dodgy awning light is likely due to a poor connection either on a wire or the bulb itself.

I am astonished that you agreed to pay full price for a new caravan (unless you had a trade-in?), let alone a damaged one! You should have insisted on a new lid. (easy to be wise after the fact, I know)

You have not said why you did not read all the literature, you do seem to have consulted the handbook at some point. This unfortunately seems to have been your main mistake. I am very surprised that the sales person did not draw your attention to the warranty conditions, but this unfortunately does not get you off the hook.

I very much doubt you will get anywhere trying to reject the caravan now, but personally, I WOULD be wanting to know why my wheel fell off.

WOW :T thanks for the very detailed reply :T
Where do I start.

Water ingress is death to caravans if left unrepaired

I know, and the caravan comes with an 8 year anti leak and corrosion gaurantee.

You will probably have to go with your present dealer to get this sorted, but after that you may well be able to change. You do already seem to have found an alternative dealer, are they authorised by Lunar?

Yes.

Has their engineer inspected the damage

No but other engineers who I know personally have.

Is the dealer insisting you have to let them do the repairs if they reinstate the warranty? Is there some reason why they will not let you buy the parts and repair yourself if the damage is only cosmetic? Or was there damage to the wheel arch? Is there damage that could let water in?

So far they are insisting that they do the repairs and these repairs are only to the lighting and lid issues, yes.
The damage only looks cosmetic to the wheel arch and rear sill but I am no expert and can't be sure if it is more and or could be causing the caravan to let water in.

The lights.....did the missing plastic bits just fall off in your hand? If not then you really don't know what happened to them. Being under the lockers is no protection, they are quite easily hit with a head, a hand. However, I presume the dealer has agreed to replace them if you do the warranty bit? These lights can be sourced on the internet fairly reasonably anyway. Your dodgy awning light is likely due to a poor connection either on a wire or the bulb itself.

They were always found on the seating or floor after we arrived at our destination as if they had just fell off, they were never hit.

I am astonished that you agreed to pay full price for a new caravan (unless you had a trade-in?), let alone a damaged one! You should have insisted on a new lid. (easy to be wise after the fact, I know)

We had an old sprite major from 1987 for 3 years prior to buying this brand new one and we got £800 trade in for that and its awning.

Mark1971

You have not said why you did not read all the literature, you do seem to have consulted the handbook at some point. This unfortunately seems to have been your main mistake. I am very surprised that the sales person did not draw your attention to the warranty conditions, but this unfortunately does not get you off the hook.

This is just lack of knowledge and stupidity on my behalf on purchasing a brand new expensive product, had we been made more aware of the warranty terms and the need to read the small print in the handook rather than how to use the caravan we may not be in such a situation.

Mark1971

I very much doubt you will get anywhere trying to reject the caravan now, but personally, I WOULD be wanting to know why my wheel fell off.

I still have not heard from Black Horse as of yet, they don't phone or e-mail?!?!
So I am awaiting another written response presumably.
They asked me what I wanted to do if the matter was not resolved to my satisfaction.
I replied by saying I would like a full refund, to which i was told more or less "ok i will see what happens"
And yes I would like to know why the wheel fell off but until I hear from the Black Horse I am just waiting.
Thanks for all your help and questions and I hope to get round to joining the forum you mentioned

Mark1971

GillsMan7 wrote: »

5 pages and no-one's asked if the OP likes dags? Poor.

???????????????????????

jennifernil

Mark1971 wrote: »

WOW :T thanks for the very detailed reply :T
Where do I start.

I know, and the caravan comes with an 8 year anti leak and corrosion gaurantee.



You need to check your literature .....the warranty is 6 years according to the Lunar website.



Yes.

No but other engineers who I know personally have.



I think you need to have the chassis looked at either by the manufacturer, AlKo, or an independant expert who is willing to give an opinion.



So far they are insisting that they do the repairs and these repairs are only to the lighting and lid issues, yes.



I would expect them to replace the disintegrating lights and sort the awning light problem as a warranty issue if you are paying them for a service to reinstate the warranty. The lid they should repair properly without question, but a replacement would be more appropriate. Could be tricky to demand that now as you accepted a repair originally.



The damage only looks cosmetic to the wheel arch and rear sill but I am no expert and can't be sure if it is more and or could be causing the caravan to let water in.



If there are no holes/bungles in the aluminium skin, and the wheel arch box is intact (can you check it from inside the van?) then water ingress is unlikely. However it would be a good idea to check with Lunar first to make sure whether any DIY repairs to the bodywork are acceptable due to the water ingress warranty. The dealer is not insisting they be allowed to make these repairs if they reinstate your warranty then?



They were always found on the seating or floor after we arrived at our destination as if they had just fell off, they were never hit.



Most odd! Are they broken or is it just that a part keeps falling off? I am not familiar with that particular light fitting.



We had an old sprite major from 1987 for 3 years prior to buying this brand new one and we got £800 trade in for that and its awning.

I see, thanks for clearing that up.

I hope you can see my replies, I can't figure out how to make them come up in a different colour!

GillsMan7

Mark1971 wrote: »

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Famous line from the movie Snatch. A traveller (p!key is blanked out for some reason) asks someone who buys a caravan that subsequently falls to bits if he likes dags (dogs).

terryw

Completely off-topic Gillsman7, but I got your gag straight-away and had a good chuckle.