Caravan older than dealer said.

born_again

Was this a new caravan or a 2nd hand one?

To me this is just like a car that was built a year ago, but stood in a field awaiting someone to buy it.

Grumpy_chap

Out of interest, and I ask as I genuinely do not know, is it reasonable that the OP would have undertaken the equivalent of an HPI check for cars as part of the dur diligence before purchasing the caravan?  
Would such a check, if it is available, have identified the discrepancy that has now been uncovered?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

In terms of consumer rights it's fairly straight forward, the goods should match the description and if they don't the trader should replace (or repair but that doesn't apply here).

If they don't you can either exercise the final right to reject the goods for a refund or seek a price reduction.

A price reduction would usually be the difference in value between what was ordered and what was received. A refund is typically a full refund within 6 months but this excludes motor vehicles as defined here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/part/VII/crossheading/interpretation

(Sorry it's long and I'm too lazy to read to see if it covers caravans). 

ThumbRemote said:

Stormdancer1 said:

We bought a caravan from Yorkshire coast caravans in March 2023 . It was sold to us as a 2020 coachman vip with a registration date of 15/10/2020. This is on our receipt. Our CRiS registration document arrived this week and the actual registration date is the 7/11/2019.

This is the key piece of information.

Were you told this date BEFORE you bought, ie not just written on your receipt, but as part of the information you were given when deciding to buy?

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations says:
A commercial practice is a misleading action ... if it contains false information (about the existence or nature of the product) ... and it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/contents

I would have said the difference between a roughly 2.5 year-old caravan and a roughly 3.5 year-old was fairly significant. If you made the decision to buy based on an age of 2.5 years then I'd argue you should be due a 'right to redress'. This could be a refund or a discount. However, this is complicated by the fact that you've clearly owned the caravan for nearly a year - how come it's taken so long for your own registration? It may no longer be possible for a full refund, a discount may be more plausible. You'd have to work out what would be reasonable (ie the price difference between what you bought and what you received) - can you quantify that? Then you'd ask the dealer for that, and if they refuse be willing to go to small claims court. 

On the other hand, if it's just a date printed on the receipt and you only knew about it after you'd decided to buy, then you have no rights whatsoever. 

Regarding the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations if a breach has occurred right to redress says you may unwind the contract or seek a price reduction based on the seriousness of the breach.

It would ultimately take a court to decide whether there has been a breach of the CPRs as it is a broad and non-specific piece of legislation. 

Just regarding the last part in bold, there was a case against Halfords where

The Council brought a prosecution against Halfords, alleging that it had committed an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 by issuing an invoice which misleadingly claimed that a full service had been carried out when it had not. 

The case was more about whether a test purchase by a Trading Standards offer was covered under the legislation (it was decided that it was) but it was agreed that the actions of Halfords were defined as misleading.

Possibly similarities between the Halfords case and the this one in relation to information on the invoice/receipt. 

Robbo66

Motorcycle manufacturers do the same, the year designation for mine is L8, 8 for 18 however it was manufactured  and first registered in 2017. 

Penguin_

I used to work for a Caravans sales company - as an accountant. What they're saying is true in so much as the production of the new year caravans start in August & if they are finished before the end of the calendar year they will be registered in the current year.