Hi everyone, I hope you are all fine and safe.
Well, I am about to buy a caravan. It's the 1st one. Due to the fact that I have a small engine car - Ford Cmax - I am limited to buy a caravan within certain weight.
I found a 2006 Trigano Rubis 420 DD fixed bed 4 berth. I really like it. The dealer sent pictures, agreed to send more, assured me the caravan will have 6 months waranty, papers and will be checked before it will be delivered to me - I hope it means habitation check, too...I will ask.
I have a real issue: lockdown. The dealer seems to be a good one but it's in Leeds and I live in Hertfordshire. I would like to see it first and buy afterwards but can I travel during the current situation? The dealer can offer delivery. Is it wise?
Also, I need to keep the caravan in a caravan storage 30 minutes away from me. Can I drive there due to the same issues?
Please let me know if you can give me some pieces of advice or any tips? Anything from you is more than welcome.
With many thanks and best wishes, RF Adam
Personally, I would not be buying a caravan without seeing it.
There could be way too many issues with it.
I can see that's a fair trek, but there appears to also be one for sale near Romsey, closer?
There is a chance things will be a little less restrictive in a couple of weeks, so I would just hold on until I could go and see it.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
I would have thought the dealer can legally deliver it to you. A dealer delivering a customer’s caravan appears to me no different from a Tesco or Amazon delivery to your door.
For the rest of it you know the law as well as anybody who might post their opinion on here so what you do is your choice & nobody else’s. I fail to see how driving upcountry to view a caravan is a necessary journey nor is going to your storage place either although I would guess you could get away with doing both.
I do know these particular caravans seem to hold their value so I guess it is not cheap & I would not buy a 15yr old caravan without carefully inspecting it including as mentioned a damp check.
You talk of a 6mnth warranty but realistically no dealer is going to honour that to the extent of replacing faulty fridges & the like. The best they will offer is bit of tinkering in their workshop so due to the distance you are basically buying this caravan sold as seen unless you find it is so faulty that you can reject it within 30days under current consumer law.
To do that you would have to find the faults by using the caravan which you cannot at the moment.
So it would appear that to stay within the law you can buy this caravan sight unseen & the dealer can deliver it to your address. After that it is your choice.
I definitely would not buy a second hand caravan without having it checked over by an independent caravan engineer (unless you are skilled in checking for damp yourself).
We hear so many horror stories on this site of people who have bought a second hand caravan that looks spotless only to discover later that it is riddled with damp.
Do NOT buy unless seen or unless a check for damp and overall condition of the caravan has been done by an independent AWS technician. It may cost but better that losing a couple of thousand on a heap of rubbish. An AWS technician in the area can be found here; Approved Workshop Scheme
More importantly remember that buying from a dealer you have the protection of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which allows you to reject the caravan within the first 30 days and to get a full refund. After the first 30 days and within 6 months you have to give the dealer ONE opportunity for repair before requesting a refund. As the dealer is so far from you this poses a problem.
Think very carefully before committing yourself to a purchase no matter how much you like the caravan.
Like others have said, there is no way I would buy any caravan without having really good look and a poke around myself. A real scrapper can be made to look good in photos.
There are a couple of dealers I know of in Hertfordshire, MG caravans of Royston, and GT Towing near Hatfield, which is where I bought mine. They are both well worth a look and I have always found GT to be good to deal with. I get most of my spares and accessories there.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 12/2/2021
Like others have said, there is no way I would buy any caravan without having really good look and a poke around myself. A real scrapper can be made to look good in photos.
There are a couple of dealers I know of in Hertfordshire, MG caravans of Royston, and GT Towing near Hatfield, which is where I bought mine. They are both well worth a look and I have always found GT to be good to deal with. I get most of my spares and accessories there.
I got my (then 2 year old) van from MG Caravans, to be blunt, there were a host of minor faults (Broken fridge ice box hinges, broken exterior locker doors etc,) that they would have left unfixed unless I pointed out the faults, they did fix them on request. On picking up van the ATC warning light didn't work, the 13 pin plug fell apart, they did take the van back in to fix those.
As part of the bundle deal, I was entitled to a discount on an awning, but the sales girl didn't have a clue (nor seemed to care much!) whether they were offering the current model (with features I specifically wanted) or last years model that lacked them (I bought it elsewhere in the end!)!
When I took delivery of van, I discovered the fridge was actually disgustingly filthy and mouldy in all the nooks and crannies, the carpets which had been wrapped in protective plastic were actually filthy and heavily stained. The tyre pressures were mismatched and only about two thirds of what they should have been!
Point being, they would happily have sold a obviously faulty, filthy van had I not picked them up! You could argue the van was unroadworthy when picked up as well! I've heard bad things (which I can't verify for myself) about work done for other customers too! They failed to do the change of ownership warrantee registration with the manufacturer which they promised to do on my behalf, nearly resulting in me losing remainder of manufacturers warrantee! They failed to include their own warrantee paperwork with the purchase paperwork, which I had to chase them for. There was no paperwork for the service that fell due during their ownership, and I have no reason to believe that they even did one before delivery to me.
They were very sloppy, and only did things that were picked up by me, but should have been done automatically by a worthwhile PDI (which I have no reason to believe they did in any form!)
The only reason I bought the van from them was because it was inherently better condition than most vans I'd looked at in other dealers, and the minor faults were being fixed after I pointed them out. This was a two year old van sold at market price, not a bargain old van on a bought as seen deal! Not unreasonable to expect better from a franchised dealership.
I wouldn't recommend them, and I didn't trust them enough to allow them to service van when that became due, I used a highly recommended approved independent engineer instead.
RF Adam, don't assume even a franchised dealer is honest, probably better to view them as crooks, I looked at lots of rubbish with vans only 2 or 3 years old, that dealers were happily selling at full market price but with a catalogue of faults including major damp issues! View it for yourself, get it inspected by a qualified independent engineer, and don't believe a word the dealer says unless you can verify it for yourself! If they won't allow an independent inspection, just walk away.
Well, it seems like the dealer was nice-they need to be I presume :) - but even if he filmed during the meeting...the image was pretty poor. I think I will wait a bit until measures will ease.
Thank you very much for your advice.
Hello again,
Thanks a lot to everyone for their useful advice.
Can I please ask if anyone knows what other caravans I could look for just in case I don't buy this one?
My car is a Ford CMAX 2015 1 litre ecoboost engine and they say It can tow/MTPLM up to 1200kg...I was told Bailey Ranger 460, Lunar Chateau could do the job
I know it's a tough issue when time comes to choose a caravan...
Any opinions, advice or tips much, much appreciated.
Thank you
This is a very handy tool to match car and van.
The 1.0 ecoboost is a small petrol engine so may struggle to tow comfortably even if the weights are ok.
Hope this helps.
There are lots of very experienced people on here who will help with towing advice.
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Topic: My 1st caravan
via mobile 11/2/2021 at 10:32pm
