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We have returned a van, not easy had to involve trading standards and took legal advice too, however they had supplied it with very obvious differences and we rejected it within days hand had not used it.

Did you have extras added as this can effect the weight? and have you taken it to a weighbridge

You say 'you think the weights are wrong' surely you have to be certain the weights are wrong before attemping to make any claim. If the weight of the unladen van is within tolerance I can't see where the problem is given that your caravan is a popular one its unlikely that one caravan is significantly different from another. You would have also been aware of the caravan weights before purchase. Perhaps you could provide some more detailed information.

David

What part of the Sale of Goods Act, exactly, do you think that the dealer has breached. "Weights" as you put it,  does not sound like a breach of the Act. If you can set out just what the problem is, whether the dealer made any representations to you as regards weight, whether you made it clear to the dealer that the weight was an essential factor i nyour buying the van, I can provide legal advice if you wish

regards

Phil

As regards noseweight, there are a number of factors to consider.

1. The max noseweight that your car can take according to its handbook

2. The max noseweight that the structure of your caravan can handle.

3. Max noseweight of the tow bar

Each may be a different weight but when towing you have to go with the lowest of the noseweights. This is, generally, the noseweight that your car can take and the tow bar that is fitted to your car should be able (at least) to take that weight. If not you probably have the wrong tow bar. 

Bailey and alko give 100Kg for noseweight. You do not say what the max noseweight the car has. If the max the car can take is, say, 75Kg then the back of the car will droop if you load up to 100Kg.

Empty your van but leave the battery in plus gas and mover (which is usually in front of the axel) and the nose will be top heavy as all the heavy stuff is at the front of the van.

Check the lightest noseweight and load your van until you achieve that noseweight. Put things over the axel or towards the back...kind of to lift the front end.

From your description this sounds more like a loading issue than a Sale of Goods Act issue.

Under the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) your caravan should be of satisfactory quality, sufficiently durable and free from any defects. Further it should be "as described". You do not provide any indication that the van is not of satisfactory quality, merely that you have not yet achieved the right noseweight. The lack of noseweight achievement, in the manner you have described, does not suggest that it is insufficiently durable nor that it it is not of satisfactory quality. It was sold as described. Thus, as you have set out your case, there is no breach of the Act. There needs to be something more, in terms of defect, than what you have described.

If the van, when properly loaded, cannot ever achieve the right noseweight to satisfy the Construction Design and Use regs (i.e to the lightest of the various noseweights) then it may not be of satisfactory quality, but that may mean that you have the wrong car to tow it. If the Dealer said that your car could tow it, legally, and you can show that you relied on that representation to buy it, then you may have a case, but only if this is not a loading issue. 

You are taking the van back to be checked, and it would be helpful if you could post on here just what the dealer says.

I have seen quite a number of posts on here about Bailey noseweights. Some have problems getting it right and others say its down to correct loading to getting it right. There are many such Baileys on the road and they can't all have the wrong noseweight, so I reckon that it is possible to achieve the right noseweight. If this model of van could never get down to the right noseweight then the magazines would be screaming it out. They are not, so that brings me back to loading. Are you actually carrying too much, or is it all too much front loaded?

Anyway, rather than allege a breach of the Sale of Goods Act, take the dealers advice and then consider whether there may be a breach of the Act. Get your facts together first, before any allegation is made. Make an allegation and the dealer will go onto the defensive and not give anything away.

Let us know how you get on

Phil

From what you say I doubt you have a cat in hells chance of returning the van under the Sof G's act as I am sure that Bailey could illustrate that the van could be loaded to distribute the weight to get a reasonable nose weight. I think you have to be a bit more adventurous with the loading of the van and make use of that massive space under the fixed bed. We have the same layout, with the same AlKO hitch restrictions and we have had to experiment to get the right noseweigh but it is still near to 100kgs.

David

I might be barking (and up the wrong tree!) but is nose weight surely not just based on loading? (well obviously it does depend on what you have inside the van) but in general?

For example:

If you have a user payload of 200kg, and you load all this at the front of the caravan it will make the noseweight 200kg + whatever it is empty?

if you spread it our throughout the van, ie 150 over the axle and 50 at the back does that not leave the nose weight as it is empty? (ish obviosly)  in a type of seesaw action?

For loading my van before I go, I load as i would but do end up with some heavy bits at the back (in the dinette floor space) to balance out the gas bottle and other stuff we have in the front locker.

Yep