How can I find a dealer to trust
In August 14, i brought my first motorhome, only to discover 3 months later that it had afair amount of damp. I had the work completed at a Caravan Club approved dealer, it cost £1400.00. Since that point the vehicle has always been kept undercover.
I decided to trade it in for a new motorhome in October 2015, on the day of the change over. half my stuff was already in the new vehicle and then to be told that there was damp in the floor of the vehicle. i ended up having to take £2000.00 off the trade
in value as basicaly there was at that point nothing else i could do. It has left me feeling very sceptically about dealers
Comments
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1 Was your first puchase private? with no warranty
2 I would have held out with latest purchase,if they want the sale,they will bend a lot i have found,as some will try it on to maximise profits
3 Always take someone with you on first visit, and get a px quote in writing with a written guarantee of the px signed by salesperson
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It seems that this issue of damp being found on hand over is quite common. Having never sold or bought a second hand van I would have thought that once they had checked the van out & agreed the price then the legal contract would be binding so I would
be expecting them to honour their side of it. I would also personally want it all checked and written down if I was not leaving the old van with them to await delivery. I am sure some will know what the common trend is. Regards, Roy0 -
Hi
From experience, dealers love it if you turn up in a car with no caravan or motorhome, then start looking at their stock, or even attempt a purchase at a show. They are quite happy to do a deal on paper and only do a proper appraisal of your trade in at
handover. Then the "agreed" price goes out of the window if they discover faults. Some can be a bit inscrupulous with the damp meter, relying on the customers ignorance of such things to deduct money for the "repair", knowing that you've fallen in love with
the new van already so you'll just pay up.Once bitten and all that?!!
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If a Dealer had hit me with a 2000 pound reduction on handover, I would have immediately stopped the deal. And taken my van away. They were banking on your response, and you gave them what they wanted.....a larger margin on the deal.NO dealer is your friend,
you are just another customer.Treat them in the same way.0 -
Sorry to read your tale of woe. You have not accused the dealers of being dishonest so both of them might be honest and the group of you might just be unlucky. It's also unclear who paid for the £1400 repair although I presume you had a warranty.
The second incident is increasingly common as dealers seek to avoid losing money by taking in damp vans. Even after a repair, damp can arise elsewhere. The key is to have your van checked over before you exchange any money. My van was checked over when I part exchanged it.
I would ask the forum, "How can I ensure that I buy a motorhome that is not prone to damp?" The traditional answer is to buy a Hymer or similar German van - a lot don't agree! It's actually no guarantee but the method of design and construction has a big role to play in avoiding damp issues and thus the more expensive continental vans fair better. For example, Hymers do not have wood in their structure, it relies on a product similar to polyurethane which repells rather than attracts moisture. Hence they might leak on rare occasions but they don't suffer from damp.
You are right to be sceptical about all dealers. I am and it seems so is rayjsj. There is a difference between cynicism and scepticism. You might ask, "How can I move from being a sceptic to trusting my dealer?" It's took me over a year to do that with my current dealer although whilst I trust it, I know where it places customers compared to profit. And its not first.
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Many thanks for your responses, the first repair was paid for by me, the first van only had 3 months warranty and a limit of £300.00. So when i brought the new one it is one with no wood in it, so i might have elimated that problem. Also store it undercover
now, but then it is a vehicle that should be outside. Like many of you i think the practice of giving a price without even looking is a bit of a money maker for the dealer. You have transfered your insurance, and the tax is nearly expired, you have half
you stuff in the new van, and the joy of the day is tainted by this.. I had been into the dealers a few weeks before the final change and said do you want to have a look at it, they declined, i wonder why? Maybe next time i will go for a van conversion.
But at least i feel i am not the only one0 -
I had been into the dealers a few weeks before the final change and said do you want to have a look at it, they declined, i wonder why?
Interesting. When we part-exchanged our last 2 MHs (at different dealers), we were asked by both dealers to bring our MH in for them to check it about a couple of weeks or so before picking our new MH up. They both checked very thoroughly, and Marquis Preston (the first one) very carefully checked for damp as, in their words, they had had a number of MHs with damp, so they now check before any exchange. That was in 2012.
As far as I'm concerned that's the way it should be, at least there won't be any nasty surprises on the day such as you unfortunately did. Very odd the dealer declined your offer of having a look at your MH. For my own peace of mind I did not object at all to taking our MH in to be checked. At least at that stage we could have either walked away and looked elsewhere, or discussed things with the dealer, had there been problems
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Ho \ianD that is exactly why i took the vehicle into them in the hope that they would look at it prior to the day of purchase. I am pleased to hear that you had better service. There has been little to no contact since the sale which makes me think even
more that there was something amiss0 -
TrackerEKS, I'm sorry that you had such a negative experience. I don't know quite know what I would have done in your situation. As you say, on the day everything is arranged and to be confronted with a reduction in price for your MH leaves you in an extremely difficult position. In hindsight, had you called their bluff and said you would not deal on that basis, they may have agreed to the original price, but that is being clever after the event.
I hope you can still enjoy your MH despite the bad start with it. It's a hard lesson to learn, but not all dealers are as bad as that, though of course they're all in it for the profit. There are still some decent ones around.
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InaD, well sure hope to enjoy it in the approaching season, 40 nights already booked. It has been inside in undercover store all winter, look forward to getting it out. The new model is one with no wood in the constrution so hopefully there will not have
the same excuse next time, once bitten twice shy. Might even go from coachbuilt to van converstion0
