Have I been ripped off by dodgy dealer?
Hi. I bought a 2019 MH last week and traded in my 2016 Bailey MH. I had recent damp report from the habitation survey done elsewhere saying Bailey was clear. Didn’t stop the dealer miraculously finding up to 38% damp (under the freshwater tank and near the shower tray). Claimed it would take ages to fix, requiring removing shower and water tank. Whilst being sceptical (they had just overfilled the freshwater tank and could have splashed water around before testing), I eventually agreed to a negotiated reduction of £850 on the trade in to complete the deal. Lo and behold, the van is on their website for sale less than 6 days later complete with photos and virtual tour.
Both dealers are approved workshops. The first dealer had nothing to gain by giving me the all clear.
Q1. Was the first dealer incompetent?
Q2. Is it possible for that level of damp to appear with no use of the MH in a month?
Q3. Is this sharp practice by a dodgy dealer?
Comments
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Hi mlee, the answer to all the questions may be yes, or it may be no.
So long as you are happy with the deal you got I would try to forget it.
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The only time that a dealer has spotted damp in a trade in was genuine as I myself had spotted the problem the evening before when having a last minute check of the caravan prior to trade in. I was not upset and a good deal was agreed. The caravan was extensively damp across the rear wall and at least one corner I lost out about £750 and the dealer sold to trade (a local travellers group). What did annoy me a little was that OH talked me out of changing the caravan 9 months earlier when it had an extended damp warranty still in place
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Exactly the same thing last time we traded in. Passed the week old damp check sheet to the dealer, he then waffled on about some damp machines not very good and his is brilliant, turned on my heel and lo and behold the damp in my old van disappeared as if some miracle had happened.
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It's a tale often heard.
No one can say who is right or wrong but you've done the deal rather than walk away so I would follow the advice from A&J.
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We have come across that "practice" in the past ,to try to reduce the trade in price (more profit for them),but we are wise to that now ,as most of the time it is down to condensation which if getting them do the same on the one you are buying will also give "higher" readings or as posted by others walk away or threaten to, in all probability they will do nothing to your LV before they hope the next buyer ,will not "notice"
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The last caravan I traded in had numerous problems but damp wasn’t one of them, nevertheless I had an independent survey done, at a cost of £45. This with an estimate of how much it would costs to rectify the faults was in my pocket when I did the deal. The dealers PE price was in line with my report so happy to do a deal. Forewarned is forearmed
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I trust no dealer in anything. My last caravan was valued over the phone against a new one in 2014, and him saying provided when you bring it in that there is no damp found, I felt safe with that knowing there was none.
On the day I towed it to South Cave Caravans to finalise the deal, he inspected it, said the back wall had damp and dropped the trade in price by £1000, I towed it back home.
Three days later I got a call saying they would begrudgingly stick to the original trade in price and would accept a loss on the deal, I asked for an extra £10 for fuel wasted and got that as well.
It is so easy when you are excited in a new purchase to go along with the dealers remarks, rather than walk away disappointed, I'm glad I did.
As others have said, draw a line under it now and move on to enjoy your new purchase.
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I have recently had my 3 year old caravan serviced at a local ncc approved workshop, 50%;damp was found in 1 area, I asked if they would do the warranty work on the damp and they said no as they won’t do warranty work for coachman as they are a nightmare to deal with. I was advised to take it back to the supplying dealer. I contacted the supplying dealer to inform them and was told I would have pay £81 for a damp check so of course remonstrated but got nowhere as they said Coachman would want a damp report from them.
After this phone call I e-mailed the MD of the national company and the next day had a phone call saying the damp check would be done for free. Yesterday the damp check was done and 16% damp was found in the area that the other workshop said had 50% damp.Which damp check is correct?
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we had the same our 2011 had been sreviced 3 weeks before we traded it in on a lunar they dealer we brought the lunar off sent someone to check our bailey out he found damp in toilet and front room but they said it was ok as it was only 2 and half years old and there do the work under baileys warrinty i went round the bailey with my damp meter and found nowere over 18 percent damp wish i could of said the same about our lunar after two years 80 precent damp all over
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Is the Bailey motorhome which is being traded in not covered by the six year water ingress warranty?
David
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Had a very similar thing yesterday! Had my van serviced in March by an NCC registered engineer. A notification came back that we had damp.
Left it as we couldn’t afford to get the work done. Last week asked the original engineer to revisit and provide a quote “you have 90% damp in the front near side corner, 50% damp in the rear near side corner. Total to fix £3,000”.
Visited another engineer yesterday. Showed him the report, not the quote. He went through the van showing us the readings. Sure we need some work but less than £1,000. Fuming that someone we trusted has tried to take advantage, but equally chuffed we’ve saved the money.
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The whole system is fraught with danger. Going off topic a little - we had a split in our shower cubicle and it needed replacing.
I had no idea of the cost and a local dealer gave me a figure which was astronomical so I said I would have to claim off the insurance. I contacted them and their comment was 'shouldn't be that much,' Went to a main Bailey dealer in Nottingham and it was far cheaper...I could have been ripped off big style!
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Not society CD that’s down to money grabbing companies☹️
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It's rather like these modern 'bit-coin' companies. All smoke and mirrors or in our case damp.
You have to know what you are dealing with and get unbiased opinion in the first place in order to obtain a satisfactory result
It is a modern problem that a company's overriding need is 'profit' before customer service and satisfaction. That applies in all walks of life!
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