Damp

[mariet1968@hotmail.]

Bought our first MH about 6 weeks ago from a private seller who advertised the MH as recently refurbed and in good condition. We are novices to Motorhomes so took it to a motorhome garage to have it checked it before we used it for example the gas and electrics and batteries. The garage has found the MH to be riddled with damp mainly the floor being rotten and advised it was dangerous and the floor could have caved in at anytime. The MH is a fiat ducato granduca 2003. The repair bill is going to be at least £7000. I rang the seller who is denying all knowledge of knowing it was damp and refuses to help us towards paying for the repairs. My question is has anyone pursued this through the small claims court and been successful on the grounds that the advert was not as described.

 

[Boringfrog]

 

[ChrisLon]

If you have legal protection insurance on your vehicle or your house, I would give them a call

 

[Geistguy]

Unless you can prove that the seller is a "dealer" you may not have much chance of success, private sales are not covered under the Sales of Goods Act. If you paid by credit card or took out a specific loan using the van as collateral you may be able to get some help from the lender.

 

[mariet1968@hotmail.]

It states the goods need to be as described which in my case they weren’t.

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[The Wino]

It states the goods need to be as described which in my case they weren’t.

If you want to go down the legal route id check if you have legal cover on your insurance or get an initial advice appointment from a solicitor. Was it advertised on eBay if so you might get some help from them

 

[Miggs]

Doubt you will get anywhere, eBay do not provide any protection for vehicle sales. A harsh lesson learnt.

 

[mariet1968@hotmail.]

If you want to go down the legal route id check if you have legal cover on your insurance or get an initial advice appointment from a solicitor. Was it advertised on eBay if so you might get some help from them

We bought it on Facebook marketplace, I have contacted trading standard and they said I can pursue under the sale of goods act 1979 as goods not as described. Just really wanted to know if anyone on this forum has been through similar and won the case.

 

[mariet1968@hotmail.]

Doubt you will get anywhere, eBay do not provide any protection for vehicle sales. A harsh lesson learnt.

It is a hard lesson learnt I hold my hands up to that we are complete novices and it’s our first MH suppose we were too trust worthy at the time of purchase.

 

[Speve]

Hi and welcome to MHF.
Good luck with your case hope you get a full refund

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[monzer]

A habitation check is a kind of MOT for the interior side of motorhomes. Did you get anything like that with the van?

 

[Figaro]

Sorry to hear of your plight.
It is a hard lesson indeed, but even people well seasoned in buying and selling motorhomes can get caught out as we've seen on this forum recently.
It might be worth getting a second opinion and or looking at a diy repair if you're handy with a saw screwdriver and a hammer ?
There is lots of good advice on hear and some threads of a similar situation that could be useful if you do a search.
I doubt the legal route will be easy if it's even possible ?
Good luck

Edit : what part of the country are you in ? A knowledgeable funster may be willing to have a look at it for you

 

[DJL220]

Sorry to hear you have brought a van with dampness. Your story is very similar to ours from 4 years ago. Our buyer stated the same that they where not aware etc. As a private buyer you do not have much recourse I do not think. We didn’t chase after the buyer and in the end I repaired the MH myself as the costs where massive. I was quoted £10k alone just for labour. This forum is great for getting advice, search for dampness and your see loads of pictures and guides if you keeping the MH and resolving.
Good luck with the buyer !

 

[mariet1968@hotmail.]

Hi and welcome to MHF.
Good luck with your case hope you get a full refund

It’s in the garage being repaired all I asked of the seller was to go halves on the repair costs however they won’t even consider it.

 

[Elsie2010]

Playing devil's advocate, may the seller not have been aware?
Our last MH had damp to the tune of £1,800 which we had no idea of until we traded it in (luckily, we wasn't hit with the 1.8k repair bill)

It had an hab check 10 months prior from the dealer it was purchased from and the dealer we traded it in to did say it does look quite recent but still had readings in the 40's on the damp meter....all down the near side of the hab

You'd hope people would be honest but, if they did know, they probably didn't want to be sidled with the £'s in repairs (not saying its right of course, but humans tend to be selfish individuals at times) or, could be like us, and just never knew

Good luck with your plight....don't let it d@mpen (no pun) your spirits. Hope you get it all sorter

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[Figaro]

It’s in the garage being repaired all I asked of the seller was to go halves on the repair costs however they won’t even consider it.

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