Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase

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Thu 13 Sep 2012 10:51
Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase - logan5

Hi all,

we recently bought a 2nd hand motorhome from a dealer. We were told there were no significant faults with it other than what you'd expect for a 10-year old vehicle. When questioned about damp we were told there was nothing to worry about, all motorhomes have a bit of damp here and there.

We've since had a damp test done which has shown quite a significant amount of water ingress over a long period of time. The readings are high enough that deterioration has occured. The damage is such that any expert (which you'd expect a motorhome dealer to be) would have easily spotted it. Someone has tried to cover it up with some fixes. It'll probably be a few £K to repair.

Should we reject the vehicle on the grounds of unsatisfactory quality (the dealer should have done proper checks, they say they do on their website and they told us in person but nothing was provided to us to show they have done this thoroughly other than a pre-delivery ticklist). Should we allow then to repair it, or insist we get it repaired by an independent specialist workshop?

thanks for any replies.

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Thu 13 Sep 2012 13:48
Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase - thunderbird

Its very difficult when a vehicle gets to 10 years old as there are bound to be faults, its a fact of life. If those faults stop it performing the task forwhich it was purchased you have a case if not you are doomed.

What amazes me is the number of people who buy a vehicle then find a fault that they should have spotted or did and ignored it. You spotted the potential problem and believed the dealer, bad idea, what you should have done was get a second opinion or walk away.

You will have to give the dealer a chance to sort the issues, if you don;'t you will end up in court trying to get your repair costs back. Dealers don't just write blank cheques.

As for rejecting it see my first paragraph, its 10 years old and you don't get perfection at that age in any used vehicle.

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Fri 14 Sep 2012 15:59
Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase - madf

"When questioned about damp we were told there was nothing to worry about, all motorhomes have a bit of damp here and there."

The dealer admitted there would be damp, you confirm that here on a public forum and now you think you have been sold a pup because there IS damp?

You are totally dependent on the goodwill of the dealer as legally I suggest you ignored what he said and bought it despite his clear statement there might be damp.

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Sat 15 Sep 2012 09:05
Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase - logan5
Thanks for the replies folks. I didn't explain very well, the dealer said there was nothing wrong with the vehicle pre-sale. They have since admitted they didn't perform the proper checks when they put it out for sale, and missed the associated faults. There have been other developments, Ill update on conclusion of those.
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Sun 16 Sep 2012 21:19
Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase - Brit_in_Germany

Was it a Bessacarr? These have given other backroomers problems - see:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=95975

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Fri 21 Sep 2012 16:05
Motorhome - serious damp discovered after purchase - logan5

No, it was a different manufacturer. Sorry I can't be more specific at this stage!

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