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 Topic: Newbie in Touring Caravan
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18/3/2024 at 1:14pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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You don't say anything about the make, model, age or asking price of the van! Buying ANY s/h van has a number of risks, some mentioned above, damp, stolen, outstanding finance (effectively stolen, as technically still owned by finance company!), unroadworthy, unsafe gas/electrics being a few.
Absolutely NO paperwork of any kind rings alarm bells with me! Having the keys means nothing, replacement keys are easily obtained! Genuine owners usually have some paperwork, invoice/bill of sale from when they purchased as a minimum! Most genuine sellers have a 'history' of bills, especially when things like tyres and rubber gas hose should be no more than 5 years old! Sounds like a private sale, and that's very much Caveat Emptor! You purchase entirely at your own risk and with little or no legal comeback if it's not as you expect, even misrepresentation of goods will be down to you to take out a private legal case to reclaim losses! Personally I'd walk away! Plenty of vans available with less risks. If a dealer, then you have some legal comeback under sales of goods laws, but not always easy to exercise if a dodgy dealer, and the caravan industry is far from immune from them!
You can do a little to minimise your exposure to risk, if it's a post 1992 van (assuming a van originally sold on UK market - foreign vans may not have been!) it will at new have been registered in the CRIS scheme, worth checking the VIN number (to be found on window stickers and plate/label on body/chassis (often by the door, on A-Frame or in gas locker) - make sure they ALL tally, and if defaced/missing, run away!) to see if logged as stolen, insurance write off or under uncleared finance arrangement on the CRIS register, not fool proof, but some way to assurance. Secondly, get it checked over by a qualified caravan engineer for roadworthiness and habitation safety! Some expense involved for a van you may well want to walk away from, BUT much cheaper than buying a complete lemon that could be a total loss of your investment! Caravan spares and repairs are pretty expensive, you don't want big bills as soon as you acquire it!
If it's an absolute 'bargain price', WHY! Too good to be true prices are something to be extremely cautious about, marketplace is sufficiently buoyant at the start of the season for sellers to demand and get 'market prices' on anything worth having! If anything, there are as many vans out there worth walking away from as are worth buying, and that extends from nearly new to vintage models. When I was looking for a up to 3 years old van, probably the majority I looked at were not good buys, and that was from dealers, it is a minefield for the unwary.
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via mobile 16/3/2024 at 10:37pm
It is not essential to belong to any club if you don't want to. Most insurers will insist on a wheel clamp and hitch lock as minimum. In my opinion it is not worth paying over the odds for these as they are ony really a deterrant to the casual thief. A "professional" caravan thief can get through any of them, so if they really want your caravan they will have it. I think they mainly target new/expensive ones though, although not always. Unless you are buying new, condition is eveything, and you can get just as much fun out of an older one than you can out of a new one. Ours is 32 years old. Whatever caravan you get, enjoy it! 
