Bailey Cabrera wall crack

[Dustydog]

John

John

all my Baileys have come from Chipping Sodbury Caravans. As John knows their customer care is brilliant. Very early on one our Pageants had a new ABS front panel. The Wyoming has been fine. The cause was a production error where they failed to drill before screwing.IMO cracks in any material are caused by abnormal stress loads. Wallpapering over the crack is wrong in my book.

 

[otherclive]

all my Baileys have come from Chipping Sodbury Caravans. As John knows their customer care is brilliant. Very early on one our Pageants had a new ABS front panel. The Wyoming has been fine. The cause was a production error where they failed to drill before screwing.IMO cracks in any material are caused by abnormal stress loads. Wallpapering over the crack is wrong in my book.

My 2005 Bordeaux came from Chipping Sodbury caravans and had new front panel after year 1 service and new rear panel after year 2 service. Like yours a production not a design defect. Both rectified without any fuss and damp ingress was minimal. Caravan then went until 2014 without any problems at all. But had to have a new seal to the front nearside front window just prior to putting it for sale. If I had been keeping the caravan I would have had all three front window seals replaced.

 

[Dustydog]

My 2005 Bordeaux came from Chipping Sodbury caravans and had new front panel after year 1 service and new rear panel after year 2 service. Like yours a production not a design defect. Both rectified without any fuss and damp ingress was minimal. Caravan then went until 2014 without any problems at all. But had to have a new seal to the front nearside front window just prior to putting it for sale. If I had been keeping the caravan I would have had all three front window seals replaced.

I used to deal with Tony at CS Caravans . The workshop manager. Once the six year warranty expired I’ve used the same AWS. Brilliant chap . Never had any issues that weren’t resolved swiftly .
Front window seals seem to be regular failure points. No wonder they are sold on massive long reels😄

 

[Raywood]

One point of law that appears to be rarely ever mentioned here in PC, is that the wording CRA expects a full fix and it's up to the dealer to decide on the appropriate fix, (as far as I believe ).

If the dealer decides on a fix that in actual fact only turns out to be a temporary fix in the event, doesn't the customer have a secondary case (i.e. cause of action) in the tort of negligence?

The whole point of the this is that for breach of CRA the 6 years limitation starts from the date of the fault; ie the date the faulty caravan was delivered (unless the dealer took steps to conceal facts relevant to a customer 's claim - in which case the 6 year clock is extended for unconscionable conduct.).

But in the tort of negligence a 3 year clock starts only from the date this supposed "repair" fails i.e. the date the damage is visible from the poor repair work that the dealer was responsible for fixing completely, but didn't.

Happy to be corrected if wrong.

In my opinion the limitation period for the repair does not run from the date the fault was found, but if the repair is faulty from the date the owner could first reasonably become aware of this. The repairer is required to do a satisfactory repair and time runs again on the repair.
I would however put the dealer on warning of your rights under the CRA. A word of warning though the act applies only to purchases under £30,000 and the current price of that model exceeds his. If you paid over £30,000 you wil not have the benefit of the Act. If the caravan was bought using a credit card or HP put the companies involved on warning that if the repair is not successful you may have to look to them under the Consumer Credit Act.
I have not heard of a repair for this type of damage so cannot comment on this.

 

[longtailtit]

I was going to leave this issue and say no more but :-

Every legal professional (perhaps 6) we have consulted has indicated the following:- -

In contract in general - limitation is from date of fault ; in terms of CRA this is from date one receives the faulty caravan*. The date one discovers the damage from the fault is irrelevant.

In negligence (tort law) - Limitation is either (a) 6 years is from the date of the damage was done from that negligent act. Or (b) 3 years from the date you discovered the damage . Whichever (a) or (b) is the later, is the latest time for a claim. Dealers can act negligently when completing warranty work for example, for which you haven't paid ( & for which you obviously have no contract).

The £30000 limit relates to section 75 credit card act claims only and is something different

* there is one exception to the 6 year limit - but it only applies if there has been deliberate concealment on the part of a defendant - in which case the limitation is extended and the 6 year clock only starts once the concealment is discovered by the claimant (this is a developing area of law - known as " Section 32")

There are several section 32 cases being considered in the Supreme Court and High Court at the moment and judgement is awaited - but these are definitely not about caravans.

 

[Buckman]

In my opinion the limitation period for the repair does not run from the date the fault was found, but if the repair is faulty from the date the owner could first reasonably become aware of this. The repairer is required to do a satisfactory repair and time runs again on the repair.
I would however put the dealer on warning of your rights under the CRA. A word of warning though the act applies only to purchases under £30,000 and the current price of that model exceeds his. If you paid over £30,000 you wil not have the benefit of the Act. If the caravan was bought using a credit card or HP put the companies involved on warning that if the repair is not successful you may have to look to them under the Consumer Credit Act.
I have not heard of a repair for this type of damage so cannot comment on this.

That is incorrect and only applies to a CC purchase over £30k. There is no restriction in CRA 2015 on the amount a consumer pays for goods.

 

[Raywood]

I was going to leave this issue and say no more but :-

Every legal professional (perhaps 6) we have consulted has indicated the following:- -

In contract in general - limitation is from date of fault ; in terms of CRA this is from date one receives the faulty caravan*. The date one discovers the damage from the fault is irrelevant.

In negligence (tort law) - Limitation is either (a) 6 years is from the date of the damage was done from that negligent act. Or (b) 3 years from the date you discovered the damage . Whichever (a) or (b) is the later, is the latest time for a claim. Dealers can act negligently when completing warranty work for example, for which you haven't paid ( & for which you obviously have no contract).

The £30000 limit relates to section 75 credit card act claims only and is something different

* there is one exception to the 6 year limit - but it only applies if there has been deliberate concealment on the part of a defendant - in which case the limitation is extended and the 6 year clock only starts once the concealment is discovered by the claimant (this is a developing area of law - known as " Section 32")

There are several section 32 cases being considered in the Supreme Court and High Court at the moment and judgement is awaited - but these are definitely not about caravans.

It is correct that for the purposes of the act time runs from when you purchase the product with one provision. If the problem is hidden and could not reasonably be discovered time runs from when you might reasonably have done this. Looking at the act though this will not give you anything but a longer time to make the claim, you would not have the benefit of the 30 days and six month provision from that date. Basically it means your six years or in Scotland five runs from the date of discovery. I dealt with many Solicitors Professional Indemnity cases where this was relevant and we had expert advice on his. To be honest though waiting six years to start proceedings is stupid but you would be surprised how often it happened, more common though was missing the three year limitation on injury claims.
Dealers who complete warranty work are still required to do this in a competent manner and you can pursue them if it is faulty.
I did check the CRA again and admit I I was confusing this with the Consumer Credit Act and can find no limit that applies.

 

[Buckman]

It is correct that for the purposes of the act time runs from when you purchase the product with one provision. If the problem is hidden and could not reasonably be discovered time runs from when you might reasonably have done this. Looking at the act though this will not give you anything but a longer time to make the claim, you would not have the benefit of the 30 days and six month provision from that date. Basically it means your six years or in Scotland five runs from the date of discovery. I dealt with many Solicitors Professional Indemnity cases where this was relevant and we had expert advice on his. To be honest though waiting six years to start proceedings is stupid but you would be surprised how often it happened, more common though was missing the three year limitation on injury claims.
Dealers who complete warranty work are still required to do this in a competent manner and you can pursue them if it is faulty.
I did check the CRA again and admit I I was confusing this with the Consumer Credit Act and can find no limit that applies.

The big problem is proving that the fault was there at time of purchase especially 5 years later like in our case.

 

[Dustydog]

The big problem is proving that the fault was there at time of purchase especially 5 years later like in our case.