Cost of repairing damage to caravan ??

[TheTravelMan]

I have the chance of a 2 berth caravan, end kitchen, small corner washroom. 1997 Swift Challenger.

It has damage to the rear, mainly cracking to the lower skirting and around the offside light lense of which will need replacing completely, not sure if damage has penertrated thru inside, but looks OK.

I am not an expert when it comes to assessing damage! more so any unseen hidden damage. (If Any!)

The damage has been caused due to a minor RTA!!

The Van is For Sale at around £2200. Is this ok and at what sort of price are you looking at for repair?

I understand that this question will be hard to judge without seeing.

The rest of the caravan looks to be in good condition.

Also what sort of price would a van of this type and age be worth.

Look forward to your replies!

Thanks in advance.

Andrew.

 

[ThePlotter]

Like you no expert on these matters but if it the rear panel on this van is it GRP or ABS or aluminium if the first easy to get repaired the second less so and the last means full rear panel (big job) cost would depend on extent of damage and type.

Other damage could be to chassis/corner steadies depending on how hard it was hit.

My suggestion would be take some good photos and take to a repairer for a guide price (obviously not tablets of stone as they would need to see it)

Price of the van i guess is there or thereabouts,if he was tailended how come the cars insurance hasnt had the van repaired?

 

[rob_jax]

Hi,

I'm with The Plotter on this one, it should have been repaired under the owners insurance.

Unless it wasn't insured, or the cost for professional repair exceeds the market value of the caravan, or it's not the owner selling it - but an accident recovery place.

Parts for a 10 year old van should not be hard to locate - plenty of caravan breakers yards around.

And I'd suggest a price under

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Our 'van was involved in a minor accident on August Bank Holiday Monday, the idiot in the car behind wasn't looking where he was going, and drove into the rear of our caravan. Fortunately we were in a queue, so doing about 5mph.

When we inspected the damage, it was located around the socket of the corner steady, the panel had cracked in a couple of places. We were extremely lucky!

We had our dealer access the damage for insurance purposes, the cost of which is

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Our 'van was involved in a minor accident on August Bank Holiday Monday, the idiot in the car behind wasn't looking where he was going, and drove into the rear of our caravan. Fortunately we were in a queue, so doing about 5mph.

When we inspected the damage, it was located around the socket of the corner steady, the panel had cracked in a couple of places. We were extremely lucky!

We had our dealer access the damage for insurance purposes, the cost of which is

 

[TheTravelMan]

The people who are selling this caravan are selling it on behalf of an insurance company, only problem is they don't realy do caravans so know nothing, as they specialise in commercial and agricultural vehicles (both stolen recovered and accident damage) I only know of them thru work. My other problem is that it's to far to go for another look and I wish now i had looked properly at the time, as was there collecting a tractor with work, and it caught my eye but thought nothing of it until I got home. All i have now is a few photos from their website.

 

[Angela_5076436]

Andrew

If you can't get to it , take good pics and get an estimate/guesstimate for repairs cost - walk away .

Though you would like to get this van it could cost a LOT to repair , particularly if you do not know exactly what has been damaged.

Better to be safe than sorry here I think - but you have to make the decision.

 

[ThePlotter]

Andrew you have just told me the important bit of info,they are selling for the insurance co and are not in the caravan business.Please please walk away and not look back under the sales of goods act fit for purpose the vendor has a get out if the merchandise is not their normal product,pleae give it a miss.

 

[TheTravelMan]

Here is a couple of photo's of the damage to the caravan. Any advice from these would be appreciated. Also I am adding these as an exercise to see if i can get my photos to upload onto the forum for future reference.





Many Thanks

Andrew

 

[TheTravelMan]

Thanks for your replies. It look like I will give this one a miss on this occasion.

I have been thinking for a while of buying a small caravan for my parents use. They dont caravan presently but have 2 small dogs and I think this would be ideal for them. So was hoping I might of been able to pick up my self a bargain to help them get started. After much consideration I think the cost of purchase and repair will out way the limited budget available. I have decided to look out for an older well cared for van

within budget.

I have a 5 berh Swift Challenger myself and only been caravanning a couple of years now, but love it!

Lastly Still leave your thoughts on the photo's I added earlier of the damaged caravan. I'm just curious!!

Many Thanks

Andrew.

 

[ThePlotter]

On the face of it damage doesnt look to serious,in fact I suspect fairly easy to repair even yourself if the panel is GRP,the light units are readily available,at the end of the day it is down I think to whether you want to take a flyer and take a chance,try knocking them down and see what happens.What I dont understand is why are they selling it for the insurance co,has it been written off if it has it must be because the cost of repair is higher than the value of the van,so that may be the clue to what damage there is.

 

[Robert_374242026]

I reversed onto a low metal fence causing a break/dent on the lower part of our outfit.The dealer said it cannot be repaired and i would have to have a new rear section fitted at a cost of

 

[rob_jax]

This looks like it was an insurance write off.

Sure the small crack in the lower panel can be easily fixed, likewise the replacement light unit - but the big repair is where the "GRP" bumper unit on the caravan has been pushed underneath the rear panel, and separated the two units.

If you look between the Swift logo and the blue GB sticker you'll see the panel separation.

Robert

 

[TheTravelMan]

Thanks for your help and advice on this one!

I can confirm I have decided NOT to purchase this caravan and instead will keep looking.

To Rob-jax comment about the panel seperation I hadn't noticed that, so thanks for that. I Guess from your comment that part would be expensive!!

I enjoy this forum being able to gather help and advice and can say that over the past couple of years I've been caravanning now I have received some invaluable advice on here.

Again Many Thanks.

Andrew.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Doesn't look bad at all!

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

My pictures.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

My pictures.

Not bad for first attempt!!

 

[Ogre]

Walk away from it.

You'll pick up a van of that age for

 

[Garfield]

How do you upload photos? I have photos of our Swift cottingham put back on the road for

 

[GrahamPonty]

Hi Garfield

Please follow instructions below

(Uploading and Resizing Pictures for the Forum)

Go to: http://photobucket.com and register yourself on this website, upload your pictures, once your pictures are uploaded you need to select the picture you want to display on this forum

Above the picture you will see a few tabs (Move, Edit, Share,Delete,) select Edit, you now have the choice of (Full size, Resize, Rotate, Share, Delete, Buy prints) select resize, you now have the choice of (Avatar (100 x 75) Thumbnail (160 x 120) Website, Email (320 x 240) Message board (640 x 480) choose Website, email, you will now get a message saying you are about to resize this image click yes to continue, your image is now resized.

Under or to the right of the picture you will see four different boxes to select, select the one that says HTML Tag, click on it and you will see a message saying copied. All you have to do then is type your topic in the forum then right click on your mouse and paste, your picture should now be on the forum.

Graham (Ponty)