New caravan price hike

[otherclive]

I’m surprised that given the OP’s concern he’s not met with the dealer and discussed his concerns to see what the dealers reaction is. In my experience issues are best dealt with by direct discussions, Only if agreement cannot be reached should it be necessary to consider a more formal approach.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I cannot assume the dealer was necessarily being devious. The omission of the stamp before signature, could have been a genuine mistake, but the way it was handled according to Hasbo is distinctly wrong, and that might have been through ignorance of its implications.

I am increasingly inclined to think the obvious modification to the original printed document has no legal standing unless the modification was annotate with all parties signatures or initials and date in their own hand.

What I find surprising is the need for a stamp in this instance, It is quite usual for a contract to order goods not yet manufactured to contain a mechanism to allow for changes of the manufactured price or delays in manufacture, Often it includes a release from contract facility if a price rise or date is missed.

How often have you been presented with a page full of fine print titled !terms and conditions!, and you sign it without reading it?

 

[Buckman]

I agree there will be a contract between the caravan builder and the dealer but we cannot be sure if this allows the caravan builder to add a price rise. This is possible and most people will be aware their telephone supply contracts allow this as an example. There is a distinct possibility that the dealer is pulling a fast one though as they can probably sell the caravan on at the new price f the OP rejects it, so they have nothing to lose.

However at time of customer placing an order the manufactuere would have notified the dealer of the price of the caravan and also date of build. it would be a very foolish dealer to agree to a purchase of a caravan without checking the price and date of delivery.

 

[Malx]

Does an order contract guarantee the dealer will supply the caravan and is he obliged to?
If I was the dealer facing making no profit on the deal because of a manufacturer price rise, I would simply fail to procure the caravan!

How much profit does a dealer make on a caravan?

 

[Malx]

I cannot assume the dealer was necessarily being devious. The omission of the stamp before signature, could have been a genuine mistake, but the way it was handled according to Hasbo is distinctly wrong, and that might have been through ignorance of its implications.

I am increasingly inclined to think the obvious modification to the original printed document has no legal standing unless the modification was annotate with all parties signatures or initials and date in their own hand.

What I find surprising is the need for a stamp in this instance, It is quite usual for a contract to order goods not yet manufactured to contain a mechanism to allow for changes of the manufactured price or delays in manufacture, Often it includes a release from contract facility if a price rise or date is missed.

How often have you been presented with a page full of fine print titled !terms and conditions!, and you sign it without reading it?

Yes, recently signed, and later read the conditions. I think you should be presented with the fine print and then go home and read quietly.

 

[Malx]

We ordered @ new caravan september 2021 for delivery may 2022 , we paid deposit signed paperwork the manager then said he had forgotten something , went to his office with our paper work & he had stamped in bright red ink ,ALL PRICES SUBJET TO MANUFACTURERS INCREASE , when we questioned this he replied we have to do this but it never happens , just been informed price for caravan is now £2,000 more , HELP ,thanks inadvance

surely the dealers know in advance when prices are going up. isnt there usually an annual rise at the same time each year?

I recently entered into a contract to buy a new van. I had a choice of a 2021 model in stock, demonstrator at full price. Or a 2022 model, which was £1500 more. The 2021 actually had a better specification and found a you tuber who had the 2021 van and had compared it with the 2022.

 

[Taffyboy]

I think you are probably stuck with the increase as the Prof says. Basically you agreed a contract price and if things remained that way you would have been on a winner. The fact that you did not query the red stamp added afterwards will probably mean that you then allowed the contract to be modified although if you and not then the dealer might have torn up the contract in which case you would have been in a difficult position as to what to do. legally the contract would still stand but it would almost certainly have required legal action to do anything.
I would like to know if the dealer had taken a deposit at the stage as until you paid something the contract was not completed, if the salesman took the deposit after the document was stamped then legally the contract was probably only completed when the deposit was paid as the contract requires consideration for completion.
The salesman saying something like "it never happens" might as the Prof says be regarded as an enticement, but would rely on him agreeing he said it, or it would be one persons word against the other. This might be a very difficult point to prove.
One point here though is that the dealer can almost certainly sell the caravan at or near the full price at the moment, so may not be bothered if you back out. If you contest the contract terms, he could probably back out as you are saying the contract was based on a misunderstanding and it is therefore null and void. What you do may depend on just how keen you are to get this model and may require you to take a pragmatic approach.
If you are a member of either of the big clubs they have a legal help line you could contact, or if not Citizens Advice might help

We ordered @ new caravan september 2021 for delivery may 2022 , we paid deposit signed paperwork the manager then said he had forgotten something , went to his office with our paper work & he had stamped in bright red ink ,ALL PRICES SUBJET TO MANUFACTURERS INCREASE , when we questioned this he replied we have to do this but it never happens , just been informed price for caravan is now £2,000 more , HELP ,thanks inadvance

If you cannot get satisfaction from the dealer than certainly name and shame for the dodgy method used

 

[otherclive]

If you cannot get satisfaction from the dealer than certainly name and shame for the dodgy method used

Naming and shaming is against the Forum rules. Disputes with specific companies are best kept between the two parties. It’s okay to ask advice on possible ways to tackle the problem. But then it’s really up to the OP to progress the complaint directly with the company concerned.

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[hasbo]

Just to bring you up to date, we have decided to cancel our caravan price hike has left us a little bitter, probably going to give caravanning a miss this year hopefully the industry will calm down might even give it a miss next year depends on how much we miss it but just a bit fed up with what’s gone on, thanks for the replies so , thanks pete

 

[otherclive]

Just to bring you up to date, we have decided to cancel our caravan price hike has left us a little bitter, probably going to give caravanning a miss this year hopefully the industry will calm down might even give it a miss next year depends on how much we miss it but just a bit fed up with what’s gone on, thanks for the replies so , thanks pete

Sorry it hasn’t worked out well. I’m sure sanity will return to such an overly stressed market, and when people realise it’s not for them prices may slump for pre owned and this will out pressure on new sales. Good luck.

 

[Raywood]

Just to bring you up to date, we have decided to cancel our caravan price hike has left us a little bitter, probably going to give caravanning a miss this year hopefully the industry will calm down might even give it a miss next year depends on how much we miss it but just a bit fed up with what’s gone on, thanks for the replies so , thanks pete

Sorry to hear that, but I suspect the dealer was quite happy as the caravan will almost certainly be easy enough to sell on.

 

[Darren.H]

Did the same make and model attract the same "Hiked" price at other dealers?

 

[hasbo]

Did the same make and model attract the same "Hiked" price at other dealers?

Yes it did I had a good look around and I’m still sort of looking but as I said bit fed up with manufacturers/dealers attitude at the moment

 

[Darren.H]

Yes it did I had a good look around and I’m still sort of looking but as I said bit fed up with manufacturers/dealers attitude at the moment

I'm currently looking to sell mine in about 14 weeks, thats our expected build date of the house.
Looking at used prices they too are incredibly high for our make of caravan it took me by surprise as the used dealer price isnt far off the retail price of 6 years ago!
I suppose some of the explanation will be pent up demand,