Practical Caravan Ask the Experts Special

Jan 8, 2020
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Hi everyone, Paul here from Practical Caravan. We're putting together a special Ask the Experts section for the next issue of the magazine and would love to hear any questions for our panel. We're looking for questions on the following topics: Travel; Buying advice; Maintenance; Towing; Technical, Driving and Kit. Hopefully we'll be able to include some of the questions that you post here. Many thanks.
 
Jun 20, 2005
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Hi Paul.
Sounds good.
The biggest problem imo is buying a new or used caravan ensuring they are water tight. An article explaining how to achieve a leak free purchase floats my boat👍

How do I check my caravan purchase is water tight and damp free?
 
Jul 18, 2017
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Why is an expensive annual service required to maintain the warranty when a simple, damp check will suffice? Over 80% of the service seems to consist of the technician checking to see if cupboard doors, drawers etc open and close.

The only physical service done is to the running gear and most times this is probably not required as the caravan has not done sufficient mileage to justify a service costing over £200!

Our own caravan had to go for an expensive service although it had only done about 1250 miles in the past year. My motor vehicle which is a complex piece of machinery and does about 8000 miles a year costs slightly more than the cost of a service on our twin axle caravan!

Lastly under CRA 2015 there is no requirement for annual service to be done on any vehicle for CRA 2015 to remain effective.
 
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Jun 20, 2005
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Buckman wrote
Lastly under CRA 2015 there is no requirement for annual service to be done on any vehicle for CRA 2015 to remain effective.

Fully agree. One question though. CRA 2015 applies to the Dealer. The Manufacturers water ingresss guarantee is offered “free” subject to t&cs including an annual service.
If services are missed out do you think a water ingress claim against the Manufacturer will fail?😉
 
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Mar 14, 2005
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Buckman wrote
Lastly under CRA 2015 there is no requirement for annual service to be done on any vehicle for CRA 2015 to remain effective.

Fully agree. One question though. CRA 2015 applies to the Dealer. The Manufacturers water ingresss guarantee is offered “free” subject to t&cs including an annual service.
If services are missed out do you think a water ingress claim against the Manufacturer will fail?😉

To answer Dusty's point, Because the manufacturer's warranty on the body work is made by them, and not the seller, the manufacture can specify what criteria need to be met to keep their warranty offer open. If they say the caravan must be serviced every year by an approved service provider, and you don't then you have breached the T&C's of the warranty.

As we have discussed on several previous occasions, the CRA is NOT active against the manufacture, so the terms & conditions of the Manufacturer's' warranty has no lien to a CRA claim against the seller or finance house.

...Lastly under CRA 2015 there is no requirement for annual service to be done on any vehicle for CRA 2015 to remain effective.

Whilst this might seem to be the case, it does not mean consumers can totally ignore the need for servicing of some purchases. For example if a product relies on a consumable to work or for safety, If it needed a service action to monitor or replace the consumable and for whatever reason you did not have the consumable replaced in a timely manner, its very unlikely an related fault claim against the seller would be successful.

The CRA does not seek to give upper hand to either party, and sometimes the customer does have to take actions to ensure a product continues working properly.
 
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Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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I've taken down the four most recent comments.
There's no real problem if a thread strays off topic now and then, but disputes between forum members are best pursued via the P.M. service and not on the public message boards.
When private messages are involved, individuals can decide whether to accept PM's from a fellow forum member or not.
 
May 12, 2019
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How about mentioning that during the winter period when the caravan is not being used even if everything is switched off there will still be a slight drain being taken out of the battery and when you go back to it in the Spring it can be totally flat. Better to remove the battery terminals.
 
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Nov 16, 2015
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Paul, where is the best place to jack / lift a caravan, the old Alko brackets used to bend, what's the thought of lifting directly on the caravan chassis
 
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Jun 20, 2005
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Another from me Paul please.
Advice on how to deal with an air lock when trying to get the water pumping through from the aquaroll. We’ve all had it but there will be plenty of new caravanners that will find this a problem
 

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