Pressing question

[JanAppelman]

Dear Caravanners,

I need some advise from people with more caravan experience than me of the following;

My mom will retire next year, and decided that she wanted to buy an Eriba for some good old touring. She found a second hand Eriba Triton 430 GT online which we visited today. She asked me to come with to check the technical side as I'm an engineer (sadly, with zero caravan experience).
While viewing the caravan, I noticed that one of the wheels was quite out of line with the wheel arch. The difference between left and right is rather obvious:

My first thought was that it had damage, but I could not find any trace of damage (old or new) on the bottom of the caravan.
Due to my lack of caravan knowledge, I wanted to check if anyone has ever seen something like this before on a caravan. Does anyone have an idea what could have caused this?
The current owner, an elderly man, shrugged it off and said he'd never noticed it before. He seemed very nice and sincere, but I don´t like the looks of this at all.

Would love to know your thoughts on this!

Thanks, Alex.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

While viewing the caravan, I noticed that one of the wheels was quite out of line with the wheel arch. The difference between left and right is rather obvious:

Could be that the wheel arches were never put on correctly in the first place.

If the tyres are wearing evenly then the van is not crabbing, suggesting that the axle is correctly aligned.

 

[Dustydog]

Alex
Get a professional caravan engineer to give the Eriba a once over for your mum. Photos can give optical illusions. Do you feel one side sits lower than the other or that the wheels are not square on the body.

 

[woodsieboy]

Hi Alex
Even though there may be an explanation I would walk away and look for another, you obviously have doubts,that are well founded, there will be other caravans available

 

[Sproket]

looks normal

Looks like it's not sat on level ground and that is exaggerating the possible problem ....
But more likely due to the suspension being compressed and the arm swinging backwards in an arc ....

 

[JanAppelman]

Thanks for all the feedback!

@ WoodlandsCamper & Dustydog - Did not see obvious wear on the tires, but they where rather new. Also did not look like they where at an angle to the sidewall, but that's difficult to see anyway. The wheel which is moved back in the arch is also a bit higher up in the arch.. which makes me think Sproket might be right.

@ Sproket - The compressed suspension makes sense.. It wasn´t propped up, just standing in a storage unit. Thanks for the link, the stance of the caravan looks really similar.

I'll see if we can still make an arrangement with the seller to have a caravan engineer look it over, these Eriba's are expensive little buggers..better be sure.

 

[Damian]

From the small amount of visible fitments on the outside of the van it looks like the fridge is on the "lower" side of the van.
What else is located on the same side? cooker? water heater? .
Most vans sit a little lower on the side with the heavy items on, so nothing unusual with this.

 

[JanAppelman]

True, I only know for sure the stove and fridge are on the dipping side. Not sure about the water tanks. The septic tank was on the other side.. which was empty .

 

[Raywood]

If you are not sure then I would get an engineer to check it out for you. You can find one on the NCC website at http://www.approvedworkshops.co.uk/search/
The Caravan Club also have an inspection service but it is quite costly but not sure what you are paying for the Eriba. Try - http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/shop-and-offers/member-offers/caravan-and-motorhome-inspectors

 

[Martin24]

Rather than spend money on an engineer I would just walk away and find another one. They are a very expensive and good bit of kit so the slightest hint of a problem go elsewhere. Always a tricky balance between private sales and dealer sales but on balance with a lack of experience and knowledge I would certainly look closely at the product from a dealer and consider this as the way forward.

 

[DeliDave_]

http://www.eribaforum.co.uk/
You could ask on here could be more knowledgable

 

[chrisn7]

looks normal

Looks like it's not sat on level ground and that is exaggerating the possible problem ....
But more likely due to the suspension being compressed and the arm swinging backwards in an arc ....

This is confusing, as this pic is not the same as that in the OPs. The wheel spat is a different shape. I think the explanation is a practical one: the wheel spat in the OP is very close indeed to the hatch opening, so its probably just had to be positioned further forward to clear said hatch, whereas there is no such issue on the other side