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AJP

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In March 2004 I bought a Hymer Motorhome from Mark Hemming the owner of www.motorhomedirect.co.uk.

At £44,000 this was enough money for us to pay.

Having recently taken the van for its first MOT it failed on the rear lights and front lights not complying with British MOT standards requiring conversion at quoted costs of over £300. Strangely enough despite having tried to contact the firm by phone and e mail they refuse to answer my requests. Beware prospective purchasers. I am sure if I wanted to buy another new van he would only be too quick to get in touch.

Anyone had any previous such experience please.?

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Sounds as if its a imported van Andy so you,ll have to spend the money if you want UK compliance. In the meantime check if theres any comeback on this Mark Hemmings for any legal responsabilty in selling you the van which you now find unsuitable for British roads.
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I should imagine so as well Peter, but there was a recent case where a couple bought an American RV only to discover that it was 2in over the legally permitted width for British roads. They were over ruled because the RV was fit for purpose in its country of origin and the onus was on the buyers to check that this also applied in the UK. Unless stated otherwise this may might be the case with Andy,s (presumed) imported van.
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AJP

I'm no expert in most things but, a) you bought the M/H in2004 and now its 2007 and you have an MOT failure , what happened in between? Was it new? In which case it should have complied with the Constrction and Use regs- see post on lights etc. If not new the who past it before.

 

b) if you are happy with it and you paid less than you thought you would, is £300 a big deal after paying 44 Grand ?

 

Good living starts at 50 -grand - years-feet you name it!!

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"In March 2004 I bought a Hymer Motorhome from Mark Hemming the owner of www.motorhomedirect.co.uk. "

 

Did you buy it off him personally or off his business, motorhomedirect.co.uk?

 

Also did you never notice while driving it after dark that the headlight dip pattern was to the wrong side?

 

D.

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Hi,

 

If you think you have a case against these people then get the vehicle fixed and issue a county court order against them to recover your costs, i don't think it costs a great deal to issue and that should inspire a responce ? as when it arrives on your door step it usually focus's the mind ?. If you go to your local county court they will give you all of the assistance you need

 

hope that helps

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Yes the van was new at the time of purchase and we have always been on site before dark using it mainly in the UK.

 

A few good ideas have been suggested thank you

 

I wondered if this was something others purchasing from

this importer had experienced to make them aware.

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Guest Frank Wilkinson
enodreven - 2007-03-01 10:26 AM Hi, If you think you have a case against these people then get the vehicle fixed and issue a county court order against them to recover your costs, i don't think it costs a great deal to issue and that should inspire a responce ? as when it arrives on your door step it usually focus's the mind ?. If you go to your local county court they will give you all of the assistance you need hope that helps

There are three reasons why he shouldn't rush into this. One is that he could waste £50 or £60 if he hasn't a case.

The second is that he must make sure that he has a case or it will just be thrown out. A summons as you say, focuses the mind but most retailers won't just roll over if they think that the plaintiff has no case.

However, the most important reason is, that before paying someone else to do the repair and then suing for the cost, the law expects that you give the original seller every opportunity to put things right.

He should send a recorded delivery letter first, informing the seller that he has 14 days to reply and agree to put any faults right. Only when he gets nowhere with this should he pay someone else to do the job.

Finally, I think that this is a borderline case. He has had this motorhome for three years and knew that it was an import. Before doing anything I'd be tempted to get a solicitor's advice. If he has a case he can add the solicitor's bill to his claim.

I am not claiming to know if he has a good case or not - but he ought to make sure before leaping in with County Court summonses.

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Frank

 

I think I made that point about if he thinks he has a case, and as he said he has tried to contact them with no success, while I agree with the recorded delivery, if he still doesn't receive a response and he thinks he has a case then I still feel the CCS is a good way of getting it sorted, ?as you agree it does focus the mind on the subject at hand ?

 

Albeit I must agree that having the vehicle for 3 years could make it very difficult to win,

 

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Just trying to be a bit pragmatic, you have the van and it failed the MoT only due to its lighting. 

The headlamp fail, I assume, is because the headlamps have continental pattern (i.e. LHD) dips.  This can be remedied by applying beam benders or masks to the headlamps, which will be accepted for UK MoT purposes.  This was discussed at length on this forum and to my surprise the above turned out to be true.  (Look back to and read down the string starting "LHD import..." on page 2 of this forum for the details.)  Just check and adjust the masks/benders to get correct alignment before you submit for re-test.  MelE posted guidance on doing this in the above string.

Next fail will presumably be the high intensity fog rear light not being on the vehicle centreline or UK offside.  (In what follows, I'm assuming your fog lamp is actually incorporated into the n/s rear lamp cluster.)  Take the UK o/s rear cluster cover off, and see if it is equipped internally with a lampholder to take a rear fog lamp bulb.  Some need no more than the bulb inserting, some need the wiring to be extended across from the n/s lamp, in some the wiring is present but not connected to the lampholder.  If none of this seems possible, enquire of Brownhills (Hymer UK) the price, and availability, of a replacement UK type offside rear lamp cluster, as that should contain the necessary lamp holder (I'd be a bit surprised if this is really needed, though).  If the foregoing works, just add the o/s lamp and leave the n/s lamp there - you will now be fully legal both sides of the ditch!  If all the above fail, go to Halfords or some such, and buy a high intensity rear fog lamp fitting, fit it on the centre rear of the vehicle, and connect it to the fog light feed in the Hymer n/s rear light cluster, removing the fog light bulb from that as you do so.  The result may not be so elegant as inserting a bulb into the UK o/s lamp cluster but, combined with a bit of tape on the headlamps, will be perfectly legal and will pass the test.  It won't cost you anything like £300, either!

Then, if you feel vindictive, contect DVLA and tell them the person who completed the registration of your vehicle did so under false pretences in that he signed a declaration to the effect all necessary modifications had been completed, whereas none had.  Don't be surprised if they just yawn, though.

By the way, you never said: is your van lhd or rhd?  If the latter, its brobably no more than a Hymer cock up no one spotted

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Guest Frank Wilkinson
enodreven - 2007-03-01 3:39 PM Frank I think I made that point about if he thinks he has a case, and as he said he has tried to contact them with no success, while I agree with the recorded delivery, if he still doesn't receive a response and he thinks he has a case then I still feel the CCS is a good way of getting it sorted, ?as you agree it does focus the mind on the subject at hand ? Albeit I must agree that having the vehicle for 3 years could make it very difficult to win,

You did make the point that if he thinks he has a case he should proceed and I'm sorry if you think I was stating that you'd given bad advice, which I wasn't I can assure you.

I just wanted to reinforce the message that if you are going to let someone else do a £300 job with the intention of then suing, that you should exhaust every other avenue before doing so. You should also try to find out that you do have a good case.

After all that you are right. You can then have the job done and bill them but, before risking this, be sure that you have a case and that you've given the dealer every chance to do it himself.

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Hi

 

If you have any finance /HP/ deposit paid on Credit Card on this vehicle you can approach the relevant HP/Card company as to a breach of contract by the supplier, if the lights, speedo etc prove to be non conforming to the UK Construction and Use regulations irrespective of it being RHD or LHD then you have a valid reason to dispute the contract and seek recompense from either party or both, if the business has closed it gives you some comeback. A personal loan does not afford you this luxury.

Read all of the original paperwork, receipts etc to see if the supplier expressly informed you that this vehicle would not comply to UK Construction & Use Regulations in any of the documentation, if it does then you have no case as you by accepting the vehicle have agreed to this position of non-compliance, if there is no mention of this then you have a valid reason to pursue for breach of contract.

 

£300 is not a huge amount of money and the principal of the thing whilst morally right may prove expensive, even more so when you think you are in the right in law, the law is not called an ass for nothing, talk to your local CAB if you have any doubts about this issue.

 

 

Hope it works out for you

 

Chris

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