Lemon caravans and the law

So, you've bought a new caravan and have discovered it has problems, perhaps major ones. What can you do about it?

It can be a sickening feeling when you discover your new van has a fault -- or many faults. The dollar amount doesn’t matter, it’s the fact you’ve invested in a new caravan to pursue the RV dream, only to find it's more of a nightmare.

It won’t help your health, sanity or indeed, help find a resolution to your van’s problems if you're finding it hard to keep calm and rational about it. Easier said than done, but it’s important to take a breath and think things through before contacting the dealer or manufacturer.

What are your consumer rights?

To begin with, it’s important to have an understanding of what are supposed to be your consumer rights.

There are two areas in which your van might fall foul of the law: one is around safety, or how well it complies with Vehicle Standards Bulletin 1 (Light trailers) and the other relates to consumer protection issues or whether the van is 'fit for purpose'.

Australian Consumer Law gives you a number of guarantees. So when you buy a caravan (unless it’s over $40,000 and purely for business), there are automatic guarantees that the van will work and do what you paid for.

Essentially, the van should be safe, lasting, fault free, and do all the things a buyer would normally expect it to do. It has to be fit for purpose, and do all the things that the salesperson said it can do.

When issues arise with a new van, the first approach should be to the selling dealer (although ACL says you can also approach the manufacturer if acceptable quality doesn’t match the description, extra promises were made about things like performance, condition and quality, or the manufacturer doesn’t offer spare parts for a ‘reasonable’ time).

It is primarily the retailer who is responsible however, so don’t be fobbed off by a dealer who sends you straight to the manufacturer with any problem.

Warranty not be all and end all

Your consumer guarantees are actually not tied to any warranty given; these are consumer rights regardless of warranty. So you may still have recourse under ACL despite the warranty having expired.

But before making contact with the caravan dealer, take plenty of photos of the issues, and write a comprehensive, detailed description of the fault(s).

Call the dealer, citing your concerns and to make a time to drop off the van. Follow this up with an email to the dealer, including a summary of your conversation with them. Keep minutes of any meetings with the dealer; you may need this as part of a body of evidence if it ends up in court.

Hopefully you’ll get the van back repaired to as good as new, and that’ll be the end of it. But what if you don’t?

It has become obvious that there's a problem with Australian consumer protection, especially in the self-regulated RV industry, with Quality Assurance in some instances non-existent.

Legal options

If the dealer refuses to take responsibility for your caravan’s defects, then you'll need to consider your legal options. Unfortunately, until Australian Consumer Law is tightened, there are no clear avenues that guarantee success. As it stands, consumer protection regulation does not appear to be strong and much of it is not enforceable.

While the authorities appear to be aware of the issues and are keen in some cases to implement change (Queensland has tightened its ‘lemon’ laws and the Federal government wants to introduce better standards compliance), that’s of little solace to many buyers facing an obstinate dealer or manufacturer.

A legal letter sent to the dealer can often prompt them to take notice and repair the van, but you’ll need a solicitor to draft the letter and it won’t be cheap.

The next step is to lodge an application for a state tribunal, such as the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, to hear a claim against the dealer under the Fair Trading Act.

To successfully represent yourself, you’ll need to understand the ACL legislation: what you think constitutes a major failure might not be how it's defined in the fine print.

If the faults are serious, it’s worth considering hiring a lawyer and getting independent expert reports. There are no guarantee that you’ll get all the associated legal costs back though.

Free online assistance

There are a number of online resources available to help disgruntled buyers.

Support and suggestions are available from dedicated online groups like the Lemon Caravans & RVs in Australia Facebook page. There are more than 51,000 members of this forum, which describes itself as a “Victim’s Support Group”.

This group used to allow naming and shaming of ‘shonky’ manufacturers and dealers by members, but that has been curtailed recently - ironically, due to legal reasons, concerning the potential for defamation action by said ‘shonky’ businesses.

According to Tracy Leigh, the group’s founder: “Due to recent legal developments, the group can no longer allow naming dealers or manufacturers who are causing problems for consumers. In spite of consumers publishing the truth with proper evidence, the law allows legal action to be commenced irrespective of the truth or otherwise of the publication.”

There are other good online resources, such as the very informative and practical guides and articles on Colin Young’s Caravan Council of Australia website.

Unfortunately, some buyers discover that the fight is not worth it, and resort to getting the caravan repaired at their own cost by an independent repairer. While this is hardly ideal, it can be a sensible solution to preserve the buyer's health and sanity in the long run.

There are many reputable and ethical RV manufacturers and dealers who don’t shy away from their responsibilities to customers, as they see it as good for business. However, until there is adequate, enforceable consumer protection, there will remain players in the industry who will continue to get away with avoiding their ACL responsibilities, sometimes at great cost to the buyer. Change can’t come fast enough...

Also read: How to avoid a lemon