I live in Adelaide and am looking at a couple of used caravans being offered by private sellers in Victoria. One is in Narre Warren North and the other at Beaumaris. Any suggestions who I can get to do a pre-purchase inspection? I have approached a few repairers in the area but to no avail.
If any forum member is able to help I am happy to compensate them for their time. Cheers Ian
Bruce and Bev said
06:55 PM Sep 13, 2016
Suggest you keep trying with a proper caravan repairer. Theres bound to be a few in Melbourne who do pre-purchase inspection. You need to get the electrics and gas inspected by a proper inspector - not a well meaning GN member (no disrespect or slur to anyone).
Most van repairers can be found just by googling - have you tried "caravan repairs in Melbourne" as an example?
Best of luck and its a smart idea to get it pre-checked before parting with your cash
rainy1850 said
07:00 PM Sep 13, 2016
We could look on your behalf if that helps. We are not qualified but hubby is fussy and would give a good look over
The Belmont Bear said
07:27 AM Sep 14, 2016
Maybe you could get a well meaning GN member to do a pre inspection on your behalf and if a particular van looked pretty good then you could organise a qualified inspector to give it the full going over including the things that Bruce suggested. This could save you a few $ by not paying qualified people to carry out unnecessary inspections - just a thought. Nice of rainy1850 to offer their time.
Ron-D said
09:26 AM Sep 14, 2016
You really have to see the van yourself in my opinion ,but before you have a look you will need good pictures of the van and a talk to the owner ,reasons for sale,condition,has it done a lot of work ect, and possibly a few more vans to look at while your down that way ,I speak from experience some one else's idea of a nice van usuaiiy won't be yours.most people don't pay inspectors to come around to look at second hand vans. You really have to have a look at the seller if his property is neat and tidy, it's a good indication,if he comes across as a Good sincere person, ect With me I need that gut feeling about who Iam dealing with and it has never been wrong.
Hardranger said
11:08 PM Sep 14, 2016
Thanks for the replies. Both caravans look in excellent condition (pics) and have been stored under cover. I have decided to fly over for a day and personally inspect them. If I decide to purchase one I will try to get a professional to check it out before handing over a deposit. Special thanks to Rainy1850 for the kind offer.
Hardranger said
11:53 PM Sep 14, 2016
Thanks for the replies. Both caravans look in excellent condition (pics) and have been stored under cover. I have decided to fly over for a day and personally inspect them. If I decide to purchase one I will try to get a professional to check it out before handing over a deposit. Special thanks to Rainy1850 for the kind offer.
AlanM said
02:29 PM Oct 1, 2016
HI Ian
am also looking for someone to do an inspection in Melbourne so would appreciate a lead if you find someone
Radar said
09:38 AM Oct 2, 2016
Hardranger wrote:
I live in Adelaide and am looking at a couple of used caravans being offered by private sellers in Victoria. One is in Narre Warren North and the other at Beaumaris. Any suggestions who I can get to do a pre-purchase inspection? I have approached a few repairers in the area but to no avail. If any forum member is able to help I am happy to compensate them for their time. Cheers Ian
Hi Hardranger
A couple of weeks back we did this excercise, a caravan come on the market that basically was the model we were looking for, made a phone call spoke with the seller, which gave me some idea of the people, relooked at the advertisement, rang back and asked for more photos which they email back.
We were very sure this was the model caravan we liked and also found one in a dealers yard, a quick run there to look again, yes this was what we wanted.
This all started late dinner time Thursday, Saturday we had the extra photos and was sure this was the way to go,because of prearrangments we could not leave before Monday, last thing Sunday night I rang the seller and explained we were going to come down by car the 1800 odd kilometers to inspect the caravan and if it was as good as the photos we would tow it home and in this we explained that we would ring her Tuesday morning to let them know eta Tuesday.
We arrived after lunch on Tuesday, about 1 hour of looking, down to a bank to get a bank cheque, rewire the electricals by 4.30pm in peak hour traffic heading back to Brisbane.
I was placed under a fair bit of stress as I was dealing with a 75 year old lady who had taken over the managerial roll in their home to do everything because her husband was not well and could offer her no assistance, very sad.
We arrived home Thursday afternoon with our 3 year plus old caravan, very happy, we knew what we wanted, price was very, very good, the caravan was not like knew but this week after 4 new tyres, wheel alignment, 12 volt wiring redone, road worthy, registered in Queensland and some hard work cleaning it as it had been parked since the beginning of the year extremely dirty. But all good.
Hope this helps in some way, we treated it like a few days away.
Most van repairers can be found just by googling - have you tried "caravan repairs in Melbourne" as an example?
Best of luck and its a smart idea to get it pre-checked before parting with your cash
We could look on your behalf if that helps. We are not qualified but hubby is fussy and would give a good look over
You really have to see the van yourself in my opinion ,but before you have a look you will need good pictures of the van and a talk to the owner ,reasons for sale,condition,has it done a lot of work ect, and possibly a few more vans to look at while your down that way ,I speak from experience some one else's idea of a nice van usuaiiy won't be yours.most people don't pay inspectors to come around to look at second hand vans. You really have to have a look at the seller if his property is neat and tidy, it's a good indication,if he comes across as a Good sincere person, ect With me I need that gut feeling about who Iam dealing with and it has never been wrong.
HI Ian
am also looking for someone to do an inspection in Melbourne so would appreciate a lead if you find someone
Hi Hardranger
A couple of weeks back we did this excercise, a caravan come on the market that basically was the model we were looking for, made a phone call spoke with the seller, which gave me some idea of the people, relooked at the advertisement, rang back and asked for more photos which they email back.
We were very sure this was the model caravan we liked and also found one in a dealers yard, a quick run there to look again, yes this was what we wanted.
This all started late dinner time Thursday, Saturday we had the extra photos and was sure this was the way to go,because of prearrangments we could not leave before Monday, last thing Sunday night I rang the seller and explained we were going to come down by car the 1800 odd kilometers to inspect the caravan and if it was as good as the photos we would tow it home and in this we explained that we would ring her Tuesday morning to let them know eta Tuesday.
We arrived after lunch on Tuesday, about 1 hour of looking, down to a bank to get a bank cheque, rewire the electricals by 4.30pm in peak hour traffic heading back to Brisbane.
I was placed under a fair bit of stress as I was dealing with a 75 year old lady who had taken over the managerial roll in their home to do everything because her husband was not well and could offer her no assistance, very sad.
We arrived home Thursday afternoon with our 3 year plus old caravan, very happy, we knew what we wanted, price was very, very good, the caravan was not like knew but this week after 4 new tyres, wheel alignment, 12 volt wiring redone, road worthy, registered in Queensland and some hard work cleaning it as it had been parked since the beginning of the year extremely dirty. But all good.
Hope this helps in some way, we treated it like a few days away.