New travel trailer owner. Was taken advantage of

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Jzimmerman2280

New member
Joined
Sep 23, 2019
Posts
4
Hi. I just bought a travel trailer from a private party. I looked at it. Asked if there was any water damage. Was told in front storage compartment, but it was repaired. I looked,  it appeared repaired. The guy who I bought it from was running late to church,  so only had a few minutes to look it over. No visible water damage. Told him I needed a trailer where everything works and could make it to Phoenix from Minnesota this winter. He said it would. Had it moved to the lot I purchased on memorial day weekend and its been one thing after another. Found out he redid the slide out, adding weight t
 
I feel your pain but it is really up to you or a knowledgeable tech to thoroughly inspect before handing over the cash. Could you not have arranged a more suitable time to view it? How old is the trailer?
 
Roy M said:
I feel your pain but it is really up to you or a knowledgeable tech to thoroughly inspect before handing over the cash. Could you not have arranged a more suitable time to view it? How old is the trailer?
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X 2. Welcome to the forum. Now I'm sure you're going to have many questions. Ask away. We should be able to help you.  All we ask is that you post a seperate post for every question. It makes it easier to tackle one problem at a time.
 
Sorry you had such a bad experience. But, welcome to the Forum. Lots of us willing to help in any way we can.
 
Thank you. And I should have been more thorough,  but like I said  ... he cosmetically hid the water damage. I would have had to start pulling siding off or the floating floor to see it. Also, I realized I was friends with the guys nephew and he attended church with my exes parents several times a week. I just figured he was honest. Was a mistake.
 
Always buyers beware. Outward honest folks can be the worst and have no problems with lying and misrepresenting. Why it takes time to go over and big dollar purchase. Believe me I waded thru the muck in getting all that was wrong, fixed on my RV.  Luckily nothing I can't handle to date.
 
If it?s more than you can repair or otherwise not worth the money/effort take him to court and get your money back.
 
I had an RV service stop and look at it. He said the guy cosmetically hid damage. Didn't know what he was doing when he " remodeled" it. Said 5k to fix. I payed $3750 for it. Thinking small claims,  but itd be in the county I bought it in which is 2 hours away,  so not sure how I'd convince the owner of RV service to take a day off and be my witness
 
Call your local bar association to see if they can offer any guidance.  If there's a law school nearby that could be another resource for you.  A visit to your local courthouse could be informative as well. 
 
I?m guessing that amount is no longer small claims.  A signed/sworn statement from the RV tech may be all that?s required.  Get a lawyer.

Personally I would start with a ?Take your trailer back and refund the money? letter from a lawyer..  that may be all it takes.
 
He told you it had leaked, and it was repaired. I don't see how you have any recourse with him. Lick your wounds and move on. Surely the rv is not unusable. Fix one thing at a time in the order of priority. Welcome to rving. You will always be fixing something.
 
muskoka guy said:
He told you it had leaked, and it was repaired. I don't see how you have any recourse with him. Lick your wounds and move on. Surely the rv is not unusable. Fix one thing at a time in the order of priority. Welcome to rving. You will always be fixing something.
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:)) Agree 100%

 
I purchased a used TT for our son and the same thing happened. All evidence of a leak had been covered up. I think I paid around $3000 for the unit. Our son lived in it for about 18 months and he did some work to replace rotten wood. I had no guarantees in writing. It?s a shame folks do these types of things but what are going to do. I bought a brand new TT and it leaked. After several attempts by dealerships and the factory trying to fix it, my son and I removed the widow and put it back in with new caulking. So far so good. I feel for you but maybe instead of being fixated on getting revenge or some type of compensation from the seller, you might be better served to try and fix it to the best of your abilities. After that, go out and enjoy it.
 
Oldgator73 said:
After several attempts by dealerships and the factory trying to fix it, my son and I removed the widow and put it back in with new caulking.
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Always put the widows in the back and recaulk them.  ;D
 
I don't think you have much chance of winning in any court.  You were informed there had been damage and that repairs were made, and that's pretty much the extent of the seller's responsibility.  The repairs turned out to be more cosmetic than functional, but now you are arguing the quality of the repair rather than misrepresentation of the facts.  You might be able to coerce the seller into paying some amount toward a better repair, but I would not expect to get much.

If you want to bring an expert witness to court, you would have to compensate him for his time. The RV tech isn't going to lose a day's work/income.
 
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