URGENT

sally
i have sent u a pm. Hope it is of some use.

Good luck getting this sorted Sally, we all want the best outcome for you. I am sure you wll get some excellent and helpful advice from the other members here. x

So sorry about what happened. Try not to drive the van to much while this is going on as the dealer will have marked how many miles were on the clock when you took the van and if you do a lot he will then say all must have happened whilst you were driving it. Good luck in getting it sorted.

huckybear wrote:Hi all, sorry for the delay in replying but ive been a bit distraught. Against my better judgement I went ahead and bought the motorhome as the dealer convinced me the mileage was correct from the dvla records (which may I add only went back to 2006), so maybe it was clocked in 2005 I don't know.  Because he had been so helpful and appeared to be genuine and the van looked so clean and well looked after I went ahead with the purchase.

I had bought  all sorts of accessories for the van in advance of buying it and feel embarrassed to think that I have been conned/taken for a ride!!!!!! ...   P.S anyone want to buy a duetto.....low mileage, excellent condition?! etc ect

Oh dear.....

Judging from the photographs it looks in pretty good nick and £12k isn't a bad price actually given that Duetto's really do command high prices and are very sought after vans. 

Part of your story reminded me of previous owners of my van actually. After i bought it i began tracking down the previous owners as i was staggered to find i was the seventh owner of a van which then was just 10 years old! The chap i bought it from used it for one week in Norfolk.....and that was it! Another owner bought 'over the phone', travelled 200 miles to collect it, bought camping tables, chairs and God knows what else....took it out for a weekend, decided it 'wasn't for them' and sold it the same week! 

Your big mistake was buying on impulse which i'm sure you realise now? I spent months scouring the country for the 'right' Duetto. You need to be absolutely certain that you want a Duetto and nothing else. My only regret is not having air-con which could be fitted but isn't a cheap job.

You shouldn't have too much of a problem selling once you've had the clutch done and now you have the correct mileage history.

Do we have an update on this - would like to know how things went?

Have just read through this article with great interest as I contacted this guy before I got mine privately. He sounded like a good dealer and said all vans have the rust cut out and replaced with metal (would be unlikely to find a rust free duetto any other way ) - mine needs some body attention as well as a bit more welding but is a solid van in general and I love the layout!  He also said they were refurbished inside - revarnished wood etc etc and he has been selling a long time. Disappointed to hear about his reluctance on the clutch though - i bought a car once from a small dealer who was a nasty piece of work and I took him to the small claims court and won! (ECU packed up after 2 months landing me an £850 bill after he refused to do anything about the problem. He was arrogant and cocksure and called himself `Halcyon motors` - tried to wriggle out of his reponsibilities to me and even declined my offer of just giving me a couple of hundred quid towards the repair! He boasted about warranty and after sales care etc but treated me like dirt (until the judge ordered him to cough up for repairs plus interest plus legal costs)!


I hope all went well in this case - be nice to get an update

huckybear wrote:.... the mileage was correct from the dvla records (which may I add only went back to 2006),

.... I had the most awful and scary drive back to York as the gear change was dreadful and the van was very laboured on the hills.

.... low and behold it needs a new clutch - cost £425.

.... I've lost all confidence in him and his vans.

.... £12,000 might not be a lot to a lot of people ......

.... I feel embarrassed to think that I have been conned/taken for a ride!!!!!!

Hi there,

I thought I might add a bit of reassurance for the future.

1.  For a vehicle this old the mileage isn't all that bad.  We are knackered oldies and still average +/-11,000 miles a year.

2.  ALL motorhomes are effectively "fully loaded" (even before you put your gear onboard) so "labouring up hills" is to be expected.

3.  At £425 tear the dealers hand off to accept.  I burned out the clutch on "Petal" reversing on to a plot in Spain and it cost a bomb to replace.

4.  Once you lose confidence in someone it's almost a permanent thing so not unexpected; but that doesn't mean that the van is total rubbish.

5.  My first wage was £9.11.8d a month so £12,000 is a huge amount of money to most people and we can all identify with your worry.

6.  Finally, don't feel embarrassed and never play the pointless game of "What if."  (Whenever I used the word "if" my Dad always pointed out "Yes, and if **** was butter we'd all be spreading it on bread.")

When all is said and done, the Duetto is a brilliant motorhome that provides its owners with the opportunity to experience some magical moments.

Without "Petal" we would never have seen the Bridge of Sighs in Venice ....

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.... or seen the midnight sun by going to the furthest north Lidl in the world in Sodankyla in Finland ....

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.... so think positive from now on.   

Best regards,

Good post Dutto 

I wonder if the original poster had to give an undertaking to her dealer not to post any more, in order to get the repairs done or maybe a refund. 

But it would have been good to know the outcome, particularly after all the help that she got on here.

nimbus wrote:I wonder if the original poster had to give an undertaking to her dealer not to post any more, in order to get the repairs done or maybe a refund. 

But it would have been good to know the outcome, particularly after all the help that she got on here.