Check Your TYres

I own a Lunar Ultima 462 that was first registered in January 2011

I purchased the caravan second hand in October 2011.

I had the van serviced in January 2013 , in order to comply with the terms of the warranty, by the Lunar dealer who had sold me the van.

After its service the dealer rang me to say that they had some good news and some bad news.

The good news was that the caravan had been serviced with no problems. The bad news was that they had found side wall cracks in both the van’s tyres. They offered to replace the tyres with new ones at a cost of £65.00 each.

I told them not to proceed and that I would collect the van and look at the problem.

I brought the van home removed the tyres and inspected them, and yes each tyre had side wall cracks.

I phoned the dealer and said that wanted two new tyres free of charge as the ones fitted to the caravan were not fit for purpose as defined by the sale of goods act.

They in turn contacted Lunar and were told that Lunar only covered tyres for one year under their warranty and should inform me of their advise which they give to remove tyres for storage during the winter.

I contacted the dealer and said that I wasn’t satisfied and wished to pursue the matter further. I have been a caravanner for over thirty years and have always removed my tyres over the winter. Something which incidentally dealers don’t do with all the stock of the vans that they have on their forecourts.

Under normal circumstances one would expect at least 5 years of life from a tyre.

They contacted Lunar who then requested photographic proof of the cracks.

I duly sent not only photo’s of the cracks but also of the reference on the tyre which showed that they had been manufactured on week 39 in the year 2010.

Meanwhile I had contacted the Caravan Club for advice. They told meet that whilst it was ok to allow the dealer to pursue the matter with Lunar to try to resolve the problem, in reality my case was with the dealer as he was the person with whom I had a contract with.

I duly informed the dealer of this fact.

In the middle of February I was informed that Lunar was prepared to replace my tyres.

The replacements came at the end of March in the form of two new complete wheels. (tyres on rims)

I was effectively without my caravan for three months. This could have settled much quicker , and cheaper if Lunar had instructed the dealer just to fit new tyres.

I write this letter just to warn owners of new caravans to check the condition of their tyres.  Do not assume that a tyre will automatically last up to 5 years and beyond