Did you have your current RV thoroughly inspected by a professional technician or inspector before you purchased it?
A lot of RVers who end up with lemons wished they had. It’s true that most RVs, new or used, are fine. Oh, almost all have minor issues that are easily remedied. But others, well …Â they can have serious damage or other problems that are not apparent to an untrained eye and can even render an RV unusable.
With a new RV, a dealer is supposed to look the RV over carefully and fix any issues. But often they do not, unintentionally, but sometimes intentionally, letting the RVer deal with the problem and then bring it back to be repaired. That, unfortunately, can sometimes take months.
So what about you, whether you bought your RV new or used. Did you have it inspected professionally? Please leave a comment if you have a “story” about your experience.
$850 for a diesel pusher motorhome inspection & worth it. From our inspection the owner paid to replace all 6-tires as the inspector said they were outdated. Plus new batteries and missing the gas cap. All paid for by the seller at no additional cost to us. Appliances were tested among many things. Glad we had it done.
We hired an inspector to give an evaluation. Spent 500.00. Asked if we wanted fluids checked for another 100.00. Passed on the extra. As we were driving home all kind of codes were popping up. Went to the dealers and had to pay 2000.00 to have all fluids changed. I guess the extra 100.00 would have been worth it as the seller had taken care of all items on the inspection. Lesson learned!!
I knew we wanted an extended warranty when we bought it, and not one offered by the dealer. Part of the warrantee was a required total inspection. We arranged for it at the dealers when we picked up the rig. Been (mostly) happy ever since! The peace of mind knowing it was gone over by an expert is priceless to my dear wife.
From what I’ve read on several RV Sites, our 2001 CrossRoads All American (that’s really the model) was probably one of the last well constructed travel trailers. We bought it from the original owners five years ago. They made sure it received the best service and parts when required. Other than the normal wear and tear items (tires, batteries, awning fabric), it has been almost trouble-free. We hope to continue travelling with it for the next 15 or more years.
This is our 4th rv, never had a pre-check. Since I’ve bought used I expect some problems. The first one I bought right enough that even with the many repairs I did and a new set of 6 Michelin’s, I sold it 5 years later at a profit. Ten years later this one still has a few quirks but would drive anywhere.
No, but I wish I had. Bought a used Crossroads Cruiser from a dealer I’ve dealt with for 37+ years. One of the slideout rollers for the bedroom wasn’t in the right spot and the roller pinched the gasket, causing the slideout to twist. The roller was repaired/replaced along with the gasket. It was covered under the “extended warranty” I bought. [First time I ever bought one.] The “floor” of the bedroom slideout broke up into pieces and was NOT covered, even though it was damaged by a part failure that WAS covered. Cost me a thousand bucks to fix the floor. Dealer said, “Too bad.”
No. My husband and his brother are both mechanics, diesel and gas.
According to all the wise advice given on these pages, I did everything wrong when I acquired my present Roadtrek. My luck held and after eleven happy years, I have only good things to say about it. You couldn’t give me a new one; I’ll keep pushing the one I have down the road.
We were fortunate enough to order through a dealer who did pre-delivery inspections. They actually found a problem with one of the slide-outs, asked us to delay our trip by a day and sent it back to the factory to fix it. When we arrived, our delivery tech (salesman? I don’t remember titles) went over all the systems, making sure we operated them (if possible – don’t use the water pump without water), and was perfectly OK with me videotaping our pre/during delivery run through
Since I bought new, and had a 12 month, 12k mile bumper to bumper warranty, we let the factory cover the few issues it had. If I by a used unit, or get a new one since the quality has been so lacking as of late, then I definitely will.
No need when you buy new… or at least not in 2002.
Ahhh, the good ol’ days, eh, Chris? Take care. 🙂 –Diane
Yes on one. No on the more recent ones.
Have pretty good skills myself. So far so good. Was considering oil & trans fluid tests but I bought an extended warranty (recommended on here) so less concerned about major repairs on the latest used unit.
Things like slow propane leaks, or plumbing or electrical issues can happen anytime and I fix all that myself.
What I wish I knew when we traded the Jayco for the Coachman is the water heater. Jayco uses atwood and Coachman uses suburban which uses only propane not electric/propane as Jayco does. It explains a lot of the problems we have had taking showers. That was explained to us on an RV site. Now I need to find out if we can add electric to the water heater or if we need to replace it. I am done with cold showers and having to force the propane to start heating water before showers. Sucks. But it happens.
Invest in a truma Aquago instant water heater. Plenty of hot water. We love ours, 2 years and going strong.
Nope – we knew what we were looking for and checked things out thoroughly. I even found a few things and brought them to the original owners attention. My husband was impressed as he missed one of them.
We have had four RV’s. Two were hand- me- down’s from my Parents. A tent trailer, and a pick up camper. One we purchased from a good friend. a Pop-Up. We knew it was in excellent shape.
The last was a hand-me-down U-Haul 13′ from my wife’s mother. You don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth.
Did not in 2005, it was new. I would never buy new again. I haven’t found an RV Tech I would/can trust.
Did not in 2005, it was new. I would never buy new again. Haven’t found an RV Tech I would/can trust.
Didn’t BUT should have!!!
We did not do a pre inspection on our RV. We purchased her from my parents. The main inspection just before the 120 mile drive home with it. That was primarily just the tires and fluids. We did a thorough inspection and maintenance in the months that followed.
We bought a new to us 2020 5th wheel, our first RV. Been researching for several years on what to do when buying a RV, new or used. Had to travel 500 miles to find one that dear wife and I agreed on. Looking over the unit I saw several minor items that needed repair, which the dealer stated that they would take care of. I asked if they would allow a certified RV inspector to inspect the unit, which they agreed on, and they would repair anything that the inspector found.
I made arrangements with an inspector who came to the dealership and inspected the unit. In fact, 2 inspectors came out and tag teamed this inspection. After a six hour inspection, a 23 page report on all items they inspected was sent to me. The biggest issue was a hot skin issue that I would not have found, didn’t know how to check for that. All issues were corrected by the dealership. Well worth the $650 spent for the inspection. Would not buy a RV without the inspection.