The search for the right RV.

If you’re not willing to settle for what someone wants to sell you, then finding what you want is not an easy task.  We looked at a lot of new and used RV’s but none had the feel we were looking for, or they were so abused they weren’t worth the effort to restore them.  Neither of us is afraid of restoring something, we’ve saved six houses and one RV, but some things just can’t, or shouldn’t be saved.

When walking into a dealership for a new unit, unless you can be specific about what you’re looking for in an RV the salesman is most likely going to try and sell you the unit that has been on the lot the longest, or the unit with the highest mark up.  We found that it’s best to plan on spending several hours on the lot looking at units.

As a courtesy to the salesperson, let them know ahead of time that you want to see a lot of different units, and that you want to spend a little time inside each one you look at.  We’ve found that by giving the salesperson a heads up of your plan quite often they’ll let you wander around the lot on your own.  This will give you time to thoroughly look units over without someone trying to sell you on the good points of the unit.

If you’re looking at used units it is best to separate. Send the person that knows the least about the workings of that area of the RV to another area of the RV with the salesperson.  This gives the other a chance to do a non-directed, uninhibited look over.  We’ve found this works best because then the salesperson or owner of the unit isn’t directing you away from the bad points.  Not all salespeople do this, but from the experiences we’ve had, we’ve found it to be true more often than not.

As an example, one unit we were interested in looked really good in the online posting, so we decided to take a look at it.  A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the sins that can be hidden by holding the camera at the correct angle can cost you thousands of dollars.  We contacted the dealership where the unit was on consignment.  The salesman didn’t really ask us very many questions in regards to what we were looking for, but he did tell us that we would probably be happier with a 5^th wheel, or pull-behind toy hauler, which is what they sold, they only sold motor homes on consignment.

When we told him we had no interest in pull units his attitude towards us changed.  When we got to the unit he opened the house portion door and walked in, leaving us standing outside.  At first I just thought he was being a little rude, but what he was actually doing was hoping that we would just follow him in without looking.  The threshold was bent from excessive traffic in and out of the unit.  He then stood in the hall and pointed us towards the cab area which was in good shape.

When I pointed out that the cab area was in good shape he was proud to tell us that they had just gone completely through the unit.  We left the cab area and he took us directly to the garage area.  I let my husband go first and I hung back in the living area.  Because we had previously restored an RV I had a pretty good idea of things to look for that were signs of problems.

The sliding windows and their surrounding areas looked clean at first glance, but when I got close and looked in the corners of the tracks I found water damage which was starting to cause the tracks to separate from the wood which is a sure sign that the wood underneath is rotting.  Next I started going through the cabinets.  Before I got to the second cabinet the salesman was back in the living area.

He stood in front of the cabinets that were above the dining area.  I went into the bathroom and when I commented that the flooring didn’t fit tight against the shower base, and that there was quite a bit of caulk along the top of the shower surround the salesman told us that they weren’t quite finished with the repairs yet, but that they should have them finished within a couple of days.  I asked what repairs?

He then proceeded to tell us that they had replaced the subfloor and linoleum from this point to the garage entrance because there had been a roof leak which was now fixed.  When asked why the leak hadn’t been fixed before it got to the point of rotting out the floor the salesman told us “it was actually leaking down the wall between the living area and the garage, so the owners had not known there was a leak until the floor became squishy.

I went towards the garage and the salesman followed.  Todd got the salesman’s attention and I headed back into the living area.  The first place I looked was in the cabinet that the salesman had been standing in front of.  There were water marks running down the wall at the back of the cabinet.  This cabinet was on the exterior wall, not the wall between the house and garage.

I went back to the garage.  The ladder to the roof hatch was down and the hatch was open.  Todd was inspecting the roof.  He came down the ladder and told me I should take a look.  The roof air conditioner unit was at the edge of the roof, just slightly forward of the hatch.

Yes, they had replaced the rotted out flooring, but they had not fixed the cause of the leak.  There were multiple sticks sticking out from under the air conditioning unit.  With just a quick visual it was easy to see that the sticks had damaged the air conditioner and this was the cause of the leak.  They may have fixed the damage, but the cause of it hadn’t been fixed so the damage was sure to appear again.

This damage alone made this unit a no go for us, but it wasn’t the only damage we found on the unit.  The unit had been used by a dirt bike racing team.  We found this out by viewing the sides of the unit while looking for delimitation.  You couldn’t see the outline of the removed decals from looking directly at the side, but by leaning in and looking for ripples in the exterior the outline of the decals were visible.

We also found that they had spliced into the wiring at the trailer hitch and had not even taped up the splices.  There were several other places we found where they had spliced into the wiring, some were taped up, and some were not.

Using a penlight and looking down the sides of the generator enclosure we could see where oil had sprayed on the sidewall.  The salesman didn’t know why the oil was there, but he did know that the generator runs good.  Was what caused the oil to spray on the walls fixed, or not?  He didn’t know, but he did know that if we offered the owners $5,000 less he was sure they would take the offer.

We looked at a lot of units and this was the kind of stuff we were finding with just about all of them.  Some were a complete joke, sure they looked good in the online postings, but in person they were cobbled together and made to look pretty.  If you’re going to buy a used unit, or a new one for that matter don’t be afraid to get up close and personal with every surface of the unit.

Unless you’ve dealt with detailing a unit, the amount of products out there that can cover up, hide, blend in, patch, plug, and fill will blow your mind.  These products do not fix the damage though; they just cover it up and make it look pretty. Because these products are just fillers most wash away, come off, or come out the first time the area is washed.

A unit must be in good mechanical working order.  Nothing sucks more than being stranded on the side of the road, other than being told that it’s going to cost thousands of dollars to repair the engine, or transmission, and oh by the way, it’s going to take several weeks to complete the repairs.  If the salesman or owner will not let you drive the unit, or at the very least ride in the unit while it goes down the road then don’t just walk away from the unit, run.

Some other areas to look at are the threshold going into the unit.  Is there a lot of wear?  Is there any warping?  RV’s are meant to be lived in, so it makes sense that they will be lived in more than they will be driven.

Whether the unit has sliding windows or not check around the bottom and top edges where the windows are sealed into the walls.  It’s really hard to get the gunk out of the corners after it has gotten wet, so if there’s a lot of gunk it’s a sure sign that there’s been moisture.  Press on the area below the window, is it soft or squishy?

Crawl under the unit and look at the exposed wiring.  Is it in tact?  Is it in its originally routed position?  You can tell this by looking at the areas around the zip ties.  If the ties don’t look like they’ve been disturbed then it’s a good sign that the wiring hasn’t been rerouted.  Look up and make sure the areas around the vents aren’t sagging or lumpy looking.  If you see either, there’s previously been a leak, or there may still be a leak.

Another unit we looked at was a lot higher in price, and had a lot more miles on it.  The salesman explained that the price was almost four times higher because it was a diesel.  Yeah, diesels are more expensive because they last longer, but a third of the expected life of a motor is a third of the expected life of a motor whether it’s gas or diesel.  After pointing out several areas of damage the salesman decided to relieve our leeriness by informing us that this unit met the criteria for an extended warranty.

Dealerships make a lot of their income from selling extended warranties.  Make sure that you take the warranty paperwork home and read through it thoroughly.  Most times you will find that the warranty doesn’t cover much.  From the experiences we’ve had, dealing with insurance companies from the stand point of the repair company, they’ve got more stipulations as to why they don’t have to pay for the repair then reasons that they should pay for the repair.

This is a definite buyer beware situation.  I’m not saying that all extended warranties are bad I’m just saying that you really, really need to invest the time to read through what you are purchasing before you invest your money.  Use a highlighter, and/or a pen when reading through the warranty and make sure you ask questions about everything that you either don’t understand, or that just doesn’t make sense.

When the questions are answered, write the answer down on the warranty paperwork and have the salesman sign the answer.  Remember, he does not work for the warranty company, so even though it’s something he said, the warranty company doesn’t have to honor it, but if the salesman signed his name to the statement then the dealership has to honor what their salesman stated was a part of the purchase agreement.  If it comes down to having to pursue a claim this way it can get messy, so be ready for a battle.

All in all, if any part of the unit, the dealership, the salesman, the purchase agreement, or anything at all makes you uncomfortable walk away.  You’ve waited a long time to purchase an RV, a few more hours, days, or weeks of waiting isn’t going to make that much of a difference.