5th Wheel purchace help

At the upper end of moderately priced is Grand Design. Their after-the-sale service is historically excellent and generally free of the "talk to the dealer" run-around that many major brands provide. With Thor buying up most of the industry (including Jayco) your options are getting more and more limited every day.

Whatever you choose - learn to look for the things that indicate quality but don't sell RVs - like what type of tires they install, do the RVs come with wet bolt kits on the suspension. The manufacturers who skip on these things skip on other stuff.

Expect problems. These are rolling houses built by humans. You can't buy your way into the perfect RV, but you can check on the reputation of the manufacturer and see how they (typically) respond to problems. I'd recommend looking at BBB complaints for any considered brand to see how they respond to consumers.

Thank you all for the great tips! I have read advice on another forum to someone who asked about the best brands out there. Of course, the advice was for very high end brands (Mobile Suites, New Horizons, Excel, etc.), which looking at the construction of those units I can understand the high price tag. However, we are not ready to go full time, so we really don't want to put that much money into a unit yet. I do wonder if more moderately priced brands tend to need more repairs. Thoughts?

There is much more to look at besides the pretty furnishings & window treatments.

Start with drawer & door hardware. Most likely cheap junk for hinges, drawer tracks & door catches. Look under the unit, especially around spring hangers on the frame. Any reinforcement in that area? Look in areas not easily seen. Neat & tidy wiring? Bundled & protected from chafe? Is stuff that may need to be serviced or replaced at some point easy to get at?

Don't for moment think that you will get a top quality unit for a bargain price new. JMO, but if I were shopping & my price point was set, I'd be looking for a slightly used good quality unit over a new poor quality for same money.

Before taking final delivery, highly recommend checking out more than just the interior. Taking a few minutes to crawl underneath the chassis, and some time to check out the roof, is also important. Issues in these areas have the potential to be much more serious than many interior issues.

A year or so ago I witnessed a guy who was about to take delivery of a new 5th wheel. Fortunately, he took the time to check out the roof area just moments before signing. On the roof were massive rips in the rubber roof just behind the front cap. Someone had apparently driven the rig into some low hanging tree branches. Needless to say he passed on that unit.

Good luck!

Agreed. I researched online for awhile just to eliminate rigs that didn't have a workable floor plan for us. I read online reviews of different rigs to delete some more. Once I narrowed it down to a handful of rigs that I thought would work, we went and looked at them up close and personal. It does take effort but, for us, it was a huge purchase and we are FT and wanted to get it right! Good luck in your search!

Agree with WyoTraveler. Really look at a lot. Even if you think you have settled on one brand, keep looking and really check it out. Sit it in imagining yourself living in it. Do the slides in prohibit any activity. If so, is this ok with you. Open and close all the drawers and cupboards. Look at the space. Look in the basement. Look at the countertops, faucets, finishes, etc. Huge difference between manufacturers.

Thank you, Wyo Traveler. We are newbies to 5ers, and appreciate the advice!

If you walk through a lot of RVs you can see cheap. Go to RV shows in older clothes.Don't hesitate to look under, take notes, check quality of drawers, cupboard bottoms. If you see cheap in visible areas you know there will be cheap in hidden areas. Ask to have slides run in and out. If something isn't working in one particular RV I try to find another dealer with same type unit. If the problem isn't working in a second unit I don't listen to BS about it will be fixed under warranty. You really need to do your homework and you will come out OK. Don't get caught up in oooohs and aaaahs on how nice it is takes notes.