Etiquette on contacting past owner of your new RV

mockturtle wrote:
OTOH, calling a former owner to complain about issues with a used RV would seem a breach of etiquette.

Well, not exactly, but in the case where you learn after buying, where the previous owner chose to hide information about the RV, then I would say it incumbent to ask why the information was not disclosed when buying.

I bought a used unit 1,500 miles from home, and gave the owner every opportunity to tell me everything he did to the coach before I made the trek to buy it. He chose to not disclose pertinent facts damage and modifications made to the rig anyway. Yes, the more I learned about the wild goose chase he chose to have me take, the madder I got at the individual. It is imperative to get all the information, whether or not the previous owner did so before selling it.

I would hang up on you if you called about a vehicle I sold to a dealer. I am selling to a dealer so I don't have to deal with buyers. Paid big out of pocket for that privilege.

What do you want to know? IS it something that you can RTFM on or Google?

Has nothing to do with having something to hide. Part of me wouldn't mind a call with a question or something but really depends on what you wanted to talk about.

A lot of people can be pretty stupid sometimes or downright unreasonable with expectations or even a total PIA.

i wish i could talk to the po of out 5er he did some nice things to it would love to thank him but we bought it from aestate sale so no chance the man was handy

A previous owner made contact with us! We were at a nearby campground and a pretty large 5er came in. We had a popular spot for the locals and he was a local. There was an older couple with the 5er and 2 couples, must have been in their 30's. Along with them was a car with another young couple. They were conversing on which spot to take all with in 4 or 5 sites from us. I noticed they kept looking our way,talking and pointing our direction. It was a little unnerving and I beckoned my wife outside and told her to look over at those people and that I feel like we are the topic or the conversation. We thought we might have their favorite site. Pretty soon they broke huddle and and all of them came charging right to our site and the older gentleman pointed at our camper and proclaimed that it was his and he put that master level on the on the camper himself. I thought they were accusing us of stealing their camper as we only had it a couple months. It was just excitement to see the tt they traded for the 5er. He told me about a shelving unit he put in it by the door, and it was there. His wife told my wife about the rip that she mended in the quilt on the bed. The wife invited them in and she showed her where she mended it. The guy told me that they had only put about 500 miles on the tt and it was a 2003 and this was in 2008. They wanted a larger unit and a bigger truck for full timing. They said they loved the tt and had no issues with it. It was kind of a neat experience. I told my wife that we should have taken a picture of the older couple that owned previously and put it on a wall with our picture so when we traded, it would have a previous owner tree of sorts. Anyway, I was a little nervous when they all approached but had a good conversation an excellent weekend!

Possible potential to get involved in someone's lawsuit. He said...she said.

My husband and I were contacted by the buyer of our Foretravel to ask where we put the combination to the safe. :D There may have been one or two other questions, too, that we didn't mind answering. I also contacted the former owner of my current motorhome more than once with some questions and she didn't seem to mind. OTOH, calling a former owner to complain about issues with a used RV would seem a breach of etiquette.

searfoss wrote:

The general question for a previous owner of a rig would be to ask if there were any problems and why they got rid of it. Since they no longer own the TT they may be very up front with issues the dealer doesn't know about or is choosing to not tell a new buyer.

We had two problems with our current used TT and both were an easy fix, however one I found when it almost killed me (literally). And I do wonder if the dealer knew about it.

In what universe would a P.O. want to be plunked down in the middle of such a potential dispute?

I can see the cascade of events right now:

Disgruntled customer calls, P.O. says, "oh yeah, I told the dealer about some defect" , followed by the Dealer saying "The P.O. did NOT tell me that...but now that he's told YOU, we'll go after him together!"

trnfla wrote:
I discovered information in my units paperwork when I purchased mine and called them. They were able to give a lot of information and they were glad I called. Don't call if you want to complain about anything on the unit and be prepared if they tell you something bad about the unit and that's why sold it.

I would not mind being called, we loved out last HTT I could tell them we only traded it in to up-size. As a matter of fact the couch always had a blanket on it so it didn't have dirt issues, no leaks, regular maintenance, yes we had a dog, no we don't smoke. As for how much we received on the trade I would not tell them that.....

The general question for a previous owner of a rig would be to ask if there were any problems and why they got rid of it. Since they no longer own the TT they may be very up front with issues the dealer doesn't know about or is choosing to not tell a new buyer.

We had two problems with our current used TT and both were an easy fix, however one I found when it almost killed me (literally). And I do wonder if the dealer knew about it.

I would be polite and talk to you. Depending on my perception of your motives, maybe even have an enjoyable conversation.
My next move would be to call the dealer to burn him a new one for not securing my information.