Etiquette on contacting past owner of your new RV

I was contacted once by the new owner of a car that I had traded in to a dealer. I found it creepy and intrusive, especially since the guy kept bugging me about WHY I REALLY traded in the car. Really... it was about downsizing. I no longer needed the big V-8. But he wasn't accepting that reason.

I wouldn't contact a PO and I don't want to be contacted again directly by the new owner. In case of some very specific question about the operation of the vehicle, I might let the dealer act as a go between.

I have one and it has never tripped for bad wiring or spikes/low voltage. I still feel the piece of mind is worth it and would hate for me not to have it and have something happen that could ruin a vacation or a nice weekend of camping because I was being cheap.

AprilWhine wrote:
And from the other side:

Hubby and I bought the class C in my sig over Ebay last year. Seller gave a very honest description, the RV was exactly as he said. When we got it home and started prepping for the trip to Alaska, hubby found a disconnected wire that kept the water heater from working on electricity.

I emailed the seller about it, saying if the water heater stopped working after he had something serviced, he might not want to use that mechanic again. Told him about the wire and how it looked like sabotage.

Got a very long email back! Seems he thought I was going to blame him when he read the description of the problem! Then kept reading and was amazed that I was just trying to warn him.

So sometimes the buyer can give as well as get good info. :)

There's no way of knowing who did what to a coach when buying used. The last thing any previous owner wants is trouble of any kind. I took my coach to the factory it was manufactured at in hopes of getting several things fixed properly. Not only did every single repair they make fail in a matter of months, before I left their facility, the refer quit working on 110AC mode. They were working on the 110AC electrical system and coincidentally the reefer's electricity mode quit. When I pointed this out to them before leaving the factory, they said it wasn't their doings and refused to accept responsibility for it breaking or fixing it.

And from the other side:

Hubby and I bought the class C in my sig over Ebay last year. Seller gave a very honest description, the RV was exactly as he said. When we got it home and started prepping for the trip to Alaska, hubby found a disconnected wire that kept the water heater from working on electricity.

I emailed the seller about it, saying if the water heater stopped working after he had something serviced, he might not want to use that mechanic again. Told him about the wire and how it looked like sabotage.

Got a very long email back! Seems he thought I was going to blame him when he read the description of the problem! Then kept reading and was amazed that I was just trying to warn him.

So sometimes the buyer can give as well as get good info. :)

I got a call a long time ago. I traded in a VW Beetle, with the owners manual in the glove box. The new owner asked me if I would answer a question for him about the car. I said I have no problem with that. He wanted to know if the owner manual was correct with the service done on the car. I said it was up to the time I traded in the car. I asked him why he was questioning the service records. He said the mileage on the odometer was a lot lower than the book showed it should have been. I could not believe it. He thanked me. Never heard from him again. So it might be good to contract the owner, never know what you could learn.

Certainly some different strokes for different folks.

It's certainly a pity that a simple phone call about something innocuous as ownership of stuff seems like a threat or breach of one's privacy. I guess it's the times, folks want no one in their lives except who they choose.

I'd make the call, not involve the dealer, and keep it brief. If you had an email address, it would be less intrusion felt, in most cases.

I would not call a previous owner, or would I like to be called by the new owner.

I personally would like to be able to talk to previous owners or new owner of our rigs. Especially would like to know where they bought the recliners we had in the previous 5er we had. Cant find them anywhere. If you have our previou rig and have a question please feel free to call.

et2 wrote:
As others mentioned. We sold it to the dealer for a reason. Not having to discuss every little detail of the pending sale of our Fiver. Dealers responsibility. So if there were a breach of information it came from the dealer as we cleaned everything from the Fiver upon selling it. So I'd have a serious problem with it.

If I wanted to chat for hours about the good and bad I would have sold it myself. So our answer is we don't want that prying phone call.

In reading this thread, I've been trying to decide which side of the fence I'm on. I think, at the end of the day, I would not want to be contacted for the same reasons as above.

As others mentioned. We sold it to the dealer for a reason. Not having to discuss every little detail of the pending sale of our Fiver. Dealers responsibility. So if there were a breach of information it came from the dealer as we cleaned everything from the Fiver upon selling it. So I'd have a serious problem with it.

If I wanted to chat for hours about the good and bad I would have sold it myself. So our answer is we don't want that prying phone call.