First RV

ChuckV1 wrote:

Control_Freak wrote:
My spouse and I are looking at purchasing our first RV, he grew up camping, I did not....

We have a 2019 Chevy Silverado 6.2L with max trailering, manufacturers tow rating of 12,200 pounds and are looking At travel trailers, the two models were specifically interested in are prime time lacrosse 3311rk and outback 341rd, we both prefer the floor plan of the outback, but have heard the quality isn’t all that great but we e also heard that pretty much all brands can have significant problems.

I’ve read the horror stories and they seem to be pretty even around the board, how to I protect myself from buying a “lemon?” Or what pitfalls should I avoid. I REALLY don’t want to jump all in to be riddled with a huge headache.

Any advice for this potential newbie is welcome and appreciated!

Do a good Pre Delivery Inspection (PDI)I can't say it enough or if they will let you take it to a good RV repair shop for inspection if buy from a private owner or hire someone to look at the trailer who knows what they are doing ....

There is allot of talk about weights but I believe more than weights you should think about what condition the trailer is in, your weight may be good but if the trailer falls down around the wheels who cares about the weight ...

PDI PDI PDI I can't say it enough

Here is a list I made up below, there are other lists all over the internet, use one so you are an informed buyer !!!!!!

http://kzfamilyforum.com/thread/1903/pdi-list

Holy cow that’s one hell of a list! Kudos and thanks to you for putting it together.

It’s funny that you talked about the importance of the PDI, we picked out the unit we wanted a couple weeks ago, worked the deal and before I said yes I told them I wanted to go look at it once more ( it had been raining buckets and I wanted to see if it leaked) low and behold there was water in it, tried to give me the song and dance about the slides, called ******** and found the seal was caught in the slide not protecting it from water. Told them it was a no and settled on a different unit, same model.

Made our appointment to PDI and pickup, found a bunch of minor stuff...missing light cover, no battery in the smoke detector, no shoreline, dirty, missing gasket in a water hookup, severely underinflated tire. Said they would take care of it while we signed paperwork. We were annoyed since they charge 1500$ for prep, but okay no big. Sign our papers, buy some parts which include a backup camera they’re going to install while we wait 90 min later they say they’re having an issue with the camera pairing and are going to try another unit, 90 more minutes they say they’ve tried everything and 5 different cameras, they can’t get them to work and it’s the factory cameras on the truck interfering. Long story short ( posted details in pet shop camping with Dobermans) the camper had an electrical issues, they tried everything to make us believe that wasn’t the case but my husband knew better. Told them to unhook it and cancelled the financing and walked away.

So no camper for us, at least for this year maybe forever after such a bad experience. It sucks but I feel good that we didn’t go through with it....I’d rather be disappointed today than sorry tomorrow.