Ironically I see you are from WA state. I was going make a comment about purchasing/shopping in WA state but I see you are "experienced." :)
My wife and I shopped for our 4th RV this past summer and noticed many of the same issues you elude to. We wanted a used rig...what we discovered at both Mt. Vernon and on Fife row was dealers no longer prep or detail used rigs until someone puts a deposit on it! We were shown many filthy used rigs over the weeks of our search, one with dirty underwear and socks still in the closet! Don't even attempt to make an offer until you put money down to hold the unit that "is going to sell really fast." We were told by sales staff they do nothing to used rigs until a deposit is made. Now...this may not be the rule everywhere but we found it so at all the dealers we visited...and that was several.
Also found it unnerving that most dealers will not publish a price on the internet and are not very upfront if they decide to answer an email. Being 100+ miles from Fife, it would have been nice to have some "ball park" figures before making that horrible I5 drive south!
We started looking at private party rigs and never went back to a dealer. Found a great rig and never looked back.
