Help! Need Pre-purchace inspector, Dallas Tx area/walk away?

[DMM2]

Hi,
My husband & I are trying to become newbies in the RV world, but desperately need advice/help. Have already made some not too smart mistakes despite doing research/ reading ahead of time and checking out this forum.
We have put an offer on a Monoco Executive 43, 2001 in Dallas, Tx area at a dealership, has 90,000+ miles and 2604 hr on generator. We are in Ga, found this one via internet, pictures look okay, but know they don't tell much. Deal contingent on pre-purchase inspection since we have only rented RVs 3 times and never a DP. Learned after the bid (should have asked before bid,) that this is a REPO bought at auction (possible error/red flag #1), no service records (possible error/red flag #2). Carfax from dealer shows no accidents, but records of service stops after 2006 when it was sold and went from Fla to Tx (#3) and only shows yearly registrations. We had bartered the price down $1500 because all but tag tires(2012) are dated 2007. Tried to get dealer to put on new American made tires dated 2013, but would only agree to reduce price (possible red flag #4). Had someone from RVSurvey on internet willing to travel to that area to do inspection (30 page report, pics, etc/ 6 hours) for about $300 plus travel, but due to personal/medical issues that came up now cannot do inspection for 10 days if at all. Found a service center near Dallas will do inspection but cannot for 20 days and charges $20/foot (seems a little steep, $800) for 5 pages and about 8 hours .
Does anyone know any good pre-purchase inspectors in Dallas area? Looking for thoughts/advice before we contact dealer tomorrow and inform them of what is going on.
Thanks in advance.

[DMM2]

I just wanted to thank everyone for your responses and valuable information. With the age of the unit, no service records and needing all new tires and our inexperience and the difficulties in getting an independent inspection, we decided to back out of deal and walk away.
Thanks again, and our hunt for an RV continues, so there will probably be more questions in the future.

[bob_nestor]

sayoung wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Sayoung, that is an Internet Myth (actually the myth pre-dates the internet by several decades, but what the heck). There is no 3 day right of Rescission on vehicle sales in Texas, or most any other state. You buy it, you own it. Unless it has a specified, written warranty all vehicles come with an "Oklahoma Guarantee" which states: "if it breaks in half, you get both pieces".

Wanna bet ,trust me as I have returned one (chevy pu) before.this ain't where ever you abode.you are dealing witha "dealer" and if actually a dealer must follow TDLR licensing rules,now if its a "casual sale" between pvt parties whole different bag of onions.

Funny, but what I found in a Google search turned this up:

The 3-Day Right to Cancel a Purchase

[sayoung]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Sayoung, that is an Internet Myth (actually the myth pre-dates the internet by several decades, but what the heck). There is no 3 day right of Rescission on vehicle sales in Texas, or most any other state. You buy it, you own it. Unless it has a specified, written warranty all vehicles come with an "Oklahoma Guarantee" which states: "if it breaks in half, you get both pieces".

Wanna bet ,trust me as I have returned one (chevy pu) before.this ain't where ever you abode.you are dealing witha "dealer" and if actually a dealer must follow TDLR licensing rules,now if its a "casual sale" between pvt parties whole different bag of onions.

[DMM2]

Blangen wrote:
First, let's get tires out of the way... just wanted to make sure you weren't expecting to get 6 tires for $1500.

Second, I, too, found it difficult to get an inspection from a distance. Last year, I went looking around the country (online, of course)for a particular coach. Found three or four. One was at a dealer in the Indiana/Ohio area. Now, while there are plenty of dealers and manufacturers in that area, I suspected I'd have trouble finding an independent inspector who would give me the straight answers (knowing he needed to continue living in that area). I was right. What I ended up doing is finding out who the Dealer used for their bigger chassis work and then called the OTHER Freightliner shop in the area and told the Dealer that they would have to deliver the coach to them for chassis inspection or no deal. They did it, the shop found several things wrong that pointed to lack of maintenance, I paid the Freightliner shop... and told the Dealer the deal was dead. By the way, the "chassis" is just a small part of a coach but, to a trained eye, its' care will say a lot about how the entire coach was treated and maintained. Also, if the biggest ticket items (like the diesel engine, generator, transmission) are good and you're getting the coach at a cheap enough price, you are more able to suffer some smaller troubles in the house part of the coach.

The next one I liked was in rural Missouri and currently owned by a private party. Because it was such a sparsely populated area, couldn't find a coach inspector there, either. Ended up going there, myself, and looking. He had maintenance records. He and I spent a few hours looking at everything... under the heading of "This is my first coach and can you show me everything you know about how it works?". Of course, just that process told me a bunch about him, his attention to detail, etc. Had he been clueless... or even just shy of very knowledgeable about this coach he'd owned and cared for over the previous four years, I'd have walked away. Anyway... bought it, drove away, happy as a lark! Good luck to you and hope yours works out as well as mine.

One final note... at the risk of riling the non-Carfax people, I did pull a Carfax on each coach before wheeling and dealing. No, it doesn't tell you everything but it may tell you something that, at least, lets you judge the character of the private party you're talking to.

Thanks very much for sharing your story. It has definitely given us more food for thought!! The Dealer did email us a copy of car fax. Up to 2006 showed yearly service record notation every year, then stopped once it was sold to someone in TX. The dealer did comment they found some sort of record of fuel filter changed in 2012, but that is all.

[DMM2]

Join the Family Motor Coach Association for 50 bucks and use their national account to buy your Michelins. Saved WAY more than the $50.



Thank you so much for this information!! Have joined and looks like if we go this way, this can save us about 1500 on the tires! If not now, will be useful when we finally do find the right rig and join the RV family 🙂

[WTTCS]

And if its from McClains, it probably will.

[westernrvparkow]

Sayoung, that is an Internet Myth (actually the myth pre-dates the internet by several decades, but what the heck). There is no 3 day right of Rescission on vehicle sales in Texas, or most any other state. You buy it, you own it. Unless it has a specified, written warranty all vehicles come with an "Oklahoma Guarantee" which states: "if it breaks in half, you get both pieces".

[WTTCS]

Im betting McClains.

[sayoung]

Since it is titled as a mtr.vehicle here in Tx,you get 3 days after purchase to get 100% of your money back.
If some of us here knew which dealer,might shed some light.As was said,lots of em for sale nation wide.I cant imagine not being able to find one closer.

[blangen]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
The fact it was repossessed really doesn't do any harm to the rig.

No... but the guy who can't make payments also doesn't do maintenance.

[westernrvparkow]

The fact it was repossessed really doesn't do any harm to the rig. And carfax records are notorious for being incomplete, and I would assume even more so for RVs. When we have traded RVs, we always take all our service records with us. They have personal information on them and we don't want what we had done and where to be everyone's information. As for the seller not wanting to put on tires, that is probably because they don't want to be stuck for the cost and have you back out. Plus if they put on new tires and you don't buy it, the next buyer will either not care there are new tires on it, and give them absolutely no more money for it than they would have with the old tires, or good ole Murphy will rear his ugly head and the buyer will have an issue with whatever brand of tire was put on. And they probably don't want to spend the time to take the rig to a tire shop, get the tires put on, go back to their dealership and then find out you couldn't get an inspector for a price you though was fair, so you aren't buying it anyway. Sounds like they made the right decision.

[Allworth]

You absolutely must operate on the theory; "It is my money, we will do it my way!"

[sljkansas]

You said you made an offer, did any money transaction take place? If not walk away from it, and find another one. If they won't meet your price then they did not except your offer, tell them you'll look some where else and walk away. They may decide to deal with you. The balls in your court, whet ever they tell you they will do, have them put it in writing, and have them sign it. But don't let them get you to sign anything until you read it. Your the buyer, they need you, you don't need them.

[blangen]

Alluded to it above but, just to clarify... that Dealer wants to sell you that coach way more than you want to buy it if there are others elsewhere. It's a Buyer's market. Search across the country for your desired brand, model, year. You'll find you can fly, buy and drive for far cheaper than buying an overpriced coach. When I was looking, the four that caught my eye the most had a price spread of about $50,000. Nope, that's not a typo.