RV WANT-A-Be

[HellonEarthHous]

I am looking at different used RV's Class A and 5th wheels,of course they are located in different parts of the country. I have located a couple that fit what I am looking for. I do not want to drive 800 miles to view a misrepresented RV and wast my time.. what is the best way to know what I am seeing online is what it is said to be, before I drive to see the it in person? Any suggestions?

[2112]

turbodude51 wrote:
I just joined this Forum so I apologize if this is wrong area, my wife and I are in the process of looking for a fifth wheel. is there anyone who can give insight on moving out of your home and traveling all over? the pit falls experience regrets? Thanks in advance

Welcome turbodude

Read and post that question here
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings/forum/33/sub/-/days/365

[turbodude51]

I just joined this Forum so I apologize if this is wrong area, my wife and I are in the process of looking for a fifth wheel. is there anyone who can give insight on moving out of your home and traveling all over? the pit falls experience regrets? Thanks in advance

[JoeH]

John Wayne wrote:
Post a note here and see if anyone in the area of where the RV is is willing to take drive by to see if it's worth having an inspector take a look at. Someone may up to take a look at it for you.

That's what I was going to suggest..... then , if it seems to be what it was advertised as, you can hire an inspector. I've had Class A's for 30 yrs and if someone asked me to check one out, I'd be glad to do it.

[ncrowley]

Use Zoom. You can have them run a Zoom session on their cell phone. Then you can walk through the coach. You can have them show you anywhere you want to, with close ups in whatever area you want. Not perfect but pretty good.

[John_Wayne]

Post a note here and see if anyone in the area of where the RV is is willing to take drive by to see if it's worth having an inspector take a look at. Someone may up to take a look at it for you.

[Sandia_Man]

Lots of good advice thus far, hire an inspector as stated but definitely talk to them as much as possible. As mentioned you can tell when asking questions, if they responded hurriedly or sounded annoyed we immediately moved on. We always told them upfront we were hiring an inspector, some took it well others not so much. We just spent a couple of years looking for our current Class A going through the very same situation you are currently experiencing.

We live in NM and easily exhausted our search in state, luckily we have TX and AZ as neighbors, both have an enormous selection of used RVs to peruse through, ideally looking to purchase from private seller than dealer. After talking to a particular seller for a couple of weeks and RV techs/inspectors in the area we set out for southern TX. Inspection prices started at $800 for house side, chassis and powertrain add another $400, pricey for sure but well worth it to avoid serious issues.

Our patience paid off, sellers turned out to be true to their word, in fact we stayed in the motorhome for three nights on their ranch. I was able to go through everything myself and drove it around several times, noticed alternator was not putting out sufficient voltage. Pandemic was roaring in TX last July with repair shops booked weeks out, they overnighted alternator and had mobile mechanic install next day. Ended up not having inspection, drove it 800 miles home through record TX heat.

[Lwiddis]

Don’t cheap out on the inspector’s time. Pay his/her rate for at least two to three hours.

[Grit_dog]

And if you're buying used from a dealer, know that most likely anything that can be mis-represented in the interest of making a sale, will be.
If buying private party, aside form your due diligence of checking out the unit, however that is, if you're not a good judge of character, there will be more risk.

[monkey44]

And, find your own inspector in that area ... don't allow the seller to recommend one. Call a local campground and get a number for a local RV repair guy they use.

[mr_andyj]

Best is to talk on the phone, not emails. You can learn a lot through voice. Just plain tell him how you will not buy just bc you show up, that you will look it over carefully and take a lot of time to do so, and ask if he cares that you take hours to inspect, and ask again and again if there is any issues. All RVs will have issues, even new ones. Ask for the issues. If he does not know of any then likely he is either not knowledgeable at all or is lying to you to make a quickie sale.
When I sell I am probably in the minority. I state all known issues, all issues that I fixed, how I fixed it and issues that I just live with. Buyer might want to buy an RV with issues that he can fix himself to save a few bucks and know it is done right - that is my theory, and helps me sleep at night knowing I was up front...
Most sellers with issues will just list one sentence about the RV and say very little, and if you ask 10 questions they will answer the easy one and ignore the others bc he cannot answer without indicating there are issues. Run from those. Run from anything with water damage unless you can fix it. Run from water stains on the ceiling, or painted ceilings in spots. Look for repairs, which could be done right and better than new, or could be just masking a poor repair job.
Also know that there are RV issues that can be ignored and do not need to be fixed necessarily. Some rotten dry wood here or a broken thing there does not detract from the function or the integrity of the RV and might not ever matter until years after the RV has been tossed in the junk yard. Some issues do matter a lot though. You have to make that call.
Yes, you should b able to find something closer to you. Just be patient, tomorrow the one might show up in an ad in your town. Just keep watching.

[2112]

Hire an RV inspector in that area. Yes, easier said than done, I'm sure.

Have you looked at PPL's inventory @ West Belt and 59? I have often done inspections on their inventory for people across the country. More times than not I saved them a disappointing trip.

[valhalla360]

Unless you are getting real specific on what you want, you should be able to find something closer.

Reality, is you need to see the rig in person. It's naïve to expect that sellers are going to highlight hidden issues.

If you aren't familiar with RVs and their issues, consider including a clause in the offer that you can have it professionally inspected prior to closing the deal. Then you pay a mobile RV tech a $100-200 to give it a once over looking for issues (motorhome, might add having a mechanic give the engine a once over with compression check). This won't guarantee zero issues but should find a lot of issues.