Looking To Buy A New RV? Here's a suggestion.

[Foto-n-T]

I recently read a post by Dave911 and since what I'm about to say wouldn't be of any use to him now and I didn't want to hijack his thread I'll throw this out there on a new one.

I've been living part time in a 5th wheel (snow birding) now for twenty years and I've picked up more than a few tidbits of experience during that time, some of it expensive. If you're reading this and considering buying your first RV (new or used) read on and maybe, just maybe I "might" be able to save you a headache or two, who knows maybe even a few bucks.

Dealerships/Salesmen are NOT your friend and no matter how much you dicker and deal the one thing I can promise you is that if you drive off the lot with one of their units "they" will be happy with what you paid, you ain't gettin' over on the dealership believe me. Regarding the sales people: Most RV sales people couldn't spell RV without a dictionary, do your research ahead of time and don't expect the sales team to be able to answer any technical questions i.e. towing compatibility, gross vehicle weight, central vac questions et.al. and be wary of any answers you do get. Of course the interweb is a reasonable place to gather the info you need but when it comes to the PDI (pre delivery inspection) it's hard to interact with a forum on your laptop as the sales person is rushing you through so he can collect his commission. By the way, salesmen are terrified of being married to you meaning they will brush off your questions whenever possible just so you don't think they know everything there is to know and come running back when you can't figure out how to turn on the lights. I once had one that had the response "Please refer to your owners manual" down pat.

Here's a thought and one that I personally helped with a couple of times. Head over to your local RV park and talk to someone in the office and have them put you in contact with a mobile RV repair person, one who DOES NOT work for any dealership and one that the RV park trusts. Most RV parks don't just let anybody in to their property to work on their customers units, the RV repair guy will have a trusted following. Of course this mobile RV repair person will need to be compensated for his time but he also should understand that he's generating a new customer. Pay the guy for an hour of his time and let him know what you're looking at and why. When it comes time for the PDI money spent on taking the mobile RV guy with will be WELL spent as well. Hopefully a used car buyer would never think of shelling out hard earned taxable income without getting that used car checked out by a mechanic. First time RV purchases are very similar, you don't know what you don't know and education is seldom free.

 

[Kirk]

Been to Cody several times, mostly in the 18 years that we lived at Cheyenne.

 

[TonyL]

Joe makes some valid points but I'm not sure where you will find a reliable mobile RV repair guy as from our observations and experience, they're like rocking horse droppings.
Experience 1, parked on a campground in Tucumcari, A class next to us couldn't get his lounge slide to come in. Two so called mobile RV techs arrived in a pick up with no tools at all. Walked around hummin and tutin for nearly 45 minutes before going of to fetch some tools. I'm betting the call out was going on the bill, but I would have expected them to attend with at least some sort of tool chest.
Experience 2, on a campground just outside Nacogdouches, lady in a fifth wheel next to us which I guessed was semi-permanent had a blockage from her black tank. Bevis and Butthead arrive and decided that back-flushing through the dump hose might help. Of course, they didn't have any kit of their own (despite I assume knowing it was a blockage they were attending)
They decide to disconnect her city water hose from it's RV connection them shoved it up the sewer hose and turned on the spigot!!! When this didn't sort the issue, they turned off the spigot and without any cleaning, re-connected the end to her city water connection.
Whilst they went off to obtain some form of drain cleaning tools, the lady returned and we informed her of what we had witnessed. We didn't hang around to witness just what she said to the "RV techs" she had hired.
Experience 3, In 2022 we decided that our slide outs needed some professional adjustment, the wheel bearings needed re-packing, brakes checked and adjusted and new tires fitted.
We found an RV tech online that seemed to have good reviews, just outside Missoula that assured us this was well within his ability. We left the trailer with him early and took the wheels he had removed to get the tires swapped.
We dropped back the wheels and new tires and he said it would be another couple of hours before everything was done. We collected and towed the fifth wheel back to our campground where the slides did seem better. Unfortunately, we didn't notice until we travelled and went to site up next day about 200 miles away, that he had managed to drop a piece of trim causing damage to the floor below, which we are certain wasn't damaged at the time we dropped of the unit. I also later discovered work boot sole marks on the roof of one slide!
Needless to say, the slide adjustments didn't last long, and it took the attention of an engineer from BAL accuslide in Elkhart to sort the issue properly (SHOUT OUT TO BAL, customer service way and above anything we have experienced)
It's these experiences, and many we have read about on this forum that shows an urgent need to be able to learn and attempt to self diagnose and repair things yourself. Even if you need to buy the correct tools whilst on the road.
Finding good reliable repair guys (and Gals) is like searching for Gold, and they never seem to be where you need them at the time.

 

[Foto-n-T]

Joe makes some valid points but I'm not sure where you will find a reliable mobile RV repair guy as from our observations and experience, they're like rocking horse droppings.
Experience 1, parked on a campground in Tucumcari, A class next to us couldn't get his lounge slide to come in. Two so called mobile RV techs arrived in a pick up with no tools at all. Walked around hummin and tutin for nearly 45 minutes before going of to fetch some tools. I'm betting the call out was going on the bill, but I would have expected them to attend with at least some sort of tool chest.
Experience 2, on a campground just outside Nacogdouches, lady in a fifth wheel next to us which I guessed was semi-permanent had a blockage from her black tank. Bevis and Butthead arrive and decided that back-flushing through the dump hose might help. Of course, they didn't have any kit of their own (despite I assume knowing it was a blockage they were attending)
They decide to disconnect her city water hose from it's RV connection them shoved it up the sewer hose and turned on the spigot!!! When this didn't sort the issue, they turned off the spigot and without any cleaning, re-connected the end to her city water connection.
Whilst they went off to obtain some form of drain cleaning tools, the lady returned and we informed her of what we had witnessed. We didn't hang around to witness just what she said to the "RV techs" she had hired.
Experience 3, In 2022 we decided that our slide outs needed some professional adjustment, the wheel bearings needed re-packing, brakes checked and adjusted and new tires fitted.
We found an RV tech online that seemed to have good reviews, just outside Missoula that assured us this was well within his ability. We left the trailer with him early and took the wheels he had removed to get the tires swapped.
We dropped back the wheels and new tires and he said it would be another couple of hours before everything was done. We collected and towed the fifth wheel back to our campground where the slides did seem better. Unfortunately, we didn't notice until we travelled and went to site up next day about 200 miles away, that he had managed to drop a piece of trim causing damage to the floor below, which we are certain wasn't damaged at the time we dropped of the unit. I also later discovered work boot sole marks on the roof of one slide!
Needless to say, the slide adjustments didn't last long, and it took the attention of an engineer from BAL accuslide in Elkhart to sort the issue properly (SHOUT OUT TO BAL, customer service way and above anything we have experienced)
It's these experiences, and many we have read about on this forum that shows an urgent need to be able to learn and attempt to self diagnose and repair things yourself. Even if you need to buy the correct tools whilst on the road.
Finding good reliable repair guys (and Gals) is like searching for Gold, and they never seem to be where you need them at the time.

This is why I recommend going to an RV park and inquiring as to a reputable mobile guy. What I didn't mention is that most RV repair places will also do this even if they don't consider themselves "mobile." RV parks (the decent ones at least) have a vested interest in not allowing people with bad reputations to come into their park and do maintenance. The main point is to get somebody who doesn't work for the dealership, yes you will pay and you should. But in the long run it will save you stress and probably money.

 

[chims]

If this doesn't scare you off of buying a new RV, nothing will.

 

[chims]

And here's his follow up.

 

[TonyL]

If this doesn't scare you off of buying a new RV, nothing will.

That is SCARY!! Ours is out of warranty now but I'm too scared to see if I signed a similar sales agreement. Thankfully, our dealer did do the warranty issues we found during our first 6 month trip, but trying to deal with the manufacturer was like wading through cake mix.

 

[Ray-IN]

Letos law videos, they do not pertain to every states laws. The information must be weighed carefully.

 

[jymbee]

Most RV parks don't just let anybody in to their property to work on their customers units...

That's interesting. Perhaps different with private parks but the numerous times we've had to seek help from an RV repair outfit while at State/COE parks, the gate never questioned them at all.

Overall, with a few notable exceptions, we've had decent luck using mobile repair but my preference by far is finding a repair service that also has a onsite shop and facilities rather than some guy with a pickup. If able to drive to a repair shop to have work done you've already saved the usual fee to even get to you at a site.

You can get a pretty good idea of any repair person's expertise by asking them about their background. If they're worked for a large chain for years before going on on their own would be a good starting point.

 

[Onyrlef]

This is why I recommend going to an RV park and inquiring as to a reputable mobile guy. What I didn't mention is that most RV repair places will also do this even if they don't consider themselves "mobile." RV parks (the decent ones at least) have a vested interest in not allowing people with bad reputations to come into their park and do maintenance. The main point is to get somebody who doesn't work for the dealership, yes you will pay and you should. But in the long run it will save you stress and probably money.

Hard to imagine an RV park mgr. caring who you call to work on your private property.

 

[Isaac-1]

What they do care about is getting involved in legal actions, slip and fall lawsuits, Hazmat cleanup, etc.

 

[Foto-n-T]

Hard to imagine an RV park mgr. caring who you call to work on your private pro

I don't tend to stay in high end RV parks but the ones in the southwest that I do stay in even if they aren't gated require ALL contractors to check in. An RV park (even a cheap one) has a vested interest in trying to ensure that contractors that they allow in have a decent reputation.

 

[Onyrlef]

I don't tend to stay in high end RV parks but the ones in the southwest that I do stay in even if they aren't gated require ALL contractors to check in. An RV park (even a cheap one) has a vested interest in trying to ensure that contractors that they allow in have a decent reputation.

How do they check the reputation? If they allow a contractor in are they assuming some kind of responsibility for the quality of the contractor's work?

 

[Foto-n-T]

How do they check the reputation? If they allow a contractor in are they assuming some kind of responsibility for the quality of the contractor's work?

The same way you or I would check their reputation, word of mouth. If a contractor is an idiot there will be more than one complaint by a customer to the office believe me. If you have a better solution to helping a first time RV buyer please feel free to post it on another thread. I didn't put this up there for a debate.

 

[Onyrlef]

The same way you or I would check their reputation, word of mouth. If a contractor is an idiot there will be more than one complaint by a customer to the office believe me. If you have a better solution to helping a first time RV buyer please feel free to post it on another thread. I didn't put this up there for a debate.

So the office says I hear bad things about you, you can't come in? Kinda like "No soup for you".

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Many parks require any & all "visitors" to check in, whether they are visiting for business or social reasons. And those who have visited before and maybe caused problems might be denied access. Not just rumors of problems - things that came to the attention of the office. For example, blocking road access, spills or trash left behind, excessive noise, or interference with neighboring campsites.

But probably the more general case is simply gossip shared at the office. Nothing official, but the office staff can repeat what they've heard from other campers. Since it's mere gossip, accept that it's accuracy is somewhat questionable.

 

[Isaac-1]

Gary, it goes beyond this, I was at a river front RV park on a popular recreational river in central Texas last week, the park had key pad crossing arm style entry. Regulations on the brochure said only paying guests are allowed to know the entry code, if they have any visitors the guest must enter the code and not give it to the visitors. The rules also did not allow food delivery drivers, uber drivers, etc. onto the property and said that any guest getting such deliveries, uber pick up / drop off had to meet such drivers in the parking lot by the office, not at their rv site. This is not the first time I have seen such rules regarding food delivery / uber etc.

 

[jackiemac]

I took notes during our PDI but it would have been better to video it on my phone. Obviously you would need to ask if that was OK. You can then go back and review it.

Obviously some rigs are way more complicated than others. Try and find as much as you can about your particular rig and list the things you need/want explained.

Always better if 2 of you are there to keep track.