Dealer Walk-thru

[spindrift]

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to soak in as much info from you folks as possible regarding your experiences, good and bad, with your RW coaches. In this particular case, I'm going to ask you about the bad in order to transform some of your bad experiences into good experiences for me. I hope that doesn't sound too selfish on my part.

In some of the threads there are common complaints such as reversedcabling, leaking shower stalls, insufficient hot water, etc. In many respects, I think some of these things are to be expected considering that we're talking about a rather complicated structure that's design to move down the road on four tires. I'd like to correct as many of these manufacturing hiccups at the dealer before I officially take possession of the coach. Certainly, I'll be doing my own PDI but your input regarding every and any thing I should pay particular attention to would be greatly appreciated.

[piper guy]

If the dealer has a hookup available, I would plan on staying in the coach for the weekend. Play with everything you can, and then give them a punch list on Monday and tell them to call when ready to go. I spent a lot of time in the Boat and Yacht world and it was not uncommon to hold 10% of the sale in escrow pending final Sea Trial and fitting out.



The first season will be a shakedown one. I don't care who the builder is, these RV's are a very complicted and system rich vehicle. There will always be some stuff to "sdjust" on a new one. Just my $.02

[COLJDM]

Make sure you get what you ordered. Pay attention to fit/finish both inside and out. look down the sides of the coach for paint flaws. Make sure all of you TVs work and the cableing is correct. make sure you have 2 batteries. Turn on everything, run all the systems. connect and disconnect from your tow vehicle a few times and Level and relevel the coach a few times to make sure it works and you understand the procedures. fill the waste tanks with a hose to ensure no leaks and that the indicators work. fill you fresh water tank and use it for the same reasons. Look at the roof and make sure you have no ripples and it is tight. Check the windows for leaks. Run your systems on gas and electric to ensure all work. unplug electric and make sure refrigerator switches over, run hot water heater on gas and electric. Run the fireplace. Check the codes on the tires for date of manufacturer. Run all the fans, etc. There may be more but this is a start.

[Bill36re]

On any new unit regardless of brand, I will take it to my trusted independent RV service shop and pay them $200 to $300 to fully inspect the unit after delivery. We did this on our '12 Redwood and they found two serious issues that both the dealer and factory missed, one of which was a fire hazard.

My wife is a mega-realtor in the Palm Springs area and I see this as similar to buying a house. Never ever buy a new construction or resale house before getting a professional and independent inspection. Why don't we do the same thing with our "portable homes"? Cheap insurance in my book.

[spindrift]

I agree 110%. Unfortunately, the presence of professional inspection services around the country is spotty at best. I don't envy the RV consumer who doesn't have at least some technical expertise. There's just too much at stake.