RV Inspection

[Wizards&OZ]

 

 

[Kirk W]

I think that your prices are a little high. I am looking at several inspection services on the web and they range in price from $200 to $500. If you use a mobile RV tech you will probably pay him somewhere around $100/hour for 3 or 4 hours of work. 

Consider just what the inspection will cost when compared to the amount of money you will be risking if you do not get it professionally inspected.  I voted yes, even though I don't think it needs to cost what you anticipate. 

Premier RV Inspections, $399 - $449

Professional RV Inspections, $389 - $479

Lemon Squad,  $299

Vehicle Inspection Service,  $279 - $369

Testdrive Technologies,  $500 - $1200

All Pro Insptections  $495

 

[Wizards&OZ]

2 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

I think that your prices are a little high. I am looking at several inspection services on the web and they range in price from $200 to $500. If you use a mobile RV tech you will probably pay him somewhere around $100/hour for 3 or 4 hours of work. 

Consider just what the inspection will cost when compared to the amount of money you will be risking if you do not get it professionally inspected.  I voted yes, even though I don't think it needs to cost what you anticipate. 

Premier RV Inspections, $399 - $449

Professional RV Inspections, $389 - $479

Lemon Squad,  $299

Vehicle Inspection Service,  $279 - $369

Testdrive Technologies,  $500 - $1200

All Pro Insptections  $495

 

Looking for an inspector in the Elkhart, IN. neighborhood. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate one that is close enough to not pay additionally for the extra miles and overnight accommodations. Secondly, do to the time of year, I'm required to pay an additional $250.00 to de-winterize and re-winterize the MH for the inspection. There are no service bays available during the inspection, so the inspector will be performing their inspection in the freezing cold weather. Not the most ideal situation, but time isn't necessarily on our side. I have a hold placed on a MH and would like to have the inspection completed before we continue forward with our negotiations and, hopefully, purchase of the MH.

[Kirk W]

See if you are able to locate a local mobile RV tech as that would probably cost less. And compare the expense to the risk. How confident are you in your own abilities to check it out yourself? If you send me your email address I can share a checklist with you, should you choose that route. 

[JimK]

I bought a used RV from a dealership.  It was a consignment sale and the seller had agreed to fix any issues.  Both the dealer and I had an incentive to find anything wrong.  We found a cracked vent cover and a minor tear on the screen door.  Both were fixed and I never found anything that had been overlooked prior to the sale.

[Tcwndsr]

Trust the dealer? Ummm, no.

[Ray,IN]

Make a deal. Have a clause inserted into the purchase agreement where the selling party will repair or replace any damaged part discovered within 30 days. If the selling party is honest and  sincere about their inspection they should agree.

As to your poll, I did not make a selection because neither are something I would do.

[SnowGypsy]

I agree with Kirk.  In NC, the mobile RV tech we used did onsite inspections, and he was very good.  Myself, I would stay away from anyone who is just an "inspector" as that training alone just isn't enough to suit me.  You might consider taking a checklist and doing a sort of preliminary check if you are somewhat familiar with RVs as something significant might show up that would let you know that you didn't want to pursue the sale any longer.

[RvScot]

On 12/10/2018 at 2:40 AM, Wizards&OZ said:

Why Buy from dealer unless you need finance and even if your credit rating is low finance at competitive rates can be sourced from elsewhere?  Pay inflated price for piece of mind that it has been gone through thoroughly and everything fixed. Get a warranty so that in the unlikely event that things do go wrong it will be fixed without additional expense.

Dealers mostly do not do anything to pre owned units other than is required cosmetically ie. wash and clean it. Unlikely they would repairs any marks or exterior  damage. They seldom fix anything that doesn't work until it is brought to their attention. Why would they spend money repairing something that might not be noticed until after the warranty they sell you kicks in and takes care of it or not noticed at all.

Dealers here in the UK might being such a small country, expect that you might return to do business again but in the US even National ones don't seem care about poor reviews or unhappy customers.

If you mistrust the dealer so much that you are thinking about an independent report why are you going to buy from this dealer at all?

Go private. I am from the UK we don't have many RV's like yours, certainly not many as complex and we don't normally live in ours year round so experienced Inspectors are few and far between. My experience of Class A was 15 nights in a rental last year. I could start it and stop it and press the button to operate the slides but not much else. 

I employed National Recreational Vehicle Inspectors Association (NRVIA).  Paul Sumberg did a great job examining the 16year old Class A . He was thorougher and professional. I managed to recover most of his costs from the discount I negotiated from the seller using the report. It gave me piece of mind that my money was being well spent. 

Do you expect the dealer will give you a discount on the price for any faults your inspector finds. I would doubt if that will happen.

Good luck however you proceed.

 

 

 

 

[Kirk W]

11 minutes ago, RvScot said:

Dealers here in the UK might being such a small country, expect that you might return to do business again but in the US even National ones don't seem care about poor reviews or unhappy customers.....

My experience of Class A was 15 nights in a rental last year. I could start it and stop it and press the button to operate the slides but not much else. 

3

Welcome to the Escapee forums! Happy to see that you will be visiting us here again soon. We are happy to help as much as may be possible so do not hesitate to start new subjects with questions or to comment on any of the existing threads. We have numerous members here with years of experience so help should be available for most questions.

It was a very long time ago, but I have fond memories of Scotland when I was a crew member on US submarines operating from the Firth of Clyde.

[theboondork]

I personally would never trust the dealer, he doesn't have your best interest at heart. And even though you didn't ask , I don't buy anything from Camping World.

theboondork

 

 

 

[RvScot]

On 1/5/2019 at 5:18 PM, Kirk W said:

Welcome to the Escapee forums! Happy to see that you will be visiting us here again soon. We are happy to help as much as may be possible so do not hesitate to start new subjects with questions or to comment on any of the existing threads. We have numerous members here with years of experience so help should be available for most questions.

It was a very long time ago, but I have fond memories of Scotland when I was a crew member on US submarines operating from the Firth of Clyde.

Thank you for your welcome.

In the late 90's in a former life...at the height of the Peace movement and protests against the facility at  Faslane, we were sent down from Glasgow to help protect yard from the protesters. I remember watching enviously as Ministry of Defence Cops sprinted up and down the Loch at high speed on speed boats and jet ski's and asking 'how do you get a job like that' .Even in February it had a certain appeal. It is a very beautiful part of the world at any time of the year.

[FL-JOE]

I agree with Ray.  First off I didn't check either choice in the poll because I wouldn't go either route either.  

There are a percent of Home Inspectors, Boat Inspectors, and RV Inspectors that are not really that good.  Some will "stretch" an issue just so they can have an imperfection to report and miss a major flaw.  

On the other hand if you try to find an RV repair or service person to conduct an inspection in an area unfamiliar to you how do you know they are really that good or honest?  For all you know they could live next door to the dealer.  

I would do the inspection myself or take a friend who is familiar with RVs.  Get at least a 90 day limited warranty included in the contract.  If it is a good RV with no known issues and they want to sell it they shouldn't hesitate.  If they do then you are probably wasting your time anyway.

[Kirk W]

3 minutes ago, FL-JOE said:

 Get at least a 90 day limited warranty included in the contract.

1

As one who has been shopping used RVs at 6 dealerships in the past week, not one of them were willing to do that with an RV that was more than 2 years old. One does give a 30-day warranty. 

[dewilso]

Didn’t check either, I’d use a tech savvy RV'er. They may, or may not, be "inspectors".

[FL-JOE]

23 hours ago, Kirk W said:

As one who has been shopping used RVs at 6 dealerships in the past week, not one of them were willing to do that with an RV that was more than 2 years old. One does give a 30-day warranty. 

I suspect if you have actually visited six different dealerships in a week then you haven't really got "down to the nitty gritty" on a deal yet.  I would suggest if you end up finding a used unit you are crunching number on with them, throw a 60 or 90 limited warranty in at the end of the deal and see what happens.   I've used that tactic except with an extended warranty plan on my last two RVs.  The used gas coach they gas me a coach only 3 year warranty for free (excluded engine/tranny) and the recent new coach they gave me an extended warranty for half of what was originally quoted.  

The key is to get the numbers where you want them and then bring it up.  But you also have to be willing to walk away.

Good hunting.