If you know someone who has been RV or trailer camping for several years, enlist his or her help. Most camping people love to talk about their hobby, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find help.
Below is the buying checklist compiled by Jim who’s been trailer camping for the past 30+ years, to help get you started.
1. Examine Many Different RVs
The more you look at these coaches, the more it becomes clear what’s good and what’s not so good. If you examine 4 or 5 coaches, you’ll be a well-educated shopper. Whenever I’ve shopped for a coach/RV, it quickly became clear after just a few RVs what was good and what was trash. Be careful, as there is a lot of trash out there, too. If it’s super clean and neat, it suggests really good care. If not, don’t bother.
2. Pre-check
Wear old clothes. You will be crawling underneath the unit and getting incredibly dirty. Bring a flashlight and small cosmetic mirror. Do NOT bring any cash or form of payment with you the first time you go to inspect a potential coach. If possible, leave the kids at home. Plan on a detailed inspection and test drive running 2+ hours.
3. Roof
Check the inside and the roof for leaks. Most RV’s have a rubber/fabric roof material that’s good for about 10 -12 years in the sun.
If it’s stored inside, perhaps a bit longer, but the roof does eventually get brittle and will crack, usually along a seam or at an edge. If the RV has been patched, be very careful to check inside to see if the leak has come through. A well cared for RV will have a “reseal” job about every 10 years, so if it looks like the RV has had a rubber roof paint rolled on it, that’s a pretty good thing.
Most RV’s have a ladder of some type, so climb up and just take a quick look around. You will learn a lot about the RV’s condition by so doing. My current RV is 7 years old, and a reseal is something I’m going to have to do in the not too distant future. It takes about 1 day, it’s a messy job and it costs about $150 in materials. It’s not something you will want to do as a new owner.
4. Tires
You’ll need to look at the tires and learn to read the codes. It’s easy if you go on the Internet and check out “tire date codes”. You don’t want tires that are more than 5 years old, and as all the vehicles you will be checking are likely to be more than 5 years old, you want to make sure the rubber is good.
Even if the tires look OK (because there isn’t much mileage on them), if they are old, they must be replaced. Pretty much tire codes are a bunch of letters, then some numbers, i.e. “2309” = 23rd week of 2009, so they would be marginal, at best.
Cost and Quality Vary
RV tires vary in cost and quality. If you go for a bus-sized unit, you will need larger than average tires. These can run in excess of $500 each, multiplied by 6. So you can see where tires are an important cost to factor in. Even if you have seemingly normal tires, don’t be fooled! They should be reinforced to handle the added weight of the RV. A decent tire will be about $250.
For dual tires, where you have two tires right next to each other (four in a row across total), the tires need to be the same tread and should show the same wear. You’ll need to really get down on your hands and knees to check out those inner tires.
Shady Salespeople
Also, be careful of shady salespeople. For my unit, the dealership had only replaced the outer tires, not the inner ones for the previous owner. I thought that the tires were fine. How mistaken I was, only making it about 700 miles before one of the inner tires popped. Learn from my mistake: Bring your flashlight and physically crawl under the unit to check the tread!
5. General Condition
Next go thru the coach and check the general condition. If it’s not clean and not cared for, then walk away from it. You can tell pretty quickly when it looks something like your kid’s room that you’re not getting a quality coach. If it passes these three tests then you have a contender.
6. Detailed Exam
Next do a detailed exam. This would be like the driving test at the DMV. Check headlights, tail lights, turn lights, emergency, windshield washer and wipers, etc.
Also, operate all the truck gadgets (i.e., radio, GPS, dash lights, etc.). If it has a knob, you operate it: windows up/down, power door locks, air conditioner, heater, power seats, etc. These things can be really expensive to fix.
Check the RV gadgets.
Open and close all the windows, shades and screens. Turn on the generator (if it has one) and run the microwave at the same time. Turn on the water heater and operate the air conditioner. Pump water through the sinks and toilets. Turn on all of the lights. If there is an awning or shade, open it and check the fabric as it can be damaged on the roller. If there are power levelers, operate them. Check the TV, VCR/DVD, and radios.
Also, check the condition of the battery(ies).
To help you, bring a small cosmetic mirror and a small flashlight and open up a battery cell and check fluid levels. If the metal plates are showing (i.e. water level is way low), it means they haven’t taken good care of the batteries and you will likely have to replace them.
Don’t worry too much, as batteries don’t last much beyond 3 or 4 years and you’ll likely be camping in RV parks with plug-in “shore power”, but it’s nice to have batteries when you are dry camping and want to pump water or flush toilets.
Next, check the valves on the sewer drain system. You won’t be able to open them (for obvious reasons), but these give out after a few years. If it’s an older unit, they should have been replaced.
Check the condition of the sewer hoses.
These, too, only last for about 3+ years and they aren’t expensive, so don’t worry too much about them. Finally, look carefully under the coach to see if there are any fluid drips under the motor or the transmission.
7. Test Drive
Now, if you still like the RV, take it for a test drive. This is just what it sounds like. Go through the city and a short freeway drive. Brake it hard on a city street and see if the brakes pull to one side. If you are petite (I am), make sure you can see well and can connect/reach all the operator controls, pedals, etc.
8. Price Check
My shopping strategy was simple: See as many potentials as possible as quickly as possible. To do this, there were three places I could search: online classifieds (Craigslist), dealerships, and drive-by sell lots.
I first went to several local dealers to look at their inventory while simultaneously trolling the Craigslist ads. The dealers were fantastic to get a general idea of quality, size, features, and price range. I never intended to buy one from a dealership.
Overall, I found that they were never willing to offer any warranty on an older coach (which is what I could afford), nor were they willing to put anything into a used coach to make the sale (e.g., new tires, brakes, etc.). Additionally, the quality of the coach tended to be far below that of the private party sellers who were selling the same year, make, and model, for about $2,000
less.
You’ll get: “Now where’d a little lady like you learn to drive that thing?” from the gas station clerk, a scraggly man with graying whiskers in Upper Michigan. I looked him in the eye with pride and gave him my best Rosie the Riveter.
That initial fear, though, is not what the dealers want you to experience.
You’re likely to stop and see several RVs on the side of the road in For-Sale-By-Owner lots. The nice thing about this is that you can get out of your car and take a leisurely stroll around the coach to see exterior wear-and-tear, as well as crawl under the chassis to see the general condition of the vehicle part of the coach.
This no-pressure approach has the advantage of giving you a sense of what certain makes and models from certain years can look like. If you’re lucky, the curtains will be up and you can peek into the interior and see the general condition inside as well.
I found our Harvey the RV from a private party who had purchased him about 9 months earlier from a dealer. It ended up being a young family who had relocated to California from Taiwan.