21 Important Aspects to Consider Before Buying an RV

Insist for a walkthrough

Once the papers are ready to be signed, there’s one more thing you need to do. Make sure the seller offers you a step by step presentation of all the RV’s systems and elements. “When you buy an RV, get the seller — whether a private seller or a dealership — to do a complete walk-through of all the systems, inside and out of the RV,” DeCarrera says. “Video it because, even if you are taking notes, you are getting so much information thrown at you at one time, there is no way to remember everything. And you probably won’t know what was important enough to write down or not.”

Ask for follow-up service

This is one of the most important factors when buying an RV. That’s because, according to DeCarrera, it can make or break your RV experience. “It’s quite common in the RV industry to have problems getting service completed on your RV,” she says. “Because of the limited number of RV service centers and complicated nature of RV repair, there is high demand and low supply on quality repair shops. As a result, many RV dealers will refuse to work on an RV, even if it is under warranty, if that dealership did not sell the RV. From that perspective, buying from an RV dealership near home is a good idea.”

In Hamilton’s experience, “it is an adage that this first year of a new RV’s life is a shakedown cruise with frequent visits to the service department. Local dealers will generally give the first consideration to people who bought their RV from them. If you bought a new RV from a dealer hundreds of miles away, your local dealer may be obliged to service it, but you may have to wait in line and that could even be weeks before they can or will help you.”