RV Buying Mistakes You Need to Avoid! | RV Advice for New RV Owners

Hey everybody it's John and Mercedes from RV Odd Couple welcome back to our series and if you haven't yet subscribed please do so our everything we do is about RV full timing it's with the toddler and a dog and a dog we wanted to run this series about purchasing our first RV and the mistakes that we made quite honestly some pretty embarrassing mistakes yeah I think that we we did a lot of research we watched a lot of YouTube videos but we didn't know these things and it's embarrassing to admit it but we're really hoping that this helps you and this is actually part of a two-part series so one part is where we're totally embarrassed ourselves and admit things on YouTube that we probably would never dream of admitting we really admit our mistakes but then on the other series we and talk about what we did right so this is all about mistakes that we've made we actually took our time we sold our house I want to buy an RV and move into the full time living right away my wife wanted to transition into it she won that battle we rented a place when we started doing the research and I'm so glad that we went the way that she wanted us to go cuz I'm just let's go let's go and she's more she wants to do the research and she wants to make less low goals and go slow so the number-one thing to do is to go slow with everything but we started looking at classes klappas class C's and we wanted to figure out what was gonna work best for our family and we went to three or four different dealerships over two or three month period to start looking at them and then we were gonna pull the trigger on a Class A and then my wife just one day at Greg's knees and Nokomis went on to their law jumped on to with 5th wheel and we both fell in love it that 5th wheel had enough room for all of us the baby had her own bedroom we had our own bedroom and we have plenty of space if we were gonna do this full-time so going from 2,800 square feet all the way down to 1400 square feet and now we're looking at living on 400 square feet so yeah so this whole video is our top most are six embarrassing mistakes when buying an RV yeah so the very first one he's kind of dovetailing into it but the very first one was we take all this time and we go slow but don't sign anything that was our big mistake is that we signed way too quickly and we were told like a ballpark payment at a ballpark interest rate and we're like that's great but we have really good credit so what is our payment at this credit score and they're like well we have to check your credit which is fine because when you buy a car you have to give him permission to check your credit when you buy a house you have to give him permission to do a pre-approval but what we didn't realize was that what we were signing with baby flailing in hand and the salesperson like saying oh just sign here and we'll tell you how much the payment will be we sign a purchase order didn't realize we signed a purchase order we mama was like it's time to go cut an hour and a half drive home yeah she's had enough we're leaving and we were like we were thinking by signing this we've given him we get him getting on the right to pull our credit yeah look at it we had no idea was a purchase agreement and that's our fault we should have been paying close attention the baby wishes will be done she has like we're leaving but that ties into number two number two get a babysitter because we can't blame the baby for everything but in our you know we were so far away from the location that when you add an hour and a half driving each direction and then the time it takes to check the places just get a babysitter get a babysitter no distractions you need to be at the top of your game it takes time and you're gonna be making a large purchase like we did in our case it was a seventy thousand dollar purchase we added all the bells and whistles and everything that we wanted it's gonna take some time to do it and this is not like buying a car buying an RV is a lot more like buying a house you know which leads us into number three number three don't take delivery until they have finished their punch list this is huge huge this is huge because what happens is as soon as we took delivery there were certain punch list items that they promised us they would get to they said we ordered the parts but we don't have a minion why don't you take it go on your first trip well we didn't realize this since we had signed and we couldn't take it because they didn't have parts and then a week later we were able to finally take it we had a rough experience but anyways there were still some items that hadn't been taken care of when it was in their possession they were on the hook they were legally obligated and we should have kept it where they were on the hook yeah put it on us never took possession and when we can't fight we went to take possession one day it still wasn't ready hour-and-a-half Drive we go back home we're like it's okay yeah then we and we film this we're gonna put some clips of whatever I've yeah their second time we go back to pick it out we get there there's more problems I'm getting ready to load the truck up the RVM I on my truck to pull it out of there and we notice a hydraulic leak in one of the auto leveling systems in the back yeah so I went and got the manager said there's something wrong and he's like I just take it we'll fix later I'm like no way man so long story short we go out to have dinner we come back and they actually created more damage yes they backed it in while they were going to repair the hydro hydraulic lifter and they backed it into the top of one of the sheds and it broke the ladder on the back and they they dented the front of the rig yeah above the top and the master yeah they were trying to get it all it was already past five and they're trying to force force force it and just don't force anything especially with the tiller to purchase it that's even worse is is so we get it I didn't you know with we're racing against time now we go out to dinner it's our first time we know we're gonna have to figure out a part this rig we had had a spot at an RV park about 20-30 minutes away in Punta Gorda and we were racing against time now for light especially setting this up for our very first time so we took delivery on the way out we didn't even know that the ladder was broken and some guys you're running behind us waving us down and we stopped like something's wrong he's like your ladders broken and then then the general manager comes out and says we're really sorry we backed into and at least they admitted they had done it but I would have drove off and we wouldn't even have ow no the ladder right yeah so the other thing about our being checked everything three times you know whether you're gonna whether you're parking a unit or rather before you we're gonna put you in turned out walk around three times make sure everything's attached that nothing is attached to be safe and so the fourth one is don't get too excited or feel obligated you know you do build relationships with these salespeople and and you know you we finally unit we want it we're still happy with the unit that we got yeah we wouldn't still pick this unit but we would have gone about it differently would have been totally differently and not been in such a rush to take it and then romani accommodate them they started pulling the card out that hey we gave this to you at this discount it's the end of the month today is the last day you got to pick it up yeah we should have said right there no sorry you don't want to cheer up the contract and don't start again ready to walk away don't be afraid to walk away and the other piece set so the excitement got to us because what what I think we found bunks for the baby and it has a loft so it was like perfect for our child so perfect come on summer love yeah the storage kitchen it was so an island yeah so so it was so exciting but that excitement kind of we weren't thinking completely and and the other piece of that is far as the obligated cuz the sales people are nice people and and sometimes you like man they took so much time with us but that's their job you know that's their job is to spend that time with you so you don't owe them anything and we got into a large financial commitment to get this with the insurances and all the other stuff so don't feel like you owe them anything because you don't and if they wasted a day showing you RVs that's kind of their job that that comes with the territory so don't don't feel obligated to a stranger that gives you a couple hours yeah or to the campground that you've already once counseled to read you a week later and then you're rushing against time but the truth is we were excited to sleep in our new RV died not excited so we put up with a little bit more than we should have probably sorry that we didn't and then the fifth thing job the deal yet we decided to go with Camping World because they are the largest dealer and if you're gonna do this full-time and travel the country like we are we will like okay well if we need warranty worked on they're everywhere they're everywhere they're all over the country and so we thought that was a great thing so there's this dirty warranty secret that they don't want you to know when you go to buy your RV they'll say hey we have a warranty protection package and they offered us one four tires which blowouts happen so we were really interested in that they offered a cosmetic one which was a toddler that was very interesting - and they offered a repair general warranty mechanical yeah Rock Sherrill exactly and it added almost like 10 grand to this loan so it was a big expense but we figured you know we'll be secure and there's a camping world in almost every state so this is the way to go but what they don't tell you is that your pain like ten grand for a warranty that for like a bolt a three dollar bolt they'll wait no have you waiting for months and they don't care because they played this game right and then the other thing is is that they take that warranty and they spread that warranty costs over the 20-year we did a 2800 miles they gave us a super cheap rate money's cheap so we put some cash down we got a payment that we wanted they lower their interest rate but they amortize the total I think it's different parts of the warranty two years four years six years and I think seven years is the longest one that they do yeah amortize that over 20 years so we're gonna pay that down quickly yeah we're gonna do what we need to to get rid of that but it's just really important to know that it's a sneaky trick and you can shop for the same tire because if you do have a blowout especially with a family you do want to have someone you can call to help you yes so shop it don't necessarily buy it from the dealer sharpen looking in the warrantee that you're buying look at other options you don't have to buy it from the dealer and this is the other portion the first portion this is choose the your dealership good check their abuse yet Camping World is a mixed bag people hate them or they love them we like them at first and now we wouldn't buy another RV from then again prices are good but their service is horrible it's the worst service that I've ever had this department my life they've had our RV for three weeks for the first two months we've owned it yeah read separate times and they never finished the list and typically we get more damaged when we go to take it out so yeah because they don't tell you that the warranty parts aren't in and that's where they need to tell you upfront hey well we'll get this for you and it won't cost you done but you'll wait five months at least if you knew you were gonna be waiting forever you know but they don't tell you and we'd say okay we're gonna drop it off here does that work yeah but they don't fix it right and then they blame the parts never came out of whatever so ever told us and then the six this is embarrassing you need to have a place to put your RV when you to pick it up I never measured I assumed it would fit it at our rental you know we sold our house we rented to make this transition I got 40 foot in my driveway for not from the road to the garage my boat was next to the house so we couldn't have any chance of putting it there yeah I went out to measure it one day we knew we're gonna pick it up they didn't have it ready but and I had our RV is 42 foot long so it's one of the longest soft fifth wheels that they make anyway it wouldn't fit so it benefited us the fact that they were so twisted up yeah we helped it helped us the first time the first time so we found a place to store it that's me I looked in the campground memberships and we'll make a whole nother video on that whether we chose Thousand Trails and Oncore this is another word and a lot of it world and a lot of information yeah we'll do a video on that in the future but yeah to sum up go slow yes don't sign anything yes get a babysitter if you have kids have Wyatt don't feel too much excitement to get it too quick or an obligation to the people that are trying to sell it to you absolutely are trying to make a living your emotions at home yeah cold-hearted shop the dealer she's good at that shop the dealer's shop the warranty shop everything yes and make sure you have a place to put it when you pick up you'll need power I suppose in Florida you don't want it to get moldy 91 92 degrees out every single day down here and for nine months out of the year so learn from us so I hope you liked our video if you give us a thumbs up you see where we could do better next time what we didn't touch on something share our experience with us in the comment section below yeah tell us what know what are your rookie mistakes subscribe yes hit the little bell and and you'll get we're gonna produce these videos we're gonna do try to do as many as we can every single but definitely one a week yeah and share our experience in our trials and tribulations a full time RV living life and if you click that bell and subscribe you'll get notification saying that we just released a new video we love your support thank you so much for to all of you and yeah we'll see you in the next video see you later bye

Channel: RV Odd Couple

Views: 764,323

Rating: 4.9229918 out of 5

Keywords: rv guide, rv help, how to purchase an rv, rv advice, rv mistakes you need to avoid, mistakes rv buyers make, embarrassing rv buying mistakes, big mistakes to avoid before buying a motorhome, rv living, full time rv living, living in an rv full time, rv travel mistakes, saving money motorhomeing, travel tips and tricks, rv travel experiences, traveling vlog, rv travel for beginners, traveling, embarrassing rv mistakes, trailer mistakes, how to buy an rv, rv mistakes

Id: sXZWUvu9_fQ

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 08 2018