Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis Dean
As a first time Rv'er and fairly new to the Rv forums. I would say that yes, most first time buyers don't know ALL the appropriate questions to ask a perspective dealership. I would also say that any good dealer would answer any and all questions ask from either an experienced or new buyer. Lazy Days was my dealer and while I would bet that my salesman was not knowledgeable on every aspect of every manufacturer on their lot, I have no doubt that if I had ask a question he would have went to their very large technician force and found me the answer. He is there to sell and not point out all the technical aspects of a coach. I don't have an issue with that. On the other hand I have looked closely at a lot of manufactures web sites and can say that weight and distribution is a very Glossed over area. I have flown for many many years in large and small aircraft, weight and balance is a common thing for me; however, It was not even an area I thought about when looking at an RV(other than reading the Brochure for the OCCC/NCC/UVW). Thanks to IRV2 I am very much educated on Axle, Gross, and Cargo capacity weights and you can bet it will be a priority when I look at my next coach as well as when I travel in my present coach. While tires and components are very well manufactured to a excess safety value more than generally what is published, my family and friends riding with me are more important than testing that engineering overage.
The better I am educated on the values the better I can handle situations that may occur, even if briefly overloaded, or avoid all together. In the airplane field we call it breaking the chain of events that lead to a catastrophic failure, whether it be human or mechanical. I hope manufactures get better as it receives more attention, but there is nothing better than education of the public buyer.
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Good posting Dennis.
Not only are you among the few new buyers that, by trade, is better educated than most, you had a good sales experience.
I am on my third DP. Each buying experience was unique. On this coach we now have I knew about as much as I needed to know before I even started to look. The tires were the weak link and non-negotiable. But also, tires are not ever mentioned in the literature available for RVs. We traveled 1200 mi to get this rig and the dealer was giving us some hassles about our rig. He knew we were very eager to buy his coach. It was a long time coming for us and we just could not afford to keep the Vectra on the road, time wise, any longer. For full timing, as we do it, it was not properly equipped. With the frequent breakdowns and unreliability we were more than ready to trade.
Even with all the prep work I did I still didn't have all the correct questions formulated in my mind. In all fairness to the total process, some questions can not be asked because they are so unique to the particular rig. In other cases, the correct answer to the question may not be what we want to hear. Buy and live with it or look for something else.
The walk through for this coach was a disaster. The guy had not a clue. I didn't push the issue. The dealer is one of the biggest in FL. We knew we had the home we wanted. We simply needed to learn how to efficiently us it.
Soon after we got the coach we went to Gaffney, SC to the Freightliner factory service center. That was a wise move. We left confident that the chassis was in good working order and we also discovered that we were overweight.
. The strange thing to me is the techs told us that it was not a problem. They assured me the coach was safe. We were about 1000# over and the balance per wheel was not what I considered acceptable. We have made many adjustments including replacing the front tires with a better cold psi rating.
Choices are to be made by each of us. Let's hope we get the results we want to live with.
Rick Y
. (full time volunteers)
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