Bounder: Delivery Inspection Help

[Gordon Dewald]

Why in the world would you want to crawl under a brand new chassis? Nothing should be hanging down and no adjustments will be required. Unless you are a chassis mechanic and know what you are looking for???

If you are getting a comprehensive walk through ask that it be done over two sessions. Inside the first day and outside the second.

If you have the time stay an extra day and then take it on a 300 - 400 trip (returning to the dealer) for a day or two to work out any items that will inevitably jiggle or rattle loose.

No matter how many drawers or doors you open and close it will take a bit of driving to identify the rattles.

[z3406]

FWIW
The new coach will not have any form of undercoating on it. I've found that using Mouse Free serves that purpose very well, not to mention keeping the critters out. I DIY but the product may be available from Lazy Days anyway I highly recommend it. This time of year it's highly possible the coach was driven on salted highways on it's way from Indiana to Florida. Also Lazy Days used to have an RV Drivers Confidence Course you could take on their web site I'ld ask them about it if I was buying from them, It really did provide a lot of useful information on driving the coach, everything from how to adjust your mirrors to back in parking. I have seen it on YouTube recently. You may want to look at this thread it shows some of the issues and fixes I've had with my coach.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f107/2016...ce-276429.html

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

Why in the world would you want to crawl under a brand new chassis? Nothing should be hanging down and no adjustments will be required. Unless you are a chassis mechanic and know what you are looking for???

Gordon, I completely agree with you that nothing should be hanging down and no adjustments should be required . . . HOWEVER, I have looked under BRAND NEW coaches, awaiting PDI by the soon to be new owners, and found wiring bundles dangling down, a fuel filter dripping, a leak where the hydraulic pump attached to the engine, and what appeared to be an antifreeze leak at the radiator. Only a drop of two of fluid on the ground, but more in the area where the cooling fins attach to the tank . . . . NONE of which would have been found if I had not gone under the coach, and bear in mind ALL of these coaches had been "undergone a rigorous inspection by the service department" prior to my looking at them . . .

Personally, I would not sign for a coach with any of the above problems until they were corrected.

Oh, and if the dealership insisted I sign papers with the finance people before inspecting the coach as stated by an earlier poster, well, I wouldn't either, and if they INSISTED, I would require my deposit back, I would leave and shop for another coach elsewhere.

[Brenna]

Originally Posted by cspeake

Greetings fellow RV enthusiasts.

I am scheduled to pick up my new 2016 Bounder 36H from Lazy Days this Friday. This is our first RV and we're very excited. We have a 9000 mile road trip from FL to the West coast planned for this summer. I've read several threads about how many problems people are having with new RVs. I am hoping to avoid major issues on our trip. Does anyone have any suggestions on things we can inspect/check at the delivery or in the next few months to try and minimize the problems we will encounter on the road?

I've read a couple threads about pre-delivery inspections (or delivery inspections as it probably should be). However, I've never seen a checklist or guide on how to conduct a delivery inspection. We will be staying overnight our first night at Lazy Days, so I'm thinking I should be able to find 4 or 5 hours to do a thorough inspection.

Any tips/personal experiences/recommendations will be appreciated.

Chris

Well you are the first person I am going to make a recommendation to. Kind of late to do this but...
GOGGLE each of the below for staters

Lazy Days .... Not their site, but sites just like this....
Lazy Days Reviews
Lazy Days pre delivery problems
Lazy Days service reviews
Lazy Day plus the actual location you are working with reviews

Also goggle
2016 Bounder 36 H
2016 Bounder reviews
2016 Bounder 36 H recalls
2016 Bounder 36 H problems

That well give you an idea of what to ask about and look for while doing your delivery day.

Run the vin to make sure all recalls if any have be taken care of!

Check the dates on all your delivery papers, make sure your delivery date is the day you take delivery.

Make them spell out THE warranty that you TOTALLY understand it!

Ask what happenes if you RV catches fire?
Within the first 30 days or 60 days...

31 days..... our new used RV

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Poconos-Mount-Pocono-Route-611-RV-Fire-Pocono-Medical-Center-Fire-328371921.html

No question is stupid!

I honestly could go on and on....

Best of luck to YOU!

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

Why in the world would you want to crawl under a brand new chassis? Nothing should be hanging down and no adjustments will be required. Unless you are a chassis mechanic and know what you are looking for???

If you are getting a comprehensive walk through ask that it be done over two sessions. Inside the first day and outside the second.

If you have the time stay an extra day and then take it on a 300 - 400 trip (returning to the dealer) for a day or two to work out any items that will inevitably jiggle or rattle loose.

No matter how many drawers or doors you open and close it will take a bit of driving to identify the rattles.

Hey Gordon, two things to consider: poor QC and POOR qc. No telling what his untrained eye will see under the coach. But, more important, the OP will get an education as he inspects. Not much, true. But more than most.

Happy trails,
Rick Y

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by Hit_the_Rhod

Gordon, I completely agree with you that nothing should be hanging down and no adjustments should be required . . . HOWEVER, I have looked under BRAND NEW coaches, awaiting PDI by the soon to be new owners, and found wiring bundles dangling down, a fuel filter dripping, a leak where the hydraulic pump attached to the engine, and what appeared to be an antifreeze leak at the radiator. Only a drop of two of fluid on the ground, but more in the area where the cooling fins attach to the tank . . . . NONE of which would have been found if I had not gone under the coach, and bear in mind ALL of these coaches had been "undergone a rigorous inspection by the service department" prior to my looking at them . . .

Personally, I would not sign for a coach with any of the above problems until they were corrected.

Oh, and if the dealership insisted I sign papers with the finance people before inspecting the coach as stated by an earlier poster, well, I wouldn't either, and if they INSISTED, I would require my deposit back, I would leave and shop for another coach elsewhere.

Originally Posted by jerichorick

Hey Gordon, two things to consider: poor QC and POOR qc. No telling what his untrained eye will see under the coach. But, more important, the OP will get an education as he inspects. Not much, true. But more than most.

Happy trails,
Rick Y

Good points.

[Alain2408]

It might be a little late but I will post my story and hopefully save someone some aggravation and to let some of my frustration out :-)

January 15, 2016 we went to pick up our 2016 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 38B at Camping World and went through the coach pretty extensively. We found a pretty good list(42 items) that needed to be addressed. This alone kind of bugged me considering I was charged a fee which was to make sure all these items would be caught upfront. We decided to take delivery of the unit as we had been promised all the items would be addressed right away and we had already planned a trip that night with our kids to Florida.

I made an appointment to drop the MH off on February 27th, 2016 to address all these issues that were noted and photographed up front. When I dropped it off it was as if no one had a clue as to what needed to be done so I had to go through my entire list again and photograph it all..... no biggie 30min later it was dropped off. On March 4th I call for an update and it hasn't even been looked at. I say ok no biggie I don't need it for another week so it sits and I call again on March 9th and still nothing has been done. On the 11th I went and picked up the MH as I needed it for that weekend plus I'd rather have it at my house then sitting on their lot. As of today March 24th I have not been called to bring the unit back to correct all the issues and as of Friday March 18th I was told the tech was getting ready to send the documentation to Fleetwood. Why it takes almost 3 weeks to do this is beyond my comprehension.

If I could do it all again I would have NOT taken delivery of the unit and or gone to a different dealership to purchase the MH. It's amazing how something that should be a great experience can be turned bad by a crappy dealership. I am thankful that the MH is in operating condition and we can still use it otherwise I'd be more than I am.

Sorry for the LONG post but it hasn't been fun dealing with the dealership.

Alain

[ralphie]

[QUOTE=Gordon Dewald;2990582]Why in the world would you want to crawl under a brand new chassis? Nothing should be hanging down and no adjustments will be required. Unless you are a chassis mechanic and know what you are looking for???...............

I failed to complete a good PDI on our current FW because I didn't then have a good checklist and I felt rushed at the dealership. Had I have crawled under the FW, I would have discovered the brake control wires physically zip tied to the springs, which is not industry standard.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by Brenna

Well you are the first person I am going to make a recommendation to. Kind of late to do this but...
GOGGLE each of the below for staters

Lazy Days .... Not their site, but sites just like this....
Lazy Days Reviews
Lazy Days pre delivery problems
Lazy Days service reviews
Lazy Day plus the actual location you are working with reviews

Also goggle
2016 Bounder 36 H
2016 Bounder reviews
2016 Bounder 36 H recalls
2016 Bounder 36 H problems

That well give you an idea of what to ask about and look for while doing your delivery day.

Run the vin to make sure all recalls if any have be taken care of!

Check the dates on all your delivery papers, make sure your delivery date is the day you take delivery.

Make them spell out THE warranty that you TOTALLY understand it!

Ask what happenes if you RV catches fire?
Within the first 30 days or 60 days...

31 days..... our new used RV

Caught on Cam: Burning RV Barrels Out of Control Down Road in Poconos | NBC 10 Philadelphia

No question is stupid!

I honestly could go on and on....

Best of luck to YOU!

Okay, I watched the video, short on facts, what the heck happened?!?

[TeJay]

We picked up our new TT. Everything was checked. Filled with water all was well. The first time i took a shower the shower glass leaked. Yes they filled it with water and no lines leaked but since it really wasn't used as in water sprayed all around the shower glass I had to drive 250 miles for them to fix it.

The stuff in any RV has to be used, used some to discover if their are issues. And even then you won't find them all with that little use but you'll find some. That's why you don't sign and you live in it on their lot as long as you can to avoid trips back and forth on their time line (and their dime) to get stuff fixed. They don't give a flip if you have to drive 1,000 miles (one way) to have a door hinge replaced. In fact they hope you'll actually offer to fix it yourself.

As long as the buyers accept the shoddy work the dealers (not all but most) will continue to get away with it. We do not see the same approach coming from car dealers. A MH (RV) is a completely different beast. It is a house on wheels and should be treated a whole lot better as far as inspections and operation of all systems. We approach buying a MH very much like we approach buying a new car/truck. That does not work very well.

I'll bet 95% of NEW buyers take very little time to inspect their NEW toy. Yes you are hearing from seasoned buyers who made the mistakes and are trying to tell you so you don't do what they did. We have all been there.

Best of luck!!
TeJay

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by TeJay

We picked up our new TT. Everything was checked. Filled with water all was well. The first time i took a shower the shower glass leaked. Yes they filled it with water and no lines leaked but since it really wasn't used as in water sprayed all around the shower glass I had to drive 250 miles for them to fix it.

The stuff in any RV has to be used, used some to discover if their are issues. And even then you won't find them all with that little use but you'll find some. That's why you don't sign and you live in it on their lot as long as you can to avoid trips back and forth on their time line (and their dime) to get stuff fixed. They don't give a flip if you have to drive 1,000 miles (one way) to have a door hinge replaced. In fact they hope you'll actually offer to fix it yourself.

As long as the buyers accept the shoddy work the dealers (not all but most) will continue to get away with it. We do not see the same approach coming from car dealers. A MH (RV) is a completely different beast. It is a house on wheels and should be treated a whole lot better as far as inspections and operation of all systems. We approach buying a MH very much like we approach buying a new car/truck. That does not work very well.

I'll bet 95% of NEW buyers take very little time to inspect their NEW toy. Yes you are hearing from seasoned buyers who made the mistakes and are trying to tell you so you don't do what they did. We have all been there.

Best of luck!!
TeJay

Well stated TeJay.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by TeJay

We picked up our new TT. Everything was checked. Filled with water all was well. The first time i took a shower the shower glass leaked. Yes they filled it with water and no lines leaked but since it really wasn't used as in water sprayed all around the shower glass I had to drive 250 miles for them to fix it.

The stuff in any RV has to be used, used some to discover if their are issues. And even then you won't find them all with that little use but you'll find some. That's why you don't sign and you live in it on their lot as long as you can to avoid trips back and forth on their time line (and their dime) to get stuff fixed. They don't give a flip if you have to drive 1,000 miles (one way) to have a door hinge replaced. In fact they hope you'll actually offer to fix it yourself.

As long as the buyers accept the shoddy work the dealers (not all but most) will continue to get away with it. We do not see the same approach coming from car dealers. A MH (RV) is a completely different beast. It is a house on wheels and should be treated a whole lot better as far as inspections and operation of all systems. We approach buying a MH very much like we approach buying a new car/truck. That does not work very well.

I'll bet 95% of NEW buyers take very little time to inspect their NEW toy. Yes you are hearing from seasoned buyers who made the mistakes and are trying to tell you so you don't do what they did. We have all been there.

Best of luck!!
TeJay

We need to have European or Japanese RV manufacturers enter the market.

Car manufacturers were dragged into quality. Cars were much the same shoddy construction in the 60's until Nissan and Toyota entered the market.

[TeJay]

Gordon,

Boy you hit the nail on the head. I started my teaching career in 1971. I was working in the burbs of Detroit teaching Auto Mechanics One and having a ball. I went through all the changes including the oil embargo, high gas prices, Detroit's reluctance to change until gas prices and the Imports forced them to change their ways.

Do you know who made GM Corvette HP (ZR 1) aluminum engine for many years???? A marine company in OK. I think it was Mercury but not sure exactly. WHY???? Because Detroit didn't know how to work with aluminum engines. Guess what they know now because they finally decided to change and compete with Japan.

Yep they were DRAGGED screaming and wailing into some sort of QC. They fought it tooth and nail. I used to tell my student to wait until about the mid 90's to buy an American vehicle. I figured it would take them about that long to finally settle on exactly what they'd do to compete. By then almost all engines were EFI (electronic fuel injection), aluminum, getting decent fuel mileage and holding together. Valve covers and pans were cast aluminum and didn't leak. Getting the stamped sheet metal stuff to stop leaking was sometimes a miracle.

At least we are getting better engines on the F-53 chassis. I do like the Triton V-10. Can't say much for the rest of the chassis.

TeJay

[Mike and Cha]

You've been given some great advice here already. When doing your walk thru, have them demonstrate how everything works. Then after they do the whole walk thru, you do the walk thru again but this time you operate everything, and make sure you are doing it correctly, ie button it up, and then deploy everything again as if you were in a Cg. This should not be a problem for the dealer, as that is part of the delivery process. And as said before do not sign the paperwork or take delivery until everything is working. There may be some minor things, loose screws, or easily repaired minor cosmetic things you don't want to nit pick. But if there is anything not working, or you see any leaks, in or under the MH, make them fix it first. Time is on your side, they rely on you being excited to get in your MH, and will let you drive it off knowing it needs repairs if you let them. If they tell you that it will take several days, oh well then it will take several days for them to get their money. That will really speed up the process. Once you take delivery, depending on the dealership you may wait several weeks for repairs to be done. For some of these places it's like the sales and service departments don't even know each other. Good luck and have a great time, you will rely enjoy it.