RV "Inspectors"

[Waxwing]

We are interested in a 1997 Four Winds class c unit and are wondering if we should hire an "inspector" to give it an evaluation. We would never buy a boat without a survey.. And in fact fact no insurance company would insure a boat without one.

But how valuable is an inspection and how much can they cost? I'm not trying to denigrate the profession, but appreciate any input you can give.

[Pepper2]

I have bought 3 MH's in the last 15 yrs. and have never had one inspected by a pro and have had 0 issues other than regular upkeep.

It all depends on how secure you are evaluating a purchase.

If your uncomfortable making your own inspection, hire it out. Probably not that expensive for your piece of mind.

[Isaac-1]

On a point of full disclosure I took the NRVIA (National RV Inspectors Association) Level 2 inspector course last year, after doing the home study level 1 certification, though have not yet started an inspection business (too many life things kept me side tracked).



I can tell you from this that a proper even basic level inspection, goes into a lot of detail, and should take somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-8 man hours to complete, plus at least another couple of hours to write up a report (with the aid of report generating software). With the NRVIA each inspector sets their own rates, but as a ball park figure you can expect the cost to start at $300-$400 for a basic life safety only inspection, $700-$800 for a base level complete RV inspection, going up from there if you add things like fluid testing, detailed documentation of every ding, etc.


Is it worth it on a 22 year old coach? Maybe, maybe not, the question you need to ask yourself is if it alerts you to just one major life safety issue, is it worth it to you? These might include detecting a propane leak, or missing safety recalls on the propane powered RV refrigerator, past their expiration date CO and LPG detectors, ...? How about signs of hidden wood rot in the side walls, or fiberglass de-lamination, ...

[petrel]

We hired an inspector to evaluate our MH before purchase. I thought it was worth every penny. I would have never been that thorough, and it is nice to have it all documented.

An inspection can also save a trip on an out of area purchase. Save the time, airfare, and possible disappointment.

Like you said, this sort of thing is done on boats all the time. I'm not really sure why it is not more common in RVs.

[Dav L]

All used vehicles should have a competent mechanical inspection before the serious bidding begins. If the buyer is hands on, that's fine. Or a friend, or pay for the expertise.

The cost has a lot to do with the general overall condition the vehicle is in. If only a couple of years old and no obvious signs of accident / water damage/ fire / poor maintenance than not too much digging in is required. But if it's an older vehicle, with sketchy history...then more.

Of course the last RV I bought was salvage and known to be in bad shape. It was in worse shape once I actually saw it in person (post purchase), but we got past that one with some effort. This is a worse case. Spending $500 to do an initial inspect probably would have saved me a few $1000s in purchase price. But that's hard to say without having gone down that route to see if the seller would have agreed.

[winniman]

The more you plan on spending on the rv, and the less you actually know about rvs would make getting a professional inspection more prudent. If they turned up the fact that it was a flood victim, or had some other potentially fatal flaw, it would be well worth it. On the other hand, if you are quite knowledgeable and are not spending big money, it may not be worth the extra dough. One other factor is that it seems quite a few people buy rvs long distance, sight unseen. In this situation, I definitely would be getting an inspection before purchase.

[Gary RVRoamer]

You are buying both a house and a vehicle, both of which are complex and potentially have expensive repairs that may not be evident to the casual observer. If you have reasonable skills for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and structural items and are observant, you can evaluate yourself. If not confident in your own skills, hiring a pro makes sense, but it's going to be expensive if you want a solid review (see Isaac-1 reply). A "once-over" check of 2-4 hours labor time may be enough to catch the main points. Sometimes a mobile RV tech can give you a quick "gut check" in an hour or so (about $180-$250). That's just a verbal report and best done with you present so he can talk as he goes thru things.

[TexasTom]

Generally speaking I think an inspector is a good idea, but do your homework and get recommendations before hiring one. There are some good ones, and if you get one like the last one I had, some bad ones that will flat out lie to you.

[Peto]

Originally Posted by Waxwing

We would never buy a boat without a survey.. And in fact fact no insurance company would insure a boat without one.

That is not true. I've owned many boats and never once has the insurance co. required an inspection...

[Winemaker2]

Originally Posted by Peto

That is not true. I've owned many boats and never once has the insurance co. required an inspection...

Agree
Marine survey CAN be required by a lender or insurer but it's not universal.
Age and $ value have some bearing on whether its required or not.

[Excesses]

Originally Posted by Peto

That is not true. I've owned many boats and never once has the insurance co. required an inspection...

I'm sure that he was referring to a boat of substance.... A $12K boat, maybe not, but a $100K plus boat - the insurance company will want to know it will not sink.

We would suggest that an inspection be performed if one is investing a large amount of money. But, having experienced an inspection where the seller's agent interfered, (known after the fact), I would look for recommendations for an independent and qualified inspector. Possibly a recommendation from an insurance agency.

[Teamfoxy]

I have dealt with quite a few boat surveyors over the course of being in the boat building industry for over 30 years. In spite of having "certification" by two surveying societies, there are some good surveyors and plenty of incompetent ones.
I found the same holds true for home inspectors. I have had several that knew what they were doing, but none found anything that I didn't find myself. The benefit was that the real estate salespersons would not let me perform a thourough inspection on my own, but would allow an inspector full access and I could go with him.
I have not had an inspection for any RV that I bought, but went through all of them myself and knew what I was buying. Your best insurance is to become as educated as you can about what you are buying and learn how to fix things yourself.

[Dav L]

Originally Posted by Teamfoxy

Your best insurance is to become as educated as you can about what you are buying and learn how to fix things yourself.

Agree that the best is to learn and become expert, but that takes essentially a lifetime if someone sticks with it.
Better is to hire an expert, get a quick dose of their experience, and then with the experts help decide which projects are within the realm of a DIY'r beginner vs. hire out vs. pass on buying the RV.

Doing a consultancy takes the most amount of experience to know what to look at (across all of the systems and structure of an RV), what it means, how much it costs, how difficult, who can fix, is it worth it and then the ability to sense the ability of the purchaser of what is in vs. out of the question.

The hard part is to find a true expert that isn't financially swayed in a direction. A friend's referral, an industry known expert, someone who makes an effort to get formal training (RVIA?) are signs.

[Rockbottom]

Wholesale Warranties required an inspection of my motorhome before covering it. The inspection ($350) was included in the cost of the policy if I got it. Wholesale Warranties provided the "certified" inspector.

I'll just put it this way, I performed a better inspection than Mr. certification did. The only thing that he brought to the party that I didn't was an IR thermometer.


I can't speak for other inspectors, but the guy I got was way overpaid.