Certified Inspector

[Adisgeeju]

Newbie here buying our first DP. We are very new at this to say the least. We are ready to buy and have narrowed our search to 3 floor plans. Since we know what we want, do we possibly buy a plane ticket to look at it first, do I hire an inspector to look at it first OR do the inspector and I go together? It’s a lot and I want to do this right.
TY!

[Old-Biscuit]

Buying a USED RV from a Dealer OR Private Party.......hire an Inspector

$$$ well spent


https://nrvia.org/locate/


https://lemonsquad.com/used-car-inspections/rv


https://premierrvinspections.com/

[NLOVNIT]

We're in the same boat, willing to fly to see a DP. I'd say no sense hiring an inspector until you've seen it in person for yourself first. If I'd have hired the inspector before I saw one of the coaches I thought was perfect from viewing just the floorplan & website pictures, I'd have been out several hundred dollars in fees when the coach, in reality, had non-accessibility to things that made it not work for us.

If you like what you see, negotiate with the seller (private or dealer) that the sale is contingent on a favorable inspection, then hire the inspector.

Lori-

[TonyMac]

What happens if the Certified inspector misses something? If he responsible for the cost of repair?

[NLOVNIT]

Depends on the signed contract.

Lori-

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Hope you find the perfect rig for your needs!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[momdoc]

Welcome to the forum.

You are joining a good group of folks here with good info to share. I would look first then if the coach met your expectations I would make the sale contingent on an inspection (inspector of your choice.)

Enjoy the adventure!

[Isaac-1]

You may want to contact an NRVIA inspector in the area and see if they might be available to do a pre-inspection overview of the RV for you, prior to you flying out too look at it yourself. Often the sales photos don't give a true picture of the condition of the coach and having your own representative view the coach, even briefly might well be worth it to you to pay for a few minutes of their time.


I took the NRVIA level 2 inspector class last year, but have not yet actively opened an inspection business due to various life issues that have been getting in the way. One thing I have done for a few people is to do an independent walk through for out of town potential buyers. The couple of times I have done this, it has been a 15-20 minute walk through where I have taken pictures of glaring defects texted them to the potential buyer, these were things that were either not shown or not highlighted(could be seen if you look closely at the corner of a photo) in the sales photos, things like missing and broken cargo compartment doors, broken and damaged cabinet work, shoddily done repairs, excessive under body rust (I have seen 40 year old farm trucks that look better), visible signs of wood rot on slide floor and water marks on interior walls, mystery pink slime running down the outside of the coach, missing door grab handle, broken passenger side mirror,recently resealed windows where the sealant was still sticky to the touch, windshield washer held onto the wiper arms by zip ties, etc. Basically stuff that potential buyers might consider a show stopper, and all things that I noted in a pair of brief walk throughs, the cabinet damage, rust, broken and missing compartment doors on a 5 year old 5th wheel toy hauler, most of the rest on a 17 year old Foretravel diesel pusher.


Even a minimal NRVIA inspection takes 3-4 hours of time, plus another couple of hours to generator a formal report, a walk through like I have done should not be considered an inspection, but instead should be used as a tool to decide if you have enough interest in the RV to pursue the matter.

[Pilot2Driver]

Welcome aboard!

I lurked and browsed for years while renting and shopping to buy. Excellent resources and people available on this site.

You will find enthusiasts for every variant of the RV lifestyle and every price point.

[BluWave]

The buyer of my boat hired an inspector and I was blown away with the scrutiny. Very impressive. After seeing that if I were buying used, yes, I would hire an inspector.

[sbleiweiss]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

You may want to contact an NRVIA inspector in the area and see if they might be available to do a pre-inspection overview of the RV for you, prior to you flying out too look at it yourself.

Good idea, or you might get a friend in the area, or even someone on IRV2, to look for you.

[Adisgeeju]

Originally Posted by TonyMac

What happens if the Certified inspector misses something? If he responsible for the cost of repair?

Tony, I’m just a newbie and asking for helpful advice.

[NLOVNIT]

If the inspector is legitimate, they would address what happens if they miss something & it would be in the contract.

For example, from the NRVIA website under General Limitation & Exclusions:

RV Inspections performed under the Standards of Practice exclude any items concealed or not readily accessible to the RV Inspector. The RV Inspector is not required to move furniture, personal or stored items. Lifting floor covering, accessing interior walls and ceilings in which could damage or destroy the components or systems being evaluated is not part of the RV Inspection.

Lori-

[AKOne]

Get it inspected. My wife and I flew to Texas only to walk away and fly home the next day. An inspection would have been less the two plane tickets.