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
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