(bright music)
(footsteps crunching) (people chattering)
- I know you're all wondering
did I pass the RV inspection school?
You'll have to wait till the end
to find out. ♪ Duh, duh, da ♪
- All right, so let's talk about the school itself.
First of all, Phil was gone a lot
which was not a necessarily a bad thing for me.
- Yeah, she really enjoyed my 10-hour days in class
and let me tell you,
we were there from 7:30 to about 5 o'clock every day.
We did have an hour for lunch. That was nice.
It was like being fed through a fire hose.
The amount of information that they throw at you
is over the top, but well worth it.
- What is a certified RV inspection?
- Well, you're looking at him right here.
- That's inspector. - Oh, inspector.
- And now you just told 'em if you passed or failed.
- Oh. (Stacy laughing)
- Okay, so really, now you guys all know the secret,
we don't even have to wait till the end.
But what exactly is a certified RV inspection?
- [Phil] An inspection
is a soup to nuts going through the RV
as it is the day of the inspection.
So, you're gonna go from underneath to the roof,
into the slides.
You're going to do a propane safety leak test.
I mean, there's so much to cover in the RV inspection world
that people that are buying them without it
are really, really taking a huge risk.
- Who should have an RV inspection?
- Anybody buying an RV, whether new or used.
- [Stacy] These guys or gals are unbiased.
- [Phil] That's right.
- So they're not a dealership
who are like, oh yeah, our guys checked it for you.
And they're not the seller.
So you're gonna get a list of things that are good,
a list of things that maybe aren't so good about this RV
by someone who really doesn't care if you buy it
or don't buy it.
- As an unbiased RV inspector
we will not answer the million-dollar question and that is,
should you or should you not buy the RV in question?
We won't answer those questions
and if the report is done correctly,
if the inspector has done his or her job correctly,
the proof will be in the report
and that's so you can make an informed decision.
- Before you go to the RV Inspector school...
- [Phil] I had to go to the RV Fundamentals course
and I had to take the test
to become a certified RV technician.
- Now there is pros and cons for each,
if you're trying to decide
if you wanna go the technician route or the inspector route.
And I gotta tell you
if you're looking for a job on the road,
they're both great options.
- They are.
I mean, the technician side
you need room for parts, supplies, and tools.
As an inspector, you don't need as much room
because your tool list is gonna be shrunk down severely.
Both of those jobs
you could still do while traveling the country,
you don't have to be stationary to do those jobs.
- Now, when it comes to the inspector,
of course, how much job opportunity there is for you
is all about location, location, location.
- Right.
- If you are in Florida in the middle of January
every other inspector's gonna be there too
so your job opportunities will be less.
- In comparison,
a friend of mine was in the class with me, Jay,
and he is in a really sweet spot in North Carolina.
And when he started his business,
he put himself in the locator
and he was the only guy in the area
for about 100, 200 miles out.
So, he's really set
for people looking on the locator in that area
to find somebody.
- So, one of the things to consider,
if you wanna be an inspector,
is how much time it's gonna take.
It's gonna be much longer than you think
to inspect something like a 45 foot Entegra.
- Right, so you're looking, just to do the inspection,
probably 10 hours
to do a full 45 foot tag axle diesel pusher.
Now that's just the day of the inspection.
There's gonna be probably a day or two on the front side,
doing your prep work,
going over the rig itself learning the specifications,
genning up the contract to send to the client.
And then at the end,
now you've gotta put that report together.
Fortunately they have an app that you use
that will speed up the process.
- We have talked about a lot of positives
with becoming an RV inspector
but with every positive there's a negative.
And I think one of the biggest ones
is the fact that not all dealerships
will work with inspectors.
- That's true.
They don't want you on there
because you're causing them a lot more work
because of the things that you find wrong with an RV.
Some of 'em just don't know
what an RV inspector brings to the table.
So, if you're in an area that has quite a few RV dealerships
that you think you'll be working at,
it's good to go and grease the skids
and grip and grin with them upfront,
hand out your cards, tell 'em what you are,
tell 'em what you're doing.
That should smooth over the process.
- All right, so the big question
I know everyone's gonna ask in the comments,
are you really gonna inspect RVs?
- I actually am.
I won't do as many as some of the full-time RV inspectors
but I'm going to do it because there's a need for it.
I love working with RVs, RVers,
and I just believe in a program
that every RV should have a certified RV inspection
attached to it.
- And what I like about it
is Phil's gonna actually, basically,
keep his hands on the RV industry.
So inspecting the RVs, he'll know more about RVs,
he'll know more about the product that's being produced
when he's inspecting the new ones
and he's also gonna stay in touch with all of his learning
for just the fundamentals
when he got his certification for that.
So, I like it because, you know, I always think knowledge is power.
- It is and if you don't use it, you lose it,
so I'm gonna stay really involved
with the RV inspector side.
- So stay tuned.
We aren't gonna do it right away,
we have a few other commitments that we have to do first
but when Phil puts out a shingle,
we'll be sure and let you know.
- I don't even know what a shingle is?
But I guess I'm putting out shingles now.
- If you're ready to hit the road
but you're looking for a job for your full-time RV life
maybe an RV inspector or an RV technician will work for you.
So, I'll put the links down below for those
and you guys can head over to NRVIA and NRVTA
and check out the programs they have.
Now, if you just wanna know more about your RV
and you wanna be able to troubleshoot
and take care of your RV yourself
instead of dropping it off
and it's sitting there forever at some dealership,
well they also have a class for you, as well,
so I'll put that link down below.
And if you don't wanna do any of this,
if you just need an inspector
but you don't know where to look,
I'll put the link for the locator
so you can find a certified RV inspector near you.
- Well said.
- Whoo, that was a mouthful.
- It was and it took 18 tries to get there.
- Shhh, don't tell my secrets.
- It was a great class.
I learned a lot and there is a need for it,
so if you're looking to jump into something
while either on the road or stationary,
give 'em a look, you won't be disappointed.
- And if you've already been to the school,
either the inspector school or the fundamental school,
drop some comments down below
and let everybody know what you thought.
The more opinions we have
and the more perspectives we have,
it really helps whoever's watching this video.
And oh, I forgot to mention,
they also have a fundamentals book that you can do at home.
So, you can do all the coursework
right in the comfort of your own home, in your jammies.
- Which I did way back when,
when I did the technician side, yeah.
- All right, guys, that's it.
Thanks for watching and maybe one day we'll see you
on the road. - On the road.