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

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