Another Reason to NOT Buy an RV! - Ep. 5.249

Another reason to not buy an RV: They do horribly in crashes.

[roydavis]

When I bought out new RV, I told the dealer I wanted to pay for a NRVIA certified RV inspector to inspect it prior to purchasing. They agreed.(Good Manufacturer) He took nearly 6 hrs going over it from head to tail checking and testing everything. He gave me a printout of what he found and they fixed the list I gave them. Was money well spent to me.

[idget]

I'm a truck driver and I've seen a few RV accidents. They disintegrate and it looks like just stuff all over the road afterwards. Get a pull-behind have a nice truck and never let anybody ride in the back while you're driving.

[scottbyrne]

I met a guy in line at an RV parts counter who described his RV as "everything that can go wrong with your house and everything that can go wrong with you car in one convenient package".

[TrashPanda]

I am a diesel tech at a Freightliner dealer here. Unfortunately, Freightliner (FCCC) makes A LOT of chassis for RVs and I we have to work on them sometimes when it's an OEM issue. They are EXPENSIVE to work on. Freightliner dealers like us charge a lot more per hour to work on RVs than we charge for normal trucks. I see first hand how poorly these things are built, it's almost laughable.


Another fun fact: When FCCC builds a chassis for an RV they are all short. You have the engine and a section of frame (rear for a class A pusher) and then another section of frame for the front. They are held together then shipped to the RV company. There, they separate the two sections and spread them apart to whatever length the RV is going to be. So Class A RVs don't have a solid frame from front to back. I didn't even know that until recently. I will never own one!

[timhammond]

My brother-in-law bought a brand new fifth wheel about a month ago. He's not new to rv's and still had several issues come up. One of the biggest issues was with the garage area venting, it is a toy hauler with a reduced size garage. The garage area is just large enough to hold a golf cart or a motorcycle, but not both. The bedroom is in the rear and the queen size bed raises up to allow the golf cart or motorcycle fit in the garage. The vent for fumes is simply a grill through the wall venting into the storage compartment or the bedroom if the bed is raised thereby stinking up the whole area or bedroom if there is any kind of leak, spill or simply warming of the fuel in the tank and venting into the garage area. When questioned about this the dealer replied "it goes into the basement storage area and won't have any effect or danger presented". The dealers, as has been mentioned with the RV scam checklist, will do anything to sell. You are completely correct in that the RV's are cheaply made in as little time and effort as possible to maintain a high profit margin.

[Mootsbike]

As an experienced RV owner, when you encounter an RV on the highway get away from it as quickly as possible because of the many RV problems that Steve described and much more. Experience of the driver/operator is unknown, degree of maintenance is unknown, no special license required and 80 percent are very poorly made. Y.T. has several videos on how cheaply most are made at the factory regardless of price and it’s rather shocking. Cramming as many home-like amenities into the RV as possible and reducing as much weight as possible results in a formula for constant headaches and possible disaster. One danger not talked about much is that when traveling the refrigerator is running on propane. So in a serious accident it’s not hard to guess what can happen. One big advantage of a towable rig is that in an accident or some other serious problem, such as the cheap frame welds coming apart, in a matter seconds you can uncouple the hitch and the whole RV and drive to safety.

[blueferral]

My Dad just bought a 250k list price RV (actual price about 100k less) a month ago. It's in the shop for the third time. Leaking transmission radiator, shore power transfer switch, hot water heater, safety handles on stairs came off, etc. You should have been there when he had a "little discussion" with the owner of the dealership. Dad is a retired full bird colonel.

[TerryProthero]

My brother ended up buying a 40 foot long school bus and made it into an RV. It costed a fraction of the price and is built far better. There are a lot of people doing this sort of thing because of the kinds of problems mentioned here. But it's still an ongoing project for him. He has furniture and has sorted out most of the electrical, but there is still more to do in terms of plumbing. I think he only paid about $1500 for it plus whatever money he's putting into it to fix it up. It was a used bus from a local bus company in good condition. To make it street legal he had to paint it a different color and take off some of the lights, etc. on it that indicated that it was a school bus. Then he could register as an RV with the DMV. The rules vary a little from state to state, with some being stricter than others, but the basic idea is the same. You have to paint it a different color and remove whatever equipment they specify. So instead of school bus yellow, he decided to go with light blue. He just ended up spray painting it. It came out surprisingly good. He goes camping with it each summer and adds something new to it each year. It's his little pet project. The first year he removed most of the seats and installed most of the furniture. I donated my old 32 inch flat screen television to the cause when I upgraded to a 50 inch. He's got a generator that he can hook up to the bus to power everything while he is camping. He even has a big television antenna that he can attach while it's parked and can be detached when he gets on the road with it.

[TexasScout]

If RVs were billed with the same safety requirements as automobiles, not a single one would be less than $1 million.

You also have to remember, that there is no single warranty that covers any single RV. The water heater and the refrigerator the chassis etc. etc. all have separate warrantees from their respective manufacturers.

[mikegray]

I remember going with my dad in about 1969 to the Bluebird Bus Company in fort valley Ga to pick a RV. They at the time made the Bluebird Wonderlodge. Which was a factory conversation of a school bus. It basically was school bus from an equipment point of view. They showed us pictures of their crash testing. The funniest was they took a school bus to the top of a hill. Took a forklift and rolled it down the hill sideways. They did that about 5 times before the windows and doors would not work. It started and drove back to the top each time.

[StudioDaVeed]

RE: RV Quality and Functionality.
As someone who has intensively researched RVs (and a 1994 Class C Owner) I have found that people are woefully ignorant and lazy when it comes to this major purchase.
While I have not dealt with dealerships; I have dealt with many private party sales both personally and as liaison for other people.
A phrase has been coined that: an RV, travel trailer, camper is pretty much a home on wheels; a residence that experiences a Tornado and Earthquake at the SAME time each time you drive down the road.
Quality issues happen in all forms of goods. Just witness the recalls over the years of child safety seats and more recently the jogger strollers.
Six years ago as I searched for a Class C RV and went to see and talk to the sellers...I would ask about functionality of the systems.
"Oh, everything works."
Cool, can you show me how to add water to the tanks and then drain them?
"Oh, no. It's winterized and I haven't de-winterized it yet (It's MAY) and if I don't sell it I will just leave it winterized."
It literally takes 10 minutes to de-winterize and $20.00/20 minutes to winterize.
See ya!
Ok, next...everything works, they say. Water is running through the taps. Does the hot water heater (snicker) work, I ask.
"Oh, I don't know. never used it, I always use the campground showers."
Ok, it has been sitting unused for years.
Does the toilet work?
"I don't know, I always used the campground facilities."
(Ok, ...just WHY do you HAVE an RV????)
See ya!
An ad on a site advertising a RV has 15 pictures...cool....but, every picture shows mounds of clothing, books, etc stacked everywhere. Fishing poles in the tub. That is a fairly common one actually. And the kicker...several bottles of cleaning liquids sprays on a counter.
I won't even make contact on this one.
When I have assisted someone looking for a camper I always tell them; Use the systems.
Keep everything lubed and in working order.
It isn't that bad draining the tanks; which is the number one issue most have with maintaining an RV.
Lastly; going back to the tornado/earthquake reality, expect hundreds or a thousand dollars in annual maintenance costs.
I expected/budgeted $1000 per year for my 20 year old Class C when I bought it.
I have hit that dollar amount 3 of the 6 years I have had it.
But it has been worth every penny as someone who upgraded to a Class C (what I lovingly call a park and poop rig!) from a pop up!!!

[theedrstrangelove]

Just buy an old school bus, paint it black, take out the seats, and start your own cult.

[geoffreybawden]

I bought a RV Class C MH, new. My wife has certain neurological issues and this is the only way we can travel. RVs are often made in factories where workers are paid piecework as opposed to hourly. QC is a word, and Deming wouldn’t recognize it being applied in any meaningful way in a RV manufacturing plant. Depreciation is horrendous . it’s just a big consumer item. I have friends who spent ungodly amounts of money on a new diesel pusher unit and 5 years later the slides still don’t work and never did. The warranties are short (on the coach component) and there is “no single neck to choke”, many items are warrantied separately and the dealer is not responsible. Dealers, other than your own, are reluctant to do any warranty work and in fact often have signs telling you to go away (true). The major dealers (Ford, Chevy, GMC) don’t want MH on their lots for maintenance or repair (not a universal trait but ..). All that being said I am glad we bought it. After a few “chats” I found that our dealer would do all warranty work - even on items that were warrantied elsewhere (generator for example) or were post-warranty but had exhibited problematic behaviour during the warranty period. From what I’ve heard the national chains won’t do that. I have had people say they wanted to buy one and I tell them I love mine .. for example I can visit my son in northern Manitoba, stay in our own small one bedroom apartment in an incredibly beautiful provincial park and easily walk the dogs. I also dwell on the downside of ownership and that if you are only going to use it a month a year don’t bother. No idea where the “sweet point” is but some months a year of use is required to justify a MH purchase (One chap was drooling at my rig and the car in tow and was astounded when I spent most of my time talking him out of it .. he was 40, had kids and could only go somewhere three weeks a year (rent, fly, hotel it, anything would be cheaper) if he absolutely had to own an RV go find a good used trailer). Would I buy another MH .. doubtful. I have had very few problems with ours and would be scared that the next one would be a quality control nightmare. Too many being produced too quickly. Sorry for the length of this comment. Keep up the good work. Love your channel.

[MMPCTV]

After watching the video, I'm speechless. It does explain why years ago, an RV crashed head on into a passenger vehicle. Both people in the motor home were killed from the impact and the RV burst into flames. The sole occupant of the car walked away. Neither vehicle left the roadway and I always assumed it was just bad luck that people driving such a large vehicle would be killed and the driver of the small car would walk away.

[TheCruisinCrew]

That's one of the reasons why we went from Class A to Class C - at least the Class C front end is built like the truck it's based on, with airbags and everything... the Class A did not have any airbags. However, I also have no qualms about the house in the back coming forward in a hurry if the RV would come to an unexpected sudden stop. There is a small, somewhat solid wall area separating the driver and passenger seat from the "house", but seeing the crash videos I sure hope I'll never experience one... I am (always have been) definitely much more conscious about traffic around me in the RV than when driving in our car!

[WilliamNau]

That's why I have a travel trailer. It can be towed by a vehicle that has the safety features. Plus I bought an inexpensive one that I paid cash for. So far, 4th summer, it has been very reliable. If I start having repair issues, I can throw it away and buy another. I guess my point is, you shouldn't buy any type of recreational vehicle if you have to borrow and can't afford to lose 100% of what you paid. They are recreational not necessities.

[BlankBrain]

Build quality differences between a manufactured home and stick-built amazed me. I recently replaced a toilet in a four-year-old manufactured home with an ADA-compliant toilet. The toilet that I removed weighed about half as much as the replacement. It had a really cheap valve and flapper, which had already gone haywire. I knew that I might have to replace the feed line because of the higher tank. I installed the toilet and measured the feed line, so I could go to the store to buy a longer one. When I went to unscrew the feed line from the shutoff valve, I found that it was crimped on; not screwed on! The valve was also crimped to the plumbing which came up through the floor! The plumbing appeared to be PEX, but with thinner walls than normal. This would preclude me from using my PEX crimping tool to install a threaded nipple so I could replace the valve and feed line. It looked like we were going to have to call a plumber to complete the job. When I was ready to leave, I tried pulling up on the line to see how close we were. To my surprise, I was able to get the threads started. When the feed line was fully tightened, the line itself was stretched tight along with the plumbing under the floor, but it held. I guess the architect knew what he or she was doing. God help anyone that has to work on manufactured home plumbing!

[jhnnyknxvlle]

The reason you don't buy an RV is because it's cheaper to rent than maintain your own. They are a constant maintenance nightmare - you have to stay on top of everything religiously. As a once wise men said: "IF it Flies F--cks or Floats it's cheaper by the hour"

[robertphillips]

I remember that a battery company produced a battery that was better than it's regular battery. It was cheaper to produce and they passed that saving along to the consumers. It did not sell well at all, until they raised the price above that of their regular battery's. The sales then took off and they made a lot more profit.

[SAFT_NB]

Just to add to what you have been talking about: most class A rv's do not have air bags. Also most RVs that have additional seatbelts are screwed into wood, not steel. And in addition, most motorized RV manufacturers are not certified by the chassis manufacturer to modify the chassis. In essence meaning, the RV manufacturer has added too much weight for the chassis to handle, or the RV manufacturer has removed or modified safety devices, such as unapproved front swivel seats.