Hey everybody, BlackSeries Camper here with a slightly different proposal today. I’ve got eight big tips to help a first-time buyer enter the RV marketplace, as it were. This can be a vast, fun thing, and you think about getting the RV and all the places you will take it. But I want to give you some tips I’ve learned to help you get there and set you up for financial success and safety during the buying process.
Now, I also want to preface this by saying that some of this is my opinion, but these are things that I’ve learned and found over many years of experience. I’ve been in it for a minute, and these may help you avoid some pitfalls that I see many first-time RVers fall into. The information I share today is accurate whether you’re buying from a dealership or not. This is sound advice for a first-time owner who may have never gotten into one of these things.
So, my first tip for you is to avoid buying an RV. Now, to hear that from a place that makes its money by selling customers like you RVs, I hope you appreciate that we’re willing to put that information out there. What I’m getting at, though, is to rent or see if you can borrow, for, like, even a weekend, a friend’s RV or something like that. This will put you in a position where you can be the chicken instead of the pig on the breakfast plate, and I’ll explain what I mean. The chicken is interested in that plate, but the pig is committed. So, this will let you, for far less money, discover if this is even the lifestyle that I’m going to enjoy or, rarely, some folks would go out and go RVing and say, “Not for me, not for me, no thanks.” No, well, if you’ve purchased a new RV and you take it out that first time and you go, “Oh, this sucks,” again, that’s rare, but you’re now the pig on the breakfast plate. You are committed; there’s no going back. The chicken just laid an egg, which was no big deal, and by the way, the egg came before the chicken because there were eggs before chickens. I can’t believe people haven’t figured that out. Regardless, it is a far less expensive, far less scary, far less risky way to get into camping. My first recommendation is to try to borrow or rent before diving headfirst into purchasing a camper.
Number two: At some point before a purchase is complete, be willing to speak to the people with whom you’re considering handing much money. Again, whether it’s a dealership or a private individual, I still feel that is good advice. I talk to many people who want to say, “No, text or email me only; don’t ever call me; I don’t ever want to talk to you.” If I’m early in the process of searching and buying something, I don’t want to talk to people, either. I’m no different, but before I hand somebody a lot of money, potentially tens of thousands of dollars, I want to know who I’m speaking with. Do you know what I mean? That’s just me personally. There are also certain things, especially as a first-timer, if you don’t know what you don’t know. A ubiquitous question is, “What can my vehicle handle?” You know, like here’s an example: they say, “Well, I got a half-ton, can I tow it?” Well, I don’t know. The problem is sporadic instances in which a vehicle has only one potential towing capacity, and if you say, “I have a half-ton.”
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Someone says, “You’re good!” without investigating; that’s someone who’s not concerned about your safety. You know, and even in the case, they’ll say, “Tell me about your half-ton. Do you know what your capacities are for towing and payload?” And they’ll say, “Well, it’s an F-150, it’s got a 5.3, and it’s a 4×4.” That is valuable information; we’re getting closer. But even that still doesn’t tell me what I need to know to be able to answer a fundamental safety question for you. So, at some point, it’s not a bad idea to talk, even over the phone, to the people you are doing some serious business with, and some safety factors may be involved.
Now, number three is a huge one for me and was the thing that almost kicked this video off. One of my most significant recommendations for a first-time RV buyer is to not jump into the new RV market but consider something pre-owned in the used RV market. There are some huge advantages and drawbacks, but the advantages outweigh those drawbacks. So, some of the benefits—and this is not necessarily everything- are some of the significant benefits of getting into a used RV first instead of a new RV—one of the critical factors is the price of it. A used RV versus an identical copy of a brand new RV should cost less than a brand new RV. It’s just lower budget, it’s more accessible, it’s less threatening, it’s easier in, easier out, you know. The other thing is that it’s already had an owner; it’s already gone through at least one depreciation cycle. So, the money you’re spending on this RV, you’re going to maintain more of that because the thing that many people don’t think about is eventually everything trades or resells. Eventually, everything flips, if you will. I don’t like the word, but it makes us know what that means, um, so you know, if you find out this isn’t for you, it’s an easier way to get out of it, or if you’re like, “Man, we like this, we want to upgrade and get something bigger,” if you’re going to trade up instead of just getting out, it’s an easier way into the market. It’s easier to exit the RV and enter your next one.
But part of the reason it’s less money is the warranty and assurance that you are now not getting necessarily on a used RV. Because, if you weren’t aware, very few manufacturer warranties transfer. Even when they do, usually there’s a fee associated with it, and it’s fantastic, even if it’s only 100 bucks; I have found in my experience that very few people would be interested in spending that money to get the warranty transferred. They kind of like knowing there was some warranty coverage. It’s a bizarre thing. Would you spend 100 bucks to get a balance of the factory warranty? It depends on how much time is left. Because the thing is, unlike the automotive industry, many RVs don’t have long-term warranties, but that’s one of the things when people say depreciation—it’s one of the significant things they don’t realize.
The most significant chunk of the value lost on getting rid of a brand new RV is that once it’s owned and registered, it’s a used RV. The original owner benefits from the warranty; nobody else does. So there’s value to that warranty. These things don’t just come free, so that’s why there’s usually an initial significant drop in value right there.
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So, that also means, like I said, a used RV has no warranties. It’s typically sold as-is. It’s, “Hey, here’s how it is, here’s what it is.” And, maybe it’s in great shape or not. I don’t know, but you buy and own it then.
Another downside to the used RV market is, unlike the new RV market where it’s like, “I want this floor plan,” well if a place is sold out, they can order you one, they can get another one built, or another one will be built in time. The used RV market is a grab bag. This is the one I have right now. It is effectively a one-of-a-kind camper. If it’s a widespread, popular floor plan, there will be a couple of them out there, but if you find one that you’re hot to trot on, you may have to act a little more quickly. And there’s not necessarily just another one down the road.
There’s also some financing to consider when getting into a used RV. I need to learn about RV financing because it is not the same whether you’re necessarily looking at a used versus a new RV. Often, RV finance terms are more favorable to new RVs. Sometimes, rates and terms are better for new RVs. Now, many lenders have a “same as new” financing policy for used RVs, but it comes with a couple of caveats, varying from lender to lender. However, typically, the RV needs to be less than five years old compared to the current model year. Also, it must come with qualifying credit from the person asking for the money—you, the customer. So, it’s not necessarily just a guarantee.
Sometimes, the financing conditions in the used market may not be as favorable to you. But the thing is, a lot of that is offset by the lower price tag on an RV, so there’s often a lot less risk involved for a lender, which tends to make the RV more attractive in terms of completing the purchase from a lender’s point of view.
Speaking of the age of RVs, that can be another thing to consider when you are looking at the used market, and that is that there are times when, in specific ways, the RV might be too old. If an RV gets old, some banks say, “I’m not going to lend a whole bunch of thousands of dollars on an RV that’s very old, and it could fall apart tomorrow.” Now, it does have to be quite old to get there, and most of the RVs you find in the used market are at a different stage, but some are. There can be some. Another thing is that some campgrounds prefer to keep RVs if they’re within a certain age bracket. Typically, that mark is about ten years old. If an RV is 10 years or older, as designated by usually the manufacturing date on the front, every campground owner will have their own set of guidelines on that. So keep that in mind. It’s going to be case-by-case. I need to find out what they will do or not do. I don’t know the campgrounds, but my point is that some places might say, “No, that RV’s too old; you can’t come camp here.” That may limit your opportunity actually to go out and use the RV.
Again, I want to give you the good with the bad. I want to be fair. I hope you appreciate that kind of stuff.
Now, topic number four is just like topic number one in that if it isn’t an excellent example of the fact that this is just candid, good, beneficial information for you as a consumer, not dedicated to tipping the scales in my favor as a dealership—I don’t know what else I can do to demonstrate that for you. But my number four tip is:
Hire an RV Inspector.
Whether it’s used, whether it’s new, whether it’s a dealership or a private individual… hire an RV inspector. Again, this video is geared primarily towards first-time RVers, but anyone purchasing an RV, especially something used or new, doesn’t matter—I guess I don’t care—it’s such a good idea. It’s similar to the concept of renting before you own it. It’s a far lower-dollar version, so I need to find out if it is going to be the right one, the right thing for me. And if it is, maybe it’ll cost you a few bucks. But you may also find out that it costs a couple of hundred dollars.
But again, it’s an easy, inexpensive way to find out, in the scheme of things, if this one will be okay for me to spend my money on. Because this video is geared toward first-time buyers, chances are you don’t know what you’re looking at.
But think about this: The bank requires it to be inspected before purchasing a home and getting financing from a bank. It’s not an option. You can’t just say, “No, I looked at it; it looked all right.” It’s got to be inspected for a big-ticket residential purchase.
Why would you be any different about this? And here’s another major thing for me: If you are purchasing from a dealership, ask them what their policy is on you hiring an independent inspector and coming in. Because folks, if that place doesn’t want you to bring an inspector—if you’re like, “No, we don’t allow that,” that’s a huge red flag to me that there’s potentially something shady going on here. Now, again, I like to be fair. Every dealership will have its policy; this video is not dedicated to what we do at Bish’s RV. Frankly, I’m not even sure what Bish’s policy is but put us to the test. Let’s find out!
However, some dealerships may require an RV technician to join the inspector, and you may be required to compensate them for their time doing that. It’s not unreasonable to need to compensate a trained technician for the time they invest in a project. That shouldn’t be unreasonable. If you work, you expect to get paid. It’s the same thing.
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Now, that may be a thing you look at, and you might consider saying, “Okay, I’m going to hire an inspector, and if it’s a satisfactory inspection, I’ll purchase the RV. Maybe, you know, you absorb your tech time or something like that. Maybe we kindt it that way or something like that.” It’s a conversation point. It’s a thing that you can work out with that dealership or the person that you’re buying from to offset that cost.
But again, at the end of the day, for lack of a better way to say it, it’s one heck of a cheap insurance policy compared to buying and finding out it had something going on with it you didn’t know about. Put whatever down you comfortably, reasonably can even, like you know. When you get a, let’s say, somebody buys a motorcycle, you don’t just buy the bike; you buy the boots, the helmet, the bags, and all the other stuff that goes with it, right? Anytime you purchase something, there’s always all the extra stuff. At the very least, cover out-of-pocket, um, your accessories like your wheel checks, your hitching, any upgrades, or something you do. Otherwise, you’re paying interest on a hitch, which will quickly become the most expensive hitch you will ever own. Or at least try to put money down to cover the taxes.
Do you want to pay interest on taxes? Uh, I get a bad taste just saying those words out loud. It makes my stomach churn. Then again, I tend to pinch pennies until Lincoln squeals, which is why in the wintertime, you see why a lot of my white undershirts have a bacon neck because those are the same ones that I’ve been shoving my fat nugget through since I was in high school.
But my point is to put down what you can. It benefits you in so many ways. It may secure you a better rate because the interest rate you get from a lender reflects their assessment of their risk in lending you this money. So, if you’ve made it less risky to give you this money, they might be more inclined to work with you and give you a softer interest rate. It may also be the thing that just literally makes the banker say, “Okay, I will work with these people,” instead of “No,” here’s what I mean by that.
Let’s say you’re the banker now, and somebody you’ve never met comes up to you and says, “I want to buy a camper. It’s 20,000 dollars. I would like you to give me all that money, but I’ll hit you back occasionally. I’m good for it.” That could sound more appealing. But that’s what they do for a living. Now, imagine that same person comes up and says, “I’d like to buy a camper. Um, it’s 20 thousand dollars. I’ve got twenty-five hundred of it. Could you float me the other seventeen-five?”
Okay, well, this person’s worked hard for twenty-five hundred dollars. They’re not just going to walk and block off twenty-five hundred dollars. They’re going to find a way to make sure that they keep that, uh, the thing they’re buying with their twenty-five hundred dollars down, right? It makes things look more accessible and more appealing to the lender. Not to mention that one of those again is mitigating the risk factor. If you have money down, it puts you in a position far more quickly to trade up or get out of that camper.
And like, even if you say, I’m something happened, let’s say you love camping, everything worked out fine, but, um, little Jimmy broke a leg and, you know, that’s where your money’s going—medical bills now. That money will put you in a position to offload that camper even further. It puts you in a better, safer position as a consumer, whether you want to trade up to a new one or get out for any reason.
Blaring some Led Zeppelin in there, somebody’s getting their let out. Very nice. Anyway, sorry, number seven is one thing, but that’s two things. Again, this presumes that you’re primarily a first-time RV-er or shifting from a trailer to a fifth wheel or a trailer to a motor. You’re getting into something very different from what you’ve had before.
One, verify that someone will show you how this works for your peace of mind and comfort. But two, when you get it, we’ll call it your walkthrough, orientation, or whatever, and record it. Record it. Grab this thing out of your pocket, hold it in front of you, and point it at whatever they’re looking at. If they say this? Zoom in on it, back out, get a good look at it, get a reference point.”
Because the day you take one of these things home, emotions and energy are high, and everyone’s telling you congratulations, whoa, excitement, right? Um, you’re getting all jazzed up by this stuff right here. You’re doing the Ric Flair, whoa. But the fact is, you’ve got a lot coming at you, much information in a small amount of time, and even if you’ve owned a couple of these RVs, if you get into something new, there are all kinds of new widgets and whiz bangs. There’s all this sort of stuff that you’re—there’s no way you can absorb all that’s coming at you so quickly.
So record your walkthrough, and as soon as you get home, watch it and walk through your actual RV while watching it to reaffirm and double up on that knowledge. It will do wonders for you. It’s incredible. And I didn’t mean to flex on you like this, but yes, I am driving a Korean Mini Cooper back here.
And finally, number eight. It’s going to sound, again, like stupid common sense, but it’s shocking how often people don’t do this—ask questions. Ask many questions. As you’re doing that, here is the pro tip advice I have for you. Sneak in one or two questions you already know the answer to.
I know the used RV market is more of a grab bag, but another camper could typically work for you. Um, maybe not immediately, but it might show up. What I’m getting at here is that you’re interviewing the seller of your RV. Think of it that way. Um, you’re about to hand these people much money. Don’t you want to know what kind of people they are, whether it’s a private owner or a dealership?
Ask them a couple of reasonable questions. Don’t get stupid in that low, “What—how—exactly what’s the diameter of the screws?” Like, you know, if you’re an engineer and you need to know that, if you’re curious, that’s fine. Ask some legitimate questions, but I don’t know, like an enclosed belly. You’ve already, like maybe you’ve seen the pictures, you know it has an enclosed belly, or you know it doesn’t have an enclosed belly. Ask, “Does this camper have an enclosed belly?”
Find out what kind of answer you’ll get, and I hope you get the right one. But I think you may bump into somebody who won’t give you the correct answer, and you may have just found out that he is not someone with whom you should trust thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of dollars of money you worked your tail off for, you know?
Again, some of this is an opinion, but I feel very strongly about applying these things whether you’re buying from a dealership or buying new or used. If you’re a first-time or even a second-time buyer or getting a different kind of RV than you’ve ever had before, like you’re changing classes, this is good advice whether you’re buying from me or not. This is stuff that I recommend, and if you found this beneficial, like the message we’re sharing here, and if we’re trying to help give you good information, hit that subscribe button and catch us on the next one.
And know that I’ll always do my best to shoot you straight. I won’t claim to be perfect. I don’t claim to be an authority that knows everything about everything, but I’ve been living in this industry for over a dozen years now; I’ve learned some stuff along the way, and I’ve seen some people make these very mistakes I’m talking about. And like, like the ask questions—well, of course, I’ll ask questions. It’s shocking how often I’ll get on a Facebook group, and someone says, “Hey, I just brought this RV home from six hours away. How do you like the water heater?” Nobody showed you that? You didn’t ask?
And no, they didn’t. Maybe they were afraid, I don’t know. Be bold and ask questions. Don’t be scared to admit when you don’t know something, and don’t be frightened to reach out and ask for help. Camping is a community. Other people out there want to help you. Um, you know, feel free to—I tell you, if you found benefit in this or if you know someone that would, please share this into something like, you know, Facebook, social media group or something like that. Because these are things, as I said, I feel like many first-time buyers—it sounds like common sense, but they don’t know. I’d love to see someone come in and feel a little bit better about their purchase and, uh, you know, have a better concept of what they’re getting into and how to do it effectively to have a positive overall experience.
