Anita and I work as a team to provide an RV inspection that will give you the most information we are able to gather for you to make an informed purchasing decision.  There are many variables to consider when doing an inspection as well as things for you to consider when hiring us to do the inspection.  Knowledge is power and we believe in giving our clients as much knowledge as possible. 

Knowledge is Power

Let’s start with one of your most frequently asked questions to us: 

“How much will the inspection cost me?”

We used to have a cookie cutter approach to pricing only considering RV class and travel distance.  Through the years we have found RVs vary widely in features and amenities even in the same class of RV. We therefore refined our approach to pricing to evaluate each and every RV we are asked to inspect. We review the actual advertisement you found, download the RV’s specs and find the manufacture’s brochure, consider the time of year and RV’s current observable condition (from the advertisement), then estimate our time needed to inspect and complete the report and come up with a price tailored to your exact needs.  We believe it’s a better method to serve our clients and provide accurate pricing for the inspection.

COVID Blues

These past 2 years we have had an unprecedented number of winter inspections.  This is COVID related because people have discovered the advantages of traveling in your home rather than on an airplane and staying in hotel rooms.  Will this continue after we have all been vaccinated and COVID is in the past?  Who knows.  But there are some significant things to remember about doing winter time inspections.   

Time of Year

The RV will be winterized.  For seasoned RV owners, you know this means that rather than water in the plumbing lines there will be RV antifreeze.  That means there are items that cannot be fully inspected such as the water heater, faucets, and water pump.  We do a visual inspection of the water lines, fittings and connections to check for antifreeze leaks or previous leaks. 

Also, in winter, the roof needs to be clear of snow and ice.  One of the most important aspects of the inspection is climbing up on the roof and looking at all the caulking, joints and roof mounted items.  To say nothing of the safety factor of me crawling around on top of the roof if it’s covered in snow and ice.  The inspection starts on the roof because that’s one of the most important aspects of the inspection.

Testing the air conditioning unit(s) can be tricky in the winter.  We fire up the furnace and get it toasty warm inside. That’s nice after spending a good 2-3 hours outside freezing our buns off checking the roof, outside systems and crawling around underneath the RV to inspect the undercarriage and tires.  Then we shut down the furnace and turn on the A/C.  To test the A/C we do a Delta-T test to make sure it’s operating within specified limits.  When it’s 10 degrees outside and 75 degrees inside that sometimes posses a problem.  The A/C coils on the roof mounted unit can freeze up; the thermostats can get confused.  We do the best we can. Doing winter inspections is not the ideal, but we adapt and do the most thorough inspection we can because while the RV might be hibernating, your deal of a life time may not be.

We love what we do

We are in this business because we love it.  We believe that by helping our clients get as much information as possible, they will be able to negotiate a better deal, go into their newly purchased RV with eyes wide open knowing the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Having the RV Inspection Report will also give you a baseline view of what condition the RV was in at that moment in time and serve as a starting point of your maintenance record. Is the inspection perfect?  Does it give you every hidden defect there might be lurking inside, out of view?  No.  The inspection is a visual, non-invasive look at the RV.  We can’t go tearing up floors to see if the sub-floor is rotten.  We can, however give you an independent, objective analysis of what we find.  Buying an RV can be intimidating, exciting, terrifying.  For most people, it’s a huge investment. We can assist you in making it an informed decision.