Newbie, sorta. Need some advice!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
T

technologic80

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Posts
2
Hey everyone, Ive been a short-time lurker and finally pulled the trigger on registering tonight  ;D

Not new to RV'ing, but new to buying my own. I found a 1996 Coachman Santara 360mb with 15,000 miles and have negotiated the price down to $11,500. The engine and generator run perfectly, and the genset produces power. New'ish tires. I climbed up and got on the roof, it is in good shape, got underneath and the frame looks good, the floor is solid as are the walls. The seller just had new brakes/rotors/calipers and rear rubber springs for the tag axle replaced, along with some other small engine/powertrain maintenance items.

It blue books out a few thousand more than what Im paying, and the seller seems very motivated to sell. Just looking for tips of things to look for before I had the seller 11,500 of my hard earned dollars. I appreciate any tips!!
 
Sounds like a good deal and it is under NADA. Check the date codes on the tires. If they are over 7 years old they must be replaced no matter what the tread looks like. Pay a mobile mechanic to give it a complete inspection and look at the roof especially. 15k miles is 22 years is not very good. It means it has spent a lot of time sitting and not being used which is not good for RVs. The rubber in everything will dry out. But it sure looks like a great entry coach.
 
After some delay, I went to test drive the Coach today, prepared with my checkbook to leave a deposit. During the road test (coach drove GREAT by the way), the seller told me I shouldn't bother bringing it in for an inspection, and that the coach was so perfect that it was a waste of money. For some reason, this stuck out as strange...

We get back from the road test, and I am testing the hydraulic jacks, the furnace and a/c - all worked, and worked well. It was then I noticed two super large areas of delamination on the passenger side of the coach- the walls inside were wrinkled, it was obvious some major water damage. When I finally told the seller I was going to pass because of this, he became very beligerent and told me that I 'wasted his time' and to lose his number!  I couldn't believe it, he had tried to deceive me and took me for some idiot who was just going to hand over $12,000 without noticing the delamination. I know he knew about it too, the minute I started pushing on the wall, he walked away and started talking to his wife and they both had that "oh crap" look on their faces.

So a couple of things. THANKS to everyone on the sites that I have joined, lurked, commented, or conversed on as you have all helped me look for the trouble areas that wouldve had me buying someone elses expensive problems. I didnt lose out today - I saved 12,000 of my hard earned dollars.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum!  Well done on spotting that problem. A few folks have been stung so it's good to hear you were not.  Good luck on your search......  if you need advice let us know.
 
You also didn't need an inspector - your own eyeballs and diligence were sufficient. Even a newbie can check to see if things work properly and observe for signs of water damage. It's just hard for a newbie to get past the "Gee Whiz!" stage and focus on the details.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,146 (members: 31, guests: 1,115)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,934
Posts
1,387,752
Members
137,684
Latest member
kstoybox
Back
Top Bottom