5th wheels to full time in

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clockdrfla

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Have read that some manufacturers state that if you full time in their RV the warranty is void.  What brand 5th wheel with a price range from $50,000 to $60,000 is suitable and will hold up for full timing? Thanks
 
Sorry the question is to ambiguous. At 50k your not going to get very much for your money if you are buying new next is where are you plannig on staying Alaska is a lot harsher than Florida. You planning on traveling much? Driving across Canada is very different than driving up and down the California coast.

Too many variables here hope you had a good time at Stampede last year - they had to cancel it this year cause of Covid-19
 
steveblonde said:
Sorry the question is to ambiguous. At 50k your not going to get very much for your money if you are buying new next is where are you plannig on staying Alaska is a lot harsher than Florida. You planning on traveling much? Driving across Canada is very different than driving up and down the California coast.

Too many variables here hope you had a good time at Stampede last year - they had to cancel it this year cause of Covid-19
Click to expand...

Agree with this.  It is true there are manufacturers that will void the warranty for full-time, but there are quite a few that do not.  In the price range you quoted you are in used 5th wheel territory, not that it is a bad thing, indeed it can be a smart way to purchase.
 
The restriction is mostly a legal CYA, since officially no RV is legal for use as a permanent residence. By definition, an RV is for recreational use and for that reason is allowed to meet lower standards than the building codes for residential use. A "manufactured home" meets the minimum standard for a residence, but an RV does not.

Note also that there is no legal definition of "fulltime" that I'm aware of.  Is it more than 360 nights per calendar year? Or simply not owning/renting another home somewhere? Without some accepted terminology, a civil lawsuit would likely prevail.


The "no fulltime" caveat does give the RV manufacturer an potential out if a fulltime owner claims something wore out prematurely, but with only a 12 month warranty that is largely academic. Within that first 12 months, your usage won't be any different than a "long time" recreational owner. Maybe if the brand has a longer warranty, it could conceivably become an issue, but I haven't heard or seen reports of that.

As Steveblonde says, there are too many personal variables to say much about "holding up for fulltiming". How much travel on what sort of rods? How many people, and are they hard or easy on furnishings?  Meticulous about care & maintenance or use-it-and-forget-it?  Even so, most any RV will "hold up" for a year, but the lesser ones will show wear & tear sooner, maybe just a couple years.  Things like appliances, water pumps, suspension, and insulation are going to "hold up" many years regardless.
 
I've heard of this issue before, but I've never actually seen it in print. I suspect what's written is more along the lines of what our owners manual says. It says our coach was not built with the intent of someone living in it full time, but it does not say that doing so would void the warranty.

I'm pretty sure that disclaimer was written more for the reasons Gary mentioned, and I think an RV manufacturer would have a very hard time denying a warranty claim, simply because someone lived in their RV.

Kev
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
The restriction is mostly a legal CYA, since officially no RV is legal for use as a permanent residence. By definition, an RV is for recreational use and for that reason is allowed to meet lower standards than the building codes for residential use. A "manufactured home" meets the minimum standard for a residence, but an RV does not.

Note also that there is no legal definition of "fulltime" that I'm aware of.  Is it more than 360 nights per calendar year? Or simply not owning/renting another home somewhere? Without some accepted terminology, a civil lawsuit would likely prevail.


The "no fulltime" caveat does give the RV manufacturer an potential out if a fulltime owner claims something wore out prematurely, but with only a 12 month warranty that is largely academic. Within that first 12 months, your usage won't be any different than a "long time" recreational owner. Maybe if the brand has a longer warranty, it could conceivably become an issue, but I haven't heard or seen reports of that.

As Steveblonde says, there are too many personal variables to say much about "holding up for fulltiming". How much travel on what sort of rods? How many people, and are they hard or easy on furnishings?  Meticulous about care & maintenance or use-it-and-forget-it?  Even so, most any RV will "hold up" for a year, but the lesser ones will show wear & tear sooner, maybe just a couple years.  Things like appliances, water pumps, suspension, and insulation are going to "hold up" many years regardless.
Click to expand...

While this is true, there are manufacturers who do cover full-time use.  As an example, with our 5er even the sale literature mentions something to the effect of for long term and full-time use.  We have had a couple warranty related repairs and each time I indicated we are full-time when I contacted the manufacturer, they have not only covered the warranty repair, but suggested since we are full-time as a matter of convenience, contacting a mobile RV tech might be a better option for us.  Our rig is not alone as there are other manufacturers who have no issue with full-time use and covering under warranty.  Still as the OP has discovered their are some who do not cover full-time use, but in my experience that is indicated in the warranty language.
 
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