{"id":42,"date":"2015-10-05T04:38:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T04:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=42"},"modified":"2016-02-13T13:20:34","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T13:20:34","slug":"how-to-buy-an-rv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2015\/10\/05\/how-to-buy-an-rv\/","title":{"rendered":"How to buy an RV"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had found a good deal<\/a> on a 5th wheel that seemed to be just what we wanted. We drove 6 hours (RT) one day to check it out and make sure it was The One. We made an SMS-based deal with the sellers. \u00a0But we had no clue what the rest of the process looked like. \u00a0Steph and I have bought several different houses. \u00a0Like real estate this was a pretty big purchase and it will be our home….but it has wheels so its more like a vehicle….right? \u00a0Steph and I have bought several cars, always used, twice with salvage titles, and always with cash.\u00a0 But almost none of that experience translated to buying this fifth wheel. \u00a0What to do?<\/p>\n

The first thing I did was draft a purchase agreement. \u00a0I found a pretty good one on line that I used as a starting point and I had a neighbor\/friend\/lawyer help me make it a bit more fair for both buyer and seller. \u00a0Other than the standard stuff there were a few other unique items in this deal:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There was the potential to purchase the remainder of the warranty. \u00a0So I added that the seller must provide a copy of the policy clearly explaining coverage, and that the warranty was transferable and cancelable.<\/li>\n
  2. I added an addendum similar to a property disclosure where you clearly mark what was is included, what works, what doesn’t etc.<\/li>\n
  3. The seller\u00a0needed to live in it for awhile until they got a replacement rig. \u00a0So we created a timeline that was comfortable for them and also gave us time to figure out how to move the trailer (we didn’t have a tow vehicle yet) and where we would store it.<\/li>\n
  4. I wanted to do a “proper” inspection of the unit….so we added some verbiage about that taking place at delivery time and several options for handling any issues found (adjust price, or have current owner use warranty, etc)<\/li>\n
  5. The seller\u00a0did not hold the title….the bank did.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The seller worked their tail off to get #1 taken care of but from my POV it was a disaster. \u00a0There wasn’t even a claim being made and communication with the company seemed horrific. \u00a0I’m not a fan of warranties any way\u00a0so we nixed that from the deal and I put the money saved into the WHEW (Wach’s Hefty Extended \u00a0Warranty). \u00a0When this whole thing is over I’ll let you know how that turned out.<\/p>\n

    The seller obliged my #2. \u00a0I’m sure they thought it was a bit silly….but I figured over communication was better than the opposite.<\/p>\n

    Our church family came to our rescue on #3. \u00a0One family offered to let us store the trailer on their land and another family offered to help us transport the rig. \u00a0Keep in mind this unit is BIG and it was 3 hours of mountain driving from Longmont. \u00a0So….a “shout out” and gazillion thank yous to the \u00a0Ryplewski and Austin families of Berthoud, CO!<\/p>\n

    Eric Ryplewski said he’d be happy to help me inspect the unit when we went to get it. \u00a0He has owned several RVs and done all his own repairs on them. \u00a0Plus the dude was a nuclear engineer living on submarines while in the Navy….so he knows a little something about living in small, self-contained units! \u00a0So that covered #4.<\/p>\n

    And good old #5….the title. \u00a0Because we’ve always paid cash for our cars (we buy CHEAP cars or get them as hand-me-downs) we’ve always held the title. \u00a0I did not even think about the fact that the bank holds the title if you finance the vehicle. \u00a0The seller figured out the payoff amount, how much they had in cash and we used the remaining balance as the deposit amount. \u00a0The idea was, they pay what they had in cash, we pay the deposit, and with the loan paid off the title can be released to the current owner. \u00a0It was a sound idea but it\u00a0took a bit of trust on our part. \u00a0I kept envisioning this scam where the seller struck deals with several people getting each of them to commit to a relatively small deposit paid toward the loan, the loan is paid off and they disappear across the border living on the beach in Baja in a 5th wheel paid for by a bunch of others! \u00a0Their bank would not tell me the balance on the loan, or even if after my payment it was paid off. \u00a0But I trusted this family and so I made the deposit. \u00a0The seller contacts the bank to get the title which is actually held by the DMV in their home state of Iowa and we are told the sellers should get the title in hand in 10-14 days. \u00a0So I marked off 14 days and made plans with my buddy to spend that day taking delivery of the 5th wheel.<\/p>\n

    For the remaining balance paid to the seller I preferred cashier’s check but I knew that from a seller’s POV those can be risky so we ended up paying half cashier’s check and half cash. \u00a0That was the biggest wad of cash I’d ever held I think! \u00a0So I have funds all ready and the days are clicking by but still no sign of the title. \u00a0The seller starts to get a little worried and spends significant energy trying to track it down. \u00a0I’m sure they could write a whole post about the SNAFU that turned out to be but the short story is the day we were going to take possession there would be no title to hand over. \u00a0On top of that, the seller’s were still not fully transferred over to their new trailer. \u00a0But Eric and I showed up anyway to do our inspection, finalize the deal and take possession. \u00a0I felt a bit guilty as we drug the rig away from the YMCA campground with the previous owners stuff piled in garbage bags on picnic tables…but I know they needed to get the deal done and they were holding up their end of the bargain just as we were. \u00a0They let us keep their license plates on it to reduce our risk of getting stopped. \u00a0While its best to have the title, I talked to the state patrol and they just needed proof of ownership. \u00a0Between the bill of sale and a letter we had from the bank explaining that title was in transit to the sellers I hoped we had enough proof for Ponch if he happened to pull us over.<\/p>\n

    Let me make this very clear….there is not a better guy I could have had with me that day than Eric Ryplewski. \u00a0He gave me confidence that the unit was in good shape and that we’d get it delivered safely. \u00a0Eric taught me a ton that day about trucks, diesel motors, gearing, brakes, etc. \u00a0In the end we took it to his house to store it. \u00a0Such a wonderful family….we are honored to know them and call them friends and be brothers and sisters in Christ!<\/p>\n

    The sellers finally received the title and they finally got it sent to us. \u00a0I now need to get it titled in CO and we can call it a done deal.<\/p>\n

    The family we bought it from was a very trustworthy family and they were very patient with all my concerns and worries. \u00a0I really don’t know how we could have made the process any smoother or less risky for either party. \u00a0It should go much smoother when we sell it on the other end of our trip since we already hold the title.<\/p>\n

    Now to buy a tow vehicle!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We had found a good deal on a 5th wheel that seemed to be just what we wanted. We drove 6 hours (RT) one day to check it out and make sure it was The One. We made an SMS-based deal with the sellers. \u00a0But we had no clue what the rest of the process […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}