When you purchase your first, or 21st, RV from a dealership.
- Do your walk though!
Look at everything. Look for broken stuff. Look for missing stuff. Look for messes and things that don’t look right. Make sure this stuff gets put on the “we owe” list and is done before you take your rig! All to often do we hear horror stories of when someone did not pay attention to what was told, or were not diligent on the walkthrough and making sure stuff was ready to pull off the lot! Don’t be a statistic of people who don’t like their rig because you didn’t learn when you had the chance. - SHAKE DOWN!
Take your rig to their campground (or parking lot, if that is not available, use the pickup area where your walkthrough was at–with preapproval of course) and stay there for a day or two. This will give you a chance to try out the stove, refrigerator, water heater, and shower! Use them! Make sure they work while you are still on property. Many rigs have duel gas and electric water heaters (use the gas first–if the rig is still winterized and no water is in the tank, you can fry an electric element by turning it on without any water.)
Leaks are a possibility, a neighbor right now just traded in a class b for a class a, and the shower leaked and was not sealed. Better to find this out near the shop than at the camp ground. - Make a check list!
Make a routine list of things that needs to be done (or take ours and modify it) before you pull out. Also make a list of things that need to be done when you get parked. When we do it often, we get complacent and make mistakes. When there is a long gap, we get out of practice and make mistakes…MAKE A CHECK LIST! - FOOD
Well, I like to eat, and enjoy bringing my full kitchen wherever we go. So we can make any meal on the road just like we would in a house. You may just need to pick slightly different cookware to fit. - ENJOY
But realize stuff is going to go wrong. Fix it and move on. There will be many more great memories in your rig than the bad ones.
This just gives you a little of a head start when buying a new (or used) rig. Do not badmouth anyone until you have politely tried to remedy it through the dealership or manufacturer. They will more than likely NOT send a technician to you, you will have to take your rig to them to get it fixed, and it may take multiple trips.