What you need to know before buying an RV (cont)

I'll never forget the day that a customer called in wanting to know how to drain his holding tanks. I politely asked him how long he had owned his coach, and he politely replied "over a year". WOW!! his explanation was that he did not know he HAD to empty the tanks. It made me wonder if he thought all of the waste and water would just evaporate into thin air.

Draining your tanks ( and flushing them out) is an important step in the maintenance of your unit. Fresh water will get stagnant and we don't want to speculate what will happen to the other stuff if not regularly flushed out of the tanks. I do know this, bacteria will form and the solids will dry up and cause problems with future flushing, and also your tank capacity.

Most RV supply stores carry cleaning products specifically designed for use in RV holding tanks. I highly recommend using one of those products. A lot of people wanted to know if they could use bleach. Bleach is an excellent disinfectant, however, it takes many many rinses with clean water to get the residual bleach out of your tank. This typically would not harm you in the black and gray tanks, however, you will want to be extra careful in flushing out your fresh tank if you are using bleach. I mean, after you think you are done rinsing, rinse it a few more times....you definitely do NOT want bleach in your drinking water.

More of what you need to know before buying an RV

For those of you who plan to tow a vehicle, listen up. Once again, an amazing number of calls come in to the manufacturer about towing capacities. Many people actually call in to ask if they can tow more than what their factory installed hitch is rated for. The answer is a resounding NO. Each unit is typically engineered to the maximum specs it can handle. You should receive a sheet in your owner's packet that will tell you what the weights are on your vehicle. The GCWR is the Gross Combination weight rating, this is the maximum allowance for the total loaded weight of the motorhome and tow vehicle. Exceeding this amount will result in extra wear on the engine and brakes of your vehicle, not to mention difficulties with the driveability. Just don't do it. If you plan to do any towing with your motorhome, make sure you are buying one that can handle the weights that you will require. You might want to consider upgrading if you currently find yourself in a position where your tow vehicle is heavier than the allowable weight, there are motorhomes on the market that have considerably more towing capacity, built especially for those who do a lot of towing for races or other such activities. You will be better off in the longrun than doing damage to your current vehicle.

More about your RV

Another important thing that needs to be talked about is your warranty. By the calls we would get, it seems to me that consumers have a much different idea of how their warranty actually works than the manufacturer who wrote it, so this is something that really needs to be said.

Your warranty covers defects in product or workmanship for a period of time beginning with when you sign your warranty paperwork and ending at a time specified by the manufacturer. For instance, it could be for 2 years and 24,ooo miles. So after you have owned your coach for that period of time, and you notice a defect, it will not be covered. I remember several disagreements with customers because they were out of warranty and just noticed a defect. Their argument was that it was a manufacturer's defect, there from before the purchase date. This may be true, but that defect is covered for the warranty period only and not 1 minute afterward. I was always amazed at the amount of people who would call after owning their coach for several years, expecting something to be covered. For any other instance I will never liken the purchase of an RV to that of an automobile, but I will for this one. If you purchase a new Ford vehicle, drive it for your 3 years or 36,000 miles (whichever comes first), and then notice something you didn't notice before, they are not going to cover it under warranty. The same thing with household appliances. Save yourself the headache of wating to get in touch with customer service just so you can be told no. To me this is a common sense type of deal, and you will be wasting your time calling the manufacturer. That is not to say there will not be circumstances where additional coverage would be considered, however, it usually has to be something pretty bad, or a defect in manufacturing that caused further damage to other components in your coach. Keep in mind, if you do call customer service, and they tell you it won't be covered, there is no reason to scream at them. They do not write the warranty contracts or make the rules. The best thing you can do for your own sanity is to READ YOUR WARRANTY, and make sure you understand what it covers.

Additionally, some of the components of your unit will carry their own warranty past that which is offered by the manufacturer of the coach. They should each have their own manuals in which you can get the information as to what is covered. If there is a registration card, make sure and send it in, some suppliers will not honor any warranty at all if there is no registration.

Once again, I cannot stress enough that you should read your warranty. Also make sure you have looked at all of the paperwork that you received with your coach. If something seems to be missing, you can acquire a new copy in order to make sure that all warranty cards are sent to the proper suppliers. Better safe than sorry.