Shopping
for a pre-owned motorhome the question always arrives about the current miles
on the prospective purchase. So how many are “too many”? The answer is multilayered and can be
answered best by stating that there really is no such thing as too many. It may
sound crazy at first but upon closer inspection one can see that while it is
part of what makes a buying decision for a coach, unlike purchasing a car, the
odometer is not the first place to look when determining condition of a
motorhome.
Think of a motorhome first like it was a fifth wheel or travel trailer
that has no odometer. The first thing you do is when you first step inside,
smell the air. Mildew has a distinctive odor. If you detect that odor, there is
or has been a leak somewhere in the unit. That may or may not be a deal killer
but you need to find where that leak (s) happened before proceeding. Then look
at things like the wear on the carpet in the high travel areas and the front
edges of the front seats. See if there are lots of scrape marks on the leading
edges of the kitchen cabinet floors and the same of the exterior storage compartments.
Open drawers at the kitchen counter and look for evidence of heavy use. Look at
the inside roof of the microwave to see if there is lots of evidence of
multiple uses in this hard to clean area. If there is a gas cook-top look
between the burner and the top it’s self to see if there is a grease build-up
under the stove-top. Are there exhaust dirt marks at the air-conditioner
outlets? Is there lots of wear at the entry door step and inside the entry
door? Pull the bedspread up and look at the condition of the mattress. Smell
the inside of the refrigerator. If you smell ammonia inside, it’s not from
being cleaned; it’s most likely because the cooling unit is leaking. Look under
the engine area to see if there are puddles or drips of any fluids. Look at the
batteries. Are they corroded and dirty? Does the sealer at the seams of the
unit look old and cracking?
This is by no means a complete check list of things to look for but it
illustrates the point about mileage. A coach could fail all of the above tests
and have 1,000 miles on the odometer. Another unit could pass all these tests
and many more and have 200,000 miles. I traded for a Blue Bird a number of
years ago from a customer who lived in Canada and had a business in Florida. He
had a driver drive him in the coach back and forth between the two places. The
owner and driver slept in hotels and ate in restaurants. They performed
meticulous maintenance on the unit and when we traded his coach had almost
200,000 miles on it and was practically new. I have also traded for units that
had very low miles but were in terrible condition. Both of these examples are
on the rare side but are cautionary stories that should make you aware of the
possibilities.
When we buy a used car we always go
immediately to the odometer because it tells much more of the story about that
car. If someone was using the car, it’s a given that they were accumulating
mileage. A motorhome though is a whole different story. Look at the speedometer
for sure but don’t let it tell you the whole story. With proper maintenance
these “high-end” motorhomes like Country Coach, Newell and Foretravel will be
around long after this writer and readers are gone. Our goal should be to leave
a high mileage but pristine coach to our children, grand children or
great-grandchildren.
www.motorhomesoftexas.com
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