Buyers Purchasing An RV From Private Sellers

When purchasing a used RV from a private seller, or even a used RV from a dealer, almost universally the sale falls under a legal principle called an "As-Is Sale." In short, whatever is discovered to be a problem after the sale is your problem now, and the seller cannot be held accountable to repair it after the fact or refund your money.

Inexperienced buyers will believe that verbal statements made by the seller, such as "It's in great shape!" and "There have never been any problems!" or "There have never been any leaks." as enforceable terms, but they are not. In the advertising business this is called "puff." Legally these are considered unenforceable opinions and the seller cannot be held liable for making good on them after the sale, as they are not made in writing.

The only exception is if you ask the seller to add a written "warranty clause" in the sales contract such as "Buyer gets a full refund if the engine fails in 6 months or 5,000 miles"; while a dealer MAY sometimes agree to such language, a private seller rarely will agree to this - you are usually on your own.

Only an Expert RV Inspections & Service professional inspection will provide a detailed report documenting all the systems and issues discovered in your prospective RV. As we are an independent, third-party inspector we have no stake in whether the sale concludes or not - we only report the facts about what was discovered.

After you receive your report, you can:

1. use the issues discovered and have the seller address these issues before you take delivery;
2. negotiate a better price to reflect the issues needing repairs or further attention; or
3. use the information to help you make a decision to walk away from the sale.