Episode Transcript
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Stuart Doing Stuff (00:00):
Do you want
that same new car feeling when you
drive off the lot in your new RV?
You know the one where everything isshiny and new and has that new car
smell and everything works perfectly?
Well, you need morethan just a set of keys.
Today we're gonna dive into how toavoid your very first RV mistake
as we talk about the PreDelivery Inspection, or PDI.
Let's ensure that your first journey isn'tto the repair shop, but to a destination
(00:23):
unknown and memories waiting to be made.
Buckle up, it's time to learn the ropes.
And welcome to the RV dreaming podcast.
This podcast is for people whothrive on adventure, embrace
unconventional lifestyle, andseek life beyond the ordinary.
RV dreaming, start here and go anywhere.
My name is Stuart from StuartDoing Stuff on Instagram.
(00:44):
I've been a full-timenomad for three years now.
I split my time between my 40 foot SuperC and my little mini sprinter van here.
And I traveled with.
With my two cats camden izzy followme on instagram at Stuart Doing
Stuff for more stories and videos.
All right, today we are goingto talk about the very first
thing you do when you buy an RV.
And no, that's not take a camping.
(01:06):
This is the pre deliveryinspection, the PDI.
And the pre delivery inspectionis what happens after you buy the
rig, but before you actually takepossession and drive it off the lot.
And the PDI is usually scheduled rightwhen you're signing the paperwork.
And it's normally a few days to aweek or whatever after you actually
go through the buying process.
(01:27):
So it's not like a new car whereyou sign on the dotted line.
You get a drive off with it thatday, what they do is they schedule an
appointment, they give you a tech, andthey'll go through this system up and
down, and they, they say that they'regoing to show you how everything
works, but there is so much more to it.
Now let me give you a real quick story.
When I was doing my PDI on my SuperC, it was like a balancing act.
(01:48):
Cause my rig was in Buffalo, New York, andI was in LA, Los Angeles, California area.
And I wasn't gonna fly to Buffaloin January and pick up the rig
and drive it through the ice andall that other kinds of stuff.
So I came up with a deal withthe dealership that they would
bring it to Des Moines, Iowa.
And I would fly from California, from LongBeach to Des Moines, Iowa, we would do the
(02:10):
transaction there, that was their furthestwest location, and I'd drive it back.
So, we had a lot of coordinating todo with that, making sure that the
rig got from Buffalo to Des Moines ontime, to make sure that my flight got
there on time, to coordinate the, PDI.
And then I had to coordinate mytrip back to Long Beach from there.
So when I did that, we set up our meetingfor early, I think like around eight,
(02:33):
because I wanted to hurry up and getthrough this, hit the road and work
start working my way back to California.
But at the same time, If there wasanything that needed to be fixed, my fear
was I couldn't get it fixed, because, youknow, I was doing it on, I don't remember
what day it was, it was, I remember theday, I don't remember the date, or is
it the other way around, it was January6th, because I remember when we were
(02:55):
doing the PDI, we kept stopping to watchall the stuff going on at the Capitol,
so that was going on on all four TVs,or however many, three TVs that I had at
the rig, and then, you We're trying togo through all these different systems.
Does this work?
How does this work?
And is this functioning?
So anyways...
We were doing that,but they pushed my PDI.
(03:16):
They called me at like 8 in the morningand said, Hey, we need more time, we
need more time, we need more time.
And so finally, we had tocheck out of our hotel room.
So at around 11 o'clock, wehad to check out of the room.
We walked down to the dealership,because we couldn't get an
Uber because it was snowing.
So it was like a mile away,and it was, it was ridiculous.
But, you know, whatever.
Everyone was like, you should havehad the dealership come and get you.
(03:36):
You know, you just spent a lot ofmoney, but we enjoyed the walk.
And it wasn't snowing, it was justsnow on the ground and it was cold.
By the way, I didn'tknow it snowed in Iowa.
I hear you guys already, like, rollingyour eyes, forgive me on that one, but
prior to me RVing, I spent 12 yearsin Long Beach, California down in L.
A.
I didn't really think aboutthe weather that much.
So anyways, we, got there and It justkept going on and on and they kept
(04:00):
dragging it on and on , , to the pointwhere Paul and I, who was helping
me pick this thing up, we just endedup ordering Domino's Pizza and it
delivered to the rig and everything.
So finally, later in the day, theywent through the entire rig with us,
but man, it was an ordeal because myfear was what if something's not right?
What if something's not working?
Then...
We might get stuck here for anotherday trying to wait for them to be
(04:23):
able to fix it before I officiallysaid, okay, so those are going to
be in the in the tips and tricks ofwhat we're going to talk about here
on your pre delivery inspection.
So why is this important?
Why is a PDI so important?
Well, it's your last chance to ensure thateverything is in proper working order.
prior to you actually takingpossession of the rig.
(04:43):
It's there to help you learn aboutthe systems, the functions, and
the capabilities of your rig.
And it's your chance to havethings repaired or fixed
before taking possession.
So this is really importantbecause you don't want to take
possession of a busted rig.
You don't want to take possessionof something where the dealer goes,
Oh yeah, that's, that is broken.
I'll tell you what, why don't we makean appointment for X date and then you
(05:06):
can bring it back and we'll fix it then.
Don't fall for all that kind of stuff.
That, that is absolutely ridiculous.
We're going to kind of get into that too.
So, that is the, , oneof the biggest things.
So what is included in your PDI?
Well, in a word, Everything.
You should go through all of yourelectrical components, all your
plumbing, your air conditioning, yourheater, your furnace, your hot water
(05:28):
heater, your fire and CO2 alarms,your microwave, refrigerator, propane
slide, seals and gaskets, cosmetic,your roof, your windows, your awnings,
cabinet doors, furniture, blinds,shades, curtains, flooring, window
coverings, engines, generators,and most importantly, A test drive.
Believe it or not, I just dropped sixfigures, large six figures, on this Super
C that I was picking up and I had neverdriven it before I drove it off the lot.
(05:52):
I didn't even do a test drive.
That was my bad.
And I didn't even think aboutit until after I was leaving.
When, when we were all done and theypulled it out of the garage and they
gave me the keys and they said thank you.
They actually said thank you.
I went...
I've never driven this before.
Holy crap.
I've never driven this rig Ihope it drives right because I
was so obsessed on making sure Igot all the other stuff, right?
(06:15):
I completely forgot about the mostobvious which is driving the darn rig.
So Anyways there's a whole list ofeverything that I just gave you that
will be attached to the show notes andon the website at RV dreaming TV that
you can download And you can checkoff as you're going through your PDI,
because it's very, very important.
So, I also want to give you a coupledo's and don'ts of a good PDI experience.
(06:41):
So let's go through this here.
So here's one for the do's.
You do...
Want to test everything whenyou're on shore power, that's
going to give you an idea to makesure that everything is right.
Everything is working properly.
Everything is the way that it should be.
And that's running everything.
Your water heaters, that's checking yourslides, making sure they go in and out.
That's making sure your refrigerator ison, making sure that your air conditioning
(07:03):
is working all the components.
You're going to gothrough this three times.
One of the times you're goingto do it with your shore power.
Okay.
Then you're gonna go do it again everysingle little thing when your shore power
is off and you're just running on yourhouse batteries Because you're gonna want
to learn what's on the inverter and what'snot and make sure that everything is as it
is supposed to be Do it turn your inverteron make sure that everything is working
(07:26):
Make sure that your refrigerator is stillrunning because that should always be
on with the inverter make sure that yourheaters or any other components that
you have that's supposed to be plugged,that's supposed to be operating when
you're on, when you're on your inverter,when you're dry camping, is working.
And then, believe it or not,we're going to do it a third time.
We're going to go through everysingle little thing one more time,
(07:46):
this time with the generator.
Because the generator is, in theory,supposed to kick on, provide enough
power to be able to power your rig.
So you're just going to gothrough those systems again.
Make sure that when you turn yourgenerator on, Your automatic transfer
switch switch is over, you're ableto run your air conditionings,
you're able to run all the differentcomponents that are supposed to be
run as if you're on shore power.
Because it is not uncommon for acomponent to work when it's on shore
(08:08):
power, but not work when it's on thegenerator, and you gotta figure out why.
Those are big things thatneed some diagnostic presence.
And your best leverage as a buyeris to ensure that all those things
are looked at and taken care of.
Before you take delivery because theseguys want to get this stuff done and
and get you off the books so that waythey can move on to the next person so
(08:29):
your best leverage is right then duringthis PDI so that way you know that
you're getting everything taken care of.
Before you take possession, becausethat's when the pressure is on them.
A couple other do's in this session.
Do record and take videos and take notes.
You're going to get a lot of informationabout your rig, and if you've never RV'd
(08:50):
before, you're going to be thrown intothe deep end on a lot of new components.
Don't be afraid to bring a notepad.
Don't be afraid to take video, andask the person doing the walkthrough,
say, I'm sorry, excuse me, that wasa little confusing, can you do it
one more time, so I can record it?
And that way you can have a document.
You have some sort of verification thatyou can go back on and look at so that
(09:10):
way you don't ruin anything or, or ifit's confusing, , you have some, better
information to be able to do that.
So do take notes, , and askquestions and, and take videos.
The other thing, do askquestions, ask a lot of questions.
Don't be afraid to say, you don'tknow, don't be afraid to say, wait,
can you explain that one more time?
I thought this, you're sayingthat, am I getting this right?
(09:32):
Don't be afraid to be able to do this.
Remember.
You're buying this rig, and especiallyif you're full timing or you're kind of
going through this process, it might takeyou a while to figure out how A connects
to B, which represents C, and, and allthis other kinds of stuff, so don't be
afraid to say, Hey, I have a question.
Another do.
Check to ensure that you have all ofyour keys, all of your TV remotes, all
(09:52):
the little knick knacks, all the owner'smanuals, all the warranty information
on all the different components.
It's gonna come in a big, kind of like,um, Like a duffel bag kind of a thing and
and and it's got a lot of information.
It's got all your warranty information,all your owner's manuals, , everything
that you can possibly imagine and checkyour keys to make sure that you have
two keys or at least on your engines,your keys for all the storage bays,
(10:16):
bins, everything underneath, makesure you have all your TV remotes.
If your rig has three or four TVs,make sure you have three or four
remotes that come along with it.
Don't forget Be afraid to say, hey, waita minute, we're missing something here.
And most importantly, like Imentioned before, don't rush it.
Take your time on this.
This is supposed to be your timeto get familiar with your rig.
So you take your time and youdon't let the dealership rush you.
(10:40):
If you feel like you're being rushed,just tell them, hey, wait a minute.
Hold on.
This is a lot of information.
I just want to make surethat I'm getting everything.
Right, you know, and, if they'reworth it, if they're worth a darn,
you know, if they really do careabout your 100 percent total customer
satisfaction, then they will take thattime to really make sure that they
explain it well, so that way you arecomfortable when you leave the facility.
(11:04):
And here's a big don't.
And this is, this is the onething that, when I was looking
for rigs, was a deal breaker.
Do not pay extra for your PDI.
Do not pay extra for yourpre delivery inspection.
I've seen things, when you look at yourbill, when you're signing to buy, it'll
have a little line item in there, andit'll say pre delivery inspection, or
(11:27):
it'll say something walk through, orsomething along those lines, and I've seen
fees range from anywhere between 1, 500all the way up to 5, 000 for this service.
Do not pay for a PDI, that should bepart of the deal, and if a dealership
is going to insist that you pay for it,then you insist that you're not going
(11:47):
to buy it, plain and simple, walk outof that dealership, as a matter of fact
don't walk, run out of that dealership,get to your car, get online, and tell
everybody, these guys are trying tocharge me for a PDI, and just watch the
internet blow up, because this is theIt's the biggest markup, the biggest
nonsense that I think is out there.
So do not ever pay for PDI.
They should not even put it onthere and hope that you catch it.
(12:10):
That's how ridiculous this is.
This is part of the overall experience.
This is the thing thatthey, they should just do.
It's part of the entire process.
Alright, so.
And finally, if there is anythingthat needs to be fixed, have them
do it before you take possession.
Do not wait.
Do not fall for the, Oh, well,you know, our tech is gone.
We don't have time.
(12:30):
We don't have parts.
We don't have this.
We don't have that.
You know, if that's the caseand say, you know what, then
let me know when it's ready.
I'll come back and pick it up becauseyou lose all leverage the minute that you
Take delivery of that rigand drive it off the lot.
They want to get rid of it.
They want it out.
It's taking up space.
It's, it's, , It's amazing onhow fast your rig will get to
the top of the priority line ifthere's something wrong with it.
(12:53):
So, because I did that when I had mySuper C, I went through all these systems
and we were there for a long time.
It delayed, not only did itdelay because of what they did,
it delayed because I took a lotof time trying to get that done.
, I didn't have any problems with my rig.
There was one that we were able toidentify and it was on my touch screen
(13:14):
that monitors like your water tanksand your holding tanks and all that.
There was, there was the propanesensor that was not reading right.
It was reading zero on the sensor, butyou go to the tank and it was full.
And they couldn't figure out why that was.
And so they just determinedthat it was a faulty sensor.
I said, no worries, I'm not going to worryabout it, because that's an easy fix.
(13:36):
It's just a sensor, then whatever,but all the mechanical stuff.
But that's how detailed thatI went through this PDI.
Because as I was going throughthe touchscreens, I saw it was
zero, and I was like, wait.
I thought you said that I get a fullthing of propane, so they jumped into it,
they looked, and they looked over, theyopened it up, and they, and, the poor
tech guy, he, he probably spent about 20or 30 minutes trying to diagnose this,
(13:56):
cause you can tell, he was a good guy,you can tell he wanted to get it right,
he, you can tell that he, , took pridein his job and pride in his work, so he
wanted to figure this thing out, you know,even after I told him it's fine, we, at
least we identified it, and now we havea solution, and it's not, detrimental,
he still went, no, I'm going to, I'mgoing to try and check this thing down.
So anyways, that's how granular youhave to get with these PDIs, with
(14:19):
these pre delivery inspections,because it is that important.
The key to having a great first trip isto make sure that you're not going to
have any surprises when you hit the road.
So I'm going to leave.
Everything that I just told you,everything that you should check,
these do's and don'ts, I'm going toput this on our website at rvdreaming.
tv, I am also going to put it into theshow notes down below, so that way when
(14:44):
you go and you are scheduling your PDI,you can take this checklist with you, and
then you can always add your own dependingon what kind of rig you're going to get,
like you're going to look for differentthings if you're going to get a motorized
versus a travel trailer versus a fifthwheel, so you can add You know, other
unique elements that you want to do orthings that you don't want to forget
because it can be very overwhelming.
So you can add your own items there to it.
(15:07):
So I'm going to leave that on the website.
You can find that in the shownotes, just go and click on
it and it will take you there.
Or you can just go to the show notes andcopy and paste and put it into your phone
or do whatever it is that you want to do.
So recap, do not be rushed.
During your PDI, this is your time.
All right.
Do not let the dealership rushyou check everything three times.
Once on a short power, once on theinverter, and then again on the generator.
(15:30):
And please, please, please donot pay extra for this service.
Do not pay extra.
This has got to be the biggest mistakeI see people do is they will pay big
money because they don't know any better.
Do not fall into that trap.
Do not pay extra for a PDI.
I hope you learned something new in thisepisode and just kind of reiterating
(15:52):
the importance of making sure thatyou have a free, a very great, a very
exciting, very fantastic first trip
because that's when you're goingto fall in love with the RV
lifestyle is when everything works.
If your very first experience out ofthe gate in your brand new rig is where
things just aren't working and thingsare broken and things aren't going your
way, you're going to have a really badexperience and you're going to drop out.
(16:12):
Don't do that.
Make sure that your experience,your very first experience, is
a positive one by knowing thatyou have confidence in your rig.
Everything is working.
All of that starts with a successful PDI.
I hope this helped you.
that's going to be it for thisepisode Thanks for listening
to the RV dreaming podcast.
Enjoy your travels.
Make them safe.
Make them fun and make the memorableWe'll see you in the next episode