What a Real RV Pre-Delivery Inspection Is Supposed to Include
|
|
A PDI is not a wash and a walk-around. Done right, it's a technician going system by system through a unit that was built in a factory, shipped hundreds of miles on a truck or a tow, and parked on a lot in the Florida sun. Things come loose in transit. Things get missed at the factory. The PDI is where the dealer is supposed to find them before you do.
|
|
Here's what a complete one covers. Use it as your own checklist on delivery day.
|
|
Roof and exterior
Roof membrane, seams and sealant around every vent, AC unit and antenna. Sidewalls, end caps, trim, decals and every compartment door — alignment, latches, gaskets, locks.
|
|
|
Chassis, tires and underbelly
Tire pressure and lug torque, axles and suspension, the underbelly covering sealed and intact, nothing hanging or rubbing. On a motorhome, fluids, brakes, lights and a road test.
|
|
|
Propane system
A leak-down test on the LP system, tanks filled, and every gas appliance lit and running — furnace, water heater, range and refrigerator on gas.
|
|
|
Electrical
Shore power, converter, batteries, generator under load, every outlet, every light inside and out, smoke, CO and LP detectors.
|
|
|
Plumbing and holding tanks
Fresh water pressurized and holding, every faucet, shower and toilet run, water heater filled and firing, and the gray and black tanks, valves and drain lines checked for leaks.
|
|
|
Slides, awnings and leveling
Every slide run fully in and out, seals and slide toppers checked, awnings extended and retracted, jacks or leveling system cycled.
|
|
|
Interior, fit and finish
Cabinets, drawers, doors, railings, furniture and fixtures tight and secure. Windows, screens, blinds. Every appliance and the roof AC tested. Construction debris cleaned out.
|
|
|
The walkthrough with you
A real orientation where someone shows you how every system works — and a copy of the completed, signed PDI checklist.
|
|
|
Done properly, that's hours of work for a trained technician. The industry's own training body, the RV Technical Institute, certifies techs at four levels across electrical, plumbing, propane, appliances, slide-outs and chassis — and the industry has been short on trained technicians for years. Keep that in mind for the next section.
|
What High-Volume Dealers Actually Do When the Service Bay Is Behind
|
|
Inside a dealership, sales and service are two different departments with two different scoreboards. Sales gets paid when units are delivered. Service is working through a backlog of paid repairs, warranty jobs and PDIs with however many technicians it has that week.
|
|
When the lot is full and the service department is understaffed, those two scoreboards collide. A delivery date gets promised on the sales floor. The unit still has to get through service. Something has to give — and what gives is the PDI. It gets rushed, it gets handed to whoever is free, or it gets skipped. The unit gets washed, plugged in, lights checked, and it's "been gone through."
|
|
I'm not describing a rumor. I spent 24 years inside this business. The pressure to move units is real, and at a high-volume store the PDI is the easiest step to compress because the customer can't see it happening.
|
|
The PDI is the easiest step to cut, because it's the one step the buyer never watches.
|
|
|
Look at the buyer's list again. Every item on it tells you which part of the inspection never happened.
|
|
Glass shards in the shower
Nobody ran the shower or even looked in it. The interior clean-out and the plumbing check both got skipped.
|
|
|
Missing bolts on a railing
Nobody put a hand on it. Fit and finish is a hands-on check — this is a safety item, and it was missed.
|
|
|
Slide topper installed wrong
Nobody cycled the slide and watched the topper roll out. That's a two-minute test.
|
|
|
Black tank underbelly cut and left hanging
Nobody got under the unit with a flashlight. Someone opened it up for a reason, and nobody closed it back up or checked behind them.
|
|
|
Forty-five problems isn't one bad technician having a bad day. It's a unit that went from the lot to the delivery desk without a real inspection in between.
|
What to Check Before Taking Delivery of a New RV
|
|
You can't control how the dealer's service department runs. You can control delivery day. Do it in this order.
|
|
Step 1 — Ask for the completed PDI checklist before delivery day
Ask for the signed checklist, not a verbal "it's been gone through." If they can't produce one, you've learned something important before you've signed anything.
|
|
|
Step 2 — Book delivery early in the day and block out hours
A 4:30 PM delivery on the last day of the month is designed to go fast. Morning delivery, no plans after, no one rushing you.
|
|
|
Step 3 — Have the unit on power, water and propane when you arrive
Ask for it to be plugged in, fresh tank filled and LP tanks full. You can't test systems on a unit that's sitting dry and dead.
|
|
|
Step 4 — Run every system yourself
Every slide in and out. Awnings. Generator. Furnace, roof AC, water heater on gas and electric, fridge on both. Every faucet, the shower, the toilet. Let water run long enough to see if anything drips below.
|
|
|
Step 5 — Look up and look under
Check the roof if you can do it safely, or ask a tech to walk it with you. Get on the ground with a flashlight and look at the underbelly, tank area and every compartment.
|
|
|
Step 6 — Put your hands on everything inside
Open every cabinet and drawer. Pull on railings, ladders and grab handles. Look in the shower, under the bed, in the corners. That's where the debris and the loose hardware hide.
|
|
|
Step 7 — Write it all down and photograph it
Every problem, with a photo, on one written list. Hand the dealer a copy and keep one yourself.
|
|
|
Step 8 — Sign last, not first
The inspection comes before the finance office, not after it. If the list has real problems on it, the right answer is that you'll take delivery when they're fixed. And when you do sit down in that office, know which RV dealer add-ons to refuse before the menu comes out.
|
|
|
If you don't trust yourself to catch it all, an independent certified RV inspector can do it with you. On a new unit that costs six figures, a few hundred dollars for a second set of eyes is cheap insurance.
|
The "We'll Fix It After" Trap
|
|
Here's the line you'll hear when you find problems at the delivery desk: "Take it home, bring it back, and we'll take care of all of it." It sounds reasonable. It's the weakest promise in the whole transaction.
|
|
Before you sign, fixing your unit is part of closing a sale. After you sign, it's a service ticket. Your RV goes into the same queue as every other warranty job — and as I explained in why RV dealer warranty service takes so long, that queue can run for months.
|
Before you sign
After you sign
The dealer needs your signature to get paid
The dealer has already been paid
Your repairs are part of closing the deal
Your repairs wait in the warranty queue
The RV is sitting on their lot
You tow it back and leave it for weeks
You're a buyer they still need
You're one owner in a long line
|
|
And don't count on the lemon law to back you up. Florida's lemon law doesn't cover towable RVs at all, and on motorhomes it excludes the living facilities — the parts built as living quarters. The Florida Attorney General's lemon law page spells out what's covered, and The Florida Bar's consumer guide explains how RVs are handled. Look at the buyer's list: a shower, a railing, a slide topper, a tank underbelly. That's living-quarters territory.
|
|
Your strongest move
"I'll take delivery when it's right." Said calmly, before you sign, that sentence carries more weight than any repair promise you'll get after. Before delivery day, read what your purchase agreement says about delivery and your deposit so you know exactly where you stand.
|
|
|
If the dealer won't fix what you found and can't give you a firm date, that tells you how the next two years of service will go too. Better to learn it at the delivery desk than in a service bay six months from now.
|
|
This is general information from Frank's industry experience, not legal advice. For questions about your specific purchase agreement or lemon law rights, talk to a Florida consumer attorney.
|
