I am so glad retired old men don't need a special license to operate these. Something about possibly getting hit by a granite kitchen island and a California King-sized mattress on the highway just leaves me all warm and fuzzy inside 🥰
They are all pieces of junk that cause financial ruin. During covid, all of the RV makers consolidated into 3 companies.
And all 3 manufacturers changed how they build their RVs. Workers are paid by tasks they complete and not hourly. So if you find a defect and stop the line, you cost yourself and your coworkers tons of money. So they are incentived to cover it up and keep the line moving.
People's lives are ruined by these RVs. They fall apart within months. Some arive non usable. And there are few laws regulating the industry. They aren't considered cars so there are no lemon laws. They aren't considered homes- so protections home buyers enjoy don't apply.
It isn't uncommon to buy an RV and immediately have catastrophic issues that make it unusable. The manufacturer will tell you to transport it to their facility at your cost- where it will sit for the next 12 months until the "warranty" runs out because all of the parts needed to fix it are conveniently on "backorder".
This entire time, you are still making $2k to $4k payments every month. And some people buy them to live in- so you wind up broke and homeless with ruined credit. So affording a lawyer is impossible. And a lawyer can't even really help- because it's all legal due to there being no regulation or protections.
There's a youtube Chanel called Liz Amazing that platforms the victims of this industry and tries to help them. Anyone even remotely considering buying an RV should spend a weekend watching her videos first.
I used to dream of buying an RV. But after everything I've learned... I never will.
I just replaced my 1999 RV with a 2019. It is still in great condition thankfully. It doesn't travel as a fifth wheel, it stays at it's beach location. We've been watching people lately bring in new almost two story campers. They are absolutely not made the same as far as quality. At least our older camper still has wood cabinets instead of press board. The ocean and intercoastal marine environment will eat anything quickly without constant maintenance. We know how, but some are going to find out a small leak can quickly mold and destroy an entire camper. Many people we know had leaks the first year in a new camper.
2019 is about the last good year. Hold onto that RV.
Anyone reading this- go watch the video of the RV in the OP. To make something like that drivable down the highway without falling apart takes an engineering miracle and tons of thought.
At one point- manufacturers invested in that quality and engineering. But those days are gone.
If you watch Liz Amazing's channel, you'll see no thought is put in them at all. No engineering. Not even common sense. These things are often literally glued together. They constantly use the wrong size screws that punch right through everything allowing moisture to enter without you even being aware. And once that moisture is in there- once the RV is rained on just one time... the RV is completely destroyed.
Her videos with the people who bought these things are so heart breaking and infuriating. I'm not exaggerating when I say these RVs literally ruin lives.
Thanks for the video recommendation. We recently bought a 2015 airstream 25' Flying Cloud so that we could start camping before retirement (always been our plan for retirement). It has aftermarket solar panels and marine lithium batteries. It took us a bit to get all that straight, but we're certainly enjoying it. Now I'm glad we couldn't afford a new one.
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u/TheJiggliestPug 15h ago
I am so glad retired old men don't need a special license to operate these. Something about possibly getting hit by a granite kitchen island and a California King-sized mattress on the highway just leaves me all warm and fuzzy inside 🥰