Best time to schedule walkthrough/PDI for newly purchased motor home?

[matsis1234]

After 3 years of researching, we sold our Popup and finally bit the bullet on a new 2020 Entegra Odyssey 29V. Very excited !
The dealership is keeping it on their lot for us until spring.
We aren’t sure when it would be best to do the walkthrough/PDI.
They give a 30 day warranty on top of Entegra’s two year warranty.
Would it be best to do the walkthrough before the 30 days are up so they have plenty of time to fix things over the winter ? Or is that a bad idea because things might break with it sitting over the winter ? Is the 30 day warranty pretty useless since it’s just sitting there for a few months and they would probably just submit it for warranty replacement anyway ? Obviously we wouldn’t be able to do a wet walkthrough until spring so that’s a negative to do it now.
Thanks ! Pam

[EA37TS]

PDI should be done before you sign the final paperwork to include warranty registration. If you have already signed all the Paperwork then delivery has occurred and it is yours without a PDI

[matsis1234]

Hmmm...that's not good. We already signed. We signed at 4:30pm on the 21st, which was their last day before they closed for the Holidays until January 2nd. They actually stayed late for us. They said we could schedule the PDI after the holidays. Hopefully they don't give us a hassle. We did take it out for a test drive about 6 weeks ago. Is the PDI and the walkthrough the same thing or different?
It's a small local dealership. Thanks, Pam

Originally Posted by EA37TS

PDI should be done before you sign the final paperwork to include warranty registration. If you have already signed all the Paperwork then delivery has occurred and it is yours without a PDI

[Rice1951]

Congratulations on your new coach and welcome to the JOF. If it’s a reputable dealer then they should honor the PDI prior to you driving it off the lot. The walkthrough and the PDI don’t necessarily have to be the same thing. As for the warranty I am not sure what the 30 day warranty is. The Jayco 2 year warranty clock started ticking on the day you signed the paperwork and took ownership. I thought I read somewhere on this forum that the Entegra warranty was 3 years but I could be wrong. You might want to confirm that.
Since your dealer has agreed to keep the RV on its lot until Spring then that is when I would schedule the PDI. He’s local so it would be good if you could do a cursory walkthrough now and look for any obvious issues, make a list and verify those items have been taken care of when you come in for the PDI. The PDI should include a test of all systems including appliances that run on electric and/or propane and the water systems. It’s not practical to do that outside in January in New Hampshire so the dealer should accommodate you in the Spring. Unless he has a heated indoor facility where he could demonstrate everything now. The drawback to that is it would have to be winterized again.
When you ultimately do the PDI make sure to video anything you might need to reference later and if there is something you don’t understand then ask to have it repeated. You only get one chance at it so make it worth your while.
It will be hard for you to contain yourself between now and next Spring and I don’t blame you because it is exciting. Good luck to you and enjoy the lifestyle.

[EA37TS]

Hopefully a small dealer won't screw you around.

When I signed the final paperwork on our Entegra Accolade there was a form titled Entegra Motorized Customer Delivery Form, that I signed stating the PDI was performed and it listed all of the items that were demonstrated. The form listed items under the headings of Exterior (15 items), Entry (5 items), Command Center (5 items), Living Room (7 items), Kitchen (4 items), Bathroom (2 items), Bedroom (6 items), and Cockpit (9 items). In the Living Room the items included how to operate the television, antenna, satellite dish etc...

Our PDI was a four hour inspection and we walked away without signing the paperwork because the motor home was not ready for delivery and had some issues that we had to discuss with Entegra. We finally did a second inspection and had a teleconference with Entegra and Jayco before we signed the paperwork about one week later. One of the issues found during the PDI even resulted in us negotiating a significant reduction in price because we have to take the coach to Middlebury, IN to have the Living Area slide raised and the side of the coach re-painted (our dealer does not have a paint shop or capability to remove a slide).

My recommendation to you is to schedule a PDI as soon as possible and if you have to pay the dealer to re-winterize the coach it may be a worthwhile expense. The time the coach is sitting at the dealer in storage is time the dealer could be working off warranty issues if any are found during the PDI. Keep in mind the warranty clock keeps ticking even though the coach is sitting. It would be a shame if it sat for three months and then when you wanted to use it you found a camping critical issue that caused it to sit at the dealer for 2 to 4 weeks waiting parts.

Don't mean to suggest it is a gloom and doom situation but rather advise you to be proactive rather than reactive.

Feel free to PM me it you'd like.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Rice1951

...I thought I read somewhere on this forum that the Entegra warranty was 3 years but I could be wrong...

The Entegra warranty is 2 years with an additional 3 years for the structure.

[matsis1234]

Thanks for the tips Rice !! Appreciate it !

[matsis1234]

Thanks so much for the advise Dave! Very helpful.
Pam

Originally Posted by EA37TS

Hopefully a small dealer won't screw you around

Feel free to PM me it you'd like.

[DonaandDon]

Congratulation and welcome to the forum.

I would not worry as you have some time. Yes after the holidays do the walk through. Make an extensive list for them to work on. Without any miles on it they should be able to work on anything. My question is the dealer prep. It cost you for them to do and you should receive what was found/repaired. I was given hassle when I asked for the prep sheet. After asking for the store manager the service manager complied. At my cost my dealer only installed one battery on my 5r. Even when the manual for the res-fridge recommends two. Kind of glad because they charged me $150 for a $99 battery. Jayco supplied a series of battery cables for additional battery(s) install. After my walk through I thought OMG why did I find so much. I guess it happens, they worked through the list and yes somethings required parts from Jayco which took some time (5-6 weeks). So don't wait on your PDI.

*** Always, always conduct an after repairs walkthrough. Do not just hook and go after repairs. I have a collection of items from workers and found incomplete repairs.

1) Have as much information available (model and serial numbers) when discussing repairs. I also took pictures of items Water heater / microwave / fridge that show the number in the pic.

2) Customer involvement during the warranty repair process is critical.
- Keep a log of dates/times names from both dealer and Jayco.
- Jayco is your friend, they assign a contact and number to see you through your repairs.

3) Second party items. I.E. Gerrard water heater / Res-fridge / Lippert Ect.
- Again call and talk to them and keep up with the process.
- I have Good Sam tech support and I have used them for phone support in trouble shooting.

Again congrats and your new RV and welcome.

P.S. My normal house warming gift is the screen door grip handle $12 on Amazon and most love it.

[matsis1234]

Thanks Don (or Donna 😊 )
Excellent info and I’ll take your advise on staying on top of everything and
A second walkthrough after the repairs are done. What is the screen door handle
for?
Pam

Originally Posted by DonaandDon

Congratulation and welcome to the forum.

P.S. My normal house warming gift is the screen door grip handle $12 on Amazon and most love it.

[matsis1234]

[QUOTE=DonaandDon;819759]Congratulation and welcome to the forum.

I know that Jayco bought out Entegra but do I deal with Jayco or Entegra for warranty repairs ?

Thanks. Pam

[Rice1951]

You can go through your dealer but I personally would recommend calling Jayco Motorized Customer Service. If your dealer is someone you trust and is responsive then that is a plus. If your dealer is not someone you want working on your coach then by calling Jayco Motorized CS you can get approval to take your coach to any dealer and it doesn’t have to be a Jayco dealer. The drawback there is you pay for the work and then submit receipts to Jayco for reimbursement. Do whichever works best for you. Depending on your location and how far you are willing to travel your options may be limited. Good luck.

[Rice1951]

Pam, I should have added to my previous post that the Entegra gas coaches are built on the Jayco platform so the Entegra and Jayco models are similar. Kind of like Ford and Lincoln or Chevy and GMC.
Also, the screen door handle that Don and Donna refer to is an accessory that can be mounted on the interior of the screen door and makes opening and closing the screen door much easier. It’s a pretty simple install that you can do yourself and is readily available at RV dealers or online. Are you having fun yet? LOL.

[DonaandDon]

Pam, I have found on every RV that I have owned, kids, mostly teens end up putting their hands through the screen doors edge. The screen pulls away from the seal. After monitoring very closely this is occurring during the summer months. When the metal door is pinned open and we are using the screen door. I got tired of pushing the screen seal back in place. One day my cousin showed me the screen door handle.

Now that I'm a senior the handle not only keeps the screen in place I use it for stability in climbing the steps. Wow. Best $12 spent ever..

[eeek]

One question I would ask is what they do with batteries in the RVs. If they sit there for months before your walkthrough, they will be dead. You can't simply jump them and have them ever perform to their best. They are not designed to be ran alll the way down completely dead and then charged a few days before your walkthrough. The life of your batteries will be extremely limited by this action.

[matsis1234]

We have a wet walkthrough scheduled for Monday. They are bringing it inside one of their bays and will re-winterise it at no charge to us when they are done. They did tell us they would put on new batteries as part of the dealer prep. Thanks all ! I’ll let you know if we find many things wrong

[Rice1951]

I could not tell from the brochure or other documentation if the Odyssey has a wet bay. If it does, then that is most likely where the house water filter and the water valve arrangement are located. When we bought our Precept it was my first introduction to the valve selector arrangement for various options from normal to city fixtures to winterizing, etc. It was very confusing and takes some getting used to. Make sure this part of the process gets explained to you. Also, since the dealer is going to re-winterize it for you it would be beneficial if you could be there to witness that. If there is not a hot water bypass installed then have them put one in. Even if you have to pay for it. You will be adding one later if it isn’t there now.
Also, make sure you find out where the slide motors are located and have them explain the process for manually operating the slides in the event one gets stuck. Hopefully this never happens to you but it’s better to find out now rather than when you’re out on the road somewhere. Enjoy the experience.

[Route 66 Traveler]

Another important thing you should do is gather up all of the warranty cards for all of the interior components, such as the refrigerator, stove, AC unit(s), water heater, water pump, etc., and fill them out and send them in to the various manufacturers. Most require them to be sent in right after purchase. Many also offer extended warranties for very little money that you should consider. Most require model and serial numbers, so try to note them on your walk through as well.

A handy gadget that we used is a laser thermometer. It is handy to measure the heat from the furnace and the cold air from the AC unit. Make sure there is good air flow from all ceiling vents and floor registers. Using a cell phone to record the whole process will come in very handy once you take delivery and get it home. Have fun.....

[TaftCoach]

Congrats and welcome.

I'm not going to repeat all the great advise you already received. I will add this before I go to Amazon and buy a screen door handle . . .

Assume at first the dealer will solve all your problems, that they are great people, and want you to be happy. I noticed how often people walked in expecting a fight so I've always gone in with a smile on my face. I just stopped in a few months ago and greeted them by saying "It's not a good day when I'm here instead of camping, but y'all (I'm in Texas) have ALWAYS solved my problems so at least I KNOW this won't be bad. After they looked up my information I was in and out in thirty minutes and they only charged me for one of the little items I needed. So I bought some propane from them as well.

[matsis1234]

Those are some great suggestions Rice ! I wouldn’t have thought about asking to see how to manually bring in the slides. My friend was telling me she was on a trip across the country and their slide got stuck and they couldn’t bring them in.
Thanks again !! I’ve been taking notes !
Pam

Originally Posted by Rice1951

I could not tell from the brochure or other documentation if the Odyssey has a wet bay. If it does, then that is most likely where the house water filter and the water valve arrangement are located. When we bought our Precept it was my first introduction to the valve selector arrangement for various options from normal to city fixtures to winterizing, etc. It was very confusing and takes some getting used to. Make sure this part of the process gets explained to you. Also, since the dealer is going to re-winterize it for you it would be beneficial if you could be there to witness that. If there is not a hot water bypass installed then have them put one in. Even if you have to pay for it. You will be adding one later if it isn’t there now.
Also, make sure you find out where the slide motors are located and have them explain the process for manually operating the slides in the event one gets stuck. Hopefully this never happens to you but it’s better to find out now rather than when you’re out on the road somewhere. Enjoy the experience.