Length of time for a PDI?

[Flapper]

Pick-up our 26.5 RLS on Thursday. Walk-through is scheduled for 2 hours, starting at 1 pm. I had asked to be able to do our own familiarization starting several hours before that, but apparently it will be tied up with the detail people until noon. So now am telling them we will take time afterwards to finish our look at it before accepting. I've seen many of the very exhaustive check-lists out there. One popular one says it should take 8 hours to check everything - and then a day of camping on site and then a day of camping off site! We' have a couple of hours - and could leave it to be fixed the next day, with final acceptance the day after, if fixed.
I assume during our 2 hour tour, we will see everything operate. So what, from your experience, are the main things you would really concentrate on in the remaining couple of hours? How long did you really take to do a PDI before accepting, and looking back, did you do enough?

[Threebutchers]

Hate to say "depends"....but it depends. It depends on whether this is someones very first TT (like mine), how far you are from the dealer (if you have to bring it back), and the warranty / acceptance terms. My dealer is 10 minutes from my home, I store my TT on the dealers lot, and it was my first TT purchase....and I knew I had 2 year warranty . The people who sold, own, and work on my TT live in my extended community.

I have smaller trailer - and after 1hr of PDI I thought my head was going to explode. Within an hour we shown that every feature and safety device operated, proper loading practices, and safety checks. We spent the next 20 minutes checking the fit and finish....other than that, I had know no idea WTH I was looking at. I was assured if I had ANY problems or questions anytime.....they would try to be there for me. I had the Sales Reps cell phone. I have 2 warranty issues in the last 12 months (leaky window / issue with propane system)....both were fixed no charge.

Best wishes....take notes, pictures and video.

[Denise]

We let the PDI guy do his thing. But when we had questions he couldn't answer it made us nervous. I think he was there just to show us how to work things, so we wound up doing our own detailed 'check' for an extra hour. We had a clipboard and jotted down concerns as we walked through. After he was finished, we continued our own PDI using the check off list we copied from the internet. Found some more stuff that we didn't understand as well as a couple of minor things that needed to be done. All minor, the issues were corrected and then we were on our way to a c/g half an hour drive away (we picked ours up at the "factory" - Indiana Connection).

During your PDI, do everything yourself. When PDI guy opens a door, you open it too and open it all the way (this is how we found some split wood under our bed (it had to be lifted all the way to see it). When PDI Guy has you peak into something, don't just glance, but use a flash light and really look. When PDI Guy turns on/off something, you do it too.


Another thing we did was bring a camera along. We took pics of things we wanted fixed, cleaned, or whatever. Some folks bring a video camera to tape things they really don't know how to do. Definitely go up on the roof and check the caulking, look for tears and bubbles, etc etc. Take pics up there too.

You will definitely find more advice coming from this thread as members log in over the next few days. Have fun on the PDI.

[Jrmay25]

We spent maybe 45 minutes going over everything on our 2012 (was destroyed by a tornado a year and a day after picking it up) and less than 30 minutes when we picked up our 2013. Not suggesting anyone rush through it, but for me personally, I've had campers for years , had a 6 hour pull ahead of me, and had a 7 year (bought the extended warranty) bumper to bumper protection plan. Basically checked the heating/cooling, and fridge. I did look both inside and out for any obvious defects, and then began pestering the service guy to let me sign the PDI and get hitched up. Maybe I've just been lucky, but with the last 2 units, the only issue I've encountered during the PDI was my 2013 was missing a missing piece of ceiling trim, of which RVDirect drop shipped to me within a week. Take as much time as you need though. These are major investments, and your peace of mind should be the dealers #1 priority.

[mwebber78]

I tell them to go take a break, if I have an issue I'll grab you. After a handful of RVs the technician just gets in the way as I go through very specific items and take notes of any concerns. I request a step ladder be left outside, I check the roof perimeter and clearance lights (frequent leak source from day 1).

I had one dealership take exception to this, I threatened not to sign and walk away. They conceded and I did my PDI and never went back nor recommended them; anyone who can't leave someone alone to inspect a unit themselves is shady....

[shoefly]

Can anybody tell me there experience with RV Connection in Middleberry IN they go under a bunch of different names I have my 2014 Seismic 3210 ordered with them for end of may delivery so far not very impressed with them but could just be me.
Shoefly

[Jrmay25]

shoefly,

We almost bought our 2012 365BHS from them. They seemed like decent enough folks, but at the end of the day, we had just bought a 2011 365BHS a year earlier from RVDirect. RVD beat their price by a couple hundred, and since we had dealt with them the previous year, we decided to go back with who we knew. RVD was also able to roll the remaining 6 years of our warranty straight into our new unit, and I liked RVD's extended warranty better than what RV Connection had to offer. One perk with RVC is you'll be right by the Jayco factory, so if you have time you can check out the factory that just made your new baby.

[Ladywendolyn]

We only took an hour to go over our new unit, but that was because we are previous trailer owners, our dealer is amazing and did an exhaustive inspection, and dewinterising etc. before we picked up, and we also have a seven year warranty that they offered us for a very low price and which we had purchased. We had no problems, after the fact with the exception of our awning, which if I did the walk through again, I would have insisted they open and close it with me watching, but they had it in the garage next to another trailer and so there was no way to open it till we pulled out. Then we were excited to leave, and forgot. Of course it was the one item that we had some trouble with, but it was covered under warrantee. The one thing I would recommend is bringing a smart phone and video the walk through instructions on anything you may forget later... have fun!

[Denise]

Originally Posted by shoefly

Can anybody tell me there experience with RV Connection in Middleberry IN they go under a bunch of different names I have my 2014 Seismic 3210 ordered with them for end of may delivery so far not very impressed with them but could just be me.
Shoefly

Indiana RV Connection is owned by the same family that owns Richardson's RV in So Cal (where they have three dealerships).

We sent our RVDirect quote to the internet manager at Indiana RV Connection who accepted our offer. We wanted to pick the tt ourselves, so that's why we opted to see if RV Connection would sell us the tt for lower amount. Just be sure that you receive everything 'promised' to you (we did the paperwork through Richardson's in Cali, which included the Equalizer WDH, but when arriving in Indiana to pick up our tt a few years back, we were told that RV Connection dealership only carried the Huskey WDH. We had to wait until we got back to Cali to switch out the hitches. Otherwise, there could easily be new techs working there now, but see our PDI experience in Post#3 above.