This should be a Crime

[jgilliam1955]

I saw a crime today. I have a 17ft Casita. It is as wide as my pickup. We go everywhere. The only thing I need is a sway bar. Very easy to take down and drive away. Nothing complicated.
Today a very nice gentleman arrived beside us today. He was driving a very large Class A. He introduced himself as Mike. He just retired and decided to buy an RV and drive across the country to Seattle to see his daughter. This is his first time driving the RV.
Mike had never owned an RV before and did not know how to make reservations and did not even have a vehicle to drive around town with. He is on his way to Yellowstone. He thinks he will find a place to stay. He does not know how to hook up his water or his black tank hose. Mike was pouring a jar of piss in the sewer. Because he does not know how to empty his tanks.

He was sold this monster and sent on his way. Since I have a Casita I could not help him. So I found someone who had a Class A & asked him to help Mike & show him how stuff works. I introduced them and went on my way. Hopefully, he gets enough help. This poor man is a danger to himself and others.
PS. He is driving a 42 foot Newmar RV. Last night another Newmar parked behind me. I hooked them both up. He is going to help Mike learn the systems of his RV.
PS. I should add he just retired and he is Korean and speaks broken english. He doesn't know how use an APP to get information. It is apparent he is very trusting and niave. He has never had any type of RV.

[CarlD]

Sure is nothing like diving into unknown waters for a challenge! Kudos for hooking him up with an experienced owner.

[Larry C Hanson]

That was a good tale...

It is interesting that a guy can drive his car to work each day
and when he retires he will be driving a giant motor home pulling the car.....
No training... AND since common sense is in short supply these
daze he will be out on the road posing a danger to himself and all
those around him.. Yikes!!! Makes me want to quarantine myself....
OOPS! Already tried that for a while...

Off the subject, it brings to mind the old 'Inverse Outside Rule' regarding RVs:

The bigger rig you have the less time you are likely to spend outside in nature....

Uncle Larry

[Jon in AZ]

I can identify. After becoming the somewhat hesitant owner of a family hand-me-down Roadtrek Class B two years ago, I still haven’t tried to use the plumbing. First had to master the electrical system, then the LP. I’ll get to the plumbing eventually. And of course mistakes and repairs along the way.

But we’ve had fun with it anyway. It pulls our Scamp nicely, and my wife and I have a nice large bed and privacy. I still prefer the Scamp’s simplicity, though.

I think this particular situation is about COVID. People are buying RVs as a way to avoid air travel or as an alternative to their normal summer vacation. Some have little idea how complex they can be. And yes, opportunistic RV dealers are happily unloading excess inventory on clueless buyers. Sad, but no crime unless they are falsifying loan information.

[Justus C]

Are you saying the crime was committed by the dealer or by Mike? Because if you ask me, it's on Mike. To spend that kind of money without even bothering to do cursory research about RVing...yes, that is the true crime here.

[Jon in AZ]

Hmmm... criminalize stupidity... Wonder what constitutes felonious foolishness?

Hope I can plead my charges down to misdemeanors!

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Justus C

Are you saying the crime was committed by the dealer or by Mike?

Co-conspirators.

[ZachO]

There was a story on the radio this morning which this reminds me of. Except a better situation. A woman had to cancel her family trip to Hawaii, so instead rented a 30ft motorhome and drove from...some southeastern state up to Cape Cod, I think. And she was renting it from a private owner.

She had never driven anything other than an SUV. Luckily the owner took 2 hours to take her through all the systems before letting her drive away.

Overall, the scariest thing to me is very old (or for that matter very young) people driving semi-size monsters down the road, most (I assume) with no true training. Those big rigs should require something like a CDL.

It is hard to see all these new RV owners on the road this summer and not feel critical. There are some clueless people out there right now.

[Cliff Hotchkiss]

Walked out of an RV show in disbelief. The salesman selling class A $250k + rigs said all I have to do is put my money down and drive it away. ��. I could do it but couldn’t imagine my wife doing it, she thinks a Subaru Outback is a big vehicle. Of course when a salesman tell you “ Don’t worry, that Mini Cooper can haul that 19’ “ is just as bad. It up to the buyer to do his homework, after all you are responsible for your own actions, no one else.��

[Cliff Hotchkiss]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I can identify. After becoming the somewhat hesitant owner of a family hand-me-down Roadtrek Class B two years ago, I still haven’t tried to use the plumbing. First had to master the electrical system, then the LP. I’ll get to the plumbing eventually. And of course mistakes and repairs along the way.

But we’ve had fun with it anyway. It pulls our Scamp nicely, and my wife and I have a nice large bed and privacy. I still prefer the Scamp’s simplicity, though.

I think this particular situation is about COVID. People are buying RVs as a way to avoid air travel or as an alternative to their normal summer vacation. Some have little idea how complex they can be. And yes, opportunistic RV dealers are happily unloading excess inventory on clueless buyers. Sad, but no crime unless they are falsifying loan information.

We started our camping in a B class Pleasureway ( very similar to Roadtrek) that we bought used, private sale. In talking to owners soon realized he didn’t know much about his own camper. What was helpful was he did have original manuals and even service records he gave me. When I got them home I couldn’t believe how the guy got ripped off on the maintenance work. Anyway from what I learned on the B class carried over to my 5.0 TA as far as plumbing systems. pretty much the same. The electric was slightly more complex as it had an onboard generator but the 12v system pretty much the same, although on the 5.0 we do have solar. All in all so far just interesting learning experiences nothing too challenging.

[vintageracer]

Buyer's got da money and seller's have what the buyer's can't live without. Sounds like a match (Deal) made in Heaven!

Load em up!

All it takes is money to buy what you want. Just cause you have money does NOT mean you have any brains.

I find it very hard to believe any retail RV dealer is selling any RV without showing the customer how to use all the complex systems on it. Just because the seller shows the customer once how to use a system does NOT mean the customer has any clue how to that system once they leave. Heaven forbid a buyer would actually read the Owner's Manual!

This also includes driving the beast of a RV they just purchased that's just a little bit larger than the Toyota Camry they drove up in! It's not always the seller who is the bad guy in these situations.

Don't you think the buyer has responsibility for their own STUPIDITY in these situations???

[CarlD]

"Don't you think the buyer has responsibility for their own STUPIDITY in these situations???"


A Forest Gump statement comes to mind!

[MyronL]

Stickie trailers are like a box of chocolates.

[CarlD]

I was thinking of "stupid is as stupid does"

[ZachO]

All trailers are like a box of chocolates, fiberglass included.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by ZachO

All trailers are like a box of chocolates, fiberglass included.

You're not kidding! Yesterday all I wanted to do was water the batteries on the Class B. The lock, a cheap one on an outside compartment, absolutely refused to budge. Of course it worked fine last time I had it open.

In short, I spent 1-1/2 hours fussing with the lock, then 15 minutes to top off the batteries.

It's always something!

[CarlD]

Like a boat. Just a hole in the water to put money in.

[Jon in AZ]

Honestly, the Scamp has not been like that, mainly because it’s so simple. Gotta be some kind of exponential function of the number of mechanical systems, right?

[CarlD]

Jon, I concur, maybe exponential, may be linear. If it doesn't have it, it can't break!

[JonRaw]

My story of my very first RV experience:
Some military bases have outdoor recreation offices where you can rent equipment including RVs. So I decided I was going to rent an RV to go to see the eclipse in Oregon. I had owned my truck about 6 months at that point and had never towed a thing. Also, I was traveling by myself.


I had reserved one, and the first travel trailer they started hooking up to my truck had a gvw of over 8000lbs.

Me: I am not sure this is the right trailer, the one I reserved was much smaller.

Guy hooking up the trailer: OOps yeah this is the wrong one lets get you to the right one.

Me: I don't think my mirrors are good enough to see safely when I change lanes.
Him: ah you're fine.


Fine, got all hooked up, and it was getting late. I had a LONG drive ahead of me and had 0 idea what the make shift campground they had set up in Oregon for the eclipse viewing. At this point I wouldn't have gotten in until early in the morning. I tested setting the brake controller and backing up for a while before setting out on the road. After some practice I was ready to go. Needed to pick up one last thing at the commissary. Tried to park it. I had a heck of a time making a turn in the parking lane out of a spot and had to stop and ask some random passerby to help me.



Decided to return it back to the outdoor rec office. Told them they can keep the deposit and whatever they charged. I wasn't safe enough to try for a trip where I had a hard deadline to be somewhere, driving by myself all night, having never towed before, and not knowing what the place I was towing to looked like. Camped in a tent on the back of my truck and had a great time.



When I finally found my Bigfoot, I rented a Dodge RAM 2500 and left myself plenty of time to go get it and get use to it before heading out on the road home. After getting it home I practiced with my Colorado on smaller streets before venturing out on the freeways.