A friend bought a 2 year old Sprinter custom built. She got it inspected by a qualified inspector. All seemed great. After using it for 6 months - pretty much from early summer to late fall - she began to notice water damage in the wet bath area. Taking it to a reputable repair dealer they found the source of the leak. By appearances, they claim the leak probably existed before my friend purchased the van. Repairs will cost several thousand.
This brings up the question of the value of and degree of trust in inspections. Do they only inspect the obvious? Do some inspectors probe for hidden leaks or water damage, or are they only responsible for what is clearly visible? Sometimes the most costly repairs result from the most hidden damage.
Is this experience a reason to buy a brand name with a remaining warranty?
I doubt anybody is inspecting for hidden damage. Usually with leaks you can either smell or feel moisture/dampness, even if there isn’t any obvious visual damage.
I don’t think most of the warranties are transferable these days…
I just buy cheap old vans or motorhomes from the 60’s or 70’s when the overall quality was better. Odds are they’ll need a little fixing, but still better and cheaper than the newer stuff. The newer these things are, the lower the quality, but DIY is usually even lower quality at a much higher cost.
I typically spend under $2500 for my homes on wheels. Keep em for a while, live in em, then sell them for a profit and upgrade to something nicer, but in the same price range.
Now I have a Thousand Trails membership for about $1500/year, and that pays for a full year of full hookup campsites all along east, west, & gulf coasts, and the great lakes too. With some you have to change locations every 2-3 weeks, but that’s plenty of time to see all the attractions in an area.
So I’m paying far less per year for my preferred nomadic lifestyle than what a cheap apartment would cost me. Win/win in my book, exploring the country on the cheap. This winter I’m doing Florida, and come summer I’ll either do the PNW or the great lakes region, hopefully near forests and water.
Life can be both great & cheap if we do it right. It ain’t always easy, but I’m not sure life in general ever is.