A pre-purchase inspection is a non-destructive condition survey of a used RV, done before money changes hands, that tests systems under load rather than confirming they switch on. Our technicians work top down and outside in, because that is the order water travels.
The sequence is roof and every sealed penetration first, then sidewalls and the seams that hold them, then the subfloor at the slide openings and the entry door, then the interior systems. Only after the envelope is understood do we run the refrigerator, the water heater, the furnace, the roof air and the generator.
The reason for that order is simple. A working appliance in a rig with a wet subfloor is worth very little, and a dry, sound shell with a dead Norcold is a far better buy than the reverse. Grading the structure first stops a buyer from being reassured by the easy things.
Detailed moisture mapping and a full pre-trip safety inspection are separate services with their own scope.
Water is the one defect that is cheap to hide and ruinous to repair. A seller can wipe a stain, run a bead of white sealant over a failed seam and swap a ceiling panel for a few hundred dollars, and the laminated wall behind it keeps rotting on the buyer's dime.
That is why the meter, not the eye, decides. Our technicians read every interior surface with a pinless moisture meter such as a Wagner or Extech unit, which senses through the panel without leaving a hole. Sound, dry luan and plywood read roughly 6 to 12 percent moisture content in this climate. Anything sitting at 15 to 16 percent is wet, and readings past 20 percent mean the wood is already breaking down.
A single high reading is a question. A run of them that climbs as the meter moves toward a window frame, a slide corner or a marker light is a map of where the water is entering.
The roof gets walked, not looked at from a ladder. Every penetration is press tested by hand: the air conditioner gasket, vent flanges, the skylight, the refrigerator vent, the antenna base, ladder mounts and any solar bracket feet, plus the front and rear cap seams where two materials meet and move against each other.
Sidewalls are checked for delamination, which is the fiberglass skin separating from the luan and foam core behind it. It shows as a ripple or a bubble in raking light and sounds hollow under a knuckle, and it is a shop-level rebuild rather than a mobile fix, so finding it usually ends the deal or resets the price entirely.
Subfloor is tested underfoot at the two places it fails first: the slide openings, where the seal drags water in, and inside the entry door, where feet arrive wet. Deflection or a spongy feel there is structural, not cosmetic.
Powering up is not testing. An absorption refrigerator will light and hum with a cooling unit that has already lost its ammonia charge, so our technicians run the box on both liquid propane and 120-volt shore power and come back to it, looking for the fresh food side to reach roughly 37 to 40 degrees and the freezer to hold under 10 degrees over several hours.
The roof air is measured by temperature split, with an infrared or probe thermometer on the return and the supply: a healthy unit shows about 16 to 22 degrees of drop. Anything under that is a low charge or a tired compressor.
The Suburban or Atwood water heater is run through a full burn on gas and on the electric element. An Onan generator is loaded with the air conditioner and a heater rather than left idling, because a generator that runs unloaded can still drop out the moment real amperage arrives.
The propane system gets a digital manometer on the test port, checking regulator output near 11 inches of water column and a timed pressure drop.
Tires are graded by date. The last four digits of the DOT code give week and year of manufacture on any tire built in 2000 or later, so 2620 is week 26 of 2020.
No published standard retires an RV tire at five to seven years. Michelin and Toyo both set replacement at ten years from manufacture regardless of tread, with only an annual inspection at about five. The US Tire Manufacturers Association names no age, holding that calendar age alone cannot predict serviceable life. Apex does not replace, mount or balance tires, so an aged set is reported and referred out.
Slides are cycled fully in and out under power, watching for Schwintek motor stall, a Lippert hydraulic ram weeping fluid, or a room that racks out of square. Underneath, the frame, welds, spring hangers and axle seals get eyes.
The arithmetic is not close. A pre-purchase inspection is billed as a service call that covers the trip out to the RV and the first hour on site, and most inspections take three to five hours. The time beyond the first hour is quoted after the walk-through and approved before it starts. One missed cooling unit, one wet slide corner or one set of aged tires costs multiples of that.
The report is also leverage. Buyers who go ahead anyway routinely use a written findings list to move price or get repairs done before delivery, because a seller argues with an opinion and not with a meter reading.
Be clear about the limits. A mobile inspection is non-destructive, so our technicians do not open walls, pull ceilings or lift the coach on a rack, and a chassis dynamometer run or a full engine and transmission diagnosis on a motorhome belongs at a truck shop. Insurance appraisals and warranty documentation are separate services.
We are fully mobile and come to you anywhere in Florida - campgrounds, storage lots, driveways and RV parks.
Call 888-759-1438We do a full system-by-system buyer inspection: roof and every sealed termination, a moisture survey through the walls and floor, appliances run on both LP and 120 volt, slides and leveling cycled, structure and running gear, and a written report you can take into a negotiation. What we will not do is sell you a badge or imply we hold one. Ask any inspector, us included, to put in writing which systems are covered and whether a moisture survey is included. That answer is worth more than an acronym.
Yes, but it is a different job with a different output. A pre-purchase inspection is written for a buyer deciding whether to hand over money, while warranty work is written for an administrator deciding whether to pay a claim, which means dated photographs, part numbers and failure cause stated in their language. If you need a claim documented, say so when you book so the right report format is used.
Expect a service call, which covers the trip out to the RV and the first hour on site. Anything past that first hour is quoted after the walk-through and approved before work continues, and the current rate card sits in the pricing table on this page. Most inspections take three to five hours depending on length, number of slides and how many appliances there are to run under load.
An inspection is diagnosis only, so no parts are included in the price. If the fridge fails, the report states what failed and what the repair path is, whether that is a cooling unit swap, a control board or a residential conversion. You can then buy the part yourself or have us source it, and that becomes a separate quoted job once the rig is yours.
Yes, anywhere in Florida, and that is the normal case. What we need from the seller is written permission, shore power or a working generator, propane in the tank and water in the fresh tank, because none of the appliance testing is meaningful without them. A seller who will not allow all three is telling you something worth listening to.
Ask the seller for that date and for receipts, then verify it rather than trusting it. Sealant that has been maintained looks consistent across every penetration, while a fresh bead over one vent and chalked, shrunken sealant everywhere else usually means a leak was chased instead of the roof being serviced. Our technicians note sealant age and condition per penetration in the report.
Every figure on this page comes from a manufacturer document or a standards body, not from another repair site. Here is where each one comes from.
| Item | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Service call | $299 | Includes the trip out to your RV and the first hour on site |
| Work past the first hour | Quoted after diagnosis | We tell you what it will take before we carry on |
| Parts | Quoted per job | Special-order parts may need a deposit before we order them |
| Written estimate | No charge | You approve the estimate before any work starts |
The service call covers the trip out to your RV and the first hour on site. Anything beyond that depends on what we find, and we quote it and get your approval before carrying on.
The price ranges on this page come from our own recent jobs across Florida, not from an industry average. What you pay depends on the rig, the parts it needs and what we find on site, so we give you a written estimate before any work begins and you approve it first.