Picking up 2015 Chateau 23u

[Bubba 23U]

going from a 1990 Tioga to a new 23u, gonna bring her home in 2 weeks to the beautiful pacific northwest. A real bed in the back and an on board generator. Excited

 

[blw2]

Good deal!
You're an experienced motorhomer, but I'll still suggest that you be prepared for a very long and thorough walk through before you execute the deal. try everything. oeprate every system. open every drawer, remove every drawer from its slides, fill the tanks, start and run the generator, try systems on genny power, try them on shore power, try them on battery power, don't assume anything.

Don't let this list scare you..... in my case almost everything I have found has proven to be silly little things and I have just taken care of them myself figuring that I'll do a better job than they will. Still, the more you can get them to address the better I think....

I'm just recently in my new 31L, and found countless little issues... many I didn't notice untill after I drove it away to the campground for the first night I thought I had done a very thorough walk through and caught most everything. i even brough my toolbag with meters, starting battery load tester, my Ideal outlet checker, inspection mirror, etc... Took several hours with it and actually held them past closing time....but I wish that I had taken even more time and removed all the drawers from their slides, etc....
I won't include things that were casued by the long time my coach spent sitting on the dealer's lot.... (such as a bad house battery)

Off the top of my head things I found during and after my walkaround
loose or missing screws all over the place
drawer slides only attached with one screw where there should be 2, drawer slides not aligned properly so that the hold-closed catches don't engage. Also some of the drawers fell out of the slides while DW was loading them bcause the single screws were'nt holding them in place....
rear view camera had a loose connection
shower caulking job bad and the shower leaked
bad place in the roof caulk
missing velcro disks taht hold the cab curtain in place (didn't find this untill I was at the campground)
bathroom door latch not aligned to the strike plate so the door wouldn't stay closed
thermostat was lose on the wall (screws into the paneling with no anchors)
generator wouldn't start
tank heating pad coming unglued

Sounds like you might be picking it up away from home and making a drive with it? See if your dealer has a campground on site that you can stay overnight for the first night

 

[Bubba 23U]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with me. MHSRV did a good job convincing me that they do the most thorough prep and walk through in the industry, we will soon find out. They do have an on site park and we will stay there sat. night. I suppose there could be a big problem in that we don't get there till early afternoon and will probably push them past closing time and then they are closed Sunday. Any problems found sat. could delay our departure for a day or more. I am too mild mannered according to my wife, I am sure she will call them out on any issues they try to pass on. The next topic I need to consider is an "extended Warranty" sold by them but I am sure is a private company. I would guess that there are strong opinions on both sides of that topic.
Thanks.
(putting a few tools in my luggage)

 

[blw2]

Ah, i think I read somewhere about that place... that they encourage or require you to stay the first night there as a shakedown. I think that sounds great, in theory anyway!

A couple more suggestions....
Somebody else suggested to me to search for recall notices. You can search online if you have the VIN. I picked that up on another forum the saturday morning I was leaving to pick mine up. Searched it and sure enough there was a recall on the awning that came up. Of course on a Saturday the dealer couldn't call the awning manufacturer to find out about it so we had to defer that to me. Luckily enough, when I called the following weak, I was able to determine that the recal had been taken care of the the Thor factory.

The other thing..... if this is an inventory unit part of me would suggest asking them to not plug the unit in or start anything for at least the day of your arrival. Of course you want it all freshly detailed and teh red carpet rolled out with AC blasting cold.... but that can serve to mask things.....If it's a factory order, i suppose it wouldn't matter much though....This was another tip I picked up and wish that I would have done. When i showed up for the PDI ( I bought mine remotely too....) they had it parked at their inspection area with the red carpet rolled out and all dolled up with a fresh detail job. Well since it was plugged in, I couldn't properly check the house battery, which in fact turned out to be bad.... wouldn't hold a charge. Those things get abused siting on a dealers lot.
The other point of the untouched inspection is that with whatever protectant or spray on wax thy put on it, I couldn't see the fading of the finish near the top untill a couple rains and a week or two later. (mine had been on the delaer's lot for around 1-1-/2 years)