Is a walk-thru necessary/helpful with "new" purchase?

[Bridget]

So excited to become part of the Airstream family! My husband and I live in Las Vegas.
We purchased an Airstream from a dealership in LA (online).
Our dilemma is in whether to spend the extra time and $$ to make the drive all the way to LA, do the walk through then tow the Airstream all the way back from LA to Vegas after the walk through. Option is that the dealer can deliver half-way without giving us a walk through.
Does anyone here have opinions on the necessity of the walk through? Or, at ages 66 and 62, is it reasonable to think that we can get the knowledge that we'd gain from a walk through simply through YouTube, Airstream forums, etc?
Thank you!

[ROBERT CROSS]

Not only do a 2hr+ 'walk thru' CAMP OVERNIGHT on the dealers lot and use EVERYTHING.😂
Take notes and Video the items you're not sure of.👍

Oh...and ck the date codes on the batteries...if in doubt insist on new. On second thought insist on new regardless. If the unit has been on the lot for any length of time chances are that they have not been maintained and are shot.🥴

Bob
🇺🇸

[RivetED]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Not only do a 2hr+ 'walk thru' CAMP OVERNIGHT on the dealers lot and use EVERYTHING.😂
Take notes and Video the items you're not sure of.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

What he said !! Also, Examine the exterior carefully. Any transport/storage damage must be identified before you take possession.

[Wyo Silver]

Definitely do the walk-thru.

We picked up our 2nd AS about a month ago and I found it very worthwhile to do the walkthrough.

We also spent 2 night at a CG about a mile from the dealer. I was able to run back to the dealer with questions the first morning and then stop in as we were leaving town to get a few more questions answered.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Bridget

Does anyone here have opinions on the necessity of the walk through? Or, at ages 66 and 62, is it reasonable to think that we can get the knowledge that we'd gain from a walk through simply through YouTube, Airstream forums, etc?
Thank you!

I thought I knew something having owned a MH for years with more systems.
The day of the walkthrough, it was 90 degrees, and the tech and I mostly sat in the A/C talking.
I regret I didn't spend more time, a lot more.
The first time I flipped on the water heater, the switch did not illuminate. Was the water heater on bypass? Did it have water in it? Would it work or burn up?
I wish I'd have brought a DVD and asked the tech to make it play on the TV AND stereo.
Are both propane tanks full? How does the auto switchover work? I still don't know.
We did operate the awning, but my strip of LED's never worked. I didn't even know I had one.
Do you know about the stove vent outside cover? I didn't.

So, I'm saying, yes do the walk through, spend all day. Operate everything yourself.

Plus...is your hitch adjusted properly? Who's doing that?

[brick1]

Do the walk-thru. And a thorough inspection before signing the paperwork

[lsbrodsky]

As others I have said, I think the most important thing is to have the ability to stay at least a night there or close to there so you can ask questions and have them fix anything broken, the next day. The walkthrough depends on the individual doing it...I knew more than the seller. I also did a deep inspection and required them to fix the things I found.
Larry

[OTRA15]

Welcome to the forum Bridget!

Joining the chorus to do an extended walk-through at the dealer, and spend a night or two there or nearby.

You did not give details about your new Airstream and tow vehicle, so I will guess-timate that you may have about $200,000 invested in the package. For the added time and cost of going to the dealer, and doing this purchase the right way, are you prepared to place that large investment at risk by declining the walk-through, by making mistakes, and by learning the hard way?

Naivete can lead you down paths you later regret.

"I wish I had known that before . . . " is not a phrase you want to have to repeat over and over and over.

"Knowledge is power."

Grab it!

Happy trails,

Peter

[ghaynes755]

As brick said, thoroughly check every system in your new trailer before signing the papers. Dealer should have done a complete pre-delivery inspection and checked/repaired anything found. Some dealers are very very good at doing this and won't setup up your delivery time until they have completed all open items. Others not so much so. Better to get everything found during your inspection fixed before signing and accepting the AS. And don't be cajoled into the trap of, let's get your sale completed, take it for a couple of nights to see what else you find, and then we will get everything fixed. This to often turns into they need another xx days/weeks to get parts etc while you start making payments.

[uraljohn]

Do not forget to ask them for a ladder tall enough to check the roof. Take a good look at it. If you have a messy caulking job now is the time to find it and have it corrected. It should be very clean if they did a proper delivery prep wash. Then take your flashlight, crawl underneath as far as possible and check for any damage incurred during the transporting from Jackson Center. Pay attention to the wheel wells and area just behind the tires. California is a long way from Ohio. Check the tire pressure. Our first AS had way over inflated tires at time of delivery.

I second everything mentioned above. We were very fortunate to have only a couple small issues with either of our 2 AS's. Hope your delivery goes well. Welcome to the AS family. Happy travels.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If your Airstream is a trailer, then there will be work done to get the WD/anti-sway hitch set up properly for your trailer. That is likely a couple of hours and it should be done before you hit the road. More so if you will be in mountains.

As others have noted, regardless of which type of Airstream, there is a *lot* to learn right up front. Nobody can ever absorb everything, even with a couple hours of going over it. There will be questions and questions on the questions. Do indeed run through what's out on the internet, it will reduce the level of overload.

It's a good bet that there will be *something* that needs to be worked on once you have spent a night or two in the RV. The same dealer that delivers it to you is your best bet for getting that taken care of immediately. Getting in line for a couple of weeks somewhere else ... not so much. Driving a bunch of hours to get over and back ... no fun either.

On top of the "real" part of the walk through, there's the very normal reaction part of it. Is this noise normal? Should this be that hard a push to latch? How far does this twist to be properly attached? No video is going to give you that stuff. Try it and see, ask questions is the only real answer.

Next up is the need to equip your new toy. In addition to selling RV's your dealer sells RV stuff. Some of it is very specific to an Airstream and is very hard to find elsewhere. What you need and don't need will be far more obvious once you have spent a night in the vehicle. Stocking up on things while you are there ensures the parts you get fit ( or you take them back in and swap ...).

With delivery of any large purchase comes a certain amount of paperwork. Sorting through all that and checking all the boxes is a bit of a hassle. Trailers need to be titled, registered and licensed. Paper flows as a result. Doing that all in a normal office with time to devote to the process is *way* easier than doing it by the side of the road somewhere. Getting a document error corrected ... much easier at the main office.

The next layer - this should be fun rather than a hassle. Having time to poke at this and dig into that is far less stress than rushing it all. There *will* be overload events down the road. There is no need for the first "meet and greet" with the AS to be one of them.

Bob

[Ray Eklund]

Bridget... if you have a model and year selected and a price... why not use the Airstream Dealer in Las Vegas? Sure would save you some grief before you find yourself asking the local dealership to FIX anything not right.

They seem to have a FULL LOT of Airstreams. That tells me if you come with a price quote from Los Angeles, there is a better chance they will Beat IT.

Sounds you already did some price shopping and decided to buy on line in LA.

[skyguyscott]

Welcome to Airstream!

There is a reason everyone here is advising you to camp out in the dealer's lot for a night or two, and it all comes from experience or the trusted stories of friends.

Despite what you paid, do not assume you will be getting Lexus or Cadillac quality. Assume something more like 1970s Chevy "quality" and that your trailer was assembled on the last Friday Afternoon of the month by a team hounded to meet quota and daydreaming about their summer vacation they're about to start at shift's end. (At least, that's what you might think after you have a good look, from what other's have found)

The dealer you buy from will have more incentive to make it right than a dealer you did not do business with.

It will be easier to do this than hook it all up and haul it all to Jackson Center Ohio to make it right.

Worse case: if you're wrong about expecting the worst, you'll be ecstatically happy. If you're right, you can nip it in the bud.

[Spinonedad]

Hugh learning curve
Buy local,you will be taking it in for warranty work

[weirdstuff]

My experience with Airstream LA was that, even though we requested it, they did NOT provide a technician to do the walk through, they provided our salesman, who was brand new to Airstreams and knew almost nothing. And when that happened, and we protested, they said there were no technicians available. They also hadn't cleaned/detailed the vehicle. Completely lame.

Be as sure as possible that this isn't going to happen to you.

Our second Airstream was purchased elsewhere, and we had a great experience and the walk through was great.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Our walkthrough was done by a "service advisor" who was neither tech or sales guy. Basically he did the walkthroughs as a significant part of his job duties. I had a couple of questions that went past his level of training. Those were noted during the walk through. An answer to them came later in the day. That said, 99% of what he presented was spot on and very helpful.

All of this was in New Jersey, so about as far from LA as you can possibly get when picking up an AS. Still, it is the same basic process with the same sort of massive information dump involved.

Bob

[jcanavera]

I also second the overnight stay at the dealership or close campground. With both of my purchases we did have some adjustments required and those were done the following day. My tour was done by a gentleman at the dealership who was responsible for the prep of new trailers. He even had done seminars at JC regarding the problems he has found over the years with newly delivered trailers. On my first trailer he spent 3 hours with me going over everything. I was duly impressed and we literally turned that trailer inside out.

Jack

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Bridget

. . .
Does anyone here have opinions on the necessity of the walk through?
. . .

Wondering if you are following this [your] thread?

Good luck,

Peter

[Foiled Again]

[emoji57]
Unanimous agreement.

Who'd a thunk it could ever happen?

[Steamguy]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

[emoji57]
Unanimous agreement.

Who'd a thunk it could ever happen?

Color me astonished, also...

When we did the walk-through on our former trailer (Arctic Fox), we learned all kinds of gems like this one - how to easily light the oven: Turn it past pilot to ON, then light the burner pilot while pushing the knob in. The standing pilot will light from that. Way easier than fiddling with pushing the knob in and standing on your head, waving the lighter around.

We've been camping some 44+ years, and still learned some good Airstream-based things from our walk-through. One thing I did NOT learn, however, is that the black tank dump handle is marked "Main" and the gray is marked "Auxiliary". Did not notice that, would have asked about it.

YES! Do the walk-through!