Purchase and pickup report for a 2017 TK in Richland, WA

April 04, 2022, 06:22:13 am

Dust has settled a bit, I can relate the adventure of last week.

All started on March 22nd, Tuesday night, 6:50pm, right after my weekly zoom class, had not done my daily RV search yet, and checked for updates in the Lazy Daze buyers and sellers Facebook group.

Was shocked to see a Facebook ad for a very low mileage 2017 Lazy Daze 24’ RV, the exact model I have been on a waiting list for almost two years from the Montclair factory.   For those unfamiliar, Lazy Daze RVs are extremely rare, very few are made, and the majority that are made are the 27’ model, so there are even fewer of the 24’ around. And virtually none have been made during the pandemic due to supply chain issues. My plan B, if I couldn’t obtain a new one was to find a low mileage one less than ten years old, but those are quite rare too, as folks just don’t let them go so early, and they command a premium price.

Needless to say, I was extremely excited to see a 2017 available, until I saw that the ad was posted yesterday. Surely it’s already spoken for, almost didn’t bother checking. But I sent the seller a Messenger text anyway just to be sure, and walked away, with low expectations. The seller’s response at 7:02pm was

“Yes, it’s available”

Now I had stepped away, not seeing his reply for 45 minutes, but when I read it, my jaw dropped.   I quickly replied

   “Wow.   Great!   Can I place a deposit on it and fly up to see it?”

He then called and we chatted a bit on the RV, etc, I told him I could be up there in Richland WA as early as Thursday, and I would work on finding an inspector to come out and look over the rig. Honestly, that conversation was a blur, all I knew is it was mine for the taking.

After the call, I went looking for NRVIA certified RV inspectors in the Richland/Pasco area of southeastern Washington.   Ouch! Closest inspectors were a four hour drive away in Portland Oregon. Undaunted I quickly sent off an email to both of them asking about an inspection in Richland ASAP, then texted one of them, hoping for a quicker response. It’s now 8:49pm. Jim responded minutes later that he had replied to my email and we proceeded to hammer out logistics of an inspection.

Jim said the earliest he could do the inspection was Friday and given the distance, he would have to spend the night and finish it up Saturday morning, doubling his normal fee to $2200 because of the travel time and overnight.   Expensive but it was the only option, or was it? He did have a free day tomorrow.

I quickly checked the availability of a flight from Portland to Pasco the next day.   Wasn’t outrageous at $600, so at 9:30pm I asked if Jim was up for an early morning flight from Portland. His response was it doesn’t hurt to ask. Which wasn’t a no.
After a pause to mull it over, he was game, with a bunch of caveats.

I then embarked upon an epic text based session of telephone between myself, Jim, and the owner, lasting until 11:10pm, to ensure everything would be ready for a meaningful inspection, like could the owner dewinterize the rig in time, access to power, water, etc, as well as details on the RV for sale.   The owner was quite the sport, willing to jump through hoops to be ready for the inspection first thing in the morning.

With all of the ducks in a row, offered Jim $1200 for the inspection plus the airfare, which he accepted.   Still expensive, but $1800 is less than $2200, and I’d have my inspection done Wednesday rather than Saturday.   Why the rush?   I was due to fly out to Indianapolis Wednesday night for my niece’s wedding. Didn’t want to ask the owner if he could wait until after the wedding, as I was sure there would be other offers coming after mine.

All that night, was thinking, do I really need an inspection?   The RV looks perfect, at only 7117 miles, what could possibly go wrong, I should just forgo and buy it.   Never ever do that, no matter how new or good looking it is.   There can always be hidden problems, have an expert give it a look over.

Communicated very little with both the owner and Jim the next day, mostly I stayed out of it, as I was already asking the impossible of both of them on extremely short notice, and didn’t want to micro manage either of them.   Jim finished up at 4pm, said he’d have the report finished Thursday, but gave a brief summary:

   “It’s about as close to perfect as I’ve seen. The coach is really well made and
meticulous cared for. There are a few small issues including the one I created.”

YES!   I thanked Jim for his help and proceeded to book the first Thursday morning flight to Richland, and started working out how the owner wanted payment, setting on a wire transfer, assuming I still wanted to buy it.

Downside to a wire was the cutoff at my credit union was 2pm each day, which was awfully tight given my flight got in at 12:40pm, and I was checking a bag. So I submitted the wire request while I waited at SFO, knowing the credit union would call me to confirm the transfer, which they did just before my flight boarded. I asked them to make sure to hold the transfer until 1:30pm.

Once I landed in Pasco/Richland, saw that the wire had already happened, evidently my instructions were interpreted as make sure the wire transfer happen BY 1:30pm. Technically this wasn’t a problem as I intended on buying the rig, though if the sale was a scam, I was in a bit of a bind.

No worries at all, the owner and his wife were as pleasant and friendly as can be, without the 2pm wire deadline over our heads, the owner had time to proudly show off everything about the RV.   Spent a good two hours chatting with them, easily could have spent hours more talking, shooting the breeze, but I had to get my new baby over to the Washington State Licensing office to get a pair of three day temporary travel permits before they closed.

Waved goodbye to the former owners, drove a couple blocks, pulled over, and just sat for a few minutes.   Did I really just pull off buying a near mint 2017 Lazy Daze, 800 miles away, in less than 42 hours?   Felt like this was when I should wake up from a dream.   But it was real and it was mine!   Felt a bit giddy.

Washington’s equivalent to the DMV was quick and easy, took all of five minutes.

Now what?