Willie Wagtales: So, you want to buy an RV??

So, you want to buy an RV and you’re an Aussie?? Written by Johno

We had some ideas and did our research back home in Australia so we knew what we wanted to do and buy, or so we thought! Boom Boom!!! Once we got settled in Los Angeles we found that we did not have a clue about how to make local contact with local RV agents to achieve a solution to our dilemma. We checked on the internet again and found plenty of sites but where are these places????

We didn’t get too stressed, just a shrug of the shoulders - what the heck - had some prayer!!!. Then we hired no - rented; (rent things, hire people] a car and drove to San Francisco along Highway 1. We took our time and made a couple of night stops but it was a real experience….. white knuckles and prayerful challenge…..driving on other side of the road.

After meeting with Wendy’s relatives and explaining our desired wish list to them, Gail told us that she drove past several R.V. dealerships on her daily commute to work…so we got to work with phone book and Google and started to feel confident about a successful outcome. Gail was so excited and positive for us it was hard to be anything but optimistic. She lives in San Jose and worked in Gilroy----about 30 mile south …we had a few trips down there so over the next few days we really came to learn the way to San Jose.

Checking out several dealerships we entered into negotiations for a 1994 Ford Fleetwood Jamboree. It’s 27ft (feet over here, not metres) long, had all new tires, and seemed to be in good condition but due to my ignorance of mechanics and lack of knowledge about all things technical, I decided to get a second opinion about the condition of the motor and it’s expected reliability... But how do you know who to ask if you are in another country and you don’t know anyone.

Well, to the rescue again comes cousin Gail, who happened to know of a community garage in the area owned by a family of a work colleague, to whom she introduced us. The ensuing report came back very favorable, so we moved to the next stage….getting insurance.

Hurdles appeared - no USA licence; no permanent address within USA, no insurance cover. So back to research again feeling a little despondent, but lo & behold a company came to the fore that would take us on. Same company that Gail uses. The quote came back at $1400.00 for six months insurance but when we questioned them, they said they would see what they could do. Aida, now our life long friend and US insurance agent, called to say that if we could prove we had a good driving record in Australia, we could save some money.

We were the first Australian customers she had ever had. When we visited her office, we were treated like ‘stars’ with all the other staff coming by to say ‘hello’. So we emailed to Caitlin with a request to contact the RTA to see if they would supply a history of licence and driving records to the insurance company. Sure, the RTA could do that for a cost which we deemed to be good value, and we jumped through the hoops required, resulting in a saving of several hundred dollars.

That settled, it was time to go back to the dealership and talk ‘turkey’ with Rick. We negotiated and got a fair price, considering all the taxes we had to pay and the red tape we had to work through.

We took delivery of the RV on Saturday, they gave us a one hour ‘introduction’ to the vehicle and then our first port of call was Walmart to kit it out for the next six months. We had already purchased a GPS unit from Cosco using Gail’s card earlier in the week. As you would appreciate she has been invaluable in our quest for a home on wheels in the USA.

So now we had kitchen supplies, sheets, pillows, etc and it was back to San Leandro for one more night….I took Mavis for a drive…then she proceeded to supply any shortfall of our set-up. She too was so excited for us but it was hard not to feel a little overwhelmed and apprehensive about our journey.

But it’s too late now. We are the proud owners of Freddie the Fleetwood RV and tomorrow we are off to Yosemite. Johno

Hi there! Wendy here – if you want to know more about our new home, I’ve got all the really important details like:-

Coffee Machine

Full size fridge/separate freezer

Full size gas stove

Full size sink

Full size shower

Separate toilet

Two single beds at back, and

Double bed over the cab

Dining Table and two bench seats

Two very comfy lounge chairs plus front passenger seat becomes lounge as well

Microwave

Airconditioning

Heaps of storage

Oh! Did I mention the coffee machine??

And the other thing that’s really important is that Johno has mastered the whole driving thing really well. We have driven about 800 miles now over hill and dale; no! make that mountain ranges and ravines alongside deep raging rivers; and he has kept the vehicle on the right, yes right side of the road, without any trouble at all. So proud of himJJ.

Here’s some pics. By the way, we've got 24 more weeks over here if anyone wants to join us...