Understanding the Role and Value of Third-Party Inspections

What RV Buyers Wish Dealerships Understood

What RV Buyers Wish Dealerships Understood About Third-Party Inspections:
Why Due Diligence Builds Trust, Reduces Conflict, and Strengthens RV Transactions
The RV marketplace has changed—and today’s buyers have changed with it.
Modern RV buyers arrive informed, cautious, and emotionally invested. They’ve watched the videos, read the forums, and heard the horror stories. As a result, third-party RV inspections have become a normal and expected part of the buying process—especially for used RVs, consignment units, and luxury motorcoaches. Yet inspections remain one of the most misunderstood aspects of RV sales.
Buyers see inspections as responsible due diligence.
Dealerships often see them as unpredictable obstacles.
Certified Inspectors operate within professional standards that few outside the industry fully understand. The result is confusion, mistrust, and unnecessary conflict.
In What RV Buyers Wish Dealerships Understood About Third-Party Inspections, veteran RV professional and educator Bill Riggs bridges the gap between buyers, dealerships, and inspectors—explaining what inspections truly represent and why they exist.
This book is not an attack on dealerships, nor a promotion of RV inspectors. It is a practical, balanced guide to understanding:
• Why RV buyers seek independent inspections
• What professional RV inspections actually include
• Why inspections document condition—not predict the future
• The difference between identifying risk and finding fault
• Why inspection reports often appear “negative” without context
• How expectation management prevents post-sale disputes
• Why inspections rarely kill good deals—but poor communication does
• How inspections protect dealerships, consignors, and buyers alike
• Why inspector certification and liability insurance matter
Written in clear, plain language, this book helps dealership personnel understand inspections from the buyer’s perspective—without legal jargon, technical overload, or industry politics.
Whether you are a dealership owner, sales manager, service advisor, PDI supervisor, or RV professional, this book offers valuable insight into the modern RV buyer mindset and the role transparency plays in successful transactions.
Because inspections don’t exist to create problems.
They exist to create confidence.