In the process of looking to purchase a New Aire we made a deal over the phone (we were on a trip and 2 weeks out from the dealer) to purchase a 2019 Newmar New Aire while trading in our 2016 Newmar Essex. Luckily I had the foresight to insist in writing that our $5000 deposit was refundable for any reason. Two weeks pass and we’re at the dealer looking around the coach and testing various systems. The salesmen very calmly slips in the following statement, “so we had a little hailstorm and the ACs needed combing. Everything’s fine”. We didn’t know what combing meant, but we did know enough to be wary of hail damage. We asked two follow-up questions: 1) when did you find out out about the hail damage (4 weeks ago, which is before I made the deal over the phone) and 2) was a claim filed against your insurance (yes).
A call to our insurance company informed us if we ever file a claim for hail damage for this coach down the road it may be difficult to tell which storm caused which damage and they may or may not cover the new damage. There was enough wishy-washy talk from our agent that I knew our next step: we opted out of the deal.
By the way, I found out it’s common for RV AC units to need combing after a hail storm. What is combing? It’s simply straightening out the little metal fins on the compressor that were bent from the hail. The dealer graciously offered to replace both AC units for free. But the question remained of what other damage could be lurking beneath the the surface (I noticed a tripped breaker for an AC that seems suspicious given damage to the AC units). And perhaps nothing else was damaged. The dealer was unwilling to come down in price since we had already negotiated a very good deal. Both Karla and I felt that for the price a new coach demands we should at least start out with an RV that 100% does not have hail damage. As an added bonus we finally got to spec out a new motorhome with exactly what we want.
Another thing to look for when researching RV hail damage is the roofing material. A rubber roof mounted to a wood frame, as commonly found on less expensive RVs, is much more susceptible is water intrusion than a one piece fiberglass roof found on higher end motorhomes.
