Friday, July 01, 2011

It’s Official

Seffner, Florida – Lazy Days Rv

Whew, what a day!

We were up early (don’t want to miss that free breakfast).  It’s only served from 8 until 9am, and Al is afraid he’s going to miss it.  Yeah right!  Al miss a meal?  Hardly!

Afterwards we went to the Convection oven class.  About 5 minutes into what I thought was an hour,  or hour and a half class, I realized it wasn’t going to be worth my time and I was squirming and trying to figure out how I could make a graceful exit. 

The “teacher” was the chef at the neat new restaurant they have opened at the campground.  The outside of it looks like a Class A motorhome.  He handed us the manual from a convection oven and proceeded to read the manual to us.

He kept calling it a microwave and explained how you use a microwave.   Hello, I already know that!

What he didn’t explain and I wondered was how can you use this thing as a microwave if there are metal walls in it and a metal rack?  If I put metal in my microwave, it will spark and catch fire.  He also didn’t tell us how to use the convection features.  Since this will be the only oven I have in our new coach, I really wanted to know how it worked.

The class was so boring and we had so much to do that we were both very unhappy to be sitting there wasting our valuable time.  Not long after the class began,  I started to read some blogs from my phone, and Al took a cue from me and opened his iPad.  I know it’s rude, but by this time I was ticked off that he was wasting my time,  and he was completely unprepared. 

He finally realized he was over his head and cut the class short.  Thank goodness!  The only thing I got out of the class were 2 very fine chocolate chip cookies.  It was a far cry from the excellent “Drivers Confidence Class” we had attended the day before.

Lazy Days had some big end of the month push going, where they were trying to reach a sales goal.  I think it was 380 units for the month.  Hard to believe our economy is bad when you’re around this place!  This place is jumping!

Our new motorhome was not going to be ready by yesterday, but they asked if we could possibly  “do the paperwork” (pay) by the end of the day and take delivery on Saturday.  Of course we will need a few more free nights in the campground. Smile

Normally with any other car or rv dealer we would not have given that any consideration whatsoever.  However, we have had a previous good experience with them and know them to be reputable, so we said we could consider it if…… (it’s nice to have some power) 

We ended up getting a free installation of our satellite dish, plus set up and mounting 2 tv’s and Tivo boxes. 

Al had been concerned about the batteries and made it known he wanted them all replaced.  We were told if they didn’t test good, they would be replaced.  It turned out they tested  okay,  and they were not going to replace them.  However, after a little nudging and so that we could “help them reach their end of the month goal,”  they decided to replace all 6 batteries.  Smile

We feel pretty good that we will have brand new batteries.  They had already put 6 brand new tires  on the coach, so we’re covered there for a few years.  Yes, we did check the DOT “born on” date on the tires, so we know they are new.

I took a few minutes to get our new insurance arranged, but decided to keep the insurance on the old motorhome until we actually have moved out.  You normally have automatic coverage (sometimes only for 14 days) on “newly acquired” vehicles, but we would have to be canceling the old policy since we were going to be writing a new policy in a different state, it would not have applied.  Once we closed the deal on the new motorhome, Lazy Days officially owns our old one….but all of our stuff is in it, so we’re keeping the coverage a bit longer.

Anyway, by 6pm, we “did the deed” and purchased the new to us motorhome.  We felt a bit shell-shocked after we left, but when we went to visit our new home, we felt better.  Things were progressing there, but we aren’t going to hurry them.  We want things done right and as long as we get free days in the campground, we’re okay.

Yep, it’s official.  We are the proud owners of a 40 foot Monaco Windsor, diesel pusher!   

Unfortunately our new baby is still living in the pre delivery bay, so it was back home to the old one.

Hopefully all will be completed Saturday and we can start moving in.  They park your rv’s door to door in their “move in” area to make it easier to transfer items from one to the other.  Normally they give you one night, but we’ve already made arrangements for as long as we need.  There is electricity, but no water or sewer, so we won’t be there too long.  I think this will be a good time to do an inventory of our belongings and document it all for insurance purposes in the event of a total loss.  I estimated $15,000 in personal property that we have, but I really don’t know.  It might very well be higher.  Have you all checked the amount you carry? Remember, the actual rv is separate from the “contents.”  I believe the standard is $3000 contents coverage.  You can increase that amount for minimal premium increase, and I recommend everyone carry higher limits.  If you have a total loss (fire) and have to replace everything that didn’t come with the motorhome, what would it cost you?  Things like toothbrushes, make up, underwear, shampoo, dish detergent, socks, shoes, coats, sweaters, shorts, pants, swim suits, robes, canned food, spices, refrigerated foods, dvd players, Dvr’s, computer, cd’s, dvd’s, gps, iPad, canoe or kayaks, ladders, tools, bedding…..and the list goes on.  Do you have adequate coverage?  Could you remember what you had, or prove it in the event of a fire?  Remember, it is your duty to prove your claim.  (this is the insurance adjuster in me talking now).

9 comments:

  1. Funny about that "month end" thing. I've bought a couple vehicles right around the end of the month, and it's amazing the kind of leverage you can have when they want to reach a sales goal. It can be fun, but only if you're willing to walk away! Nice to see you got a few "extras".
    Besides, it's not like you took advantage of them or anything. They'll make good use of those batteries, and you'll have some extra peace of mind.
    Still waiting for gobs of photos of course.
    No pressure.

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  2. Take a look at this software, http://highdesertsoftware.com/rvcompanion.html
    Especially the BASEMENT ORGANIZER section. You can try it for 15 days before you have to decide if you want it, but the Basement section lets you keep track and find anything in the motor home in seconds. Since you're going to be transferring everything Saturday, it might help you know where things are in the future now that you're going to have all those basement compartments.

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  3. Sure hope you get to start moving in Saturday. It's really a big job but like you said, a fabulous time to do an inventory. I really need to get on the ball and do that. Looking forward to the pictures.

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  4. Congrats on finalizing your big purchase and good luck moving in today.

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  5. Congrats on the new rig, looks like a great one. Seems as if the dealer is doing you right (of course their not loosing money). Your right, don't rush them and make sure it's done right. Again Congrats.

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  6. Congrats!

    Yup, many RV policies cover as little as only $500 in contents! The rest you have to argue with them to see if your homeowners insurance will cover. (that is IF you have a home!) ....

    We carry an extra rider on our rig, and we also gave our agent a dvd movie of the contents of each and every compartment, cabinet, and item inside that are normally kept in the rig, and which items we take from the house each time we go somewhere.

    Did you know the RV washer/dryer (even if installed from new) is not covered on the typical RV policy? It's considered an appliance that is not built in or attached... similar to a hair dryer or curling iron! So just that can be another $1,200 in a total loss!

    Tools, fishing gear, laptops, cell phones, ipods, hand held CBs, dvd and cd collections, books, medications etc are all things people kinda forget to total up.

    We added what we have in the rig as $8,000 and what we take along as $7,000 (replacement values)and carry an extra policy that only costs us $100 more a year.

    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  7. Insurance is one thing my husband does go overboard with... Thank goodness. After Ed & Marilyn’s fire I had him check our insurance for coverage and we are ok. Plus I told him I wanted extra extinguishers and inventory list plus photos of everything. I keep a lot of list & spreadsheets but they need to be updated. Glad you're getting close to the new home! I have a convection oven/Microwave so any questions at all I would be glad to help. I think you have my email already so just send me one and I'll let you know just how easy it is to cook in!
    Have fun & travel safe
    Donna

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  8. About once a year I go thru the house and take pictures of every inch. Every closet, every pile of stuff, every part of the garage, every drawer and cabenit. They are not pretty, but they are complete. I then put them on a CD and send it to my daughter.

    I usually do this around fire season. At least I would have a place to start for a claim.

    I remember after the 89 earthquake it was easier because we had all the broken pieces, but you don't have that i a fire.

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  9. If we decide to ever get a new motorhome, we will contact you for some negotiation advice. Sounds like you did a great job there!

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