The roof decides everything
Water entry is the single most destructive thing that happens to a motorhome, and it starts at seams, vents and the sealant around them. By the time a stain shows on an interior ceiling panel, the damage has been running through the structure for a season or two.
Ask for photographs of the roof, taken from on top of it, around every penetration. A house that will not supply them is asking you to buy the one thing you cannot see.
Press the walls
Delamination — the fibreglass skin separating from the substrate — shows as ripples or soft spots in the sidewall. Run a flat hand along the exterior in raking light. It is a structural repair, it is enormously expensive, and it is usually a symptom of the roof problem above.
Test the house, not just the chassis
A motorhome is a vehicle bolted to an apartment, and the apartment has its own systems with their own failures.
- LP gas: regulator date, hose condition, every appliance lit
- House batteries: age, type, and whether they hold charge overnight
- Fresh, grey and black tanks: fill, drain, check for seepage
- Slide-outs: run every one fully out and fully back in
- Generator: hours on the meter, run under load, not just started
Tyres age out before they wear out
Motorhome tyres usually die of time, not mileage. Read the four-digit date code on each sidewall. Anything past seven years needs replacing regardless of tread, and a set for a class A is a four-figure cost you should take off your bid.
From the auction floor
See how this works on a real lot.
Every listing carries its inspection report, its full specification and its bid history. Read one before you decide what it is worth to you.