Page 46 - 05_June-2025

Then came the baby, and suddenly an
RV — with its promise of allowing us to
move at our own pace, tantrums and
snack times be damned — sounded
exactly like what we needed.
Evidently, many other young parents
had the same idea during the pandemic
when demand for recreational vehicles
(that is, everything from motorhomes
to fifth-wheel campers and tiny trailers)
skyrocketed, taking along their prices.
I used to tease Jeff that his boyhood
dream sounded more like a retirement
strategy, but now Gen Y is all about that
glamplife.
Albertans are especially passionate; one
in five households owns an RV, the high-
est rate in Canada. (No wonder Alberta
Parks is adding 900 new campsites.)
As we considered our options, we
watched a neighbour sell an old camper
van for $20,000 — about 30 per cent
over market value, by my estimation —
after one day of advertising. We worried
that the longer we shopped, the more
we’d pay. On the flipside, what if we
rushed into a market bubble and grossly
overpaid?
46 EDify. JUNE.25
In the end, we decided to wait a few
years until the prices came back down.
It was, perhaps, the only good decision
we made.
We pulled up beside our future 2000
Vanguard in a shopping mall parking lot,
where the seller asked us to meet. “That
there’s an RV. Don’t you go falling in love
with it,” I said, poking Jeff in the ribs
and reciting the first of many National
Lampoon’s Vacation lines to come.
The exterior blue paneling looked like
something out of our childhoods, but the
inside was straight out of a modern-day
IKEA catalogue with a fresh backsplash,
updated cushions and new cabinets. It
was unlike any other RV we’d seen (and
we’d seen a lot by this point).
Our daughter Sienna pointed at the
bunk above the driver’s seat. “I’ll sleep
there,” she said. “It’s perfect.” Her imme-
diate affinity for it was irresistible, as
was the deal. At $18,000, it was priced to
sell fast.
A sticker by the driver’s seat read,
“Let’s be Frank.” Okay, I thought, what
do we need to know?
It needed some work, admitted the
seller, but not much — new tires, sealant,
maybe a seatbelt attachment on the
bench for a child seat.
We’d be wise to hire an experienced
journeyman for a detailed inspection —
checking tires, roof and sidewalls, gas
system pressure, moisture readings,
appliances, plumbing, brakes, safety
systems, and propane and electrical
systems. Our seller had detailed notes
and receipts from repairs and showed
us an inspection from the previous
year. There was no visible water damage,
so we were confident in her honesty.
We didn’t want to miss out on a bargain,
so we sealed the deal without a pre-
purchase inspection. Big mistake.
The first omen came with the first
flush of the toilet, causing a waterfall
to run down the hallway. We called
Canadian Camper RV Centre, an RV
dealer that offers service and mainte-
nance, for help. “We always recommend
getting a pre-purchase inspection, even