Buying a used ATV, snowmobile, travel trailer or RV: checks and scams

Travel trailers and RVs

Almost every expensive RV problem starts with water getting in somewhere it shouldn’t, then sitting there for a season. The listing photos are taken on a sunny day; your job is to find last spring’s leak.

The roof

• Get up there if the seller allows it, or look from a ladder. Check the sealant around every vent, skylight, the air conditioner and along the front and rear edges. Cracked, lifting or missing sealant lets water in.
• Ask what the roof is made of and when it was last resealed or coated. A folder with dates is a very good sign.

Inside, the leak hunt

• Ceiling and corners. Stains, ripples or fresh paint on the ceiling, around windows, in the corners of cabinets and inside the front and rear storage.
• Floor. Walk every part of it, especially by the entry door, the bathroom, under the sinks and in front of the slide-outs. Soft or spongy means rotten subfloor.
• Walls. Press gently on the lower walls and around windows. Soft spots mean wet framing.
• Smell. Musty is a warning. Heavy air freshener is a different warning.

Outside

• Delamination. Bubbles or waves in fibreglass sidewalls, especially under windows and at the front cap, mean water got between the layers.
• Slide-outs. Run each one out and in. Listen to the motor, check the seals, and look at the floor of the slide.
• Frame and axles. Rust on the A-frame and crossmembers, bent or rusty spring hangers, uneven tire wear (a sign of axle alignment problems).
• Tires. Read the four-digit date code on the sidewall. Trailer tires often age out before they wear out, and many owners replace them by age.
• Bearings and brakes. Ask when the wheel bearings were last repacked and whether the electric brakes work.

Systems

• Propane. Light every appliance: stove, furnace, water heater and fridge (on propane and on electric). Check the date stamped on the propane cylinders; a cylinder past its requalification date can’t be refilled until it is requalified, and the propane detector has an expiry date too.
• Water. Fill and pressurize the system and look under sinks and around the water heater for drips. In Canada, ask how it was winterized each fall: frozen lines crack.
• Electrical. Plug in to shore power, test the air conditioner, lights, outlets, converter and battery.
• Tanks. Ask whether the black and grey tank valves and sensors work.

Motorhomes need all of the above plus the checks you would do on a truck: engine, transmission, brakes, frame rust and the generator’s hours. In Ontario, the seller of a self-propelled motor home must give you a Used Vehicle Information Package; trailers aren’t covered by it.

Your tow vehicle. Before you fall for a 28-foot bunkhouse, check what your truck or SUV is rated to tow and what the trailer weighs loaded. A trailer you can’t tow safely is not a bargain.

ATVs and side-by-sides

• Hours and km. Most have an hour meter. Low hours with heavy wear means the meter was replaced or the story isn’t true.
• Frame. Look for cracks and fresh welds, especially around the suspension mounts and the front and rear racks. Welds mean something broke.
• A-arms and ball joints. Bent A-arms point to hard hits. Grab each wheel and rock it: play means worn ball joints or bearings.
• CV boots. Torn boots let mud into the joints; check every one.
• Skid plates and plastics. Deep gouges mean rock crawling; cracked plastics and a bent handlebar can mean a rollover.
• Mud and water. Open the air box. Water, mud or a dirty air filter means it was ridden deep. Milky oil means water got in.
• Drive. Engage 4x4 and the differential lock if it has one, and listen for grinding. On side-by-sides and many ATVs with a CVT, ask when the belt was replaced.
• Winch. Test it both ways and look at the cable or rope.
• The VIN. Find it on the frame (the position varies by maker), and match it to the ownership. A VIN that is scratched, painted over or ground off ends the viewing.

Snowmobiles

• Track. Missing or torn lugs, exposed rods, and stud holes if it was studded. Lift the back and turn the track by hand all the way around.
• Slides (hyfax). The plastic wear strips on the rails under the track. Worn-down slides mean a lot of riding on low snow or ice and are due for replacement.
• Clutches and belt. Look at the belt for glazing and missing cogs, and the clutch sheaves for wear grooves.
• Compression. Ask for a compression test, or bring a gauge. On a two-stroke, the cylinders should read close to each other; a big difference means engine work ahead.
• Chassis. Cracks around the tunnel, the bulkhead and the front suspension mounts. Check the skis and their carbide runners.
• Km vs condition. Sled odometers are often replaced, so judge the machine, not the number.
• Out of season. In spring and summer you can still start it (with the track off the ground and briefly, since it needs snow to cool), check compression, the track, the slides and the chassis. You just can’t test-ride it.

Paperwork and stolen checks

1. Match the VIN. Frame, ownership and, for trailers, the VIN plate (usually on the front left of the trailer or the tongue). The name on the ownership should match the seller’s ID.
2. Run CPIC’s stolen check. The public search takes a VIN and covers ATVs, snowmobiles, trailers, motorcycles and cars. It is free. A hit means you call the police, not the seller.
3. Check for liens. Recreational vehicles are often financed. In Ontario, ServiceOntario’s personal property lien enquiry searches by VIN; BC has the Personal Property Registry; Quebec has the RDPRM. A lien follows the machine to the next owner.
4. Registration. Provinces register off-road vehicles, snowmobiles and trailers separately from cars, and the rules differ. Ask for the registration permit and make sure it can be signed over to you.

Stolen ATVs, sleds and trailers are easy to move across a province and hard to trace once the VIN is gone, so treat a missing VIN plate or a seller without ownership as a no.

Scams

RVs and trailers are a favourite for fake listings because the price is high, the photos are easy to copy and nobody expects to see one in a parking lot. The scripts:

• Deposit to hold. “Lots of interest, send $500 by e-transfer and it’s yours.” Barrie police described the same move with pickup trucks: $1,000 to hold, then an address where nobody had heard of the vehicle.
• “It’s in storage.” The trailer is at a storage yard or with a relative, and you pay before a viewing that never happens.
• Shipping or delivery. The seller is away (moved, deployed, working up north) and a company will deliver it once you pay. Kijiji says it doesn’t partner with any shipping, inspection or escrow companies.
• Too cheap. A late-model trailer at half the going price is bait.

Never pay anything for a trailer, RV, ATV or sled you haven’t seen, and never pay a third party. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre takes reports of merchandise fraud. More in the deposit scam.

Is the price fair?

Compare like for like on both Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji:

• Trailers and RVs: brand, model, year, length and floorplan (bunkhouse, rear kitchen, couple’s layout), number of slides.
• ATVs and side-by-sides: model, engine size, year, hours, and what accessories come with it (winch, plow, windshield).
• Snowmobiles: model, engine, track length, year and km.

Note the asking prices of the listings that have been up longest, since those prices didn’t sell. Accessories add less value than sellers think, and a plow kit only matters if you need one.

Timing. Snowmobiles are cheapest in spring and summer, when nobody is thinking about snow. Trailers often drop in the fall, when owners face a winter of storage fees. ATVs tend to be easier to buy outside peak spring and summer riding season.

Searches and filters that work

• Brand and model: “polaris rzr”, “can-am outlander”, “yamaha grizzly”, “honda foreman”, “ski-doo”, “ski-doo summit”, “polaris rmk”, “arctic cat”, “jayco”, “rpod”, “forest river”, “keystone”.
• Type and size: “travel trailer”, “hybrid trailer”, “tent trailer”, “fifth wheel”, “bunkhouse”, “21 ft”, “26 ft”.
• French: “motoneige”, “VTT”, “côte-à-côte”, “roulotte”, “tente-roulotte”, “VR”.
• Kijiji: use the ATVs & Snowmobiles and the RVs, Campers & Trailers categories, then set For sale by to owners.
• Facebook Marketplace: in Vehicles, pick the powersport, RV or trailer type, then set the year and price and sort by newest.

RV searches pull in a lot of rental posts and parts. On a computer you can block “rental”, “for rent” and “à louer”, and “parts” if you want a whole machine.

Meetup and inspection checklist

• Daylight, at the address on the ownership; bring a friend, a flashlight and gloves.
• For a trailer: the roof, every corner inside, the floor, the slides, every appliance on propane and on shore power, the tires’ dates and the hitch.
• For an ATV or sled: cold start, frame and chassis, track or tires, compression, hours.
• The VIN on the machine matches the ownership; the seller’s ID matches the name.
• Lien and CPIC checks done before money moves.
• For an expensive trailer or motorhome, an RV technician’s inspection, the same way you would get a mechanic for a car.
• Payment at a bank or in a traceable form, with a bill of sale listing the VIN.

With Sift

Sift, a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, helps on a computer with the parts of an RV or powersports search that waste the most time:

• Dealer tag. RV and powersports dealers list heavily on Marketplace. Sift tags or hides listings with dealer wording (“financing available”, “OAC”, “stock #”, “plus tax and licensing”) and Kijiji’s dealer flag.
• Rentals and parts packs. One switch each hides rental posts (“for rent”, “rental”, “à louer”) and parts listings.
• “Check this” flags on deposit-first and e-transfer-first listings, “text me at” and WhatsApp sellers, and sellers who are moving away or offer shipping for something you would normally pick up.
• A real distance limit from the home you set, so a trailer you would need two days to fetch never shows up.
• Price-drop badges for the fall trailer sell-off, and alerts: “Watch this search” checks a Kijiji search as often as every 15 minutes.
• Vehicle filters for year and km apply where the site gives those details. Trailers have no km, so set what Sift does with listings whose details are unknown.

Sift reads what the listing says. It doesn’t check VINs, liens or stolen-vehicle databases, and it can’t see a leaking roof. It runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer.