would you buy a car that's been towed behind an RV?

The original Saturn S-Series had an automatic transmission designed so the car could be safely flat towed without any issues. I bought mine down in Florida and it was flat towed behind a motorhome of some sort. I still have some of the brackets mounted to the front subframe that scrape when I hit a driveway just right. I have no idea how many miles it was flat towed or whether the miles registered on the car or not. I bought it with 100k miles and it now has over 200k miles. I did rebuild the front end at about 160k, but that seemed about right for an average car anyway. In my opinion you can tell when a car has been trashed and not maintained. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another car that had been flat towed as long as it was in similar condition to mine when I got it.

 

The issue of dinghy towing is exactly why, when we joined the RV crowd, that I elected to do it with a travel trailer instead of a motorhome. Yes, you lose the convenience of the co-pilot walking into the back of the RV while on the road to get you a sandwich, or to use the potty room, but it makes things easier all around once you stop.

With 5th wheels, in most states it's legal to have them occupied while moving on the highway, and we tried that on the first trip out in our 5th wheel. Had walkie-talkies for communication. Marcia said it was like travelling inside an earthquake. EVERYTHING rattled. That experiment lasted about 20 minutes.

Our first rig was a '86 Komfort 26' full-size 5th wheel, towed by our '79 Ford F-350 crew cab. This is the only pic we have of it:


We got out of RV-ing for a couple of years, then bought this '97 Wilderness travel trailer. Had 3 bunks in the back for the kids, and a huge dinette across the front that converted into a king-sized bed for us. Nice trailer.


Don't have a pic of the truck we towed it with, but it was just like this, but without the 4WD height:


The girls, who were now 10-11-ish, didn't like riding in the back of the Supercab, so the travelling sort of ruined the camping. Should have bought a crew cab.