What to do

[mckjames]

We have a 28' Thor Chateau Sport class C, retiring in Jan 2012. We want to sell home, and hit the road about March. Planning to move up to a Class A DP for under $100,000.00. Looking need advice on what to stay away from. Found what seems to be good deals in Florida. Any advice.

[Pairajays]

My advice is look for an older high line coach such as a Country Coach Concept, Affinity or Magna, Monaco Signature or Executive maybe even a Windsor or a Foretravel U320. There are other brands such as Newell, Wonderlodge and Prevost conversions but I don't think you will find anything worth looking at for under $100K.

Jim E

[easdsa]

mckjames, here are a few places that I check regularly to keep an eye on prices of the type of coach we're interested in. I've not dealt with any of these myself, but all three seem to have pretty good reputations.

Wanderlodge: Blue Bird Wanderlodge and Motor Coach Brokering Service
Foretravel: Pre-owned RV sales, Service ,Parts & Consignments Motorhomes of Texas
Misc.: Used RVs, Motorhomes for Sale, and Consigned sales - PPL Motor Homes

Randy Dupree is a broker, not a dealer, for Wanderlodges. I doubt that he will consider a trade, but he might be able to help point you to a place where you can sell your current rig. MOT is a dealership specializing in Foretravels, but they do have other coaches, so I would assume they would take a trade. PPL is mainly consignment, but they do buy and sell on their own account.

As I said, I've not personally dealt with any of these, but they are good places to look and what you can get for a certain amount of money.

Enjoy the hunt!

[SuperGewl]

Make sure you put aside about $1000 a month for repairs for the first year of ownership. Remember its a house on wheels, tires will run you about $4-6K and the fluid change will cost yo a pretty penny also. After the first year you should be OK. If you don't use it all then you will have your insurance repair fund just in case you need it.
Also look for somthing less than 10 years old, the 5 8 year old range is good. as far as mileage with a diesel pushers it doesn't matter as much.

[mckjames]

Has anyone used the 12/12 bumper to bumper $500. deductable from APCO Easycare insurance.

[Gary RVRoamer]

"Bumper to bumper"? Not likely, and I don't see any words like that on their web site either. It's either an Exclusionary policy (Totalcare) or Inclusionary (Stated Component Care) depending on what you choose. Totalcare has a list of "non-covered" components plus the usual exceptions for various situations where they won't cover anything, e.g. a covered part damaged as a result of a non-covered part.

You ned to study their contract carefully. It's probably a decent policy, but you are going to be disappointed if yu go into it expecting that it provides "bumper to bumper" coverage like a manufacturers warranty would.

[pumper9x9]

I spent about a year plus looking for my new MH. I would recommend going to "rv.org" this guy has a great book on how to buy an RV and he also has several disks that rate RV's in an unbais manner. After you figure out what you're looking for go to "oodle.com" plug in your search criteria and have them send you alerts. This search engine looks all over the net and finds them from many different sources. However craigslist is not included. I narrowed my search down to class A and C+ with a 4 star or greater rating for full time (it's on his disk) and found that Country Coach, Foretravel, Bigfoot, and Dyanamax fit the bill. I ended up with a with a 2002 36' Country Coach Intruige and have been very happy with it. Do not balk at what he charges for his package at rv.org it's worth every penny. Also watch out for scams that sound too good to be true, they are. Good luck and happy travles

[JimM68]

At 100k, you gotta make some choices. Those high line rigs are gonna be olders, fewer slide, dated floor plans, even more dated floor coverings and fabrics, and of course the entertainment systems will either be dates or replaced hopefully well.

A newer, more mainstream rig will have more modern appointments and systems, though not at the level as those high end rigs.

We ended up with a 3 year old coach. My wife just wanted nothing to do with older "what do you mean we spent a hundred grand for that and the first thing you're goinna do is replace all the TV's, dvd, sound system, and [moderator edit], the curtains look like my granbdma's!!"

[flasher]

You can get alot of coach for under 100k out here in AZ.I have seen DP with 4 slides for under 90K

[B Bob]

mckjames - First thing is to start NOW if possible do not wait till after new years. People start to look and buy for the "season" right after Christmas. There are lots of very good motor homes under 100,000. Our family has a Country Coach which we bought used two years ago. In my humble opinion the Country Coach line offers a lot of quality for the money.

The real key though is to find out what fits your style. Motor homes are varied personal decisions. You can tell that from the many makers out there. So do as much research as possible. When I was looking I kept track of a bunch of coaches for sale on ebay so I could figure out what the market values were. Go drive as many as possible.

[mel s]

Don't overlook a Safari if you see or hear of one!
Mel
10 yrs and 98k miles on a new to us in '01,(with 28k), '96, 35' Sahara.

[FormerBoater]

Quality Motor Coach in Apopka (Orlando area) has some very nice units.

Gary (owner) is a straight shooter and meticulously details all his inventory.

Here is a very nice 2002 Travel Supreme for less than $80K:

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

I bought our Eagle from him 3 years ago.

www.qualitymotorcoach.com

Dave
1998 American Eagle 40EVS

[ernest917]

Ck Lazydays in Tampa.... I worked a deal with them for a 2008 Forest River Berkshire 360QS with 20K miles for less than $90K.... We love the unit and are extremely pleased with the workmanship of it. (2nd FR unit for us)

Has 4 slides, HUGE basement storage, auto-levelers, Mercedes Turbo- diesel engine (which is amazing - 1,000 lbs of torque for those 7% grades plus 10+ MPG),

Lazydays is a huge facility and extremely well organized when it comes to presenting a pre-owned unit to a prospective buyer... I literally "shopped" the entire nation and they killed everyone else in price. The closest anyone else could get to the exact same unit was $119K....

They don't always show price with pictures but a call will get you started... Play hardball and they will work on the price.... I strongly recommend talking to Joe Coupas. Ext. 4575.... Tell him Ernest that bought the Berkshire back in September suggested you call him....

When I initially called, I told him what I was looking for and the price ranger I was working in... He went out and walked through each unit that met my requirements, called me back and reported on each of them - one "smelled" inside, one appeared to have leaked, etc. He then told me about the Berkshire which was quite a bit more than I wanted to pay.... We then began the process and I eventually got it for MUCH less.... Well within the low end of my price range...

Good luck and take your time... There are some great units out there....