Community Forums

missourijan · 02-24-2014, 10:19 AM

My answer would be, do you have an rv now? Meaning, have you rv'd before? If you have then you should know what floor plan will be liveable to you. When you look at new ones, all the pretty features make us go ga ga. If you are a newbee I would recommend that you buy a used one that looks liveable to you. I believe that you won't really know if the floorplan is good for you until you spend time in it. There are a lot of good used units out there, an inspection by a certified rv technician should give you an idea of its' condition. We bought a 2000 Avion in 2005 with no inspection and really liked it, but it had very little insulation, and that's an important factor. Good luck

wnytaxman · 02-24-2014, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by missourijan

My answer would be, do you have an rv now? Meaning, have you rv'd before? If you have then you should know what floor plan will be liveable to you. When you look at new ones, all the pretty features make us go ga ga. If you are a newbee I would recommend that you buy a used one that looks liveable to you. I believe that you won't really know if the floorplan is good for you until you spend time in it. There are a lot of good used units out there, an inspection by a certified rv technician should give you an idea of its' condition. We bought a 2000 Avion in 2005 with no inspection and really liked it, but it had very little insulation, and that's an important factor. Good luck

That's the best advice so far. If you haven't RVed, then you need to go softly into the water instead of jumping in. If possible, rent a unit to get a feel for what the lifestyle is like and whether not it will work for you and yours. Then you can start to make your list of what matters and what doesn't matter and make your new/used decision from there.

Muddypaws · 02-24-2014, 11:15 AM

I bought a new motorhome once. It was not a good experience. The salesman, sales manager, and finance manager all went to jail for the shady deals they were cooking up. But other than them trying to steal it and sell it again it was an OK first motorhome. We kept it for almost 10 years. So who cares about the first year depreciation?

BUT, going into a more expensive DP we chose to get a used 'starter' coach. We might buy a new one someday but if we do we'll keep it a long time. We've had our Bounder for almost 3 years.

If you go used my advice is to shop for an extended warranty. We didn't shop and paid too much for the one the consignment dealer offered, but even at that it's been a good investment. (there will be a dozen replies from folks who disagree about warranties. But the bottom line is: My money/My Choice.)

If the used coach comes with service records it's good. If not the safest thing to do is to assume it's never been serviced and do everything. If you can do some of it yourself you'll save lots of $$$.

And yet another bottom line: Get the one your wife likes most. Everything else will work itself out.

glennwest · 02-26-2014, 09:33 AM

You can find some really nice used units. lots of junk out there too. We just bought a 2003 Teton Grand and it is nicer than any mass produced unit on market today. Believe me we have looked. This is our second unit and we had some things that we had to have different this time. Everyone is right, you don't really know the floorplan for you until you live in one for a while. We hated the wrap around island in the DRV. We hated the fact that we couldn't access bathroom with w/d door open. I could go one but you likely get it. don't think of things like this until you live in it. I suggest buying with price in mind to change it in a year or two.

MSHappyCampers · 02-26-2014, 04:25 PM

I think a used DP in that age range would be a great choice! you could probably find one with less than 50K miles, well maintained, that someone else had already taken the huge hit when they drove it off the lot new!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

Retired and Happy · 02-27-2014, 08:28 AM

We RV "on a shoestring" (as the saying goes) and could never afford or be approved for the price of a new one. We are on our 4th MH and have improved our standing each time. From a 1986? 28 foot Georgie Boy, we are now in a 37 foot 2005 Southwind with three slides and a side bath (two of the must haves for us). Yes, we have had some expenses with each one, but nothing like ongoing payments would have been. And three slides didn't exist when we started. If we had beem able to buy new when we started, we would likely still be "stuck" with the first one, and no slides.

But those new ones sure look good. Maybe some day...