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Old 09-08-2009, 02:19 PM   #1
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Why are Alpine's so expensive?

No sure if they are expensive, but the asking prices of Alpines seem to be quite a bit higher than I would expect. Many 03's and 04's are 20-30k higher than what I paid for mine. Did I just get a great deal or are people asking quite a lot more than they should? If I could sell my coach for 20k more than I bought it I may sell!

Are Alpines that much better than newer coaches in the same price range (115k - 135k)?

GT
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Old 09-08-2009, 02:46 PM   #2
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If you are looking at the "asking" prices, they are often wishful thinking. Then you may have done a good job on getting the best deal. What is NADA Guides showing for your book value right now? Coaches have been going for under low retail.

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Old 09-08-2009, 03:48 PM   #3
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Ask and sell, not in the same dictionary! Here is the last one sold on e-bay, $76,500.00 for 2004 Avalanche 40 ft with 28K miles.


2004 Alpine Avalanche 40' Coach 3 Slides:eBay Motors (item 160357648230 end time Aug-30-09 19:31:03 PDT)
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Old 09-08-2009, 04:23 PM   #4
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In my opinion an Avalanche is NOT to be grouped with the regular Alpines. They simply are not worth anywhere near what a regular Alpine is worth.
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Old 09-08-2009, 09:13 PM   #5
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In my opinion an Avalanche is NOT to be grouped with the regular Alpines. They simply are not worth anywhere near what a regular Alpine is worth.
It is probably EVERYBODY's opinion that an Avalanche is not to be grouped with regular Alpines! And for good reason.
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Old 09-08-2009, 09:18 PM   #6
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If everyone thinks we have trouble with our regular alpine coaches, brother, you don't know what work is unless you have an Avalanche. I was under the impression, WRV had to purchase all of them back they were so bad, they went through each one and then resold them as used. I don't know if they really got the bugs out of them or not, but my guess is NOT, as they did not get the bugs out of the regular alpines so why should we expect them to have fixed the others?
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Old 09-08-2009, 09:49 PM   #7
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All, I was so curious I went and did one on our 2007 Apex. They don't ask all the right questions, but based on what options we have, and how I was able to answer the questions, I was able to get a value.

Now is everyone sitting down, well then good. The Low Retail was 248,700 and the average Retail is 299,785.

If anyone here wants to purchase the coach, based on that and just having over 10K miles on it, I will take an even 250,000 for it, and I would deliver wherever you are, you split the fuel costs with me. I am keeping the quote for my insurance agent if we ever need to prove how much it’s worth. I can provide pictures, and it's very nice inside like new, no smokers, no pets, no grandkids, just we two and we have not used it that much since we purchased last year in May 08. The coach had 4517 miles on it when we took delivery from Uhlamnn RV in Chehalis, WA.

Just one long trip to Montana and two trips to Redding, California, mostly just WA-OR for the rest of the miles. The oil was changed and new transynd fluid and new filters in the transmission when purchased. I just had a engine service on it back in spring at Cummins NW in Portland, Oregon where they fixed a coolant leak in the genset. It's in excellent condition, serious inquires only please. Contact me through this forum.


Now if you think alpines are expensive, do a check on Country Coach's. And then check the forums on yahoo, they are having lots more trouble than us. We complain about the layout of some of the subsystems, but wow, I have not taken up the floor of the closet to get at anything yet.
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Old 09-08-2009, 11:04 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTHill View Post

Are Alpines that much better than newer coaches in the same price range (115k - 135k)?

GT
In my opinion, yes. We spent months looking at used coaches this spring. Considering features, quality of materials, layout, online support community and price, we always kept coming back to Alpine. For all the additional luxury, Alpine was always a better deal. We did find better prices, but always for a big step down in coach - by comparison. The Alpines stand up in any RV park, next to high-end (high cost) coaches of any brand. The wife and I have discussed that the only real upgrade to our Alpine would be to a Marathon level coach at 5X the cost.

If I had to do it over, I'm sure we'd end up with Alpine again. I'd just be a lot smarter at delivery - and catch more problems while they are someone elses problems. The real decision to make, is whether one really wants a luxury coach, AND is prepared for the inevitable slew of maintenance and repairs that naturally go with ANY complicated machine.
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Old 09-08-2009, 11:08 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Renipladlo View Post
If anyone here wants to purchase the coach, based on that and just having over 10K miles on it, I will take an even 250,000 for it, and I would deliver wherever you are, you split the fuel costs with me.
Sooo, Monty, what will you do if someone buys it?
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Old 09-09-2009, 04:05 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Renipladlo View Post
All, I was so curious I went and did one on our 2007 Apex. They don't ask all the right questions, but based on what options we have, and how I was able to answer the questions, I was able to get a value.

Now is everyone sitting down, well then good. The Low Retail was 248,700 and the average Retail is 299,785.

If anyone here wants to purchase the coach, based on that and just having over 10K miles on it, I will take an even 250,000 for it, and I would deliver wherever you are, you split the fuel costs with me. I am keeping the quote for my insurance agent if we ever need to prove how much it’s worth. I can provide pictures, and it's very nice inside like new, no smokers, no pets, no grandkids, just we two and we have not used it that much since we purchased last year in May 08. The coach had 4517 miles on it when we took delivery from Uhlamnn RV in Chehalis, WA.

Just one long trip to Montana and two trips to Redding, California, mostly just WA-OR for the rest of the miles. The oil was changed and new transynd fluid and new filters in the transmission when purchased. I just had a engine service on it back in spring at Cummins NW in Portland, Oregon where they fixed a coolant leak in the genset. It's in excellent condition, serious inquires only please. Contact me through this forum.


Now if you think alpines are expensive, do a check on Country Coach's. And then check the forums on yahoo, they are having lots more trouble than us. We complain about the layout of some of the subsystems, but wow, I have not taken up the floor of the closet to get at anything yet.
That NADA derived price ($249K to $300k) was, no doubt, calculated by "checking" your features but my understanding is that when using the NADA guide for RVs (unlike cars), you would NOT include as extras anything that was already included in the MSRP for your unit ($399K). That approach results in double counting. The NADA prices assume that you have the "standard" for your model (e.g. 3 slides in your case), 7.5 KW generator, power seats, shower, microwave, awnings, refrigerator, cooktop, etc. You would only check an "option" if it was not included in the base unit for your model. For example, for a regular 2005 Alpine Coach, washer/dryer and Hydro hot were options (which I don't have). If I did have one of those upgrades, however, I would check the box for that feature and get a slight boost in NADA price. But, you should not check every feature on your coach because 99% of them are included in the MSRP for a base Apex. So don't check the box for frig, microwave, power seats, etc. when using NADA. For the Apex, there probably are very few, if any, upgrade options that you should check (that were not included in the MSRP -- and therefore not already counted in the NADA retail). For your coach, the online NADA retail range is $204,790 to $246,740.

For my 2005, the online NADA base range is $110,490 to $133,120. If I go through and check every feature for my 2005 that I have (which is not what is supposed to be done), then I would, through double counting, arrive at a NADA price of $135-163,000.

It is doubtful that NADA RV pricing is based on actual sales (as it is in cars) becaues of the low volume of sales of any particular make/model of rv would make such an average unreliable. Exactly how many 2007 Alpine Apex do you think change hands in an average quarter? (Anything older would be out of date and of marginal use). Most likely, the NADA online guide is some formula using an average % of MSRP that varies by year and tier of RV (luxury v entry level). In any event, actual completed sales sets the market for any item, including Alpines. When you see a 2006 Alpine 40FDTS that gets a high bid of $104,000 on a recent ebay listing (with a dealer buyitnow price of $128,000) and doesn't sell, you can conclude the market is somewhere between $104 and $128K for that rig. BTW, the NADA base price for that unit is $138K to $167K, so you know NADA pricing is no where near the true market. The dealer with that rig would have done back flips to get $140K (since he was willing to sell with a buyitnow price of $128K).
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