DP Selection Advice Needed

[Riponrvr]

Hello All
We are brand new to the forum and trust the folks here to give sound advice.
We are getting back into RV’ing. We had a Class A gas several years back. We’ve decided to go to A DP. We are going to be weekend warriors extending it where we can and traveling the West Coast. Here are a few of the DP’s we are close to striking a deal on. Please share your suggestions as we have no DP experience.
1-2009 Fleetwood American Allegiance 42G. 61k, aqua Hot, very clean with a little weather checking. New Hercules tires. The floor plan works for us. Here is the issue, it’s a “repo”. The car fax is clean but no Svc history. The dealer seems forthcoming and I will definitely have a pre purchase inspection. Thoughts???

2- 2004 HR Navigator 40 with tag axle. 81k. No weather checking. Has Aqua Hot, 500hp, and Allison 4000 transmission. Michelin are 6 years old.

Both are pretty clean.

We were also looking at Phaeton, and revaluation.
Thank you

[theroc]

Welcome to the forum.

Without knowing what the asking prices are for each of those units, it's difficult for me to comment too much. Just from the information you have given, if they have similar asking prices, I'd be interested in the American Allegiance over the Holiday Rambler but both sound like nice coaches.

The repo and having no service history doesn't bother me that much if I can get both the house and chassis independently inspected. Disclaimer: I've never purchased a used motorhome from a dealership; only new ones. However, with that said, if I ever did, I'd never purchase one from a dealership without having the unit inspected. With no service records available, a chassis inspection would be a must for me. The house inspection would be secondary but still would probably want one done on a 10+ year old coach.

As you've seem to acknowledge, the cost of replacing 8 tires on the Holiday Rambler should be considered in your negotiations too if going that route.

I'm not really an expert here and I'm just throwing out my thoughts. Others will have differing opinions and you may find their input much more logical and authoritative.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Those are two high end coaches, so both should be good choices (assuming equal condition). The tires on the HR will be a known but high expense, so factor that into the price.


My only concern with a repo is that owners often neglect it if they are going to abandon, so inspect carefully. Other than that, lack of service history is a common problem and hardly unique to repo's.

[jacwjames]

I bought our current coach in late 2008 at the start of the recession. It was listed on Ebay and a very low price, almost too good to be true. Fortunately we were driving through the area and decided to go look at it. It was in immaculate condition, I felt comfortable doing the inspection and crawled over/under/through the coach and tested everything. I could not find anything wrong. The lister bought it from a bank, it was a repo and he was up front about it. There were no service records. A week later I called the lister and we agreed on a price and I went down and picked it up the next weekend. I paid about 1/2 of the NADA price so. Since I didn't have service records the first thing I did was take it to a Cummins shop for service & inspeciton where they gave it a clean bill of health.



I would not be scared of buying another repo.

[speedway]

Originally Posted by Riponrvr

Hello All
We are brand new to the forum and trust the folks here to give sound advice.
We are getting back into RV’ing. We had a Class A gas several years back. We’ve decided to go to A DP. We are going to be weekend warriors extending it where we can and traveling the West Coast. Here are a few of the DP’s we are close to striking a deal on. Please share your suggestions as we have no DP experience.
1-2009 Fleetwood American Allegiance 42G. 61k, aqua Hot, very clean with a little weather checking. New Hercules tires. The floor plan works for us. Here is the issue, it’s a “repo”. The car fax is clean but no Svc history. The dealer seems forthcoming and I will definitely have a pre purchase inspection. Thoughts???

2- 2004 HR Navigator 40 with tag axle. 81k. No weather checking. Has Aqua Hot, 500hp, and Allison 4000 transmission. Michelin are 6 years old.

Both are pretty clean.

We were also looking at Phaeton, and revaluation.
Thank you

Fleetwood’s repo history is worrisome, lack of maintenance history is even more troubling.

HR has advantages:
Tag
500 HP
Good paint
No DEF/DPF

Good luck on your search!

[Woodman018]

Both would be nice coaches if they have been taken care of. I don't know much about the Fleetwood but I have a close cousin to the Navigator (2004 Monaco Executive 40PBT with the ISM Cummins and tag axle) it is a great machine and I don't think there are any common problems with that engine. The Roadmaster chassis is a great chassis and that vintage of Holiday Ramblers were very well built. The tires will soon be aged out, maybe two years left if they aren't covered with sidewall cracks. As far as the repo goes, just know that happens quite a bit with these since a lot of people are under water on them almost immediately. A good inspection can tell what is needed to be known.
Dave

[RescueRamsey]

Before I bought my H.R. Imperial a year ago, I did a ton of research, Fleetwood was on my short list because my dad had one when I was a kid, after much consideration, I went with the Holiday Rambler. I believe they are built better then the Fleetwood, from what I have seen. My $.02

[GEM1N1]

I’d lean toward assuming the repo wasn’t maintained up to par by the previous owners. Hope you have a good mechanic you trust to inspect it.

[Isaac-1]

Repos can happen for all sorts of reasons (sudden death of owner, etc.), it may be fine it may not, inspect, inspect, inspect regardless of its history.

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

I would go with the HR Navigator!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Ivylog]

As you can see below I’m a Monaco product biased person...well built and excellent handling rigs. Sold our Dynasty to our son and had to have a 08 MH (dumb 10 year rule where we snowbird) ...would have gone 06 for a Detroit engine. Navigator is the top of the line for HR so lots of nice things included...Aqua Hot and Girard at top of my list. The RR10S chassis is great without having to pay the price of a Newell or Prevost...they use 10 airbags too.
Welcome to the forums and $100K should buy it.

[Riponrvr]

Thank you everyone for the feedback.