Community Forums

Nonnaof Two · 08-23-2018, 05:54 PM

I feel your pain, two years of research for me. Bought one way plane tickets. Once in Fort Worth the dealer we were dealing with gave us the brush-off. Stopped at a few other dealers. After a few days and a great weekend get away, we bought one way tickets home. Short story made long. Bought a great class a in Nevada from an individual. We secured our financing and bought the extended warranty that is good for 7 years and only cost 3,000k. Covers everything. We feel we got the best coach for us. Once we knew what we wanted it turns out it was only made for 2 years. Finding one was very hard, but we did it, and would do it again. It is our first. Put 20k miles on in two years. Good luck!

Kbullwinkle · 08-23-2018, 07:08 PM

Well, after reading about yall looking for a coach I thought to myself...GO TO ARIZONA....when my wife and I have up housekeeping , retired, and drove to Arizona to purchase a Motorhome....we sent the OWNER $1000.00 to give us a week to get down there...when we arrived we found the coach in the Hot Arizona sun all set up and being lived in at 109° day....looking back on it 3 motorcoaches later....Stop.....Think of what you want....write down all the things you want your coach to offer...trust no one other then a trusted confidant you have known for years....being a retired maintenance professional I thought I knew all these systems and felt very confident I could make the right choice....it took me thousands of dollars, hours of looking at rigs.on and off the internet....after looking at literally 40 to 50 coaches I finally took the leap on our current coach....i trusted mine and only my own instincts and we got a winner....after a year and a half living full time. WHILE TRAVELING all over the U.S. we got a comfortable , safe ,well looked after home we believe will last us for years....good luck...your rig is out there....be smart you can do this....

Davene brown · 08-23-2018, 07:15 PM

Forza is an entry level rv. You would certainly be better off buying a used better (not entry level) rv to

bobkathy95 · 08-23-2018, 07:18 PM

Like others, we are actively looking for a used motorhome in the 38 to 40 ft range. Our first choice is a 2005 to 2007 Newmar. We have looked at several from Kountry Star to MountainAire. All had a pair of the 13.5 or 15.0 Penquin roof a/c units. In every case, even on the Hi fan setting, the units seemed to have very low air flow on nearly all the vents. The filters looked clean on the return vents. Is this a problem with all Newmar coaches in that era? Or does this mean all these units are near the end of their useful life? Other coaches seem to have so much more air flow. Greatly appreciate any comments or ideas.

Juliewcrews · 08-23-2018, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodch

Ok...my husband found a 2014 Newmar Ventana 3436 on line that we are very interested in. It is 11 hours away from us. What is the best way to go about NOT being scammed and what to look for to make sure it has not been in a hurricane, flood, etc. I am very skeptical after reading about all the scams. Any suggestions would be most helpful. I have spent the last 4 hours reading from “search forum” but still don’t have a plan in place. If you have ANY advice we would most certainly appreciate it! (My husband did talk to the person selling it today but lost connection due to a storm they were having in south. Seller said he drove it 500 miles up from Florida but husband did not get “how” seller acquired motorhome but did get that it Is at a new car dealership.). ???

We have a 2012 Newmar Ventana 3434 we are going to need to sell when our Newmar Dutch Star arrives on December 3rd. We’re full-timers, so she’s not available until then, but I’d love to give you details on her if you’re interested. Also, we’re out and about until December, so if we’re close to you at some point, we’d be happy to arrange a time for you to take a look. Houston is where we’ll be in December. (If I could, I’d tow her behind the Dutch Star. [emoji4])

cmccallum · 08-23-2018, 08:31 PM

There has been a lot of good advice and experience in this thread. It could probably be a sticky on this page!

Purchasing out of your area can be a good solution, if you have your eyes open and feel comfortable with the seller. Trust and openness is good, backed up by an inspection and contract, of course!

Our experience started with deciding what we wanted (in 2012): A 2007 Damon (Thor) Outlaw 3611. We live in California, where these were going for much more than other areas of the country. We looked at a couple locally, but one was very very rough, and the other had been used with dirt bikes, and the garage would always smell like a, well, garage! (We have dogs and use the garage as a dog/grooming room). We found a nice 3611 in Indiana, stored inside, lowish miles, for $15k less than the worse of the two local ones. The family had used it because their son did competitive horses and he had just aged out of Juniors. We had a nice, unrushed negotiation, including a certified inspection that the seller paid for (I agreed to release it to him in case we didn't buy). The seller drove it to ABQ to visit family, and my son and I flew out for a final inspection and drive home.

I still feel very fortunate, and I'm not 100% sure I would do this again, after all I have learned since. (The coach is OK, A few things we could of or should have known about, but nothing critical. More about what *could* have gone wrong!)

Whether you buy from a private seller or a dealer, you can get what you want at a fair price if you are careful.

Cheers
Mike

Ceratto's Grotto · 08-24-2018, 03:31 AM

I purchased a used 2015 Newmar 3436 about two years ago. I live near Seattle, WA and the seller was in Colorado Springs, CO. In general, this is how the transaction worked and some of the decision points. 1) I rec’d from the seller, the build data sheets that had the build number, VIN number and such. With that information one can find out via Newmar, Freightliner, Cummings, and others if there have been any recalls and in some cases issues reported with the VIN and such. We also rec’d many fotos from the seller as well as maintenance documents. 2) After that we did a FaceTime walkthough of the motorhome. 3) After good feedback from the prior steps, I flew to Cololado Springs to do my own walk through (I have owned two class A motorhomes as well as other RVs so at least feel confortable looking at overall coniditions). 4) Since the rig was still under chassis, engine and trans manufacturer warranty, there had been no recalls and I rec’d maintenance records I did not have the motorhome inspected by a third party. 5) Newmar’s one year warranty was over, but the sellers had a transferrable extended warrany on the rest of the components. 6) After my one day self inspection I agreed to purchased the rig. 7) Before flying to CO I arranged for the immeidiate electronic transfer of funds to the seller SHOULD I decide to purchase it (this was not a wire transfer which can take days, but an immediate xfer between our respective brokerage houses). We both went to the seller’s brokerage office with title in hand and signed titles / xferred funds within a few minutes in one of their brokerage’s offices. I stored the RV in an enclosed storage facility, flew back to my home, got WA plates and WA title papers, flew back to CO with my wife a month later and we drove it back to WA. (We may not have stored the motorhome for a month and flew back and forth after buying it, but we had planned a trip to Europe that had us gone for a month and leaving just two days after I purchased the RV). Timing is everything. Anyway, this whole purchase process took about one week, but I was ready to purchase, knew what I wanted, and had been searching for a used, late model Newmar 3436, in great condition, AND it had to be from a private owner, NOT a dealer! It was a lot of prep on the front end (over a couple years of research and whatnot). We are happy we acquired it via this process (albeit, that one week or so was hectic and stressfull).

Orson · 08-24-2018, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MEWright

I decided not to include the dealers name in the post. It is not a commercial for them just an overview of my experience there. If someone else has had an experience that was not as good as mine I did not want my thread being high jacked as slam fest or this thread being taken in a different direction. I will happily provide the dealership info, my sales person or the parts mangers information to anyone that sends me a PM. Several people have. I am sorry that anyone feels that a PM is not necessary but it is my thread and thats how I post my reviews. Not just on this forum but all the forums I am part of.

Send me a PM and I am happy to share. Thank you for your replies and suggestions.

plse send dealer's name and location. Thank you.

Fireairdrop · 08-24-2018, 10:54 AM

Newbies to Motorhomes. Multi trips a year, not full time. Did Class C long time ago. Need your thoughts. Deal is a 2018 Newmar Dutch Star with 5000miles for 30% off MSRP or new 2019 Ventara for 22% off. Both are 43’. 25 grand diff with Dutch being more. Ready, go!

Ret.LEO · 08-24-2018, 02:30 PM

Professional inspection...........best money you can spend.

saddlesore · 08-24-2018, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ret.LEO

Professional inspection...........best money you can spend.

Damn Straight !
Keep in mind..
Your 1st coach is a learning tool..
When You tour/view "In Person" any perspective coach..
View it First with all slides retracted,
If the coach is fully usable without the slides extended, then give it a second look.
(Think wally-docking,rest areas,truckstops...any where that you cannot/do not have room for the slides to be extended)

BUY USED! & buy one with everything you "think" you want and will need..
As You will make mistakes and have booboo's We all have.....(sometimes more than twice..)
Within a year or two you will discover..about the RV

What you love about the RV...
What you can kinda-sorta tolerate with the RV..
And what you absolutely hate about that !@#$%^%$#@! RV.
Then you can go get what you should have gotten in the first place..
Happy Hunting

Remember!!!!
Every day you "put off" retiring...is just one LESS day you have remaining to enjoy being RETIRED !!!

Might want to look here..(hint.. click on the big pic's)
ALL Pre Owned motorhomes Inventory

Mike_Cathi · 08-24-2018, 11:07 PM

New rigs and used rigs can all have issues that may need to be addressed. We bought a DP because our main travel plans included the Rocky Mountains and it sure handles the ups and downs on the grades nicely. Determine how and where you plan to use the rig to help you make choices about what you want to buy.

Dockerbee · 08-25-2018, 10:14 AM

If that is the brand and style you want look closer to home, there are so many out there and you really need to have independent RV tech look at anything you don’t know for a fact condition and what not, might be fine but might have been parked on the beach and full of rust!

PeterFTH · 08-25-2018, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodch

Thank u all for your input! Now we are questioning buying new instead of used. It seems diesel used are running about same price as 2018 models of some of the diesels we looked at. This is all very confusing..think we need to study some more. I really appreciate all you RV owners out there that have helped us so far!!

Buying new is not a panacea of safety - I have heard horror stories of buyers with tons of issues and manufacturers not knocking themselves out to fix things. Also, somewhere around 2012 I think diesels started coming with engines requiring DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) which adds a heavy layer of technical complexity to the engine. I'm very satisfied with my 2002 Travel Supreme - the Cummins 8.8 400hp purrs and gets me 10mpg, and the Allison 6 speed transmission is a winner in just about everyone's opinion. I'm 4 years and 40,000 miles in at this point and wouldn't trade it for a new one - just enough technology for me.