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Siskman · 02-02-2022, 11:19 PM

I’m looking for a class a dp would like an older quality Newmar or Monaco verses a new gas rig found a Newmar ventana 2007 model 3436 I think needs some work and is at a car dealer they can’t answer a lot of my questions trying to figure out what offer to make on it looking for feed back and advice

Winemaker2 · 02-03-2022, 06:55 AM

Just as a FYI the older Newmars will not have Comfort Drive.
Here is a quote from a Newmar thread on CD

"What year did Newmar Start installing Comfort Drive? and what model? It started on the Mountain Aire and higher models in 2006, and went to all diesels starting in 2008.Jul 2, 2010"

If CD is of interest there is lots of info in the Newmar owners section, including a very complete summary by Ken Sherwin, the Inventor.
I absolutely love driving our 2013 VTDP 3433 with CD.

I dont know much about Newmars set up for electric slide motors on the older ones but it was a widespread but fixable issue on many more recent ones. Again, worth reading up on it in the Newmar section.

When I was looking I found an online listing of all recalls for my model/ year that listed whether it had been fixed or still open... very helpful knowing.
You might do some searching in the Newmar section to find any posts about that Era Ventanas.
Good luck with the search

153stars · 02-03-2022, 07:05 AM

You can check NADA for values. PPL motorhomes has listings as well as a way to find actual sold prices they do a lot of consignment sales. There a lot of advice in looking to buy DP around that year in threads . Maybe someone can pitch in on exact model.
Tires age out at 7-10 years there a DOT code in the weeks in the year on every tire. Open every cabinet to look for leaks along walls and around vents ACs .You"re still at the height of MH prices and low supply.

dizcom · 02-03-2022, 07:16 AM

NADA has values that you can check. You can also check the online sales sites to see what they're being listed at. If you can, get someone to take a look at it. If you get serious about it, get an inspector to tell you what's wrong with it. A car dealer might not be willing to make any repairs, but you can use the inspection to negotiate a fair price.

MSHappyCampers · 02-03-2022, 12:55 PM

Monaco made some really high-quality DP's back in the early 2000's. Especially the Windsor, Dynasty, and Signature. We love our 2002 Windsor!

Siskman · 02-03-2022, 04:34 PM

Thank you all so glad to have this site with so much knowledge appreciate the reply’s looking forward to more you know it’s a weird deal at the dealership where this Newmar is located Toyota dealer they said it was bought at an auction but they have it listed for 76k I have looked at it twice the first time it was raining really hard and the wife and I really just wanted to get inside it to see if we wanted to look further so we got a new to cars even salesman to show us the rig I walked around it and we went inside slides were in etc. didn’t see any water leaks but it was hard with everything folded up so I asked for him/them to send me a spec sheet to my email he said ok but never did .so a couple weeks later we went back called first and got a different sales guy we got the slides out and took a pretty good look then I drove it around the parking lot gen wouldn’t crank and one out rigger wouldn’t function even though it did level it’s self with three legs I should have crawled under it when it was up on the jacks but I didn’t other than crawled around and looked from the outside long story short it built up air and moved ok he said they just put chassis batteries in it it didn’t look to me like the air bags came up to a ride height heck the tranny pan never got more than six inches off the ground anyway I felt like between him not knowing anything and my past knowledge with rvs are with fifthwheels I wanted to do more ,check more ,but he acted like he couldn’t turn his back on me so I gave up and asked him to send me a spec sheet please and ask his supervisor if they were going to look at the levelers and the air bags or what and let me know he never called me back or sent anything but the dealership has left a few texts and voicemails to see if I’m still interested I called a local inspector and also emailed one and got no reply I feel like giving them a real lowball offer I’m a retired heavy equipment mechanic but man I’m scared .your thoughts are welcome everyone if they would give me some space I wanted to spend some time checking things out but getting bird dawned I guess I can’t blame them but on the other hand they are offering a 30 day 1000 mile which ever comes first warranty on lights brakes turn signals sounds like they don’t want to acknowledge all the systems on board

Winemaker2 · 02-03-2022, 05:01 PM

Sounds like a fishy story...
Why would another dealer dispose of a MH at auction in a sellers market?
Why would a Toyota dealer buy a MH at auction when they know nothing about them?
If you are sincerely interested and willing to consider a project I would...
1) require the dealer to install/ provide both house & chassis battys sufficient to check out all house & chassis systems
2) allow you to have an inspector of your choice and at your cost inspect all house systems and provide YOU with a report of findings (Also means driving it to a place with water, power & dump to check if they don't have the capability)
3) allow you to have a diesel shop inspect the engine & chassis and provide YOU with a report of findings (that requires ability to drive it to their shop)

Otherwise I'd walk maybe run away... it could be a deal or a money pit... how would you know?