Community Forums

greenic · 12-28-2020, 08:33 PM

We've also been struggling with this but in the end, we have just made the decision to purchase. Right decision? Time will tell.

But, one major factor for us is that we wanted to create memories in OUR family trailer. I have 2 young kids and we have rented in the past, but it kind of just felt that we had a fancy place to lay our heads.

We want to have our kids (and us too) to make new great memories in the trailer that is ours, and that we intent to keep for a long time. When we look back at pictures etc. Our little home away from home. For that reason, among others mentioned already by others, we decided to buy.

I am a little stressed about the cost, but this is a hobby after all. And just like other ones, it is done out of enjoyment and cost, as long as it can be afforded, really isn't a factor in doing any hobby.
My 2 cents!

Blazing zipp · 12-28-2020, 09:13 PM

Like stated before; some of us rented a unit to see if the RV life style was the thing we wanted to do. The rental was an older unit, clean, and fairly well laid out, and gave us a direction to head in. Since then, we've logged tens of thousands of happy miles, crashed once, made memories and discovered that we didn't use our boat at all after we started to RV.
Now, to be fair, we live in the west where land is a plenty and there are so many places to visit.

bddadles · 01-01-2021, 07:18 AM

Since you have rented in the past and the wife enjoyed it here is what I would do. I would take my budget and apply it to a USED rig. I have done the new route once and have now been full timing for 12 years in a used high end rig we found on a consignment lot. At this point you have not done enough rving to know exactly what you want or need or how much it will actually be used.
Before buying used you may want to have a rig inspected. I would not worry about a warranty if you are the least bit handy. With the lower price of a used rig I never gave a warranty any thought. Understand you will be making repairs or maintenance on anything you get and forums and Utube are great sources of learning to do things.

Isaac-1 · 01-01-2021, 07:39 AM

I agree about buying a higher end model used, I bought my 2002 model year coach used in 2016, when it was 14 years old financing at $500 per month over 4 years. I recently did the math on it, looking up historical interest rates from when it was built, etc. and if I had bought it brand new at the end of 2001 for 75% of MSRP, and paid at the same $500 per month rate, I would still be paying on it for another year.

Chowboy · 01-02-2021, 11:41 PM

I think a house is the only thing I would buy new! maybe. There are many used campers available and they are well below new pricing. Know what you want, don't compromise and be willing to travel to inspect potential offers.

TXiceman · 01-03-2021, 09:01 AM

It all boils down to cost, convenience and personal choice. The above post pretty well list the pros and cons. There is no right answer that anyone can give for your situation.

Ken

dbircky · 01-03-2021, 09:38 AM

My last camper was bought new in 2001 for 13k. Sold it in 2020 for 8k.
5k of depreciation over 19 years. Length of ownership will greatly reduce your annualized depreciation. Keep it clean and maintained and you are far ahead over renting.

Desert Flyer · 01-05-2021, 09:11 PM

I would buy used and not even high end...buy something relatively inexpensive with the intention that you will sell it it in a year or two. By that time, you will have had enough trips and experience to really know what you liked, what you don’t, and can zero in on exactly what you want to upgrade to. That is when you want to aim for your $30k unit. Camping owners seem to upgrade every so often. Once you’ve caught this camping/glamping bug, no vaccine in the world is gonna rid you of it!