Aussie Visitor-Q's re RV purchase in USA

[ausglenn]

My wife and I are coming to the US.this May with a view to purchasing a used (3to 5 y.o.)ClassC or 5th wheel and then tour for 5 months this year and hopefully also the next.
I would greatly appreciate any comments on the following:
1. I understand Sales Tax varies in each State, which would be the best to purchase in?
2. What are the best months in that State when the Dealers would have high stock levels?
3. What is a good source for finding RV private sale listings?
4. From a resale point of view which is easier to sell ,a 5th wheel or ClassC?
5. In Aus. we "bush/free" camp a lot .Is this a common and safe practice in the US.?
Any other advice would be most welcome ,as this trip is a long awaited dream and I want it to go well!
Sorry for so many Q's
Cheers,
Glenn

[ausglenn]

My wife and I are coming to the US.this May with a view to purchasing a used (3to 5 y.o.)ClassC or 5th wheel and then tour for 5 months this year and hopefully also the next.
I would greatly appreciate any comments on the following:
1. I understand Sales Tax varies in each State, which would be the best to purchase in?
2. What are the best months in that State when the Dealers would have high stock levels?
3. What is a good source for finding RV private sale listings?
4. From a resale point of view which is easier to sell ,a 5th wheel or ClassC?
5. In Aus. we "bush/free" camp a lot .Is this a common and safe practice in the US.?
Any other advice would be most welcome ,as this trip is a long awaited dream and I want it to go well!
Sorry for so many Q's
Cheers,
Glenn

[Hitchhiker]

Glenn,

Welcome to iRV2, we're really glad to have you here as a new member and are looking forward to reading your posts about your 5 month tour and your adventures while here. You'll find a great bunch of folks on this site who are very knowledgeable of RVing, the rigs we use, and the places we go in them.

As you'll see, they're eager to help and share their knowledge and experiences with others.

We have several states that don't charge any sales tax, some of them are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. If you click this link, you'll find a list by state showing all the rates.

The winter months seem to be more popular times for buying due to the additional availability of used rigs on the market. There are several web based classified ads for RV's, a couple are RV Trader and RV Search. Also, we have a Classified section right here on iRV2.

I think the resale potential would depend on what rig you buy, its condition when offered for sale, and market conditions at the time of the offer to sell more than the Class C or 5th wheel question. Also, here in the US, most property is held in private ownership and boondocking "bush/free" camping is not too popular, however there are some government lands and a few private properties such as Walmart that it's practiced on.

Again, welcome to iRV2, we're glad you joined.

[MonacoMama]

ausglenn...
Welcome to iRV2! You must be quite excited at the prospect of coming to the U.S.A to do some traveling.

You will also find this site to be a wealth of information when it does come time for traveling and also when you may have any issues with your RV. The members here happen to be the most knowledgable members on the web!

Please make sure you visit and post here often!


MM

[OLYLEN]

Welcome, I'm be down your way starting Feb 18th Melbourne , NZ, then to Cairns and back to the US in April from Sydney.
Hitchhiker Nailed it Coming from AU I might look at the RV's in OR. Maybe fly into Porlant the rental car to Eugene(where some factories are) or anywhere in between. Depending on budget I might go with the %th wheel as you will have a pickup to tour from a camping spot. With the C you must break camp each day. As far as resale anyone guess you must find a buyer.

Good luck on the RV hunt

LEN

[FatDog]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">5. In Aus. we "bush/free" camp a lot .Is this a common and safe practice in the US.? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Glenn
that was a nice tennis match you guys just hosted over there this past weekend, it was fun watching the hometown crowd,

and since it sounds like maybe you might already be an RV'r over there, what sort of rig do you currently have?

[450Donn]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ausglenn:
My wife and I are coming to the US.this May with a view to purchasing a used (3to 5 y.o.)ClassC or 5th wheel and then tour for 5 months this year and hopefully also the next.
I would greatly appreciate any comments on the following:
1. I understand Sales Tax varies in each State, which would be the best to purchase in? <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Oregon for one has no sales tax. so you can save a bundle there. </pre>
2. What are the best months in that State when the Dealers would have high stock levels? <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> About any time of the year is good. </pre>
3. What is a good source for finding RV private sale listings? <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> You can check the for sales on this forum and also on a couple of other forums. What and exactly how much are you wanting to spend? </pre>
4. From a resale point of view which is easier to sell ,a 5th wheel or ClassC?
5. In Aus. we "bush/free" camp a lot .Is this a common and safe practice in the US.? <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> There are many free camp grounds and areas in the West that you can camp for cheep or free./CODE]
Any other advice would be most welcome ,as this trip is a long awaited dream and I want it to go well!
Sorry for so many Q's [CODE] Send me an email if I can be of any more assistance to you.
Don </pre>
Cheers,
Glenn </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Gary the Wombat]

Glenn

What areas are you expecting to tour? As you might guess from my screen name, I'm an Aussie expat. If you are in the California Bay Area, let me know and I'll make you feel welcome with a Vegemite sandwich and a cold tinny. I might even have a few suggestions for places you might like to visit.

[portwine]

ausglenn&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;looking to do the same are you still active so we can chat about your experiences?

[Gary RVRoamer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">1. I understand Sales Tax varies in each State, which would be the best to purchase in?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Richard named them, but be aware that if you title and register the RV in a state that does have sales tax after buying it elsewhere, they will still charge you the tax (it is called a "use tax" then, but the amount will be the same. Therefore you also want to chose a state that you can title/register in without incurring the tax. Some states, like Oregon, have fairly stringent rules on who can title a vehicle in their state (residents only) whereas others don't seem to care very much and will accept most any local address. This subject gets lengthy quickly, so I'll leave the details for another time.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
2. What are the best months in that State when the Dealers would have high stock levels?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
RV sales are poor during our economic downturn, so few dealers are stocking a lot. But they may be offering great deals on the ones they now have!
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
3. What is a good source for finding RV private sale listings?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
There are dozens of them. rvclassified.com, rvtrader.com, rvonline.com, rvregistry.com, etc. If you Google RVS FOR SALE you will finds a bunch of them.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
4. From a resale point of view which is easier to sell ,a 5th wheel or ClassC?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I don't think there is any material difference. Different buyers have different tastes and both are popular.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
5. In Aus. we "bush/free" camp a lot .Is this a common and safe practice in the US.?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
It is more common in the western US where there is a lot of wide open spaces. In the eastern US "boondocking" (as we call it) is more typically done in large store parking lots (Walmart, Cabelea's, Cracker Barrel restaurants, etc.)