Found Our Dream, Now to Make it Reality

[DaBruuzer]

Greetings all!

This is admittedly a wordy post, so I apologize in advance. Short story: my wife & I are in our late 40's, live in Ontario, Canada, and have decided to work towards owning a pre-owned motor coach in the next few years.

We're in the very beginnings of looking at the RV world, and are nowhere near financially capable in the next couple of years of responsibly acting on this dream, at least for a new motor coach. We are homeowners with equity, good jobs, etc. So the ability is there, just not quite yet ready to invest and not be able to use it to full (or even half) potential, as we are not able to retire or work less than our current insane schedules allow.

We truly know now that a motor coach and RV life is what we eventually want to do, especially assuming we have grand kids one day soon. We want to SEE and experience our country, and the U.S. eventually, sooner rather then later. Having this new dream/plan is very important to us, and gives us something to work towards for the next few years. We have absolutely ZERO experience owning, maintaining, etc. an RV. I realize that all of this is something you have most likely heard before, so try not to roll your eyes. Reading the forums here has answered many questions, so thank you all for that!

I am an obsessive researcher when it comes to potential purchases. We are beginning to narrow down our options as far as brands, features, class, must-haves, etc. so that when we are ready to pull the trigger, we'll know what we want and don't have to waste some poor salesperson's time (I come from 20-years+ in the retail auto industry, so I get it).

Part of our search will most certainly include which dealer and/or sales rep to buy from, as after many hours of reading forums like this one, websites and watching YouTube videos, one of the major takeaways is that the dealer is at least as, if not more, important the the brand of motor coach. So many horror stories about poor PDI experiences, awful delivery quality, poor instructions/demonstrations, aggressive after-sales tactics, and absolutely terrible service visits. Naturally, the nature of the internet always brings out the negative, and rarely the positive - the so-called negative feedback loop. We understand that as well. We will in all likelihood be looking at pre-owned motor coaches for our first purchase, both to avoid the horrid depreciation and for affordability.

Anyway, to make a long story short(ish), we are in the super-early stages of investigation. We are, however, always open to building a relationship with a dealer that will develop into a positive one for both parties, if there is one that is willing to be patient. We are planning to attend the Toronto RV Show this month, and the one at the beginning of March up here.

Here are the coaches that had several floorplans we have been impressed with (none experienced in person) in NO particular order. I want to keep length under 33ft if possible, and under $70k CAD. Remember, we're considering pre-owned, because if we were looking at new, ALL are well above what we're comfortable with:

1. Coachmen Freelander/Leprechaun (several floorplans work ok); love the 319MB floorplan
2. Thor A.C.E. 32.1 (looks like that floorplan has been discontinued, but who knows what might pop up pre-owned in the next few years?); the two bathrooms are a HUGE bonus to us for medical reasons; would consider other floorplans, possibly
3. Jayco Redhawk/Greyhawk line (love the warranty); several floorplans are decent
4. We hope to find others we like in the meantime, and to actually be able to set foot in some of our favs at the shows.

As much as I like the idea of an F53 chassis Class A, I don't think that's possible at the juncture in our lives. I do have to say that I like the Thor A.C.E., Jayco Precept and a few of the other 'entry-level' Class A's from Tiffin, Coachmen, etc. So we will keep our eyes on the prices for those. But reality dictates we will need to start with a 26-28ft Class C as our first purchase.

In any case, nice to be on these forums, and my education - thanks to all of you fine folks - will continue.

[MSHappyCampers]

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

Better get busy, you've got a lot of tire kicking to do!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[momdoc]

Welcome to the forum.

You are joining a good group of folks here with good info to share. You may find over the next few years your wants and needs may change so do not lock into one build or floor plan at this stage. Go to as many dealers and shows as you can to get a feel of what is our there. Remember something you look at today will be a nice used coach in a few years. Also rent a couple on weekends for a "dry run" of what i would be like.

Read the various threads here and ask questions as they come up.


Good luck and enjoy the adventure.

[DaBruuzer]

Thanks folks! Sadly, the market up here is still over-valuing used RVs (in my opinion), making the decision more difficult for us to take the plunge. And our dollar is terrible right now, so new ones are pricey too. But it will happen, in the next 2-3 years for sure. For now, waiting for winter to be over so we can start walking some of the dealer's lots up here.

For now though, one question that is bound to have some complicated answers:

Is there some kind of "hierarchy" in the perceived/real-world quality of motorhome manufacturers? As mentioned, I come from an automotive background, so using GM as an analogy (I know not all divisions are around any longer), you started off with a Chevy, maybe moved up to a Pontiac, then an Olds, a Buick and finally a Caddy. I know they are all the same manufacturer, but I hope you are getting my meaning.

Who is the "Cadillac" or "Rolls Royce" of motorhomes, and who is the "Chevy"? Nothing wrong with a Chevy, but people looking for a Rolls wouldn't be looking at a Chevy. Who is the "Olds" of motorhomes? Or what about the Ford, versus the Mercury, versus the Lincoln? Etc.

(Should I perhaps be asking this in a different forum? If so, I apologize in advance.)

[cvbdsl]

I replied to you other post. Your comment on dealers strikes home. I've purchased 4 MHs in the last few years - two from the same dealer.

My last purchase was the worst so I would recommend staying away from Sicrad's RV in Smithville (Hamilton), I'll never be back there. Most dealers here do overvalue MH's by a good 20-30%. When looking for my current MH (early 2017) many Ontario dealers were flipping used MHs to the US as they could make more. This really limits the choices and prices left here.

I live around Ottawa and I've traveled most of southern Ontario a couple of times now looking at various MHs and found condition varies greatly and many dealers/salesmen do not have a clue about what they are selling. I saw one Georgetown last year that obviously had been in an accident (peeling paint with a different shade underneath, obvious repairs in the fiberglass back etc) and the salesman said they never noticed or knew.

As for starting out, our first MH was a 36 foot 2000 Bounder. Our budget (in around 2011/12) was $50K including a toad. We paid around $35K for the Bounder and $7K for a 10 year old Honda CRV which we towed for several years.
This combo served us fine until I wanted something larger and had a chance at a 1999 38 foot Dutch Star DP and traded, still under the total $50K.

A year later I had two Dutch stars, the 1999 and a 2003 40 foot Dutch Star.
I sold the 99 privately and we kept the 2003 until 2017 and traded it for our current coach - and yes it was much more than our original $50K, total value near $200K CAD not including a toad.

Now that we have one we really like I may have to downsize to under 26000lbs (no need for "D" class license ) due to some potential medical issues.

So do your homework and if you are like me I research the heck out of each one - I've identified many online ads that have the wrong model etc just by the pictures and comparing them to the manufactures brochures with floor plans etc. Also some dealers and a lot of ads don't list the model and or the length and very few list the GVCW.

When checking prices I use NADA as a guide and look at the same MH for sale in the US ( eg rvt.com)and do the conversion to CAD just to get a rough idea of value here. I make a spreadsheet with the prices etc.

So good luck on your search and the main thing is to have fun while educating yourself. Join some of the different MH forums and brands to see some issues, noting that most people (like me with Sicards) only report the negative.

Chris