Warning!!!! Do not buy a motorhome!!!

[Beagle RC Air]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

A friend once told me... If I plan my finances just right, the check to the funeral home should bounce.

Two houses, a motor home, two cars, three motorcycles, and a business. I'm far from liquid but I enjoy my life.

Tell us about the helicopter in the video..... Now that is high maintenance item.
Original article well written and to the point.

Beagle

[Francesca]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

As an owner of my third motor coach, it seems that some people thinking about purchasing one need to be forced to read a warning telling them what they are getting into.

Unless you have more money than you know what to do with and plan on buying a $1.5 million dollar Luxury Coach to park in a Florida resort then you're like me and will be purchasing something within a specific budget and intend on using it as much as possible to justify the cost.

Face it, if you are buying a new and untested unit anywhere within the envelope of high to average entry level price range you are buying something that will most likely have issues, bugs, and components ready to fail at a moments notice.

You are giving your money to a corporation that exists for one reason, and one reason only, no matter what their web site says about customers coming first, and that is to make MONEY.
.............................snip.............
Happy Motoring!

If I read the title of the thread to mean "Do not buy a NEW Motorhome", I'm with ya 100%!

Since corporations are obliged by law to operate first in the interests of their shareholder/owners, my philosophy is: Let the first person that buys anything pay that pound of flesh- I'll buy it used somewhere down the road.

And for much less dinero, not to mention with most of its original defects all fixed up. Or at least discounted for!

[tricotec]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

I never thought about it but "Don't buy a Boat" either! But if you do... Don't say you weren't warned!

What a laugh.

Boating has so much in common with RVing. If you have to ask you CANT afford it. Of course if you don't pay you can't play. I'll bet many boat owners laugh at people who scoff at them when they're out on the water enjoying the beauty and magnificence of the sea. The same way I laugh when people who know nothing of the RV lifestyle and are too busy with other things to embrace it... dabble in it and get burned.

[tricotec]

Originally Posted by Francesca

If I read the title of the thread to mean "Do not buy a NEW Motorhome", I'm with ya 100%!

Since corporations are obliged by law to operate first in the interests of their shareholder/owners, my philosophy is: Let the first person that buys anything pay that pound of flesh- I'll buy it used somewhere down the road.

And for much less dinero, not to mention with most of its original defects all fixed up. Or at least discounted for!

Boy you hit the nail on the head there...I bought our Monaco last summer and it's so nice...everything works (except when it doesn't...lol). I got out the maintenance records one day and scanned through all the stuff that didn't work right when the coach was new... boy did I get lucky...the original owner went through a lot to get Monaco to fix all the broken stuff.

[tricotec]

Originally Posted by Beagle RC Air

Tell us about the helicopter in the video..... Now that is high maintenance item.

Beagle

I bet it's fun though!

[DGShaffer]

Originally Posted by Beagle RC Air

Tell us about the helicopter in the video..... Now that is high maintenance item.
Original article well written and to the point.

Beagle

It's a 1957 Bell 47-G2 I fly out of Blairstown NJ. It still has the original "Wooden" rotor blades that came with it. They have a lifetime service as long as nothing strikes them. Or as long as they don't strike anything

[mojoracing]

I have always built new homes and will never buy a used MH. I don't want my family sleeping, eating and living where someone else has done who knows what with who knows who. A living area is different than say a lawn tractor or motorcycle. Ill deal with a few repairs and adjustments and the depreciation. My first toy hauler I got what I paid for it 2 years later. My last motorhome cost me 45k in depreciation after 7 years. So all total its cost me 5k a year to own brand new the last nine years.

[Mike_Harriet]

I'd never buy new. But finding a good ,well cared for coach can be trying. Think we have so going to do some inspecting today. I too do all my own maintenance. Only had a mechanic on the trawler we lived on for 10yrs, once. His time was cheaper than the test equip I needed to verify what I thought was the problem. We spent 10yrs cruising, and even made the Exumas trip. If you aren't totally self sufficient you can't do that trip. The toilet troubles of which ye speak brings back awful memories. I HATED my macerator style with a passion bordering on obsession. The worst words I could hear were "honey the toilet won't flush/leaks/stinks/made a funny noise". The coach we are in the process of buying does not have a macerator anything on it. I can't wait.

[DGShaffer]

I've heard horror stories of those type toilets breaking down leaving you to use outhouses. I can't imagine having to deal with an issue like that. I can fix almost anything but I might draw the line at that. It also seems that most newly designed high end coach models are using this design. If that's the case, I don't see how I'd be able to put myself in one of those. I'm looking foreword to the days of my retirement and owning a nice big DP. But it needs to have a gravity toilet!

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

I've heard horror stories of those type toilets breaking down leaving you to use outhouses. I can't imagine having to deal with an issue like that. I can fix almost anything but I might draw the line at that. It also seems that most newly designed high end coach models are using this design. If that's the case, I don't see how I'd be able to put myself in one of those. I'm looking foreword to the days of my retirement and owning a nice big DP. But it needs to have a gravity toilet!

I'll assume you never owned a home that was either below the level of the septic field or below the level of the street. Not only do you get to replace a pump/macerator, you get to dig up your yard ... and then there are boats ...

[DGShaffer]

I was given good advise once. "Never buy a home lower than the street it's on.

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

I was given good advise once. "Never buy a home lower than the street it's on.

and that's still good advice. Sometimes, if you want lakefront/etc. it's not an option.

[NorthernDriv]

My 2cents Buy Below your budget, this leaves enough for ALL the surprises that will come. MH's or bicycles, houses or boats.

[RTinVa]

Originally Posted by mojoracing

I have always built new homes and will never buy a used MH. I don't want my family sleeping, eating and living where someone else has done who knows what with who knows who. A living area is different than say a lawn tractor or motorcycle. Ill deal with a few repairs and adjustments and the depreciation. My first toy hauler I got what I paid for it 2 years later. My last motorhome cost me 45k in depreciation after 7 years. So all total its cost me 5k a year to own brand new the last nine years.

Agree!