Best selection of used class A

Check out DeMartini dot com he's located East of Sacramento (Grass Valley) if you don't like the price you can make a counter offer over the internet if you desire. They are a high volume dealership.

Excellent suggestions and thank you all. RC, yes, I get your point about buying expensive items out of town. We plan to buy a MH that is new enough to still be under manufactures warranty. And BTW, I see you drive a C177. 182A driver here! It sounds like if we are going to shop in Az, the Phoenix area may be a better bet. And Mike B, yes, that is the style we like. The Forza has similar models as well. Thanks again, keep it coming!
Bill

Bill, welcome to the fun of RV'ing ahead!!!

I'd suggest you both sit down and make a small list of the manufactures and models and years of coaches that you feel fit what you want. Going and kicking tires in a town in Arizona could find one, or maynot... The danger is you'll get the 'got to buy one since we came down here fever', and possibly get a coach that you really did not want.

Good input on then checking PPL, including their 'sold' section to get an idea on prices.

You did not say where in N. CA you are, but here is a CA dealer with a pretty good reputation:

http://www.demartini.com/

And if you are close to Oregon, check out Premier as they too have a good rep.

Finally, if you have trouble locating the coach that you want. Make contact with a salesman that you have checked out. (I asked 4-5 years ago, and was referred to three salesman. Two in Southern CA where we lived. Steve Wilson and Holland Motors is who I ended up working with, but the 'Other Steve' at California Coaches had great referrals too.)

I know for a fact, that(And yes, honest professional salesman exist.) professional salesman know about coaches that never make it to the internet as being for sale. (Units coming in on consignment; or trade in's; or former clients needing to sale their units, etc.) Our coach was never advertised. I saw it as it was first coming in for consignment.

And last tip. Don't get too hung up on getting the 'best price', take the time to get 'the best rig' for you guys. Pay a fair price if needed. IMO, it's better to get a properly maintained with documentation, documentation, documentation rig - then the 'rock bottom price'.

Happy hunting,
Smitty

You are really limiting your choices to those with a drop down bed. Find a good deal and add the drp down bed BUT it will limit head room so hope you are short.

Billinwoodland, I suggest you consider this; buying something without a manufactures warranty, used, is a really big gamble. I trusted the dealer who sold me my used MH, The RV Corral in Eugen Oregon, they were really nice with the issues they said they fixed until I left the lot and was told later I purchased it "as is". It cost me $3k+ to fix the issues they said were taken care of. I would have loved to take them to small claims court but I live in So Cal and they are in Eugene Oregon. Dealing with out of state transactions can be a problem. (an extended warranty, sure, they sold me one that was controlled by them, not worth the paper it was written on. I cancelled it.)

Do you mean something like this? With a drop down bed. This one is a 2013-2015 Fleetwood Excursion.

If you want a coach with a bed over the front seats, you'll probably have to settle on a Class "C", as the last Class "A"s with those beds were made in the early 1980's.

Try PPL's web site. That's a consignment lot in Texas. They have a large number of RVs for sale, so you may be able to narrow down your search just by looking at their web site.

I second by-passing Yuma. While there are some rigs for sale during the winter season, and some may be competitively priced in February or March, the selection would be very limited. You could drive over to Quartzsite and look at the units for sale there during January. Again though, the selection would be limited.

Hi,

Yes you can locate a unit in one week, probably will find several on the first day shopping, but the price might not be right yet. You really need to compare shop a few places, not just go into the first place, see a $130,000 RV that is on sale 'today only' at $119,999 and buy it before someone else gets that 'deal'. Chances are that had you showed up a week or month earlier, the same unit had the same price on it, perhaps a little more?

It does sound like you are looking for a great deal, and the Yuma RV lots are not all that big, the town is pretty small, say less than 10,000 residents in the summer time, 4 times that many in the winter. Phoenix and Mesa, Sun City, all much larger towns, and all close together, so they share a much larger market.

Are you planning on flying into Phoenix? Or drive a car then drive both back home? Rent a tow dolly for the car to tow it back home? Buy a tow dolly and then home to sell it at home? I think that U-Haul rental tow dollies are around $25 a day, and don't know if they do one way rentals.. Call first.

You can drive down there, and then the wife can follow you back home driving, cell phones (with blue tooth) can work to communicate between cars. If you already have a car, such as a Honda CRV, and that is already set up for towing behind a RV, that is ideal, and makes it easy to bring it back home. Yet setting up the car for being towed can cost around $1,500. Front hitch, braking system with break-a-way that applies the brakes if the car separates from the RV, and lights inside the car (turn signals).

Have you checked locally, and in areas like Sacramento? Check the Craigslist.org for your local towns. If someone retired, then wants to sell their RV, they don't have many prospective buyers in your area, and might sell one at a lower than average cost. Even check Reno, and other areas, is Lake Tahoe close?

Good luck!

I have not seen any DP's with a loft over the front seats. Only the Safari Trek had that option, and they have not been made in a long time, had a tiny engine (a great 3.9L inline 4 that serves a delivery truck well, but probably not so great with a RV) and the Trek that I saw was only 90" wide, not the normal 102" wide RV.

If you find the full size Safari, I think that is what you are looking for, something with a 8.3L or larger engine, and plenty of power. Yet many of the modern DP's with a front slide out will not have a bed that would get in the way while the forward slide is in.

Good luck on your search. For now, keep checking RvSearch.com They have many class A, and you can narrow it down by area, find Yuma and Quartzsite, Mesa, and Phoenix zip codes, then search in each of those 'zones'. Also if you find something in Flagstaff, be prepared for something called 'Feet of snow' in that area in the winter time. Yes at 7,000' elevation, it looks like the top of Mt Shasta in Flagstaff in January.

Fred.