I want to tackle this from any other view. Why did we buy somethiing with a ton of miles on it and from a rental fleet. We like it for several reasons. It is 26 steps bumper to bumper. Fits almost anywhere but not a lot of room inside that's true. We use it when traveling we have a 33ft trailer and 37 5th wheel based in WA and AZ. So the "stand up B" as we call her is our traveling machine. We just leave the big Rv's in place. No reason to lug big RV's around when you don't have to. And be restricted to the "no camping off pavement" type places. Bought unit with tires new, mattress new, plastic drawer supports for drawers were trash replaced with metal and other minor stuff (muffler, drawer supports, etc.) price for little minor fixes $300.00 No major problems.
If your thinking about buying and this would be your first RV beware!
We looked the first time and saleman had to call us when he got something in. Because some are really beat up and I don't care how they are "refurbished" lot of times that means hiding stuff that is messed up. Class C's are known for leaking at the clearance lights. When we found one that wasn't beat to hell and they wouldn't budge on price, we would budge until we got a awning, new batteries and a/c. Sales guy couldn't blow his nose without calling corp in AZ. If savings $$ is what you want to do, think twice. Have $$ set aside for repairs, nothing last forever. I can repower for about 4-5k. And nothing messes up a vacation as being broke down. We're retired now so if I get there or break down don't matter to us. Everything breaks down sooner or later. We were at one place and this guy next to us couldn't stop talking about his new diesel sprinter and the 17 MPG he was getting after about 20 min I got out my caculator and I showed him the difference of the price he is really paying. He paid ($112,000) and ($18,500) is what we paid. The difference of driving 4,000-6,000 miles a year (so I'll use 5,000 miles as average)
5,000 miles divided by 17 mpg= 294 gallons of gas
5,000 miles divided by 8 mpg= 625 gallons of gas
difference of gallons 625 - 294 = 331 gallons of gas more per year I have to purchase to go same distance.
So 331 gallons times $4.25 a gallon = $1406.00 more per year.
But his depreciation will more than take care of my high fuel bill for about the next 10 years and then some. Of course he'll have more to trade in when that time comes. But in the mean time he'll get to make payments. And some of the stuff he has in his new RV, when they ever break he'll be waiting for parts for a long time, if his manufacture is still around too even get parts. Most rental units are very basic and just about any RV guy can fix them when they do break. If your familiar Escapees RV club we have a number in the mid 55K so you now we have been at this for awhile and realize that it is not the RV that makes the camping fun but the people. As a side note, we thought we would never buy a rental, one day in the Calif desert we saw a Cruise America rental with about 6 people on top of the roof with lawn chairs watching dirt bikes races and drinking. I told my wife "those things are either made tuff or they do a lot of repair work". We were totally happy with the purchase except here is what I or Cruise America would do different. I would furnish maint work done on unit to the new buyer. I would be more helpful to past buyers. And I wouldn't rent to foreigners until they had a better understanding of driving in the USA. This lady from Norway was renting when we were there. I have to tell you this. She loads up her stuff, gets in starts engine and floors it for about 30 seconds. 30 seconds is a long time to have the pedal to the metal type thing. Everybody there is looking at what is wrong. Sales guy runs over to her. They talk she leaves pulling out normally and he walks comes back laughing. The sales guy said the Norway lady told him in some form of english "it's an automatic transmission. So automatic means it knows what to do, right?. So she gave the gas and nothing happened so she gave it more gas. Makes since to me. No one told her to put trans in drive and she didn't know and had a drivers license. It's an automatic it should know; it's automatic.
I've been thinking about starting a blog about Majestic's and how to fix little stuff and posting our travels to inform people and to improve my writting. Ours is the 23 P model that they7 don't have any more. Like a camper built on a 3/4 ton frame.
Would we do it again the same way YES But that is us and having owned several RV's before this one. But not with the first RV we ever owned. Pay some money to have another RV guy look at it. Have the $$ to fix or replace what breaks. Then after replacing you've got that one component new. Came with generator that will be replaced with Honda's when genny craps out, but runs good for now. Brakes are about 60% left, I did have some front end work done-before I needed a lot of front end done. Better to fix litttle things now before they become big.
Yes we're happy and that is what counts with us. And I'm going to benchmark this thread for the next time somebody asks about buying a rental. We get asked a lot about buying a rental and if it is a good deal. My answer - Depends on what you're trying to get accomplished.
Ours is the perfect size to head up a logging road and camp beside a stream for about 3 days then I'm ready to move on anyways.
One thing we are both disapponited about is the gross weight; come in about 800 pounds from GVWR. No way did I think this this weighted that much.
Just adding on to my post: may 4 2012
put in new faucet kitchen and bath, new drains with strainers , cost approx $65.00 total and 2 hours labor and 1 pot of coffee It is worth the new look verses the "plastic chome finish".
