To answer the original question:
If you plan to drive it every day and rely on it as your SOLE source of transportation wherever life takes you, then you should probably spend a little more for something with less miles than most ex-rentals. Then again, if you fall under this category, you are probably retired and planned on spending just less than your house mortgage on the RV anyway for something luxurious and new. Or maybe you are buying it INSTEAD of your house.
On the other hand, if you are getting an RV as a third or fourth vehicle in your household, and just something that gets you to the mountains or the lake once a month and do not need 4.5 slides and a power paper towel dispenser, then it is very tough to beat the value of an ex-rental. I know, because before buying our Majestic (Cruise America's model after being refurbished but built by Thor/Fourwinds) we researched the holy %& out of this issue. Bottom line: any private party that had a 4 or 5 year old Class C for sale anywhere, wanted at LEAST 10 thousand dollars more than what we bought ours for. The trade off? Ours has a few more miles and has been rented by unknowns. We personally would rather buy something that has NOT been sitting and has undergone scheduled inspections and maintenance than something sitting in the backyard by the fence in the weeds for years.
Ours had over 100,000 miles on it. Had been gone through by the company and even had the entire front end replaced (tie rod ends, ball joints, etc). All new tires, paint, graphics, bunk mattress as well as two pages of other things replaced (they gave us copies of all work involved). I wont say the price we paid out of respect for our saleswoman who went to great lenghts to get it done, but I will say this unit NEW is well over $50,000 and we paid less than 20% of that. How is 80% off MSRP? Good deal? Oh the miles scare you? Well consider this: the Ford E series drivetrain (ours has the sought after Torqshift trans too) is easily good for 200,000 miles plus if well maintained. These units are well maintained. Our unit has another 80,000 miles to hit that mark. How long will it take us to hit that mark when we go once a month during the boating/camping season? Oh, about 20 years. Longer than we plan to keep it thats for sure. And we get a nice NEW looking RV that is only a few years old and has all the latest technologies and drives great. For occasional use, you just will not find a better deal on motorhomes.
