Destination limits due to coach size

jplante4 wrote:

Miramichi cruiser wrote:
I had considered a unit that was 6-8 years old but I have fear of things not working in the unit and cost of ownership (maintenance, repairs, fuel consumption etc...) Do you think I am wrong to be so concerned?

I'll address this one. IMO, a 6-8 year coach is the sweet spot. The original owner has gone through the warranty repairs that seem to be inevitable in the big rigs. I believe the factory counts on the first owner and the dealer to correct most quality issues with the coach. In general, the more you pay for the coach originally, the fewer glitches there are. But it's never trouble free.

So, by buying a 6-8 year old coach, you're getting on after it's been debugged and before the major components start wearing out. If the original tires are there, they will need to be replaced regardless of mileage, but most everything else should give you a couple of years of service. This assumes that the original owner performed the required preventative maintenance.

If you buy a new coach OTOH, the depreciation will put you underwater for several years and you'll have to do the debugging yourself. You won't see many that are less than 6 years old because they can't be sold for what is owed on them. In some cases a repo'd coach will be 3 years old, but you really don't know anything about the rig, and contacting the previous owner is probably not going to help.

Well I am a bit reserved in accepting those statements carte blanche albeit I do believe that recalls or warranty work will be inevitable with a newer model. Looking at it from a numbers perspective 2013's suffer the relative same depreciation as 2008's if kept for 4 years, it's approx 60-80k. I realize there is more initial investment and I have to decide if that is worth it or not.

Thanks,

Steph