Have you bought a ten year old or older rv?
In reading the many post on this site I hear that an rv older than 10 years is preatty much done. Would like to hear of your experiances. Good or bad. Thanks
Forum Discussion
Our first motorhome, a 31' Coachmen Class C, was a 2005 bought as "new old stock" (two years old but never sold) in 2007. It served us well but we bought it when the economy, and RV market, was up just before the crash. Though it has some issues almost from day one, it served us well but we paid way too much and finally felt we needed to get rid of it and it's payments.
We went a year and half without an RV before we bought our current 2005 Winnebago Class-A in April of 2015. We shopped and shopped, doing our initial searches online and then checking the units at dealers within a 200 mile radius of home. We saw a lot of older units that were, quite literally, either "done" mechanically or cosmetically, or both.
When we found our current unit, we knew it was "the one" right off the bat. The pride of previous ownership and fastidious maintenance showed throughout the unit. The tires were only a few years old, the upholstery really does not show any wear, it's low mileage and mechanically sound, and shows no sign of having ever had a roof leak. I also have the advantage of being a decent "shade tree mechanic" and having worked at an RV dealership so I knew what to look for and what to avoid. It was also within the price range we wanted to spend.
We couldn't be happier. It makes up for everything we disliked about our old Class-C having cavernous basement storage, large capacity tanks, and most importantly 3,000 lbs CCC. With a few small trips to remote astronomy sites interspersed in between, our first BIG trip was to Tucson for our daughters UA graduation. We towed many of her belongings back with us in a U-haul. Our second big trip, also towing a U-haul, was to Portland to take those belongings to her new home. The ol' girl ran great.
I plan to keep it for quite awhile and will soon be applying some custom graphics (not quite a wrap) from a local shop.
We went a year and half without an RV before we bought our current 2005 Winnebago Class-A in April of 2015. We shopped and shopped, doing our initial searches online and then checking the units at dealers within a 200 mile radius of home. We saw a lot of older units that were, quite literally, either "done" mechanically or cosmetically, or both.
When we found our current unit, we knew it was "the one" right off the bat. The pride of previous ownership and fastidious maintenance showed throughout the unit. The tires were only a few years old, the upholstery really does not show any wear, it's low mileage and mechanically sound, and shows no sign of having ever had a roof leak. I also have the advantage of being a decent "shade tree mechanic" and having worked at an RV dealership so I knew what to look for and what to avoid. It was also within the price range we wanted to spend.
We couldn't be happier. It makes up for everything we disliked about our old Class-C having cavernous basement storage, large capacity tanks, and most importantly 3,000 lbs CCC. With a few small trips to remote astronomy sites interspersed in between, our first BIG trip was to Tucson for our daughters UA graduation. We towed many of her belongings back with us in a U-haul. Our second big trip, also towing a U-haul, was to Portland to take those belongings to her new home. The ol' girl ran great.
I plan to keep it for quite awhile and will soon be applying some custom graphics (not quite a wrap) from a local shop.
