Have you bought a ten year old or older rv?

You guys tell of some very important purchases of older rvs. It is good to know that old rvs are still a good buy if they are in good shape. It sounds like many are still in good shape. Thanks for the continued replies.

I bought mine at 12 years old. In two months she will be 17 years old
and I would buy here again, even today, if I was in the market.

We bought our rig when it was 10 years old, only 9 model years but 10 years on the road. We took it to AK, 12K miles, around USA, 13K miles and as mentioned, a lot more maintenance that a 5 year old.

2005 Fleetwood Terra 26Y. It is in incredible shape and runs excellent. Very happy with my "old" motorhome.

We bought a !997 Foretravel U270 in 2004 with 42k on it and have put 62k miles on it, summer 2014 we did 9K miles to the northwest and back to Florida, when we want to upgrade we will buy another Foretravel for the same reason we bought this one, the build quality is second to none,all solid wood cabinets, 8 outboard air bag,8 shocks transmission retarder, all wheel disc brakes, these are some of the things I wanted in a coach.

My decision to purchase an older motorhome was strictly financial -- we couldn't afford a new (or newer) one.

I chose a DP over a gasser for all the reasons expressed in the DP vs gasser threads.

I don't worry about my Cummins engine or Allison transmission lasting for as long as I drive it. However, at 10+ years be aware that other RV systems may need maintenance or replacement.

For example, I replaced the original Dometic fridge with a residential, and when one of my ACs started acting up, I replaced both. There are other things that age-susceptible -- rooftop plastic (vents) start disintegrating, carpets need replacing, etc.

Despite all the upgrades, I still "saved" money buying old over new, but mind the "small" stuff.

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.

I bought a 20 year old Roadtrek in 2014 and a 40 year old GMC in June this year. I sold my '03 Mountain Aire that I had 11 years in May of '15. The GMC is getting refurbished now and the RT is ready to go cross country tomorrow.

Thanks for the valuable advise. All of you have been so very helpful. Thanks guys and gals.

Purchased our '97 Safari in 2008 at eleven years of age. Outstanding build quality of coach, and quality chassis. CAT engine, Allison transmission. I am the third owner. Second owner did not have records of maintenance and so upon purchase I immediately had ALL maintenance performed at a cost of about $2000. Replaced tires two years later. Therefore my approximate cost on top of initial purchase price was about $5500 which included maintenance items and six new tires.
Reflecting back upon my decision to purchase an older, high quality coach, is a good decision, and I would do it again.
If I was in market today, I would NOT consider a new coach, but a used unit between five and ten years old. BUT, and it is a big BUT do your due diligence to insure the condition of the coach being considered.
Before I made an offer to purchase my coach I had it completely checked by a CAT and Allison dealer. I did my own coach check. Drive the unit. Make sure ALL appliances work, check ALL electrical outlets, lights! LOOK, LOOK, CHECK EVERYTHING - ASK QUESTIONS. Check for roof leaks and condition of roof. Check air conditioning units, coach and chassis! Look underneath the coach. Look for fluid leaks, stains!
You are spending a lot of money so take your time and put your coveralls on and get under the coach and spend time looking.