Like anything there are two sides to this. There are those who will ONLY buy new and those like myself that would rather buy used and maintain them. I am thankful for those who will only buy new because if it weren't for them, then I wouldn't be driving my coach, my wife's car, my Duramax or my Jeep.
Our first two coaches were at or past the ten year mark when we purchased them. I did a lot of modifications/upgrades and always seemed to get compliments when in campgrounds. We started with well kept/maintained units that just needed a little TLC. Our 1991 Beaver(which we purchased in 2000) was sixteen years old when we sold it and looked as good as when it rolled out of the factory. It had 129k on the odometer and was/is still running strong, although the current owners are not as meticulous about the cosmetics as we were so it doesn't look quite as good now.
Our current coach we purchased at four years old (55k miles) and it was neglected which is why we got such a good deal on it. It wasn't necessarily abused but not overly maintained. It had a few scratches/dings on the body/compartment doors that I had to repair/paint and buff out and the wheels I don't think had ever had a coat of polish on them. The original owners did however have it serviced regularly. It took me the better part of one full year to get it where it rivaled anything on the road. I have kept it that way ever since. I perform ALL of the maintenance and repairs on it so I know they are done correctly as well as to keep the costs down. If it weren't for me doing the repairs trust me I couldn't afford the coach.
Our current coach is ten years old now and is starting to show the signs of needing a paint job which we are planning on doing in the next 3-4 years. It has 95k on the odometer and is rock solid, everything functions flawlessly. We should have it paid off in around 3 years. I was in to my local dealer a few weeks ago and he was trying to get me into a newer model that he had on his lot. I told him I was very happy with our current coach and the new ones really didn't have anything nicer to offer. I told him we were going to have our current coach painted in a few years and he told me I was crazy for dumping that kind of money into it, saying we would never get it back out in resale. While I may agree with that, I still think putting $20k into a solid coach that will be paid for makes better financial sense than spending $200k plus to upgrade to something that isn't necessarily better, just newer.
I am 45 and my wife is 44 and we are hoping to retire in around 10 years. Hopefully this coach will still be in great shape but we would like to upgrade one more time after we retire unless this coach is still going strong although I don't think 30+ years is as viable as 20 years.
Mike.
