Used MH - how old is too old?

Found my Itasca 5 years old .19,000 miles . Found original sales invoice and for 5 years use the original owner took a 32K hit. He would have been better off renting.

Keep in mind they all will need repairs regardless of age. Most items can be done by a DIY kind of guy. Dealers are in it to sell and hope they never see you again.

They buy rigs at auction and dump them for a profit. Extended warranties are a joke. After the exclusions they cover very little.

My rig was in Minnesota and I'm in California, well worth the plane ride. Private party.

X2, a used unit will save you lots of money and won't put you in debt and/or have funds left over to enjoy your purchase. I turst a private party much more than a dealer who really doesn't know much about the used units they are selling, at least not as much as the former owner did. I've purchased new automobiles and have been quite pleased, but all the RV's we've owned were purchased used from private parties and felt that we got a good deal and saved lots of money too.

From this post and your others, sounds like you are doing your research and really thinking this through. I believe you will end up with a good choice for your family.

In my opinion, 3 to 5 years old seems to be the sweet spot, someone else has taken the big initial depreciation hit. And the rig is still pretty new.

But some others thoughts you may consider.

depreciation only counts if you sell it

The concept of usage, if you use it, enjoy it, you will more than get your money out of it.

We bought 4 years old 10 years ago. Paid 31K or 32K I think, probably with repairs , tires etc now in about 40K. Now worth maybe 16 or 17K. But the things we have done the places we have gone, well worth that 23K, or so.

Buy it once, buy it right, get what will work for you long term. If you buy it wrong and trade in a few years that will really kill you.

And lastly in my opinion, don't buy so much rig that it is all you can afford to do. ( no other non motor home trips, redlining the budget)

Get something you can easily afford, and you don't feel like you have to use it all the time.

As I said, we have had ours 10 years now, will probably keep it another 15. By that time. it will be worth about 2 bucks. But in my opinion, it will have been money well spent

johnnyrv wrote:
i would buy new either the winnie 22r or 25b both in your price range

yep, all of my RVs have been purchased new. I don't want to buy somebody else's problems/lemons. also like new warranty and if you are going to finance it, a lower % rate.
bumpy

i would buy new either the winnie 22r or 25b both in your price range

Well, 90s would be the cheapest possible option perhaps.

Say I want to spend 40K, and have it last 5+ years, what would I be looking at?

personally, i never buy anything new. let someone else take that deprecation hit.


I do however think that there is a middle ground for what your are doing. Instead of looking for a 90's why not look for a 2010's? thousands off of new. perhaps even better the bugs are worked out of it.

just a thought.

I,d go private owner, I trust them more than a dealer, a dealer really don,t no anything about the used units they sell. by talking to a owner you can get a feel if he,s bull ****ing you, low miles great shape . I,m for a private seller.