I’ve been lurking here for over a year; this is my first post. I’m in the dreaming, scheming, planning phase of becoming a full timer. I can retire in 10 years with a meager pension; working on getting out of debt now to make my limited funds go further towards my nomad life. Last summer we rented a Class C 23’ Coachman Freelander for a 10 day trip through the desert southwest. I learned that it was two small for two adults and three dogs to fulltime in; and, that I’m too old and fat for that over cab bed! :)I’ve pretty much ruled out trailers, because I want the option, during an emergency situation, of getting out of bed and driving away without any outdoor exposure. I’m leaning toward an older, used Class A as our first motorhome. I’m fairly handy, both on the engine and coach side.I’ve been price shopping/daydreaming on rvtrader and have noticed that Class C’s seem to hold their value longer; or put another way, used Class A’s seem to be priced cheaper than comparable Class C’s. I usually set my maximum on a search at $30K, and get many more hits on Class A motorhomes. My question is, why? Am I missing some inherent flaw in Class A’s?

Not sure about the depreciation thing. Maybe it's like luxury cars - they don't seem to hold their value as well as mid-priced models for some reason. As for why to choose a Class A, I'd say two reasons - comfort and storage. I started with a Class C. After 5 seasons, I moved up to an older Class A gasser with no slides. There was more room but all the basement storage was the really big advantage for us. 5 more seasons and we moved up to our current rig, a 37 ft Class A gasser with 2 slides. Slides make a much greater improvement to comfort than you might expect. And, this one has even more storage.

One reason that you find more Class A on the market is there are more Class A out there. When you are traveling look at the class A to class C ratio on the road. I agree with Tal/IL that there is no comparison on the storage. Most of the time when you load the Class C for a trip you are so close to Gross vehicle weight that you are loaded all the time. I have owned 2 class C and stepped up to a class A. Never regretted it. Just my input.

I liked the basement storage, the power of the diesel motor, and having a diesel Onan 6000 watt generator that ran off the main engines fuel tanks in our 40 foot class A Monaco coach.What I didn't like, it was very hard to maneuver and turn in tight areas, more than once I found myself in a parking lot that I could not turn around in and had to back back down the road that I just came up. Even with a rear and side cameras I had to have the wife walk behind the coach as I backed her down the road because the other drivers are just so, to use a nice word, understanding.

When we were looking, I found that the loss of value in motor homes leveled off after a while (ok 15 years is maybe more than "a while") and if it's a high initial quality coach, may actually go back up with some modest upgrades. We liked the older rigs anyway, so for us it was a no brainer. Find a well class A in the $25k range, fix it up the way we like and hit the road. Worry about resale value (if any) when it's used up.

There seems to be an aversion to older class A's. Not sure why, but I think that group seems to like newer models so the older ones suffer in price. Note that I drive a very older class A. FMC's in various states of condition come up from time to time. I have rented a class C an and would not have one in my opinion. I would consider a used FMC gas pusher at $5-10,00 and assume $5,000 to clean up any issues and you will have a great class A at under your budget.PM me if you have any questions.

Why Class A? | Good Sam Community

25 Replies

BigRabbitMan
Explorer
Jan 25, 2017
There seems to be an aversion to older class A's. Not sure why, but I think that group seems to like newer models so the older ones suffer in price. Note that I drive a very older class A. FMC's in various states of condition come up from time to time. I have rented a class C an and would not have one in my opinion. I would consider a used FMC gas pusher at $5-10,00 and assume $5,000 to clean up any issues and you will have a great class A at under your budget.

PM me if you have any questions.
jplante4
Explorer II
Jan 24, 2017
When we were looking, I found that the loss of value in motor homes leveled off after a while (ok 15 years is maybe more than "a while") and if it's a high initial quality coach, may actually go back up with some modest upgrades. We liked the older rigs anyway, so for us it was a no brainer. Find a well class A in the $25k range, fix it up the way we like and hit the road. Worry about resale value (if any) when it's used up.
jamesroadking
Explorer
Jan 24, 2017
I liked the basement storage, the power of the diesel motor, and having a diesel Onan 6000 watt generator that ran off the main engines fuel tanks in our 40 foot class A Monaco coach.
What I didn't like, it was very hard to maneuver and turn in tight areas, more than once I found myself in a parking lot that I could not turn around in and had to back back down the road that I just came up. Even with a rear and side cameras I had to have the wife walk behind the coach as I backed her down the road because the other drivers are just so, to use a nice word, understanding.
Gooding__R
Explorer
Jan 24, 2017
One reason that you find more Class A on the market is there are more Class A out there. When you are traveling look at the class A to class C ratio on the road. I agree with Tal/IL that there is no comparison on the storage. Most of the time when you load the Class C for a trip you are so close to Gross vehicle weight that you are loaded all the time. I have owned 2 class C and stepped up to a class A. Never regretted it. Just my input.
Tal_IL
Explorer
Jan 24, 2017
Not sure about the depreciation thing. Maybe it's like luxury cars - they don't seem to hold their value as well as mid-priced models for some reason.

As for why to choose a Class A, I'd say two reasons - comfort and storage. I started with a Class C. After 5 seasons, I moved up to an older Class A gasser with no slides. There was more room but all the basement storage was the really big advantage for us. 5 more seasons and we moved up to our current rig, a 37 ft Class A gasser with 2 slides. Slides make a much greater improvement to comfort than you might expect. And, this one has even more storage.

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Why Class A?

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