Buy used RV

PPL motor homes seems pretty reputable from what most people say.

PPL is a bit more than 500 miles from NJ. There are a number of dealers concentrated around Hershey PA along the Penna Tpke.

When buying used, a dealership with a reputation isn't really necessary. What's more important is either being able to do minor repairs and maintenance yourself, or finding a good shop locally. This is where yelp and google reviews come in. Also, visit local campgrounds and ask the manager who they call when someone at the CG needs service.

Craigslist is where most of the buying gets done. RVT and RVTrader have listings that you can look through to get an idea of prices that are generally 20% too high. Research CL scams before you start looking there.

Finally find an inspector to have a look at the rig before you buy. You can find a list at NRVIA.

do a search of this forum. lots of "lemons" discussed with the solution to dump them on the market.
bumpy

search for a good used private owner class A in my eyes a private owner will tell you the truth, where dealers don,t know how to,

midnightsadie wrote:
search for a good used private owner class A in my eyes a private owner will tell you the truth, where dealers don,t know how to,

Sometimes they are just as bad

I have found RCD Pataskala, Ohio to be honest in the service bays. That is my indicator of trustworthiness. Camping World hosed me down horribly and tossed me out the door wet.

Private dealers sure they can lie, but I find them much more honest than a dealer. They have "skin" in the game. It's especially good when the private party has "stories and memories" and seem hesitant to let it go. Never seen a dealer be hesitant to sell.

X2on rcd sales might be well worth the drive

Based on our experience back in 2010, I would definitely also consider private sales.We were looking for a Class A in the 30-35 ft. range and had visited about 12 dealerships within about 80 miles, without finding anything we liked.

As we were losing patience and had almost given up, I saw an ad in our local weekly newspaper. The seller was about 40 miles away. We called him up and drove over to see it - an 8-year-old Georgetown 325. It was an great shape, with only 12,000 miles on the clock and 48 hours on the generator. I test-drove it for 30 minutes or so and we bought it. The owner was the original buyer from new and we couldn't find any problems or defects.

He was asking about $6K less than blue book. When I asked why, he said "that's what I owe on the original loan and we've had our money's worth". He had developed a medical condition that restricted how far away from his doctor he could travel, so they couldn't be Rver's any more. He also said "you'll need new tires immediately - they're the originals." Six new Toyos at our local Les Schwab were about $2300.

We got 4 years and 6000 miles out of it before the $4.50/gallon gas prices forced us out. If I'd waited 18 months, we'd probably still have it with today's gas prices. We took a mega-hit on value when we sold it. We just had one expensive problem during our ownership when the fridge died and it was somewhere around $1400 to replace it.

Just our experience, but there is an alternative to buying from a dealership.

You might read this thread Former rental motorhome thread

Most of us are very happy with our second hand motorhome. We bought our former rental class C from a reputable dealer, though we didn't know that at the time. The only bad part was an attempt by the dealership accountant to sell us a warranty. I turned it down; then a guy I knew in the service end of the business told me the warranty was useless. In 9 years it hasn't visited a garage or RV dealer for any work other than new tires, so even a good warranty would not have been useful.

I was a complete amateur with RVs so could easily have been sold a lemon. Make a friend with experience and knowledge or hire one to accompany you when you find one you like.