Looking for our first RV and suggestions ...
Hello All, We are looking to purchase our first RV here in the next few months, well next spring sometime. We are going to start out with just driving short distances within a 4 state area in ...
Forum Discussion
Just a few random points, coming from someone that bought their first class A, a 28 ft 2002 Safari Trek 2830 last year after spending about half a year seriously shopping. Overall we are in a similar position, I am semi-retired, my wife works full time at a local government job and gets over a month of vacation days per year. On the size, yes you can go places in larger coaches, however with a sub 30 ft coach (29'3" actual bumper to bumper), and a 178 inch wheel base, I can almost squeeze into a standard parking space if I can back in and overhang the curb, sticking out no more than a large crew cab pickup does when parked nose in. This has let me get into lots of places that I could not go without pulling a car around otherwise, though certainly there are many places that are still off limits.
Like everyone else says up your budget, we started shopping in the $10,000 - $15,000 range, and ended up spending $20,5000 (well more like $22,300 after adding retrieval cost from Florida 1100 miles away). The coach had only been listed for 2 days by a private party when I spotted the ad with an asking price of $25,000, I offered $19,500, and we settled on $20,500. This may sound like a lot for a then almost 15 year old coach, however it had $10,000 worth of parts added since 2014, including new carpet, seating, refrigerator, flat panel tv, tires, batteries, inverter, 400 watts of solar panels, and $2,600 worth of suspension upgrades, plus assorted other stuff.
It really is amazing how much more you get for your money when you look at coaches listed for sale at $15,000 vs $25,000 or $30,000.
Now you asked about maintenance cost, I spent right at $6,500 in my first year of ownership, and put right at 6,500 miles on the coach. Of that about $1,500 - $2,000 were things I would deem as necessary, another $2,000 were probably a good idea to do, and $2,500 were bells and whistle upgrades that one could live without.
In the necessary column I put repair of the dash air conditioner (I live in the south), repair of the brakes, flush and fill all the fluids as the previous owner only had a partial service history (oil, coolant, transmission, power steering, brake, diff, ...). In the good idea category I included new shock absorbers, and investing in a spare tire and carrier as I ended up needing the spare in the middle of Nebraska after hitting a pot hole in a construction zone with 2 way traffic on the interstate and no way to miss it. Bells and whistles, are TPMS tire sensors, SeeLevel 709 tank monitor, new LED headlights, gas BBQ grill, camping table and chairs, ...
p.s. don't forget other costs of ownership, insurance (I am paying $590 per year, but this varies considerably with location, ...), storage depending on part of the country outdoor storage can run up to $250-$300 per month in major cities, in other places it may be 1/4th of that. Also account for those wear items that age out like batteries and tires, as well as those longer term recurring costs like resealing the roof every X years (X depending on type of roof, climate, storage conditions...)
Like everyone else says up your budget, we started shopping in the $10,000 - $15,000 range, and ended up spending $20,5000 (well more like $22,300 after adding retrieval cost from Florida 1100 miles away). The coach had only been listed for 2 days by a private party when I spotted the ad with an asking price of $25,000, I offered $19,500, and we settled on $20,500. This may sound like a lot for a then almost 15 year old coach, however it had $10,000 worth of parts added since 2014, including new carpet, seating, refrigerator, flat panel tv, tires, batteries, inverter, 400 watts of solar panels, and $2,600 worth of suspension upgrades, plus assorted other stuff.
It really is amazing how much more you get for your money when you look at coaches listed for sale at $15,000 vs $25,000 or $30,000.
Now you asked about maintenance cost, I spent right at $6,500 in my first year of ownership, and put right at 6,500 miles on the coach. Of that about $1,500 - $2,000 were things I would deem as necessary, another $2,000 were probably a good idea to do, and $2,500 were bells and whistle upgrades that one could live without.
In the necessary column I put repair of the dash air conditioner (I live in the south), repair of the brakes, flush and fill all the fluids as the previous owner only had a partial service history (oil, coolant, transmission, power steering, brake, diff, ...). In the good idea category I included new shock absorbers, and investing in a spare tire and carrier as I ended up needing the spare in the middle of Nebraska after hitting a pot hole in a construction zone with 2 way traffic on the interstate and no way to miss it. Bells and whistles, are TPMS tire sensors, SeeLevel 709 tank monitor, new LED headlights, gas BBQ grill, camping table and chairs, ...
p.s. don't forget other costs of ownership, insurance (I am paying $590 per year, but this varies considerably with location, ...), storage depending on part of the country outdoor storage can run up to $250-$300 per month in major cities, in other places it may be 1/4th of that. Also account for those wear items that age out like batteries and tires, as well as those longer term recurring costs like resealing the roof every X years (X depending on type of roof, climate, storage conditions...)
