The math for buying used
There are all sorts of reasons for buying used or new. For the beginning RV'ers I will post some math on how it worked out for "me."
So my 86 TT has had all the fun vacationed out of it. Several trips to Alaska on the Al-Can Hwy and about another 100K worth of traveling the states has finally taken it's toll.
I knew I wanted another TT but with a kid in college that wants to be a dentist and just putting the wife through school it was going to be tough.
I didn't want to go over 20K. I also want quality and not junk. What I wanted was about 40K+ new. 100% over my budget. Not going to happen.
I started looking for used in the market. Wife found an 2014 Snow River 31 footer for 21K. NICE trailer! Only had a few trips on it. It was like brand new!
Now think of this. This trailer sold for 41K when new. 41K!!!! In 3 years it lost half of it's value! HALF in 3 years! That's crazy to "me"!
Now I know some of you out there can lose 7K a year in depreciation and not even miss it. Well that's way more than my vacation budget for the year for me so I can't do that!
We were going to go look at this Snow River but then an Arctic Fox popped up. Just what I wanted. A SUPER clean AF that had a LOT of extras. Like thousands of dollars worth of extras! This trailer was almost half of what they wanted for the Snow River and a 1/3 of the new price. This trailer was almost 35K when new!
The wife really wanted the SR but I explained to her that the extra 10 grand we save on the AF can buy a lot of fuel and camp fees. We went and looked at the AF and it was in perfect condition!
I feel we made a great deal on it and will have a quality RV for years to come. Not only that but all of the bugs have been worked out be the previous owner if there were any.
I guess what I'm trying to tell beginners is; if you're on a budget you can find some great buys out there if you're patient and don't have to have the latest on the market.
(PS: took my new to me TT on a 1,000 mile trip last week and everything work perfectly except the radio. Oh, and it could use a new set of batteries.)
If you are new to this game have fun whether you have a tent or a million dollar class A. That's what it's all about!
So my 86 TT has had all the fun vacationed out of it. Several trips to Alaska on the Al-Can Hwy and about another 100K worth of traveling the states has finally taken it's toll.
I knew I wanted another TT but with a kid in college that wants to be a dentist and just putting the wife through school it was going to be tough.
I didn't want to go over 20K. I also want quality and not junk. What I wanted was about 40K+ new. 100% over my budget. Not going to happen.
I started looking for used in the market. Wife found an 2014 Snow River 31 footer for 21K. NICE trailer! Only had a few trips on it. It was like brand new!
Now think of this. This trailer sold for 41K when new. 41K!!!! In 3 years it lost half of it's value! HALF in 3 years! That's crazy to "me"!
Now I know some of you out there can lose 7K a year in depreciation and not even miss it. Well that's way more than my vacation budget for the year for me so I can't do that!
We were going to go look at this Snow River but then an Arctic Fox popped up. Just what I wanted. A SUPER clean AF that had a LOT of extras. Like thousands of dollars worth of extras! This trailer was almost half of what they wanted for the Snow River and a 1/3 of the new price. This trailer was almost 35K when new!
The wife really wanted the SR but I explained to her that the extra 10 grand we save on the AF can buy a lot of fuel and camp fees. We went and looked at the AF and it was in perfect condition!
I feel we made a great deal on it and will have a quality RV for years to come. Not only that but all of the bugs have been worked out be the previous owner if there were any.
I guess what I'm trying to tell beginners is; if you're on a budget you can find some great buys out there if you're patient and don't have to have the latest on the market.
(PS: took my new to me TT on a 1,000 mile trip last week and everything work perfectly except the radio. Oh, and it could use a new set of batteries.)
If you are new to this game have fun whether you have a tent or a million dollar class A. That's what it's all about!
