Any deals?

My comments in red..

Vanished wrote:
I appreciate the insight and suggestions so far... Luckily I don't 'need' to buy one but with 'some' inventory back on the lots and minimal 'sales' as winter is approaching in this region I was hoping for a little better pricing.

You will not find "discounted" pricing due to the season, just does not happen.

While it is "winter" in PA right now and the average daily temp in PA during November is in the 40s, however in Florida, Texas, Arizona, ect their average temps ARE considerably higher during Winter and those are the places a lot of folks "flock to" (AKA "Snowbirds"). In the summer time folks from south often migrate NORTH to get away from the southern heat..

RV dealers in the KNOW THIS. They don't panic at the end of a "season" and create huge blowout prices now days.

You can't base RV prices on the old retail model of say Holiday supplies from the past where stores would have a basement bargain bin pricing sale to get rid of Holiday stuff that did not sell. Even that model has been dead for years, now days retailer remove the Holiday stuff from shelves and it gets put into a backroom or even a semi trailer until the next yrs Holiday season.. They would rather sit on the inventory even tho it may cost some carrying costs rather than take a huge discount to unload it quickly.

After season sales have been shelved for yrs for most everything except perhaps perishable seasonal food items which cannot be held til the next yr.

It's not as much as what I can afford (I'm shopping apples and oranges) but moreso about getting a 'decent' deal to have equity in case I need to join the thousands of people unloading the unit next summer IF the economy crashes... I have been watching used units as well and still shopping around, was just curious what others expectations were.

From the purest sense of "finances" there is ZERO "EQUITY" in ANY RV, PERIOD.

It IS a loss the second you sign the paperwork to buy it and all the way to the point you sign the paperwork to sell it.

A RV is a "recreational vehicle", it is a TOY, it is not a appreciating type of asset and will never be worth more than what you paid for it.

If you are looking for "equity" in a RV, you are going to be extremely disappointed. Equity is never the reason you buy a RV, period.

"Equity" means you have an INCREASE in value of your asset over what you paid for it. There are very few items in life that actually can predictably have some increase in value or "Equity" and RVs are not on that list.

If you are concerned about what happens if the economy crashes and if you are going to get your money back out of a RV (selling) then a NEW RV is not for you. In this case, buy USED and BUY IT CHEAP, BUY IT FOR CASH, do not take out a loan.. Then you won't be upside down on a loan which makes unloading it far easier to do..

With TOYs like a RV if you cannot afford to lose money, you should skip owning a RV.


I would be a little concerned about the warranty aspect of buying wholesale, so that's why I've been trying to work with our local dealers. I also understand the manufacturing complexity and increased costs on EVERYTHING in life now (bikes, boats, RV's, vehicles, lumber, houses, etc). Just too bad our pays didn't go up like that! ;) But it sounds like I'm on the right path and deals are simply harder to come by than the last few RV's I've bought... The most annoying part so far is so many 'contact us for pricing' on all the ads!

Buying new just for a "warranty" is pretty much like tossing a lot of money away. Getting warranty work done on a RV can be an extremely frustrating hassle.. You have to drag it back to the dealer, they look at it, order parts and it SITS on the dealer lot until the parts come in and then it may take time for the dealer to schedule the repair.. You can easily be without your new RV for MONTHS..

The "Contact for Pricing" is nothing new, car dealers HAVE done the same thing since the first vehicle came to be, this is also pretty much a standard business model for a considerable amount of products and businesses..

This practice is even more common now days when looking up stuff on the Internet.. They WANT your phone, email and other contact info so they can spam the heck out of you and when you are not looking they will sell that info to other businesses.. YOU BECOME and are the "product" and the sale is just a small part of the deal.. YOUR contact information can be worth more than the value of the sale.

On edit..

My comments in red are also the main reason that I recently retired at age 55, I spent peanuts on non essential items like a RV, bought old used ones, fixed them up and then used them for camping.

My last two vehicles I bought were 2019 and 2020 F250s to replace older high mileage vehicles and paid CASH (NO LOANS)for both of those vehicles..

Buy a RV because you wish to go camping in one, pay only what you can afford to lose, expect zero monetary value back if you need to sell.

I am not "rich" by any means and my income was most likely a lot less than most folks on this forum.. I was very smart in what I spent on, when spent and didn't waste money I couldn't afford to lose on toys like a RV.