Buying New

[LOG]

I understand the reasons for buying new. It is nice to be able to buy new. However, for some of us that would like to own a high end, higher quality motorhome, buying used is the only way we would ever be able to own one. If we had to buy new, we would only be able to choose from gas models. Nothing wrong with gas models. However, most manufactures do not include a lot of features in the gas models that they do in the diesel models. I am very happy for the individual that can afford a new high end diesel motorhome. I am also happy for the individual that will only buy new and is limited to and can afford the new gas models. However, for me and a great many other buyers, buying used is the only way we can afford the features we want in a motorhome.

[FLman2]

Have to agree with Effy, bought used only to find out that due to my handicap the unit wasn't going to work for us. Started looking at new and used, and made the decision the next one was going to be new. Found one that had the perfect lay out for us. I suppose we could have spent months looking for a used unit, but alway question why did they get rid of it.
For our overall needs a gasser does every thing we need it to, would a dp be nice, yes if we were going full time but isn't going to happen.
As some one else stated, if it weren't those us that buy new, where would the used ones come from?

[Effy]

I like new. I don't like used. It's that simple. I like things to be "mine". I like warranties. I am very particular, and if that means buying an entry level gasser instead of a used DP then that's what it means. You guys see where I landed and I could not be happier. DW and DS love our unit. Love it. I have talked about nicer Dp's etc, and both of the are adamant that they love the 29.2 and it's gonna stay. Everyone has their opinions and I fully understand the used market and why it makes sense. I have my opinion too and am fully aware of the downside to a new unit. I got it at a good price, and in the entry level market there is much less depreciation due to lower cost. Depreciation only matters if you are selling or trading. I have no plans for either. I bought it cuz it's what I wanted and plan on using it. I didn't buy it to sell it.

[brandonrv]

In hindsight I should have spent more time looking at used no doubt about it.

I'm happy with the entry level coach I got though. We only get to use it about once a month. I have a good 30 years left of working so I wont get to spend too many extended stays in a MH. For now we use it to go camping or if we want to get out of town to another city or wherever. So the reality is I mostly just use it to sleep in and travel with.


I've done a few mods to it already and have some more planned. Next time I upgrade though I'm going to spend a lot of time looking ad used coaches..

[Medico]

Many of us would love new, but we were able to find a much higher end coach by buying used. My coach would have been a pipe dream if it were new, but a few years old brought it within reality for us. We still spent more than the house we sold earlier this year, but now we can take our home with us, and do NOT have to pay the huge property taxes NY was sticking us with. Not paying the property taxes (we were paying over $600 every MONTH) allows us to afford the coach. The world is good now!

[brandonrv]

I'm a new kind of guy, but to be fair I've never been inside a good used. When we first started looking it was used only but there just wasn't anything that was very well taken care of 😞

We are happy with our gasser though. It is lacking a couple features and we've been modifying it a bit.

I do think used will be much more attracive to us when we decide to move feom this one though. I think mh will start to age way better

[Ivylog]

Please buy new so bottom feeders like me will have plenty of used to pick from. Different strokes for different folks. The two new vehicles I ever bought are now over 10 years old and I plan on owning them in another ten years. No, one of them is not the Dynasty as it was bought used and I'll still have it too in ten years.

[Trap]

crasster wrote:
Why buy new?

Funny how so many thing new is so great, then go sit on a seat at a restaurant that thousands of others have sat in.... Then go to the public bathroom....
Then they go back to a new coach and think "I'm the only owner" and sit down with the same britches that they just sat on at the restaurant. LOL. A couple years used, NO problem. Get it for mega bucks off.

There's a lot of reasons folks by new, some factory order to get things just as they want, some plan to use them up thoroughly. Some just do plain old feel like having new. You should be glad some do or finding used would be awful tough.

[Mr_Mark1]

100,000 miles a year... wow, your friend/driver is certainly doing some driving!

MM.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I have a friend who buys a new American Coach American Eagle model every two years.

However, he is involved in auto racing and does not 'camp'. He puts a little over 100,000 miles per year on his coach (or rather his driver does). No, he's not in NASCAR, but plenty of NASCAR drivers know him, and greet him as a friend.

[crasster]

Why buy new?

Funny how so many thing new is so great, then go sit on a seat at a restaurant that thousands of others have sat in.... Then go to the public bathroom....
Then they go back to a new coach and think "I'm the only owner" and sit down with the same britches that they just sat on at the restaurant. LOL. A couple years used, NO problem. Get it for mega bucks off.

[2edgesword]

It becomes even more important when buying used with no warranty to do a thorough pre-purchase inspection. What looks like a great deal can be an expensive mistake if problems are discovered after the fact.

[tkcas01]

I have parked next to the owner of a shiny new $400K Country Coach and he was more than willing to talk about all the issues with it requiring multiple trips back to the dealer to have resolved under warranty, including electrical issues.

So while new "seems" nice, there seems to be an awful lot of value in letting someone else eat the initial depreciation and work out the major bugs. Yes, I bought used, just a year old at the time. Still, amazed at how trouble free it was in general. Of course over the years there has been maintenance, but not alot of initial trouble preventing me from enjoying it. Pretty important since I went full time a month after buying it and I have not been prevented from sleeping in it a single night due to being in the shop.

[smlranger]

The buy used concept has certainly worked for us. Now, if I had plenty of 'stupid money' lying around, we may have bought new. And, at one time we did consider a new gas coach to get 'new'. However, I got the diesel fever and our first DP was gently used and it gave us 8 years of traveling fun. We were blessed with a bit of extra money so we traded up to another gently used high end coach. I've had to fix some things on both of them but we now have a really nice, fully featured, well constructed rig for our retirement travels.

New is very nice, for sure, but carefully shopping for a nice used DP certainly has been satisfactory for us.

[midnightsadie]

there out there just be patient and search all the sites, I like used from a private party , with lots of service records on the rv. from a dealer you only get very little info on the unit. a sales person can not know the history of every rv on the lot. but they,ll tell you a little old lady only drove it to church .