Considering used Coach. How old is too old?

[love2tow]

Good afternoon,
My wife and I are in the infancy stages of research toward an rv purchase. I'm trying to start by casting a wide search net and then narrow it down over the next year or so.
Researching the brand new units seems straight forward minus the variations in build quality within the same companies...

But used coaches are something I don't have much insight on. Coming from travel trailers, I'm very hesitant to buy a used unit. But I have read a bunch of threads on "New or Used Class A" etc... and have been able to get some good information but I still have a couple of questions.

First, I see some coaches by Holiday Rambler, Tiffin, Damen, and others that I really like and seem to be in decent shape. But... they are from 2006-2008 or 8-10 years old. In theory, they are solidly in my price range, look to be in good shape and were pricey units when new. Am I going down a rabbit hole by looking at something this old? Even with good maintenance records and service history, age scares me when I haven't been the original owner.

Second, what is financing like for a used coach? Is there a cutoff age where banks will not lend or will jack the interest rates up to crazy levels?

My goal for my next unit is to keep it for a decent amount of time. I'm 33 and my wife is 34. We have two young kids. (A four year old daughter that LOVES camping and a 1 year old son who loves it but doesn't' know it yet.) We will not be able to upgrade coaches every couple of years so I need to make the right decision the first time. We are coming off of a terrible travel trailer experience (purchased new) so we are a bit timid about this entire process but know it is truly what we want to do.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in our journey.
Mark

[mike_brez]

love2tow wrote:
I took a little time today to follow up on some of the suggestions. I didn't have much time to dig deep, but there are a lot of really cool units out there. I spent some time looking at some of the older bluebirds; those are really cool. Although I have actually expanded my search criteria instead of narrowing it down, it is exciting to see the many possibilities.

This one rolled over after swerving out of the way from a head on collision. It was flipped over back onto its tires and drove it away. The windshield didn't even break. They kicked it out so they could get out.

[mike_brez]

CWDoc115 wrote:
DW & I are on our 2nd coach, & in both cases we found a lightly used class A. Both were Winnebago's. Winnebago is a high quality product with good customer service & online support. Parts are available through winnebagoparts.com. We have been full timing for over a year now & our coach has had no problems even though it is 16 years old.

Winnebago high quality wall to roof separation.

[love2tow]

I took a little time today to follow up on some of the suggestions. I didn't have much time to dig deep, but there are a lot of really cool units out there. I spent some time looking at some of the older bluebirds; those are really cool. Although I have actually expanded my search criteria instead of narrowing it down, it is exciting to see the many possibilities.

[John_Joey]

What I've noticed over the years when it comes to age of motorhomes is it's mostly in the owners head. If you feel comfortable driving a 10 year old car cross country, then a motorhome that old is not a problem. On the other hand, if your 10 year old car is just used for local driving then the motorhome will be also.

The bottom line is no-one ever buys a motorhome thinking it only has 6,000 miles left in it. Well guess what, you can go coast to coast and back again in that distance.

[CWDoc115]

DW & I are on our 2nd coach, & in both cases we found a lightly used class A. Both were Winnebago's. Winnebago is a high quality product with good customer service & online support. Parts are available through winnebagoparts.com. We have been full timing for over a year now & our coach has had no problems even though it is 16 years old.

[vic46]

2gypsies wrote:

vic46 wrote:
Another good reference dealer:

http://demartinirv.com/

Demartini doesn't have a good track record for satisfied customers!

Not sure I would jump to that conclusion! Check out the testimonials on their web site. I recognize it is THEIR web site but I also recognize that trashing a dealer has become an arm chair sport pursued with gusto by some folks. The price comparison opportunity was the point of my post, the integrity of a dealer is determined by interaction with the dealer not the ramblings read on the internet.
Cheers;
Vic

[bsinmich]

Look at my RVs in my signature. My daughter & SIL have a 1982 Bluebird that they take all over. I drove my GMC home from Florida and just had the Roadtrek to NW Wisconsin, all with no problems. Roadtrek goes next week again for 2-3 weeks in Ontario, Canada,

[love2tow]

All of your responses have given me a lot to consider. I'm not a bells and whistles guy so I don't need all the latest things. But, I do appreciate good build quality and functionality. This search process is a lot of fun and I'm learning a little more every day. I stopped on my way home from work just to see a couple of units yesterday. They were all new or, at most, 3 years old. I saw a lot of the cost cutting issues that I realized with the travel trailer and was not too impressed. But then again, they were all "entry level" units. So many options...
Thanks again to all of you.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

Kayteg1 wrote:

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
I would like to have an old diesel greyhound bus conversion from the 70's.

That would be MCI or Prevost.
My 1972 Prevost was never used commercially, but nothing wrong with 1/2 mil miles on 1 million miles engine.

Thanks for the brand info. 🙂

I think they used Detroit Deisels with Allisons in those?

[doublev]

2006-2008 was the heyday of the motorhome industry. While motorhomes today have improvements most of them are minor. Maybe that $400k coach in 2008 had a flat screen but it was 4" thick. Now it is 1" thick or it might even be a curved screen in some of the high end coaches.

Not a lot has changed. If you are getting a 4-slide MH with all the bells and whistles it is comparable in many regards to what is being produced today.

Styling has changed so things are more modern looking today but that is subtle. If the paint is glossy and shiny and the coach looks new (mud flaps are pristine, undercarriage is nice and black) then I have no idea if it is 2 months or 10 years old.

I think in the next few years, though, that will change as the industry is really picking up. Things were very quiet in 2008-2012 and so manufacturers did not spend as much on R&D but tried to keep inventories low and costs to a minimum. Now they are starting to ramp up and we can see interesting things.

Also, it was not just the manufacturers but the suppliers of the product. They still sell the same water pumps, toilets, generators. Maybe they are slight improvements but nothing major. If anything, I find the coaches today have less for the money because 200k in 2007 bought a little more than 200k today.

So.. 2006-2008 is not too old by today's standards. The coach for $400k then would cost $700k today so it does not even exist because people dont want to spend 700k. Actually, as I look at 700k coaches I see cost cutting -- 4 battery house banks with 6V batteries instead of 6 12V batteries. Fewer solar panels (which really wasnt worth the $$ back in 2008 but they put a lot on those coaches). They dont do the kind of stuff like they did in 2006-2008 when people would buy a coach with 0-10% down using a second home mortgage.

I remember in 2006-2008 if you saw a 10 year old motorhome (no slides) it could have been regarded as old because of the huge technology improvement with the slides.

I think things will change now that the industry has been picking up steam (i can tell because campgrounds are starting to get full. cant believe how many are "sold out" when we call now). Hopefully some really cool stuff happens.

[Kayteg1]

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
I would like to have an old diesel greyhound bus conversion from the 70's.

That would be MCI or Prevost.
My 1972 Prevost was never used commercially, but nothing wrong with 1/2 mil miles on 1 million miles engine.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

I would like to have an old diesel greyhound bus conversion from the 70's.

[2gypsies1]

vic46 wrote:
Another good reference dealer:

http://demartinirv.com/

Demartini doesn't have a good track record for satisfied customers!

[udidwht]

nohurry wrote:
Interesting isn't it that banks will finance a new MH out to 15-20 years, but balk at a 10 year old unit? There are banks that will finance older units I'm sure, but I do know that the older it is, the higher the interest rate. Something to consider. Also, if you're buying a diesel, you have a the opportunity to find a nice unit WITHOUT the emission/DEF systems. Good luck.

BECU will finance up to 20 years

[vic46]

Another good reference dealer:

http://demartinirv.com/