First Time Buyer...Updated 03/06/2006
This post is intended to be helpful to the first time buyer of a motor home. For those of you who don't fall into that category or believe this post is incomplete or off the mark, do us all a favor, a...
Forum Discussion
Texasanne,
If you are only going to RV three weeks a year you might consider continuing to rent.
Trading in the first couple years is not a good idea. Buying a one or two year old coach is a good idea. Class C coaches are easy to drive in the 22 to 24 foot size, but when looking a 31 class C seems like you might also look at a Gas type A in the 32 to 34 foot range. The small class A is easy to handle and I suspect (not sure) a 32 foot class A might be a better driver than a similar sized class C. I say this because the A is built on a real truck chassis and the C I think is still a modified van chassis. Others will be better at comparing the two. Time share will not work for me or the wife, but others think it is great. People renting coaches are sometimes beginners and being so they are not likely to take as good care of the coach as the owner wood. It is easy to drag bottom, rub branches and trees for beginners. I would not want just anyone to use my coach even if they did keep it clean, it is not a house, you drive it down roads and if it is not yours you may not drive or take care of it as I would. A novice might not understand it is not a off road unit, might do damage to engine or trans or genny without knowing. As I said time share not for me. As for first time buyer Johnny T has done a great job explaining most of what you need to know, make sure it drives good and you feel good driving same and you are not hindered when you are driving. Good mirrors, nice open windows, small window posts good ground clearance in a coach you like.
John D.
If you are only going to RV three weeks a year you might consider continuing to rent.
Trading in the first couple years is not a good idea. Buying a one or two year old coach is a good idea. Class C coaches are easy to drive in the 22 to 24 foot size, but when looking a 31 class C seems like you might also look at a Gas type A in the 32 to 34 foot range. The small class A is easy to handle and I suspect (not sure) a 32 foot class A might be a better driver than a similar sized class C. I say this because the A is built on a real truck chassis and the C I think is still a modified van chassis. Others will be better at comparing the two. Time share will not work for me or the wife, but others think it is great. People renting coaches are sometimes beginners and being so they are not likely to take as good care of the coach as the owner wood. It is easy to drag bottom, rub branches and trees for beginners. I would not want just anyone to use my coach even if they did keep it clean, it is not a house, you drive it down roads and if it is not yours you may not drive or take care of it as I would. A novice might not understand it is not a off road unit, might do damage to engine or trans or genny without knowing. As I said time share not for me. As for first time buyer Johnny T has done a great job explaining most of what you need to know, make sure it drives good and you feel good driving same and you are not hindered when you are driving. Good mirrors, nice open windows, small window posts good ground clearance in a coach you like.
John D.
Texasanne wrote:
Hi John,
Thank you for your lengthy post. I needed every word of it so don't think it was too long for everybody. You sound so knowledgeable about RV machinery and the features that make DP RVs driver friendly. Please give me your opinion about our situation.
My husband knows little to nothing about vehicles and I'm the one who gets the oil changed etc. Yet he thinks he wants an RV. We rented one and had a wonderful experience with the rental company and living a week in tiny quarters. Our rental was a new Class C 26' Dutchmen. My husband drove and I followed in our car because our destination wasn't far and towing behind a rental is expensive to set up. Now we are going to rent a 31' Dutchmen with a slide and see if we feel less cramped. We're going from Tx to Az so I'll ride along in the RV this time. You can see we're going at this VERY SLOWLY. We don't have money to waste on a bad purchase. We found out the company who rents has a program whereby you can buy an RV (they like Thor Industries products) and put it in their "program". You get it whenever you want. When you're not using it they rent it out and you get half the rental fee mailed to you monthly. So if you only use it 3x a year you can defray the payments by renting it. The company totally maintains the unit which is where I see a real advantage to people like us. But we get little choice in the unit selection other than size. Cost is something like $60,000 (including all taxes) for a new 26' Dutchmen. It goes up from there as the units get larger. They are very STRICT about deposits for rentals. People must not abuse them or the company has a knack for cleaning them because ours was immaculate.
For people as naive about equipment and RVing in general, what opinion do you have on how we should proceed? Also, the choices out there are mind boggling for newbies. Don't you lose a lot of money when you get rid of one?
Any info would be SO-O helpful and I would greatly appreciate your time.
Texasanne
