used RV - carfax shows driven 50,000 miles in one year

[mcmfrv]

My husband and I have a sale pending on an 2004 Class C Ford E350. We were a bit worried with the high mileage (133,000), but the engine sounded great when it was turned on. We came home and ran a carfax on it and found that it was driven 50,000 miles from June 2013 to June 2014.

Now, we are really worried about the miles. Any advice?

Thanks for your help. We are excited about getting into the RV life with our two boys!

[L2R]

Sounds like emotions are driving your desire to buy it.

If you are not planning on putting many miles on it or if it is at the top of your purchase price, then
get the mechanic of your choice to go thru it.

If you are planning on driving it much, I would be concerned with repairs and resale value.
As this is the time of year to buy RVs cheap and many are for sale, I think I might keep looking. Don't know about your area but many are around here without high miles.

[garyhaupt]

Just as an added consideration. Are you going to be able to adequately road test it, right now? You are about to have winter, I would think. Also, assuming you are going to purchase, if you have a CC that provides for a doubling of a warranty on any item purchased using the CC, do that. Then you'll have 60 days, rather than 30.




Gary Haupt

[mikebreeze]

I've got a former rental with 138K on it. When I bought it two years ago it had 134K. The engine is sound and runs well. Yes, I would use the miles as a bargaining chip and no, I would not walk away from it.

[rexlion]

I might prefer a unit that was good enough to be driven 50k miles last year over one that sat unused all year. At least you know it was doing the job for the previous owner.

[midnightsadie]

wake up/ 133k run don,t walk from this deal. this unit has been driven to its limit .

[D_E_Bishop]

Teacher's Pet wrote:
Possibly a rental? If so, maybe "abused" by users with little or no knowledge of proper operation of systems.

IMO, this is true of any used anything you buy from anybody. In what way do you suspect that a system might be "abused" and weren't all of us, users with little or no knowledge of systems at one time.

After reading these forums for the last 14 years, I seem to recall more than a few people professing to being "newbys" and needing help. Wouldn't that put the newbys in the same class as renters and by extension, possibly damaging a system and then selling the abused rig later?

It is my feelings that RV renters are as concerned about causing damage to the rented unit as newbys are and for the same reason. Most users, be they owners or renters are concerned with the extremely high cost of repairs should they damage something. In fact renters for the most part have no choice but to pay for repairs caused by abuse where a owner has the choice of paying for repairs or fixing themselves.

Now if a rig is rented to someone for Burning Man or Coachella, all bets are off.

[klutchdust]

""push these like an ugly sister at a country dance "" well said.

extended warranties benefit one person, the seller. Many are led down the path with the belief and feeling that everything will be ok since I have that warranty.

Consumer reports: 72% of extended warranties are never used. Have one? Ever use it? Did it pay for itself? The best extended warranty is regularly scheduled

maintenance using quality products. I have worked at companied that had fleets, 600 trucks. Allison transmissions with Cummins diesels. Pounded the tar out of

these trucks 24 hours a day moving cargo. Maybe one transmission failure a month and one engine failure every few months out of all those trucks.

I bought a 12 dollar grinder to finish a project at a local discount tool store and for 5 bucks they would replace it for free in the first two years, that was 10 years

ago and it is used regularly. All i do is add a drop of oil once in a while.

.

[Desert_Captain]

Something for the OP to think about...

Probably the single most lucrative, profitable slice of the RV industry are the extended warranties. Dealers push these like an ugly sister at a country dance because they make a huge profit on each and every one. Now consider that they won't sell you one on this RV due to its high mileage and ask yourself "Why?" :h

As noted above there are lots of nice used RV's out there with far less mileage/risk so why take a chance on a high mileage coach who's history is a mystery?

:S

[klutchdust]

I have been doing mechanics work on any and everything that moves from cars to bulldozers. What you need is to find a mechanic You trust, pay him a

fee and have him inspect the drive train of this vehicle. Your comment concerning a reputable RV dealership made me quiver. This vehicle most likely came

from an auction or repo and without documentation you have no idea what you are facing. If you don't feel comfortable paying someone 200 dollars

or so to inspect it then you need to walk away. Do NOT take the dealers word for it. DO NOT spend 5000 on an extended warranty. Spend 5000 on a better

unit. They are out there, be patient. My 2009 Cambria had 17,000 miles on it. I flew from California to Minnesota to pick it up two months ago.

Large rental companies offer units for sale every year that are priced fairly, have all maintenance records and have been good units for those that have

purchased them. The V-10 Fords are an excellent choice and I am not a Ford guy. It's exciting to get a coach but devastating when it becomes a dud.

Have it inspected. Engines can be made to sound "good". It's all a matter of a simple oil change . An experienced mechanic knows what that clunk means,

how the transmission is shifting and any other problems. Look for a neighbor that may have an RV. Ask him to go with you, buy him dinner. Money well

spent. I live not far from two of the most "reputable" and largest dealerships in California, You should hear the stories.

[rockhillmanor]

DCS7 wrote:
In Wisconsin, the dealer is required to give you the previous owners name so you can contact them with questions. You could see if PA has a similar requirement and go from there.

I'd sure like to see that requirement in writing.

Be a cold day in hell I would allow a dealership to give out my personal information to any tom dick or harry they sold my vehicle to. And there would be lawsuits forthcoming if they did.

To the OP:
I have racked up over 50,000 a year on many of my vehicles. That is not an unusual amount of miles. I'll take a higher mileage vehicle over one that has been sitting hands down.

Regarding the maintenance records? When I went full time I started to keep my maintenance records. That lasted about 4 months! Too much of a pain for me.

Not everyone is OCD about keeping maint records. Doesn't mean they haven't taken care of their coach.

[DCS7]

In Wisconsin, the dealer is required to give you the previous owners name so you can contact them with questions. You could see if PA has a similar requirement and go from there.

[mcmfrv]

Thanks for the quick replies! Here is the logic behind what's going on. Actually, we are getting a very good price from a reputable RV dealer, and, with the new revelations, we think that we will be able to get an even better deal. Unfortunately, there are no maintenance records. Nonetheless, it still seems like a good deal to us. The interior was well maintained, the engine looks quite new and sounds smooth and it passed state inspection. The vehicle does come with a 30 day warranty, so we do have some time to figure out what's wrong with it. But, obviously, there is no way for us to know the potential problems with this vehicle unless we get it to a mechanic. We were planning to get an extended warranty, but found that wasn't a possibility due to the high mileage. So it seems logical to us that we could simply save the $5,000 to $6,000 that we would have spent on the warranty for the rainy day when the transmission goes. So, we'd really want to know if our logic make sense to the more experienced RV'ers out there. We'd love to hear any advice you have for us.

[Teacher_s_Pet]

Possibly a rental? If so, maybe "abused" by users with little or no knowledge of proper operation of systems.

[Jim_Shoe]

That works out to about 135 miles every day. Not much for a full timer.

[Dick_B]

My gut says move on unless this is the absolute best RV for your lifestyle (hard to believe) and don't plan to use it much during the year and are really really happy with the price.
BTW are there any maintenance records? Oil changes, etc.
That's my $.03