Any financial advantages of buying new RV vs used?

[Veik]

Let say I want to buy a 55K Class C, NEW and I finance it
In perfect world - no money down, at 5% apr. for 15 years

Pros/Cons as I see them...


PROS
-zero miles on the odo
-new warranty (usually a year on the couch, 3 years on chassis)
-everything is new and has never been used or abused
-resale value???

CONS
-Depreciation hit the first year and the following years, at 5 years
-Interest on the loan
-Sales Tax (Virginia)


What am I missing?

I am trying to look for BENEFITS of buying new.
Are there any?
I am not trying to start heated discussion, just trying to figure it all out for the first time.

Thank you.

[DSDP_Don]

"Desert Captain"......What if I said.....You bought used because of the poor life choices you made and are now stuck buying used second hand stuff. You'd be offended...right? It works both ways. I can afford to buy new and will continue to do so, but it doesn't make either one of us smarter and I don't criticize or give little digs about your choices to buy used as many used buyers routinely do.

Most buy used, because that's what they can afford, yet SOME spend their time telling everyone how smart they are for doing so rather than just say.....I bought what I could afford!!!

Some say they could buy new, but they decided to buy five years older and get a bigger more luxurious coach. I could have bought a used Prevost, but I wanted a new coach with current electronics and equipment, along with a five year engine warranty (more in my comfort zone).

If buying used works for you great, but it gets old being criticized by used buyers while the new buyers bite their tongue. Adding digs at the end of statements, like "money in my pocket", gets old.

[Desert_Captain]

DSDP Don wrote:
The people who buy used always fall back on..... "oh the depreciation of 30% - 50% just isn't worth it". It's an old worn out story. I bought my coach new and the NADA value is still more than what I paid.

The other ridiculous statement...."I don't want to deal with all the new coach bugs and repairs". Really, you'd rather buy something used that literally has bugs, maybe hiding a huge defect so the owner is dumping it....or is it the worn out and outdated equipment you like!

If you buy new great. If you want to buy used, that's great too, but the new buyers really don't want to hear a bunch of stories about how savvy you are buying used.....who cares!

A lot of it depends on how you're going to use it. If you're an occasional user, a used coach may be your best bet. If you really enjoy RVing and look at a new coach as part of that enjoyment.....that's fine too.

The instant depreciation when you drive off the lot is not an old worn out story, it is a fact. Add in the higher registration and sales tax costs (no sales tax in some states on private party sales), and that number can easily be 30% or more.

Yep, most new coaches will have a few bugs but the minor stuff is the first thing folks usually deal with and subsequent owners won't have to. Anything major should be glaringly apparent to a knowledgable buyer and cause to buy something else. If a used coach has worn out and outdated equipment the upgrade and replacement of that gear just figures into the cost of purchase. Mostly lightly used coaches do not suffer from this issue.

NADA pricing is a bigger joke than "Dry" weights. So you bought new and because NADA says so think your coach is worth more than you paid for it.... seriously? :h

Buy new or used, whatever works for you. There are pros and cons to either scenario but having repeated bought lightly used (RV's, Cars, boats etc), over the years with nothing but excellent results and lots of money left in my pocket I will continue to do so.

As always.... Opinions and YMMV.

:C

[DSDP_Don]

The people who buy used always fall back on..... "oh the depreciation of 30% - 50% just isn't worth it". It's an old worn out story. I bought my coach new and the NADA value is still more than what I paid.

The other ridiculous statement...."I don't want to deal with all the new coach bugs and repairs". Really, you'd rather buy something used that literally has bugs, maybe hiding a huge defect so the owner is dumping it....or is it the worn out and outdated equipment you like!

If you buy new great. If you want to buy used, that's great too, but the new buyers really don't want to hear a bunch of stories about how savvy you are buying used.....who cares!

A lot of it depends on how you're going to use it. If you're an occasional user, a used coach may be your best bet. If you really enjoy RVing and look at a new coach as part of that enjoyment.....that's fine too.

[itguy08]

bobcat66 wrote:

Of the four "issues", three have been addressed by Dodge.
The other one appears to be one-off item so far.

Every RV should be this good!!!

I would not hesitate to own one.

I would. It's a Dodge which means bottom of the barrel durability, which it seems that the ProMaster is having in spades. Add to that a FWD based platform and you have a recipe for expensive repairs when the transmission grenades itself.

Then you have the parent company staring to shop around for a merger, casting doubts on their future (what, this the 4th owner for Chrysler and heading for the 3rd bailout of them).

You are better off with something built on the proven Sprinter or Ford chassises.

[Grit_dog]

Advantage to buying new is there will be one more used one for sale in the future for those of us that only buy used!
IMO, a RV warranty gets mostly used for getting the bugs out and then it's pretty dependable, but you'll pay a lot if you're not able to fix stuff on your own.

[mich800]

I may have missed it but did not see any assumptions on the used unit. Hard to compare two competing scenarios with only one identified. So the only advantages I see would be better warranty and potentially cheaper interest rate on a new unit.

[Veik]

bobcat66 wrote:
Veik,

Regarding the Winnebago Trend issues that you mentioned above:

1) TPMS issue - Dodge has a software update that fixed this. Warranty item.
2) Noisy breaks - Dodge has replacement pads for the rear and front ones are on the way to dealers. Warranty item.
3) Coolant/radiator leak - only one report of this on the Trend yahoo group site. According to the ProMaster Forum site, dealers are replacing faulty radiators under warranty.
4) Roof leak - also only one report of this on the Trend yahoo group site.

Of the four "issues", three have been addressed by Dodge.
The other one appears to be one-off item so far.

Every RV should be this good!!!

I would not hesitate to own one.

poorly constructed loft bed alone would be a deal breaker.
best feature by far, yet so poorly constructed.

my local dealer is got one one on the showroom floor - in non working condition.

dealer two hours away, had theirs repaired multiple times.

who wants that hassle.

[bobcat66]

Veik,

Regarding the Winnebago Trend issues that you mentioned above:

1) TPMS issue - Dodge has a software update that fixed this. Warranty item.
2) Noisy breaks - Dodge has replacement pads for the rear and front ones are on the way to dealers. Warranty item.
3) Coolant/radiator leak - only one report of this on the Trend yahoo group site. According to the ProMaster Forum site, dealers are replacing faulty radiators under warranty.
4) Roof leak - also only one report of this on the Trend yahoo group site.

Of the four "issues", three have been addressed by Dodge.
The other one appears to be one-off item so far.

Every RV should be this good!!!

I would not hesitate to own one.

[time2roll]

Veik wrote:
Let say I want to buy a 55K Class C, NEW and I finance it
In perfect world - no money down, at 5% apr. for 15 years

Look at the payments on a FIVE year loan and then decide if you can make it work.
You can still get a 15 year loan if you choose but if you can't afford to pay it off in five maybe the loan is allowing you to spend more than you should.

[Desert_Captain]

I have always been a buy used guy. Just too much money on the table that can be saved by buying lightly used vs new. I do admit to having been prepared to buy new to get exactly what I wanted until our dream coach popped up on the internet with just 6,200 miles. That sort of good luck is rare (our coach was right here in Tucson for Pete's sake), but with the internet you can literally search the entire country for a specific brand or layout.

In addition to the serious $$$ saved buying used and avoiding the enormous drive off depreciation a used coach will be cheaper to register and insure. In some states there is no sales tax on private party sales which can save as much as an additional 8 - 10%. A one or two year old coach has probably had any minor issues dealt with and anything major should be glaringly apparent to a knowledgeable buyer (a professional repurchase inspection is usually a good idea as well).

As noted previously here, if you plan on keeping the coach for an extended period the financial pitfalls of buying new are somewhat mitigated. Unfortunately lots of folks, and not just first timers, buy the wrong coach a couple of times before getting it right and trading up after just a year or two gets prohibitively expensive. Plans and needs can change for any number of reasons and being married to a motorhome out of financial necessity, as in can't afford to sell/trade up can be a big problem.

As always.... Opinions and YMMV.

:C

[dahkota]

We bought our rig new in August of 2014. The 2015's were arriving on the lot so dealers wanted to get rid of 2014s. The dealer we bought from made an offer we couldn't refuse: less than a used 2013 or 2014 (we didn't look at used 2012s or older). I just checked the NADA used low retail for our rig: still more than we paid for it. I looked at RVTrader. There are 3 for sale in our price range; all are older than ours.

To get the best deal, we waited until the new model year was shipping and then we sent inquiries to 10 dealers for the final best price the dealership could offer. We took the second best price as it was within the distance we wanted to drive. Don't assume that you will get a better deal buying used. Financing costs more for used rigs and you will still have to pay sales tax in many states.

[jmtandem]

CONS
-Depreciation hit the first year and the following years, at 5 years
-Interest on the loan
-Sales Tax (Virginia)


What am I missing?

I am trying to look for BENEFITS of buying new.
Are there any?

Depends on where you use the RV and how 'used' it is. Some RV parks that you might like to visit have a ten year rule. Why start out with three, five or even more years of the ten already behind you if those are the places you like to stay at? The few extra dollars for new might for some be well worth the ability to have ten full years on the ledger strarting out.

[cjoseph]

You mentioned financing so:

I don't know if financing works like on cars, but new verses used you usually get a better interest rate on new. This is more true if you are comparing brand spanking new to several years old.

The older you go, the more depreciation you save. If you are going to resell in a few years, you will lose some of that depreciation savings on resale value. Keep it a long time, the savings is real, because both coaches eventually depreciate to residual value. Eventually, a well-kept coach levels out at what it is worth which is next to nothing compared to what it cost new -Arghh.

I would think Florida and Arizona and the like are the mecca for shopping used. Where I live, not so much. I found that for what we were looking for, we had to drive hours to look at used or new.

We bought new so we could get exactly what we wanted. We ordered it, had a few changes made, so we have one of a kind which is worth exactly nothing in the resale world. To us, it was worth the extra expense.

[tragusa3]

We have little experience, as we're on our second unit. But we've been in a low price point and found that depreciation was easily justified by the enjoyment we received.

The large 30-50% depreciation was not true for us. Take care of your stuff, keep records and wait for a buyer that appreciates that.

[fitznj]

One item not discussed is - floor-plan; Our first camper/RV was a used item and we found within 2 years that the floor plan did not suit us. No big deal, we traded it for another unit with a better floor-plan to suit our needs. 5 years later - our needs and age changed and we needed a different floor-plan
(separate bed-room, larger shower/bathroom); We traded for our current model which we have had for 10 years now.

So the point is - if you're going to invest in a NEW RV. make sure the floor plan will suit your changing needs as you get older.
gerry