"Don't Buy New"

[Jayla]

I notice a lot of you say not to buy a brand new rv unit. I'm "assuming" this is because it takes a while to shake all the right-out-of-the-factory bugs out of it and locate all the problems associated with the newness. Today, however, I went on my first real shopping expedition for a fifth-wheeler and most of the warranties on brand new units are only for the first year. Wouldn't that be the wise time to buy - when stuff is still under warranty and you don't have to pay out of pocket for repairs? Thanks for your thoughts.

[hellfirehydra]

IndyCamp wrote:
If it has wheels or floats, we buy it new.

That's our approach and that's what works for us. Your mileage may vary.

Do what works for you and don't put much stock into most of the advice you get on this forum, or the internet in general. Remember, nobody here but you has anything at stake in your situation.

Definitely understandable!

We bought ours new and I have no regrets. We tend to keep vehicles, toys, etc for 10+ years. I have no problem paying for a new car/truck/trailer that is EXACTLY what I want and keeping it for 10-15 years. If you're a person that gets bored with your toy(s) after 2 years and sells, don't buy new!

It probably would have taken 2 years to find the exact layout and options we wanted in a travel trailer.

[IndyCamp]

If it has wheels or floats, we buy it new.

That's our approach and that's what works for us. Your mileage may vary.

Do what works for you and don't put much stock into most of the advice you get on this forum, or the internet in general. Remember, nobody here but you has anything at stake in your situation.

[lanahi]

There is one good thing about buying used, and it is the biggest one, IMO: The ability to pay completely for a rig immediately or within a couple of years leads to a great sense of financial freedom. When you have to pay monthly for years to own the rig, it could very well take away some of the enjoyment of "owning" it. Especially when you are a full-timer, it's nice to own your home outright, no matter what your economic situation will be in the future. You can't put a price on that sense of security.

[Crabbypatty]

I do not buy new as you lose 20% as soon as you drive off the lot. They make it easy to lose money by offering cheap financing etc. I only buy with cash, if I cant afford I cant have it, and it does take us a bit longer to find what we want, however, we save a lot of money that way. We don't need the latest and greatest, just what fits our needs. That being said if I win the lottery where money doesn't matter to me, I would walk in and buy a custom Prevost bus........

If your fearful as you may not have the experience bring someone who does with you once you found a rig that you like. Dont pay for anything until all systems are fired up and tested to your satisfaction.

[LarryJM]

DownTheAvenue wrote:
Buy new only if you can afford to loose 30% to 40% of your purchase price over the next two years. There are plenty of two year old units, barley used, that will save you that 30% to 40%. That is a lot of money!

IMO those numbers are vastly exagerrated in many cases. My 2007 had MSRP of right at $27,500 and I purchased it new in 2007 for $19,000 (30% off MSRP). Today 8 years later the NADA low retail is almost $13K with the average retail being $15.5K.

Thus I purchased it new for 30% off MSRP and it has only lost between 18% (avg. retail) and 30% (low retail) off my purchase price in 8 YEARS.

When we bought this trailer I traded in my 1981 that was bought used in 1982 and the dealer gave us $1,500 sight unseen. We bought that trailer for $6,000 and used it for 25 years!

Larry

[lanahi]

I would buy new if I could. I did buy a 1998 travel trailer that looked new inside and out and very clean, used by an older couple just for vacations. Everything works great...except the oven. The oven door doesn't close completely and needs new hinges. But, of course, they don't manufacture them any longer and no one has them. For lacking a couple of door hinges, I have to buy a new oven!

Here's what I was told in an email from Atwood: "Atwood only offers repair parts for any particular range / cooktop etc. for an estimated 7 years after the model is discontinued being manufactured. So for example they will offer 100 hinges for your oven door which is their estimation of repair parts needed for the seven year repair cycle. If those 100 are used in a time span that is half of the seven years, they still will not manufacture more and the price of a part increases substantially as their stock decreases. This is why a $2.00 replacement burner knob now sells for $50.00 in some cases."

I had an older RV before this one and the discontinued and impossible to find replacements were a very expensive headache. Repairs added up, when they could be made at all. This is planned obsolescence that you deal with all the time with used RVs. At least with a new model, you don't have to worry for several years about parts being available after the warranty wears off or have so many hassles with repairs.

And just knowing you are the first one to use it really would be nice! And I'd like to have exactly what I want instead of settling for something less than you want. Well, maybe some day...

[Dustytuu]

We have had four 5th wheels and the last 2 were bought new. We prefer new. No one but us has

used everything in our new 5th wheel.
When buying new , check out how much formaldehyde is used in building of some brands.
We never had any problems with this in either of our new 5th wheels. Some entry level brands use so much it is hard to use those trailers until they have been aired out or used a few years.

Do not go for the asking price!!! Especially a used one....make them an offer and if they say no! Be prepared to walk away. Most of the time they will call you with a lower price than what originally was given. I have done this on last 2 trucks and SUV we have bought.

[RBPerry]

We took the dealer's financing to get a $2500 rebate on the price and then paid off the loan with a cashier's check on the 91st day, but that is a whole different discussion. 🙂

That's smart, we will be paying cash as well, were only looking at a 30k trailer.

[Allworth]

Another point on EWs is to avoid, if possible, having it wrapped up into the financing on the trailer. Get the dealer to write it up separately and pay cash (Credit Card if you pay them off monthly) for it.

We took one on the current trailer because it makes my wife more comfortable (the trailer is an orphan; Glendale went bankrupt in 2010) and since she is a worrier, silence is worth every penny we paid for the EW. It was written on a stand-alone invoice and she wrote them a check for it.

We took the dealer's financing to get a $2500 rebate on the price and then paid off the loan with a cashier's check on the 91st day, but that is a whole different discussion.

[RBPerry]

Thank you again for your responses. I think we have decided to not purchase the extended warranty. We will be kind of living in it about four months out of the year, for how many years we will be doing this is uncertain at this point. I tend to agree with idea of just having a maintenance fund.
I'm a retired truck technician and I know how expensive labor rates are these day, most run in the hundred dollar an hour range. I do all my own auto and truck maintenance and repairs, I'm sure I can learn to do most of any needed maintenance on the trailer.
This forum is such a great help to those of us who are new to the RV lifestyle, thanks again.

[paulcardoza]

Don't automatically blow off the idea of getting an EW! Here's my standard response to this question: Extended warranties are a highly personal decision, based on your financial situation and fear of risk. You don't say if the RV you are looking at is a DP or not. An engine or transmission replacement for a DP can run as high $15,000. Higher end coach repairs, especially on older models, can add up quickly. How would a $4,000 - $5,000 repair bill affect you? Will your coach end up sitting in the driveway, un-usable, while you continue to make loan payments on it? Will a $1,000 repair bill cause you the same financial difficulty? If yes, then you might consider an EW. It's a matter of how much risk you are willing to take and how comfortable you are with the condition of your coach. All that being said, these policies, especially for older rigs, are quite expensive. The insurer is in it to make money and they price the policies to ensure that on average, they take in a LOT more money then they pay out. the odds are strongly in their favor that you will not recoup your policy cost in claims. Remember that, no matter how many people chime in and tell you they received way more in claims then their cost of coverage! Regardless of what they say, they are in the vast minority! When we bought our first DP, we had no experience with them. It was a 2003 Monaco Executive, bought in 2010 with 62,000mi on it. As we were going into such an unknown, we did buy a 2 year EW. Over that two year period, the only thing we had replaced was the alternator, so we didn't come close to recouping our cost. BUT, we felt a lot more comfortable while we were learning exactly what we had for a rig. After the two years, we did not renew the EW. we had the rig for 2 more years with no issues. Sorry for the long winded post, but this topic comes up often and so many people think it can be answered with a simple statement that the EW is either a wonderful or a terrible idea. It can be either, depending on the situation. One thing for sure however...... If you do decide to buy one, take lots of time to read the policy, understand the fine print on the coverage and ask questions. THIS IS CRITICAL!

[toedtoes]

tomman58 wrote:
Extended warrants are normally not worth the effort. Those people are in the business to make money.
If you were to live in the trailer year round then you may be on the upside of the curve but normal use you are better to roll the dice.
Our first TT was a Jayco and had it for about 12 years. we had no issues the entire time.

X2. Usually, you are better off simply setting aside the money that you would have paid for the extended warranty, and paying for repairs as you go.

[tomman58]

Extended warrants are normally not worth the effort. Those people are in the business to make money.
If you were to live in the trailer year round then you may be on the upside of the curve but normal use you are better to roll the dice.
Our first TT was a Jayco and had it for about 12 years. we had no issues the entire time.

[RBPerry]

Since my wife and I are ready to purchase our first RV we really appreciated all the opinions here. We have decided to purchase a new trailer.

The other thing is the extended warranty, we can get a seven year extended warranty for about 1800 dollars, were as if we wanted the same warranty on a used trailer it would be cost prohibitive.

What are your opinions on extended warranties?