Anyone Purchase an RV Used instead of New?

[drmopar]

Another post on this forum asked about new, rather than used. Pre-owned? I see some really great pricing on very lightly used RV's. Actually, looking at a unit that was pre-owned would show leaks, damage, and how it was holding up after some miles. I think this is a great way to see how a RV was built and taken care of. I see these nice RV's stored in a enclosed building since new, and after talking to some of these RV owners, you could tell they protected since new, but now only use it 1-2 a year. I looked at new but reading the stories here about new RV's spending most of the first year in the shop for repairs, I found a very nice pre-owned RV. Please post your experience with new or used.

[Grit_dog]

hornet28 wrote:
Grit dog, I'm with you. I've been driving since 60 and have only bought 1 new car and 2 new trucks. For all the vehicles I've had only 6 others came from dealers the rest were all bought from private parties as I'd rather buy from a private party than a dealer including RVs

Yup only 3 "dealer purchases" ever. The new Stihl saw, 1 new truck and one used truck from a used car lot. It's hard to pass up, say a truck with 10,000miles for 25-30% off sticker. Or a new snowmachine with 28 miles on it for 35% off new. Gotta search for the deals though and they're becoming rarer due to the instant availability of price comparisons online. Now everyone selling a used car thinks they should get wha the dealers have posted up for inflated prices.
Different strokes for different folks. I'm good with private party purchases. However if I wasn't very well read on these items or not mechanically inclined, I can see the advantage there of buying new. Even still I'd probably look for slightly used to save the initial depreciation.
Wouldn't have much to choose from though if everyone strove to buy used things, so hats off to the new car buyers!

[valhalla360]

jplante4 wrote:
You can get a lot more RV for less money if you buy used. You can also get a lot more problems. It helps to be handy.

We picked up a 2008 this spring.
Our friends picked up similar new this spring.

They paid 4 times what we paid.

We spent $200 to replace the couch with a more comfortable dual recliner. Otherwise, we just drove it away. Everything works, looks good, operates well.

Our friends have had a bunch of issues and have had to take it back 3 times so far (losing a month worth of summer use) and they have a list of stuff to fix for this fall. Many are minor items but they are frustrated.

We've seen this multiple times. Even if we had a couple thousand in repairs, we would still be ahead financially and because we are paying cash, we go to the head of the line over warranty work (if they don't put us to the head of the line, we go elsewhere).

[Crabbypatty]

We have only bought used so far as you save 20-30-50% or more. You just need to be thorough in your inspection and to also run up all the systems before you sign off on it. New is very seductive especially the no money down financing, but you lose tons of money in interest payments and depreciation. So for us anyway it will always be used. This is our second purchase so far so good!

[kofire]

Wether you buy new or used in a yr the warranty will be gone and the same problems will pop up.
Why not save some money and let someone else take the depreciation hit.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

Nutinelse2do wrote:
Never bought a new rv, and never will. Let someone else take the depreciation, and have the problems fixed that come with a new coach. No thank you.

Never say never!

Lots more to consider than depreciation, however.....

Over the years:
Have bought *NEW* RVs - which I sold for more than I paid.
(Zero depreciation to/for me - 1 MH, 1 slide-in camper.)

Have bought *USED* RVs - which I sold for more than I paid.
Yep - I did well on someone else's depreciation - 1 MH, 1 TT)

I didn't buy them to re-sell - just wasn't what I 'really' wanted,
but sometimes you know when you stumble on to something!

Of course, usually, it's the other way around (for me too).
But - those "other ones" were all 'long term' ownership.

OP: - Do your "due diligence" - research/"homework", and -
If it (whatever *it* is) meets your criteria, go for it.

BTW - Problems???
NEW:
Bought a new '06 5th with *ZERO* problems (and still have it).

USED:
However - just because it's "used" - doesn't mean the "problems" will be fixed or solved.

Just know what they are, and what it will take to fix/solve!



~

[hornet28]

Grit dog, I'm with you. I've been driving since 60 and have only bought 1 new car and 2 new trucks. For all the vehicles I've had only 6 others came from dealers the rest were all bought from private parties as I'd rather buy from a private party than a dealer including RVs

[rockhillmanor]

Nutinelse2do wrote:
Never bought a new rv, and never will. Let someone else take the depreciation, and have the problems fixed that come with a new coach. No thank you.

X2
And I sold each one of them for either 'more' than I paid for it or sold it for the same price I paid for it.
Kinda like RV'ing for free. :C

[Grit_dog]

Well I encourage as many peeps to buy NEW toys and vehicles as possible! Sure helps the user market for guys like me!
In the 30'yeads since I got my drivers license I've bought exactly 1 new truck, 1 new (cheap) mower and 1 new chain saw.
The other (100s probably) of boats, cars, RVs , bikes, trailers, snowmachines , wheelers etc have all been bought used.
I Could buy new, but somehow sleep better when I know I've paid less than most people for essentially the exact same things. Or paid waaaay less for quality older equipment that does the same job or serves the same purpose. Considering the money in the bank is more than the difference between new n used on all that stuff I can say I saved that money.

[Dutch_12078]

We haven't bought a new RV since the VW Westfalia camper conversion van we bought 1968. We've had a number of used RV's since then, bith motorized and towables. Our current Class A was 13 years old when we bought it, and has only needed routine RV maintenance since then, with the exception of the fridge. When the original Norcold started to behave erratically, we replaced it with a residential fridge a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier with the change. That's been our only significant repair/replace expense to date, if you consider $450 "significant". We do want to replace the front tires this year though, so that'll take a few extra dollars out of the budget.

[hornet28]

If you keep your eyes open and can do some repairs yourself and don't care to spend a lot of money used is the way to go IMHO. We just bought a very nice 02 Hornet 28R that really we stole. It needed tires, awning and a good cleaning. It had sat in a private campground since 04. So it wasn't beat from a lot of over the road hauling. I took the hubs off to repack the bearings and they and the brakes are like new. I wondered about the brake shoes but there was no sign of deterioration. Here's an example. This truck camper is a 96 one meticulous owner I bought it 2 years ago and after using it realized that it just wasn't big enough for us and our dog. When I sold it this spring I made a very nice profit on it. You'll never do that buying new only losing the minute it goes off the dealers lot

[path1]

Wife found a trailer that the owners were afraid to tow. They paid the dealer to tow it around. That's right...owner didn't even have to tow vehicle. Two years old at the time and had about 1,000 miles on it. Kept in a poll barn all other times.

But there was some things that should of been taken care of before it left the factory. And orginal owners didn't know about or didn't care. All minor fixes (drapes not level, one handle missing off burner stove, etc)

I called the manufacture (northwoods) and gave vin number to see if a re-call (on locks) was preformed and order some matching fabric for a drape and they just sent me what I needed free. Sure worked out good for us and has been great trailer.

Before her trailer...we bought a used rental Cruise America (class C). Great RV and no problems. But way to small to snowbird in at least for us. But great around northwest (wa, or, northern Cal, ID). When trips are under 3 weeks and when we'll be overnighting in places that don't need a bunch of room. End of logging road type thing. Or Yellowstone 3 times now.

But before that was totally different story. Bought 35 foot, two year old with a Lippert frame, and it broke. Dealer or Lippert could care less. So I guess like anything else, it depends on who you do business with. But of course I "advertise" for lippert of how they treated us every chance I get.

OP..just re-read your posting. Yes, great deals but you have to know what your looking at and what to look for. It surly would not hurt for you to find something you like and pay an RV tech (from another place if need be) to look over what you're thinking of buying.

Good luck

[mattmountz94]

I bought my current 5th wheel used. It was two yrs old when I got it. I have had for 3yrs and not one thing has been wrong with it. The dealer even told me that if anything would go wrong in the first 6months they would fix it no questions. I traded one in on it and whoever bought that used got a real treat. Was practically brand new with no issues. I am a firm believer in finding an excellent dealer and your issues will be greatly reduced

[korbe]

About the only thing I buy new is underwear. I'm handy with maintenance and repairs, and I've always looked at the value vs cost........of everything.

[fj12ryder]

We bought a 3 year old 5th wheel and were very happy with it. It was in excellent shape and we had to do very few repairs. A couple flat tires and that was about it. Used makes a huge amount of sense.

We would have bought used again, but there were no used toyhaulers that had what we wanted.

[Durb]

I bought the pictured trailer used when it was 6 years old and paid a fair price. I used it for 5 seasons and sold it for what I paid. I'm sure my buyer could also sell it for the same price assuming he took care of it. The picture was taken when the trailer was 9 years old. Would you buy this trailer used?

I bought the trailer in my signature when it was 7 years old. It had never been slept in. I'll lose money on this one when I sell it years down the road but nothing like the beating the original purchaser took. Neither of these were "buy and use" trailers. They had some issues but nothing that wasn't easy to fix. Although I could afford to buy these trailers new I have to be honest with myself and admit I never would, too expensive. Buying used allows me to enjoy higher quality gear at lower cost.