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.

[camperforlife]

I've bought new and I've bought used. The new by far have been more troublesome than the used. The reason I've bought used was because I found exactly what I wanted at a very good price. The reason for new was I found exactly what I wanted and couldn't find one used. The bottom line is I only trade when I find what I want and it doesn't mater new or used. My current trailer was used with no warranty and zero issues.

[house2go]

Have done both 3 used then new problems seem to be the same. If you find a used well taken care of coach thats great.

[TomG2]

I always buy new. I figure a certain percentage of the units for sale used have problems that might not be apparent to a casual buyer like me. That may be the reason they are on the market. I also only buy from reputable dealers with a reputation for good service.

[mdcamping]

Going to buy used? chances are you will not encounter a seller from Rv.
Net or someone who has even heard of a rv forum. My opinion most folks have a run to destruction attitude when it comes to rv maintenance.

Mike

[ncrowley]

We purchased used for a very practical reason - we could not afford a new one. We did not want to take out a loan and wanted a diesel pusher. Our regret is purchasing one with the paint checking issue. Before we brought it back to Newmar to have the sidewalls replaced and the entire coach repainted, we thought about not spending that money and purchasing a new smaller gas powered class A. We put together a spreadsheet comparing costs, including the sidewalls replacement costs, maintenance costs, and costs of probably replacing items like refrigerator and ACs at some point for the one we have. We determined that the break even point if we purchased the new one would be about 10 years. And we would be driving something with a lot less space and less capable than what we have now. So we decided to have the work done on our current used RV and not purchase a new one.

[WTP-GC]

mowermech wrote:
I have owned RVs since the mid '90s. Never bought a new one, never will.
In my 75 years of life, I have bought 3 new cars. Never again...
"NEW" is simply too expensive these days!

"USED" is far too expensive as well. While I'm sure there may be some regional differences, for us buying new (cars) is far better than buying slightly used. Take a brand new truck listed at $50K. That same truck, 2 years old & 40K miles will be listed at only $5K less. Still cheaper, yes, but the financing will now be shorter term and higher rate. At the end of the day, there's very little money separating one from the other.

[mowermech]

I have owned RVs since the mid '90s. Never bought a new one, never will.
In my 75 years of life, I have bought 3 new cars. Never again. My 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T cost about $4100, IIRC. My 1981 Eagle station wagon cost about $8000. I don't remember what the 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD cost, but it was a lot!
"NEW" is simply too expensive these days!

[Atlee]

All of my previous 7 RV's, 4 Class B's, and 3 TT's were used.

In June, I bought a new one for the first time ever. What's interesting is I never did any major modifications to any of the used ones. However, I've done a bunch, ranging from major to minor, already on my new one.

[memtb]

jplante4 wrote:
People who only buy new are expecting that they're buying a better product. This is absolutely not true. Nearly everyone has a budget for a purchase like this and within that budget you can get a much nicer used RV then new, even accounting the expense to fix "someone else's problems".

All that's required is some effort to do the research to get a decent used coach. Some people would rather spend money.

And can tell/show everyone their new rv!

[jplante4]

People who only buy new are expecting that they're buying a better product. This is absolutely not true. Nearly everyone has a budget for a purchase like this and within that budget you can get a much nicer used RV then new, even accounting the expense to fix "someone else's problems".

All that's required is some effort to do the research to get a decent used coach. Some people would rather spend money.

[memtb]

drmopar, We wouldn't even consider buying new (unless we win a big lottery)! Let the new purchasers take the "big" hit on depreciation!!!!

Plus...If there are any inherent problems with that make or model, they should be well known several years into a production run!

[tdsxt51]

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.

There's people that would never ever buy new, and people that would never ever buy used. Personally, we would never buy used. If you are worried about depreciation, you better buy somebody elses problems. We didn't buy our dream RV to worry about what it's going to be worth ten years down the road. I just don't want to have to worry about what I can't see. Roofs, floors, etc. There's no way you can find or see these problems. I know what's going on with mine- inside and out and what you can't see.

[WTP-GC]

Usually when a thread like this comes up, we get inundated with the crowd that suggests you're just buying someone else's problems. Its the same whether you're buying a car or RV or boat or dog. Granted, that "might" be the case, but then again, it might not.

For example, I know someone who's about to trade in their less than 2 year old TT. There's exactly NOTHING wrong with their current TT except that its a little small and they want to upgrade. This is the absolute truth. But on the contrary, you could choose to believe that they're getting rid of it because its out of warranty and plagued with issues.

Oh yeah, we bought our 5er @ about 10 years old. Other than regular maintenance and few small items that have simply broke due to wear and tear, we've been good to go. But I also think we bought a good rig that was reasonably well maintained prior to us.

[emuller]

Have always bought used, either car/truck or RV.
If you are buying from a dealer your will generally pay more than private but if it is a reputable dealer they will stand behind the product and that is worth the slightly extra $$.
If you buy private, always have it inspected by a person in the know. Worth the extra few bucks and ha saved my backside several times. after all contrary to what some people thing you cannot be an expert in everything.