Travel Trailer Buying/Financing Questions

[Rjpoog1989]

Hello all, this is my first post here. I’ve been lurking here a while looking for info on campers. I’m looking to buy a TT for the 2020 camping season and I’m trying to plan my finances accordingly. I’ll start with these three questions and go from there.

1: Do most dealers require a down payment to finance and if so, what % is typically required.

2: From what I’ve observed, it seems the best incentives are in December. Is this an accurate observation? I’m looking to get the best price by buying at the right time.

3: it seems like Camping World has the best prices and selection. Are there reasons not to buy from them?

[1500]

troubledwaters wrote:

1500 wrote:
...So either people can continue to take out more loans and pay more interest, making what little money they have even thinner, or they can learn to live more within their means (or god forbid save for something, and yes save can mean invest) and actually stretch that small income farther...

You are making an assumption that people taking out loans are not living within their means; That's a False Assumption. I have lots of loans - all are within my means. And further, most everyone I know (not necessarily all) are living within their means as well. You know what they say about ASSUME.

Actually taking out loans to pay for something is the definition of living outside your means.

Just about everyone does it and makes it work, does not change the definition, or that many people take it too far.

Funny how you assumed I was talking about you. You know what they say about ASSUME.

[1500]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

1500 wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

1500 wrote:


You want to not be poor? Don't spend 40k on a 20k item just because you don't have the 20k cash up front.

I pay cash for everything (house excluded), not because I make a lot, but because I don't.

not paying interest gets you more trips.

LOL, To finance $20K and pay back $40K that would be 31.6% interest. Are your financing with a credit card or a payday loan? (60 month term). Or are you talking about financing a $20K item for 120 or 144 months or something? You have to be a financial idiot to even consider it. A $300K class A is one thing, a $20K trailer another.

How about financing the $20K @ 3.9% for 60 months, total cost $22,046.00
Take the $20,000 cash and invest it for 5 years and turn it into roughly $27K (6% return per year), and very possibly a good bit more if you play your cards right, without getting too aggressive, for a 5K min profit?

LOL you are arguing about clearly made up exaggerated numbers. Then you got so distracted by those made up numbers that you didn't realize the point or did and made up a little strawman anyway.

Why yes if you want more money down the road you should invest it. Anyone can say "oh you can get 6% return", but most people don't actually know how to get that type of return. But that is just picking apart a strawman that can be ignored anyway.

The point is that you don't have 20k, so again for you, you don't have 20k to invest. Instead you take out a loan so that you can make payments. And as you didn't have the 20k to start, you either pay off the loan (hopefully early), or you sell it. With RV's you hope you can sell it at a price point just to get yourself out from under the loan. The average American has 38K in personal debt (not including home loans). That is what i was talking about.

So either people can continue to take out more loans and pay more interest, making what little money they have even thinner, or they can learn to live more within their means (or god forbid save for something, and yes save can mean invest) and actually stretch that small income farther.

But Like I already said, people can do what ever they want with their money.

LOL...no arguing whatsoever. You were the one who made up numbers, my numbers are accurate. You stated paying $40K for something that cost $20K. I put it in terms of a 5 year note and it would indeed take an interest rate @ what I posted. As far as that goes on a 10 yr loan which is fairly common now days for RV purchases, to pay $40K on $20K financed would take an interest rate of @ 17%. Its simple math.

Plenty of folks realize an averaged return on investments of 6%, typically more. They're called 401K plans and most of those people do not have an active role in the actual investment decisions, the only thing they're active on is the amount of the payroll deduction.

LOL of course they are made up numbers. Again, as you miss the point over and over again, you don't have that 20k to invest.

A 401k is for retirement, so pulling early gets you a penalty. So using that to pay of your short loan means you pay an extra 2k on that 20k you invested. Or are you really confused and mixing up just investing in the future and paying for your RV.

No one has said that you don't make more money investing.

[ppine]

There are two kinds of spending, consumptive spending and investment spending.
Buying an RV clearlly falls in the first category and will depreciated faster than anything you can buy. Taking out a loan and paying interest on it for a quickly depreciating asset is not for everyone.

[philh]

troubledwaters wrote:
You are making an assumption that people taking out loans are not living within their means; That's a False Assumption. I have lots of loans - all are within my means. And further, most everyone I know (not necessarily all) are living within their means as well. You know what they say about ASSUME.

Hear Hear

[troubledwaters]

1500 wrote:
...So either people can continue to take out more loans and pay more interest, making what little money they have even thinner, or they can learn to live more within their means (or god forbid save for something, and yes save can mean invest) and actually stretch that small income farther...

You are making an assumption that people taking out loans are not living within their means; That's a False Assumption. I have lots of loans - all are within my means. And further, most everyone I know (not necessarily all) are living within their means as well. You know what they say about ASSUME.

[Ralph_Cramden]

1500 wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

1500 wrote:


You want to not be poor? Don't spend 40k on a 20k item just because you don't have the 20k cash up front.

I pay cash for everything (house excluded), not because I make a lot, but because I don't.

not paying interest gets you more trips.

LOL, To finance $20K and pay back $40K that would be 31.6% interest. Are your financing with a credit card or a payday loan? (60 month term). Or are you talking about financing a $20K item for 120 or 144 months or something? You have to be a financial idiot to even consider it. A $300K class A is one thing, a $20K trailer another.

How about financing the $20K @ 3.9% for 60 months, total cost $22,046.00
Take the $20,000 cash and invest it for 5 years and turn it into roughly $27K (6% return per year), and very possibly a good bit more if you play your cards right, without getting too aggressive, for a 5K min profit?

LOL you are arguing about clearly made up exaggerated numbers. Then you got so distracted by those made up numbers that you didn't realize the point or did and made up a little strawman anyway.

Why yes if you want more money down the road you should invest it. Anyone can say "oh you can get 6% return", but most people don't actually know how to get that type of return. But that is just picking apart a strawman that can be ignored anyway.

The point is that you don't have 20k, so again for you, you don't have 20k to invest. Instead you take out a loan so that you can make payments. And as you didn't have the 20k to start, you either pay off the loan (hopefully early), or you sell it. With RV's you hope you can sell it at a price point just to get yourself out from under the loan. The average American has 38K in personal debt (not including home loans). That is what i was talking about.

So either people can continue to take out more loans and pay more interest, making what little money they have even thinner, or they can learn to live more within their means (or god forbid save for something, and yes save can mean invest) and actually stretch that small income farther.

But Like I already said, people can do what ever they want with their money.

LOL...no arguing whatsoever. You were the one who made up numbers, my numbers are accurate. You stated paying $40K for something that cost $20K. I put it in terms of a 5 year note and it would indeed take an interest rate @ what I posted. As far as that goes on a 10 yr loan which is fairly common now days for RV purchases, to pay $40K on $20K financed would take an interest rate of @ 17%. Its simple math.

Plenty of folks realize an averaged return on investments of 6%, typically more. They're called 401K plans and most of those people do not have an active role in the actual investment decisions, the only thing they're active on is the amount of the payroll deduction.

[Dennis_Smith]

What do you want to have in 10 years? do a loan and in 10 years you will have very little of your money. /the only person that can make that decision is you. Its your money do what you think is a wise decision.

[1500]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

1500 wrote:


You want to not be poor? Don't spend 40k on a 20k item just because you don't have the 20k cash up front.

I pay cash for everything (house excluded), not because I make a lot, but because I don't.

not paying interest gets you more trips.

LOL, To finance $20K and pay back $40K that would be 31.6% interest. Are your financing with a credit card or a payday loan? (60 month term). Or are you talking about financing a $20K item for 120 or 144 months or something? You have to be a financial idiot to even consider it. A $300K class A is one thing, a $20K trailer another.

How about financing the $20K @ 3.9% for 60 months, total cost $22,046.00
Take the $20,000 cash and invest it for 5 years and turn it into roughly $27K (6% return per year), and very possibly a good bit more if you play your cards right, without getting too aggressive, for a 5K min profit?

LOL you are arguing about clearly made up exaggerated numbers. Then you got so distracted by those made up numbers that you didn't realize the point or did and made up a little strawman anyway.

Why yes if you want more money down the road you should invest it. Anyone can say "oh you can get 6% return", but most people don't actually know how to get that type of return. But that is just picking apart a strawman that can be ignored anyway.

The point is that you don't have 20k, so again for you, you don't have 20k to invest. Instead you take out a loan so that you can make payments. And as you didn't have the 20k to start, you either pay off the loan (hopefully early), or you sell it. With RV's you hope you can sell it at a price point just to get yourself out from under the loan. The average American has 38K in personal debt (not including home loans). That is what i was talking about.

So either people can continue to take out more loans and pay more interest, making what little money they have even thinner, or they can learn to live more within their means (or god forbid save for something, and yes save can mean invest) and actually stretch that small income farther.

But Like I already said, people can do what ever they want with their money.

[Lynnmor]

Here is how some might buy a trailer: See payments

With sales tax and no other added expenses, I get $35.508 and that is with 15% cash down.

When that trailer is paid off it will be worthless, so the treadmill will continue indefinitely.

[Ralph_Cramden]

1500 wrote:


You want to not be poor? Don't spend 40k on a 20k item just because you don't have the 20k cash up front.

I pay cash for everything (house excluded), not because I make a lot, but because I don't.

not paying interest gets you more trips.

LOL, To finance $20K and pay back $40K that would be 31.6% interest. Are your financing with a credit card or a payday loan? (60 month term). Or are you talking about financing a $20K item for 120 or 144 months or something? You have to be a financial idiot to even consider it. A $300K class A is one thing, a $20K trailer another.

How about financing the $20K @ 3.9% for 60 months, total cost $22,046.00
Take the $20,000 cash and invest it for 5 years and turn it into roughly $27K (6% return per year), and very possibly a good bit more if you play your cards right, without getting too aggressive, for a 5K min profit?

[ppine]

New RVs depreciate as fast as anything you can buy. Dealers like to add lots of extra costs, like shipping, etc. You have to pay the sales tax in most states.

I agree that the smart thing to do is pay cash for a used rig. Not everyone sees it that way and atr happy paying 12% interest and a lot of fees for a depreciating asset.

[1500]

delwhjr wrote:
For all of you saying "wait and pay cash"; congratulations on being so wealthy.
I guess you paid cash for everything; good for you.

For us poor mortals, the memories and good times are worth a few dollars spent to be able to enjoy sooner than later. No one knows what tomorrow will bring and I will not be one of the "shoulda, coulda, wouldas"

As long as I don't over extend and cause grief from the load it's my business where my money goes.

You want to not be poor? Don't spend 40k on a 20k item just because you don't have the 20k cash up front.

I pay cash for everything (house excluded), not because I make a lot, but because I don't.

No one cares what you do with your money. But this is a forum and people are asking for advice. Looking at a trailer you can afford now, gets you out sooner, not paying interest gets you more trips.

OP:
With Trailers, just because you purchased new it does not mean it will be problem free. Lots of buyers have their trips canceled because the trailer is in the shop waiting for months to be fixed. Warranty work gets put at the back of the line, due to the dealership making less money on this type of work.

While a two or 3 year old trailer will have many of the initial bugs figured out by the first owner, and should be still in good shape. That new trailer you are looking at? Ya it might have been sitting on the lot for a year+ waiting for a buyer with no one inspecting it.

Do your homework, look at a lot of layouts and reviews, rent if you can. What you think you want now in a trailer might not be the best fit for you, so keep that in mind.

If it is just the two of you a smaller trailer might work better then something large and expensive. Smaller trailers can have smaller TV, have more options for both Camping locations and even more spot options within a location. I have a small trailer and I will often take a tent spot, because my TV and trailer fit on the pad.

[lcseds]

Edit....nevermind.

[Gdetrailer]

#1nobby wrote:

Well that might be YOUR experience.....but I cut a deal for the car to my satisfaction BEFORE any talk of payment was introduced.
I was willing and able to pay cash.
But couldn't NOT take the 0-0 deal.
Oh...and by the way...I can pay it off anytime I want. They would actually like that. 🙂

Actually banks/lenders don't really "care" for folks paying off loans early..

Why?

Well, they lose a lot of interest for one..

They also count your loan payments as "income", looks good for their bottom line in their "receivables" department..

Depending on the type of loan, they often sell the loan accounts to other lenders which allows them to get all of the interest money due from the loan without waiting for the end of term. So in a sense it becomes a "bartering tool" between lenders..

Because we are smart savers and use credit extremely sparingly, payoff auto loans early and never ever keep a running balance on a credit card we were able to pay in cash on a nice shiny new 2019 truck..

The money that we would have paid in interest on auto loans was set aside in our savings and has grown over the years to the point that NOT NEEDING a loan to buy a new vehicle!

Pretty darn great feeling to not have a $600 loan payment for the next 4 yrs :B