How old is your RV?

As we go thru this process I wonder about how old is to old for an RV.


We are pretty sure want a Diesel Motor Home, and do want to buy pre-owned because of the first three year deprecation factor.


But we wonder, how old is too old.  Is the 2004 we almost made an offer on, to old?  We would expect to get new tires and batteries for almost any used rig, and expect to pay a bit more for a warrantee and for other repairs.


But how old is too old?  If it looks like it has good maintenance over the years. 

How old is your rig?


COMMENTS and advice appreciated.  I know it is our own decision, but I like discussing things with others who have more experience than I do.
  

Feelings

My thoughts and feelings are all over the place.  I feel scared and excited.  I've been a penny pincher all my life and now I'm proposing spending a big bunch of money on a luxury! An RV is a luxury.  Travel is a luxury.


I think, "No we shouldn't do it."  And then "Yes, it's our turn."


Except for a small mortgage we have no debt.  But it scares me that when Craig actually retires we will have to start drawing on our retirement savings. 

But that is what they are for, isn't it?  


I wish all the work was done on the house, but if we wait we will both be ready for a nursing home.


Maybe some trips will give us the motivation to let go and hire some work done, and not be held down by DIY projects.  If we don't we will never be done with it.


I know we can do this.  We CAN buy an RV and take a few  trips.   Other people do it.  Why not us.


It will work out.  


But I'm scared!  And excited!

Same Page

Well, Craig and I are getting closer to being on the "same page."

At least we are both thinking it should have wheels!

I made an appointment to test drive a couple of things this weekend.  Not yet to buy, but to see if we can come to some agreement on size and type.

I insist it be something I can drive!

New vs Used

Some people are "new" house people.
Some people are "fixer up" house people.
Some people  buy used cars and deal with repairs, or better yet do them themselves.  Some people are mechanical and getting under a hood and fixing an engine or repairing an appliance is fun for them.

We are none of those.

  We've never bought a new house.  I can't imagine Craig working with a builder to make  all the decisions involved in a new house together.

We've had fixer uppers, but the fixing up has almost always been  painful.

 When we were young, we had a couple of used cars, but that was because it was all we could afford.  Craig has never been a "car guy."

The last six vehicle we have had, were bought new.  We always had all the required maintenance things done for the first ten years or so by the dealer, and then, when breakdowns occurred, we  took them to either a dealer or repair shop.

Oil changes, and new tires were always bought as needed.

We have probably held onto to our cars a lot longer than was sensible, but that is just the way we are.

When I was thinking "Full Time," a gently used Diesel was our first choice.  It is said that diesel engines  are just getting broken in at 50 - 100K miles!  Besides the price for a new large diesel is pretty high.

But now.  Well, we just don't need a big diesel for "Anytime."  I would like to try to  30' -32" Class A.  Either would fit much nicer in State parks and on BLM land.

I know you loose a lot when you drive a new rig off the lot.  But that pain can be lessened by looking at new but last year's models.

I haven't found the "Lazy Days" of Norther California.  The few used salesmen I have talked to say No warrantee, As Is on used rigs.  I don't see any major reconditioning like Al and Karen got on their Monaco.

If we had had more experience with RVs I might have a better idea of which way to be looking.  But for now I'm pondering NEW vs Used.

One year warrantees sound pretty attractive.  But on a used rig can't you buy an extended warrantee for less than the depreciation of a new one?

What have you done?
Have any of you had inspections done before buying, and how do you find an inspector?

We may ignore advice, but we welcome it.

RV shopping - Time table

Thank you for all the great comments on my post yesterday.

Although shopping for an RV is fun, it is also quite scary.

EEK, what if I actually find the right one?

I really want to hear any and all of your thoughts, either thru comments or emails.  Your experiences and insights will be very helpful.

I have been looking at the forums too.

I also am thinking about a towed.  I really want to choose the least expensive option there! We had talked about using a tow dolly with the Prius, but that probably wouldn't be a good option for a smaller gas class A.

A correction for yesterday's post.  For those of you that know this area, the Winnebago dealer I went to is Pan Pacific in Morgan Hill.

Now some thoughts about my time table:

When I started this blog, I hoped to have the house on the market this fall and be able to go full time in Spring, or whenever the house sold.

Because Craig is still working, and all of our weekend time is taken up by the house, I still don't see any trip time until after he retires at the end of the year.

One of the things I was thinking is that there are more big dealers in Southern California than up here.  Since we will be going down to San Diego for a week before the Rose Parade we would have several days to look at dealers there.  Also we wouldn't have any pressure to hurry home after the parade and could spend a couple of days in the LA area.  Possibilities!

I'm thinking that if the right rig comes up before then we should go ahead a buy it, but if not, that's OK too.  But since I think the best way to pay for it is to finance it instead of pulling the money out of our retirement account and pay income tax, it might be easier to do the financing before he retires.

Hmmm ... I hate paying interest, but I hate paying taxes even more!

If we don't find the right rig by November, I might just pull a second on the house.  We have plenty of equity, and they don't need to know he plans to retire.

Any advice is welcome.  We may ignore it, but it is welcome.

Window Shopping

I had second thoughts about publishing this post because I know everyone has their own preferences and feelings about their own rigs.  Every brand has pluses and minuses.  These are just my feelings about what I have looked at.


When my thoughts turned from dreaming about "Full time RV living," to  "Any time once he retires, " my ideas about what kind of RV we should be looking for has changed.
Full Time = diesel
Full Time= Class A, minimum 35' but could go longer
Full Time = 3 years or newer
Full Time = Warranties!
Full Time = Tiffin or Winnebago
Full Time = $10K repair/tire fund

Any Time = ???

I don't think we need to get a huge class A for shorter trips.  And we don't need to have as much cargo space.  I think it would be sensible to buy something smaller, easier to maneuver, and less expensive.  Something we could park on the upper drive.

There are two things I know I must have:
A walk around queen bed, and a reasonable cooking area.

Everything else is up in the air.

Any Time = Class C, or Class A
Any Time = Gas
Any Time = 29'-32'
Any Time = 3 + years (or maybe newer)
Any Time = Probably buy extended Warranty
Any Time = Open to other brands
Any Time = Good price + $10K repair fund

I've been doing a lot of browsing on the internet and making a spread sheet of what I find interesting.  I bounce back and forth between class A's and class C's.    I've been pretty busy during the day working on the six animal order, but on Wednesday I took a day off and went shopping.  The nearest RV dealers are about 25 - 35 miles from here.  There are four dealers within a few mile of each other.

My day did not start very well.  I went to the Camping World because they had an Add that said if you took some kind of survey and listened to their product presentation you would get a $25 coupon on anything in the store.  Well, since that location did not have any RV's I couldn't get the coupon!

I did see a nice outdoor rocking chair that I might want someday. In fact it was what I was going to buy if I had been able to get the coupon.

Next door to Camping World is a Used RV dealer. " See Grins."  I looked at several 29' - 31' class C's and a couple of 32' class A's but they were all pretty old and depressing.   I did like one Minnie Winnie, and one Tioga that had an entertainment system up and over instead of the bed.  I gave the sales man my name and told him to call me if a Minnie Winnie with a similiar entertainment system, or better yet just storage cabenitry came in.

They are moving to a new location next week, where they will have a larger lot.  It would have been impossible to take a test drive today the way the inventory was jammed onto the lot.  I'm not writing them off, but was totally unimpressed with the place today.

My next stop was to a dealer that had a new 2012 Georgetown 28'.  I had seen it on the internet and thought it might be interesting.  Not.  Even though it was brand new it didn't appeal to me.  Pieces of paneling were already peeling up.  I also did not like the fact that there was a raised section next to what would be my side of the bed. I need to get up several times a night and I don't want to have to crawl off the end.

There was nothing else on his lot of interet.

The third place was all light trailers so I didn't stop.

The fourth place was on my list as having a new 30W  Winnebago Vista.    It turns out this is the Winnebago Dealer for our area, and everything they had in my size range was new.  I also looked at a 32' Sightseer and at a couple of Access (What they are calling Minnie Winnies these days.)

I really like the Winnebago product line.  Everything just felt so much nicer tome than some of the other brands.  Of course except for the Georgetown, the others were used and not really clean.

I brought home some brochures for Craig to look at.  He of course was drawn to the 37' floor plan.

Sometime in the next few weeks I will be driving up to Livermore, about 40 miles from here.  There are several dealers up in that direction and a couple of brands I want to see.

Eventually Craig will go with me for some test drives.

I hope to finish the last of the animal heads by Friday, and will post another work in process then.

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July.