Buying a class C - how not to get screwed? (trailer, standard)
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Solo female here who's interested in possibly purchasing a class C Minnie Winnie or a trailer for camping and extended road trips. How do I not get screwed in the purchasing process? Cost is an issue and I've seen good deals on used class C RVs and trailers, but that deal might not be so good after it's inspected by someone in the know.
I grew up motorhoming with my family and know my dad had trouble with every single one, even the ones he purchased brand new.
How do I find someone to inspect a potential RV for me? What advice do you have?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Avoid anything used or still new that was manufactured in 2020 - 2022, when Covid resulted in strong demand and the manufacturers rushed to get them built. Quality is not that great anyway for most models, which are designed to last 4-5 years with regular use. Watch out for big discounts, they are usually on the less reliable made with cheaper materials. If you have a reliable and powerful vehicle to pull it, I prefer a trailer, because there is much less to go wrong with it. The Minnie Winnie gets 6-7 MPG, my F150 5.0 V8 gets 10-12 pulling our 25' 202sf trailer. It's also nice to be able to unhook it and drive other places while camping. If you pull a small car (toad) with it the Minnie mileage goes down even more.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Agree with renting for awhile.
Once you're sure... Find a user's group, or escapees member who will accompany you and use one of the many inspection/ evaluation forms available.
My mom owned many MH, B, C, and trailers. She was a picky buyer (all were near new, but used, pre 2000. All still had factory protective plastic on floors and cushions from previous ocd owners. No pets, no smoking, no shoes allowed). No significant issues with any. She really disliked trailering (tho as I do, she had her class A semi truck license, and drove those for 40+ yrs too). Class 8 trucks are a whole lot safer than RV towables. We've seen too many of the RV crashes, since we daily drove commercially in Colorado, WY, NM, SD, Utah.
Her favorite RV was a B Roadtrek she bought for $11000, used it for over 10 years, and sold for $15,000. She had some very nice class A's, which were fine, but not favorites, and not used nearly as much after she was older (75+). She sold her tandem A at age 85, but insisted on keeping her B.
My spouse has a small C, which she adores. It gets 18-22 mpg, and fits in a std sized auto parking space. It has a huge rear window to back up to a scenic beach or mtn lake and enjoy the day. She does a lot of solo trips, or taking seniors who love to camp, but are no longer able to drive themselves. We leave her RV at an airport parking area a take side trips via flights. Or, I bring a motorcycle, or it can tow one of our small 50mpg diesel cars.
Plenty of people can assist you in evaluating an RV. Criteria - only buy from a One careful and diligent owner, No pets, no smoking, and low mileage weeds them out quickly. Be sure to use an RV eval checklist. Tire date codes expire at 6 yrs, despite little tread wear. Must use correct replacement (8+ ply).
Buy good roadside service coverage. Hopefully you'll never need it t.
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 09-01-2023 at 03:57 AM..
I would get an independent RV inspector, which depending on where you live, you should be able to "google" for one. If I had to use someone from a shop, I would look again for an independent shop not associated with a chain.
We owned about 10 RVs. One class C, long ago having bought it used and it was cheap, we were young and we ran around the country with it, but RVs have changed.
Depending on where you live, "supply and demand" can make a difference. Don't blow your whole budget on the RV, but allow for expenses. NEVER ever buy something with water damage! Be careful to notice whether it appears they are trying to cover up smells, as you are not going to get rid of them. We have looked at a lot of them, and yuck! Also, watch for the "finish" on things like cabinet doors, etc., as sloppy workmanship anywhere in the coach may mean sloppy across the board.
I'm familiar with looking. Below are links to "checklists" for buying, but there are many others. Remember with a Class C, you'll be expecting both the vehicle part and the living part.
My sister rented one in Alaska for 3 weeks and her favorite thing was handing the keys back to the place!
Trip was a blast, everybody had fun but she said for the few weeks a year she would use one she would happily rent again!
Own it, maintain/insure/store it for 52 weeks a year only to use it for 2-4-6 weeks is crazy.
My buddies parents went to an RV show, fell in love signed up for 180 payments and used it ONCE. Realized living in trailer parks wasn't their idea of awesome! So then they made payments/stored it for the next 15 yrs and ended up with an RV that was literally brand new and ready for the junkyard! Sun/water damage killed it.
My sister rented one in Alaska for 3 weeks and her favorite thing was handing the keys back to the place!
Trip was a blast, everybody had fun but she said for the few weeks a year she would use one she would happily rent again!
Own it, maintain/insure/store it for 52 weeks a year only to use it for 2-4-6 weeks is crazy.
My buddies parents went to an RV show, fell in love signed up for 180 payments and used it ONCE. Realized living in trailer parks wasn't their idea of awesome! So then they made payments/stored it for the next 15 yrs and ended up with an RV that was literally brand new and ready for the junkyard! Sun/water damage killed it.
Why didn't they sell it before it depreciated out and was junk from the elements?
Just went through this process for a recently widowed friend who has her sights set on an extended trip across the USA to visit family/grandchildren/friends as she makes her way to a new residence 1800 miles away from her current ... to be sold ASAP ... home. She anticipates spending most of a year on the road with her pets to accompany her travels, and a significant number of miles and weeks living full time out of the RV, including boondocking at places she'd long wanted to visit ... NP's, State Parks, resort areas, and similar "get away" adventures.
She did a lot of research re Class A or B or C RV's, and decided on Class C's as having the right combination of floor plans, storage, living space, independent living support (tankage, power & battery support, generator, HVAC systems, refrigeration/freezer) and being manageable for a single senior to comfortably drive with reasonable costs of operation and maintenance.
Checked out a lot of ads on-line and found many "brokers" to be unresponsive or not actually having the listings they offered. This was a worthless resource, in our opinion. We found ads by owner or legitimate dealers to be much more worthwhile.
In time, we found a private party sale with an 11-year old low mileage former RV America rental unit (3 years in the rental fleet before being sold to the 2nd owner). The asked price was "in the ballpark" but negotiable. We checked out the unit and the RV and vehicle were almost showroom new clean and presentable. The unit had been properly warehouse stored in it's non-use months, the batteries were kept on maintenance chargers, and the fluids were changed on schedule. In short, the RV and the vehicle checked out to be in excellent condition with the potential of lots of minimal expenses anticipated.
The only near expense I found was that the tires ... high quality LT tires ... were now 6 years old and despite very low mileage with 80% tread life remaining, I believe that they should be replaced. What the new owner doesn't need is an aged out tire failure on the road where they'd be totally dependent upon a rescue service to mount the spare tire or tow them to a tire shop.
The bottom line is that there are a lot of RV's in the marketplace that aren't damaged, show pride of ownership, and have minimal use with a lot of good service life remaining at reasonable prices. A pre-buy inspection by a knowledgeable RV tech and a vehicle tech is essential to making an informed buy decision and having some idea as to the anticipate routine expenses with the RV/vehicle.
Having looked at several Class C's of the vintage, I was satisfied that the Ford E350 chassis with the V-10 engine was well suited for the Class C chores for a good service life. For the most part, the appliances and equipment in the RV industry are standard items from a few manufacturers ... plumbing, electrical, tankage, HVAC, kitchen appliances, lighting, etc. With proper maintenance and reasonable use, the service life of these items is pretty much the same no matter the brand of RV, but I would stay with the major manufacturers for the quality of their installations and interior build-outs.
Obviously, any RV that was left out in the weather for years and sustained damage or moisture ingress is not a candidate for a good buy and future service. If you as a buyer aren't knowledgeable about these problem areas, then that pre-buy inspection becomes all the more justified. Do not rely upon the representations of the sellers ... do your own due diligence before negotiating a buy price.
PS: will 2nd the "don't buy at Camping World". I've been to 3 of their locations around the Western USA and every one of them had outrageous prices on the RV's with extremely aggressive pushy sales staff ... and stupid pricing on their spare parts. For example ... a Thetford toilet flush valve kit ... available on-line OE factory packaged, commonly around $19 from many RV sources ... was priced at $53 at CW. I appreciate their brick and mortar expenses but there comes a time when their mark-ups are a bit out of line for the convenience of the part locally on the shelf. True story ... I was enroute back from CA having purchased a Lance slide-in camper and stopped in at a NV Camping World store to buy a couple LED bulbs for the interior lights. Spent $85 at the parts counter, and asked the service desk next to them if I could fill my fresh water tank at a spigot there. I was not only denied to fill up my water tank ... but when I then asked the service dept manager why I wasn't allowed to fill my water tank, she denied that they even had a water source to fill the tank. I was kinda' incredulous ... I mean, here you've got a sales lot full of $milliions of new RV's and multi-millions Class A's and you're delivering these RV's to people without having any water on board to run the kitchen or bathroom or showers? And what about that crew of guys I see in the sales lot washing the exteriors of the RV's for sale? Do I really look that stupid to believe that you've got running water in the business showroom bathrooms and in the workshop but can't hook up a spigot for 20 gallons of fresh water to a customer's RV ... even if you were to charge a minimal fee to do so? I wound up getting potable water from the spigot at a gas station across the street from Camping World ... at no charge, and I was assured it was potable water from the city mains supply. Another visit to CW ... I was out in the field, repairing a water leak on a client's RV. I needed a PEX coupler, a very standard plumbing item. With CW only a mile away from where I was working, it was convenient ... but Nope, the CW parts department didn't have one in stock. The parts manager told me that when they needed one of these, they went to an indie RV repair shop a few miles away. So I went over to that shop ... NOPE, they didn't stock the PEX hose fittings, either. They went down the road to the Menard's when they needed such items. And that's where I got the $2.89 repair coupler I'd needed ... or I could have bought a Shark Bite fitting for a bit more. That's but a few of the examples of doing biz with CW over the years ... disappointed at every turn except for the LED light bulbs which weren't a necessity at the time I got them.
Last edited by sunsprit; 09-05-2023 at 02:35 PM..
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