Dave Bowers
Beautiful Eden Prairie, Minnesota
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Joined: 01/01/2001
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* This post was
edited 05/14/06 07:21am by an administrator/moderator *
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Albslb2
Highland, IL
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Joined: 08/21/2005
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To Johnny T. Absolutely a fabulously done artice. Now the only thing I need is a haggler to get the 400K RV down to 50K and the bugs removed with a paid up Fuel card for about 20000 gallons, and the bills paid for life. Only a spoof but superbly done.
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BabyBear
North Carolina
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Joined: 09/20/2005
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I just bought my first motor home last week,and since I have never even ridden in one before I'm fairly certain I must have made a mistake of some sort. It's a 1984 Fleetwood Southwind 30 footer with 69,000 miles on it,and I paid $4,000. It looks good and there isn't supposed to be any mechanical problems or probles with the motor home itself except for needing new batteries.
I bought it because I plan on moving out west next spring,and I figured the best way to do this would be to take a motorhome out there first and wander around until I found a place where I wanted to live. I have no idea if I will keep it or not after I buy a house to move into. I kind of got camping out of my system while I was in the infantry. I know this is a higher order of camping that that,but we will have to see how much I like it.
Never been camping in RV parks before,so I'm still trying to figure out things like "how do I get my mail?",and "how can I hook up to the internet from a motor home?".
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AggieDad
Missouri City, Texas
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Joined: 02/05/2004
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Howdy QAQueen60!
We have both bought and sold an RV through PPL, and we were very pleased with them. But you need to understand how they work.
PPL is strictly a consignment sales lot. They do not own the RVs they sell, they do not prepare them in any way other than what the owners request, and they do not warrant them. They will do a complete systems check prior to purchase for a reasonable fee.
Every unit on their lot, and they have a bunch, is open for you to go through with no salesperson following you around. The price is prominently posted, and there is an information sheet available for each unit. When you want more information or a test drive, then you ask for a salesperson. Salesperson is probably a misnomer. They make no effort to sell you. Probably a better term would be facilitators. They will take your offer to the owner, and of course they will write up the sale.
PPL is a full service operation and offers financing and insurance, a complete service department, and a nice parts and accessories store. I do all my RV shopping at their store, and I was very pleased the one time I used their service department.
I hope this all helps.
Be of good cheer!
Don Simmons
2006 Winnebago Voyage 33V pushed by a 2014 Chevy Captiva
Never ask a man where he is from.
If he's from Texas, he will eventually tell you.
If he's not, well... don't embarass him.
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DIYGuy
TX, NY and all points in between.
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Joined: 08/06/2005
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My wife and I have learned more in the last 6 months about RVing than we ever thought possible, mostly due to the incredible range of knowledge on this list. We are now looking for our full time RV.
We put together our feature checklist so that we could make apples to apples comparisions on the various homes. The first thing we looked at was the engineering and quality of the slide mechanisms. I think that it is indicative of the overall quality of the engineering of the unit. Even if it's built with the best materials by the most talented craftsmen, if it's designed wrong, it can't be fixed. Small detour on quality, most of the time, quality is confused with value, luxury, longevity. Quality is an objective analysis of does the unit sucessfully meet the requirements and specification. Each of us has our own requirements and specifications, so what may be a quality unit to me may not be a quality unit to somebody else. For us that means I place high requirements on durabilty, sound engineering design, no identifiable weak links, and finally, livability.
Make your own checklist of the things that are important to you.
Our checklist had 25 items on page 1, and if passed page 1, another 40 on page two.
Some idea of what's on our lists:
Slide mechanism attachment points.
Sealant beads uniform or glopped on.
Wire bundles neat and properly stress relieved.
Kitchen trash bag storage.
Kitchen knife storage.
Where does dirty laundry go.
Fan in shower.
Fan in commode.
Usablity with slides in.
Can I cook a pasta dinner?
Can I cook BBQ ribs w/ red bliss potatoes and lemon broccoli (Favorite Dish)?
What's happens when I shave? (In one, I hit the commode with my leg when I bent over the sink.)
Can I see all of the guages when seated in the driver seat?
Can I reach all of the controls. (In one, the shift selector pod was behind the steering wheel and unreachable without leaning quite far forward.)
Cross breeze in the Master bedroom.
TV location? (Watch without head twisted?)
Front door covered by awning?
Where does hobby stuff go.
Cabinet H/W.
How much vinyl vs. solid wood.
We spent last weekend, (20 hr. total) at the NE RV show crawling under and over every Class A DP (and few others for reference to make sure on the premise of a class A DP) in our budget going though our checklists.
Here's a list of most of the homes we completely inspected.
Damon Tuscany
Tiffin Phaeton
Travel Supreme Select
Monaco Diplomat
Alfa See Ya (The GOld DVD has a lot a great generic stuff on it)
Fleetwood Providence
Monaco Lapalma
Itasca Ellipse
Beaver Monterey
Fleetwood American Traditions
Tiffin Allegro Bus
Fleetwood Excursion
Itasca Meridian
Travel Supreme Envoy
Fleetwood Bounder Diesel
We had it narrowed down to four units, both with a long list of pluses and only a few minuses.
Travel Supreme Envoy
Alfa See Ya Gold
Damon Tuscany
Fleetwood Excursion
We then spent an hour or more in each one of these looking at livability and going over my minus list to verify 1st impressions. I had the Damon low on my list, and had removed it when the dealer rep asked me if I would come back in 20 minutes and talk to the Damon executive about my concerns. I did, and I came away thinking that many of the items would be discussed in the next planning session.
The one with the most interior storage by far was the Alfa See Ya. Can't get past the angular design on cabinet faces and the dashboard. Just didn't feel like home walking into it.
We had it narrowed down to the Envoy or the Excursion.
On the way out, we saw a DoubleTree Mobile Suites 36' 5ver with a very nice picture on the living room television. We went in so that I could look at the electronics and see how there were getting the TV signal. (It was a DVD) While in there however, I was running my checklists through in my head and found that it was solving most of the small minuses we had in either of the DP's. The other thing we noticed, is that with 4 or 5 people in the Class A's we were crawling over each other. In the 5ver there were 6 people watching TV, with others walking in and out. SO....Our long weekend of looking at DP's showed us the right unit for us is a 5ver. Wouldn't have figured it out without the checklists generated by the ideas planted in the 1st post of this thread. I have the 5ver list down to a few and will follow this up with our purchase experience in the apropriate forum...
Thank You.
Full-Timers, Class of 2014
2002 Volvo VNL770 Toter - Optimus Prime
2007 SpaceCraft - Just Weight
CEO App2Droid
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Texasanne
TX
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Joined: 08/18/2005
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What fantastic information you have taken the time to share. Bravo and thank you! We have been investigating the RV lifestyle and through this website I made a friend who is a fulltimer. She and I have been emailing and she told me a 5th wheel is far and away the roomiest decision for a fulltimer. Plus, she didn't want to be in her "home" all day with driving paraphernalia, maps etc. all over so esthetically she preferred being in her truck and going "home" when they stopped. As a woman, that stuck a chord with me. So . . .
how did you handle the vehicle thing? To have a 5th wheel will mean we'll have to sell a car and buy a truck and that has certain ramifications for us with a moderate income (retired). Will you detail what truck you have/get because I admire and adhere to your checklist approach.
Again thanks,
Texasanne
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cdc309
orlando,florida, usa
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Joined: 10/17/2003
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I read your article about a lot of useful information. But for those that would like to see for themselves, I found a brand new site called RV Video Showcase. It can be found as .http://www.rvvideoshowcase.com This site is great for first time buyers, or for folks undecided on what they want to purchase. It contains VIDEO from most Manufacturers. The Video is in most cases a complete company profile including factory tours, testimonials and product lines.
It also includes the RV Dealers that carry the inventory. It is an easily navigated site without a bunch of Advertising clutter.
For anyone who is into Video, this is a great site. Be prepared to stay a while. Once you look at one video, you'll be compelled to continue right through their play list, which as I said before is quite full of great information
cc
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william.purcell
San Antonio, TX
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Joined: 04/04/2002
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Outstanding job! If you are considering the purchase of an RV, READ AND FOLLOW THIS POST. We are now in our second RV. We had some general dreams about what we wanted in our first, but more than anything else, we totally lucked into what turned out to be a good purchase. After a year and a half, I retired and we moved into it full time. We learned a lot more then. Althought we were still satisfied and comfortable in that coach, we decided to full-time for a long while, so we wanted to look at options for a new coach. We went through essentially the same process that Johnny describes, incuding going through more coaches than I care to remember. Every time, we took several pictures inside of each to help jog our memories. Once we had made up our minds on the "what" we sat down to bargaining.
Now, I have another recommendation, especially for those considering a NEW coach. We sat with dealer after dealer going through their sales pitches and their scripted negotiating play before I found a booklet on the web by Bob Randall, "The RV Buyers Survival Guide". I paid $17.95 for it on the web and figured that since I was about to buy a $200K machine that the investment was worth the risk. Was it ever!!! As I read the guide, I could see the antics of at least 4 or 5 negotiating sessions we had been through. And based on what I learned from the guide, the best "deal" we had been offered up to that point was still not very good. We had almost jumped on one of them! In the end, I walked into a dealer and gave them the list of what I wanted ordered on our new coach. I also told them that I wanted 26% off of retail or I was not buying. They called me the next day and said OK. We wound up with EXACTLY the coach we wanted, our way, and the end cost was less than I had expected to pay for a coach. We've been living in it for the past 17 months now and like it even more than the day we picked it up.
Bottom line: It's YOUR investment--DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST.
Bill Purcell
2008 Allegro Bus 40 QDP, Spartan Chassis
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jim_martin_pa
Philadelpa, PA area
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Joined: 08/06/2005
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Thanks for the input
Wow, you spend a lot time preparing the buyers giode
Thanks again
Jim
2006 Allegro 32 BA
on '06 Ford Chassis
2006 Saturn Ion 2
F373167
Jim's RV Tips
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AMoreau
Rumford, R.I.
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Joined: 10/21/2005
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Hello, I'm a very new newbie and really appreciated JohnnyT insight into getting an RV. We are about a year and half from getting one. We are just starting our serious look at everything. We are planning to rent one for a long weekend to see if this is what we really want to do. Right now we are sailors and own a 34' boat that we will sell to get into the RV world if that's our direction.
I can't believe all the choices out there. We have been to a couple of RV shows and we have settled on the fact that we want a DP. We know what it's like to live in a 34' space because of the boat. I understand Tiffin is coming out with a diesel in the front end. I don't know if that makes a difference?
Well this is my first post and you will be seeing me around. Great Forum! I know I'll be learning a lot from it. Thanks. Al & Candy & Kerri & (Bella Rose)
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