winnietrey
seattle
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Wizard , given your parameters, I wonder, if getting the best buy you can on a new one, would be your best option. In particular, the longer term loan, and the warranty. You mention.
I am not knocking, the ex-rental warranties, They are better than no warranty at all. but in reality, 12000 mile or 12 months. Average user puts on say 5000 to 6000 a year, so major power train, about a 5 to 6K warranty, is what you are really getting. And 30 days on appliances, nice but not really all that much. New warranties, will be much longer. If that is what you want. Maybe best for you to go new.
And a new one, I would think you should be able to get a much longer term loan.
Just a thought
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IAMICHABOD
Sunny So Cal
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Joined: 12/12/2011
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To answer some of the Questions that W3owizard asked.
El Monte has a program to pay for airfare by taking the cost off the price of the RV.
They will finance,from 144 month or longer depending on the amount financed.
They also take all the Decals off before sale Like This on mine you can't see where the Logo was.
Extended Warranties can be purchased.
2006 TIOGA 26Q CHEVY 6.0 WORKHORSE VORTEC
Former El Monte RV Rental
Retired Teamster Local 692
Buying A Rental Class C
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adlereins
Tri-Cities of Apple Valley, Hesperia, Victorville
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Let me jump in here. Haven't been on for a long time but have some advice. #1, be sure you can stay somewhere for a day up to a week. The reason . . . I purchased a Tioga 29 footer, drove it on the "demo" ride, purchased and drove home. On the way home I noticed a vibration that was not wheel balance. Turns out the driveshaft had thrown a weight. El Monte does not do any major chassis work, they farm it out. Mind you, I am not complaining, they fixed it up like new, but it took 5 business days.
So be prepared. They did give me a complete list of all repairs AND services from the day it was new. I found a bent frame on the jack knife couch, a very small water leak at the water pump and a sink faucet that leaked a little. They fixed them all by replacing with new. Not too shabby. All decals were removed, new mattress AND a FULL tank of gas. Moral of the story, take a long test drive. See if you can overnight in it or even rent for a weekend. Mine had 123,000 miles and 1315 hrs on the genny. Tires were 2 years old.
I didn't finance so I can't help there. It isn't new but she serves my purposes just fine.
If you want more info, just reply here. I'm subscribed.
Take Care,
Al
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w3ozwizard
Lacey, Washington
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Thanks for the replies. Nice to know about the programs they have in place. Probably could fix the drive shaft problem myself. Did on my old MH along interstate 5. Not fun but if I could get the parts I could do it. But anyway Thanks for the information from IAMICHABOD. I am glad to hear they have the airfare rebate program. I know I should just call them and before I purchase anything I will. But another sticky problem has come up. All the places that I have seen have state sales taxes. My state does as well. As far as I know if I bought lets say in California, I would be required to pay their sales tax and before I registered the rig in Washington I would have to pay our states sales tax. That could result in a lot of money. Cruise America said they would ship one up from anywhere in the country, but then again I am buying blind. But that would eliminate the double sales tax. I think El Monte has an affiliate company in Tacoma so maybe I could get them to bring it up here and have to just pay one set of sales tax. But that would again be buying blind unless the affiliate would fix anything I find wrong with it. Questions, questions, questions. Thanks and I am sorry for monopolize this forum and I hope you kind folks understand that I am a real big type A personality and I never go into anything until I feel I know as much about something as I can get. Thanks for the advise.
2009 Four Winds Majestic 28A
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samven1
Hedgesville, WV usa
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Wizard,
I understand that Calif. is the most difficult state to buy from as they want their sales tax even if you dont intend on registering there. Almost every other state will allow a dealer to issue a Temp tag that will get you home where you can do your own registration. Your main problem is that most banks want a lien on your title if you financed so many times the dealer takes care of that. I have heard that many dealers in Calif. will deliver over the state line to avoid the tax problem but you have to sign something stating that you will not bring the unit back into the state for a set number of days. I know El Monte has a dealer in Las Vegas, NV and you may be able to get a cheaper air fare as well as no tax issues. I purchased mine out of state and the dealer gave me a 30 day temp tag for $2 and mailed my paperwork and notarized bill of sale. I then took them to the DMV and got my permanent tags after paying my state tax and tag fees. El Monte sells so many RV's they must have this figured out but it does not hurt to ask.
I was thinking about buying from El Monte and I live in WV. That would have been a cross country flight and drive back. When I talked to them they said it would be no problem they sell to out of staters all the time. I had the same concerns about not liking the one I went to see and so had planned to fly into a central area and rent a car and drive to the 2 or 3 El Monte dealers to look at all the units that meet my specs. That would have been more units than I could find in my area in a year and hoped that one of them would meet my expectations. It would have been a bit of a pain but when you are getting ready to spend this kind of money a little inconvenience is to be expected, and I looked at it as my first vacation in the new RV with plans to make stops along the way home. As it was I bought local but even local meant 100 mile each way drives to look and several trips back and forth to finalize everything and getting a family member to take the drive so I could get it home.
By the way I dont know how many car rental companies do this but I go Enterprise because they will come pick you up and when you go to drop it off they will give you a ride back to your destination so its one less thing to worry about if you do buy.
* This post was
edited 04/14/15 03:56pm by samven1 *
Sam
03 Dodge Ram 1500 QC LB Hemi
2015 Four Winds 22E Chevy
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BoxinTheCompass
Florida
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I know it can vary from model to model but in terms of wiring for tv in these former rental models, do they come prewired with coax and an antenna or is it a coax jack on the wall outside? Anybody have any experiences with this? I am kind of focusing on the majestic 28A from cruise america. How much prewiring can I expect?
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adlereins
Tri-Cities of Apple Valley, Hesperia, Victorville
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Should have both. A jack on the outside for plugging into campsite, if available, and an antenna on the roof somewhere. Check for leaks at that spot.
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IAMICHABOD
Sunny So Cal
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Cruise America's units are purpose built just for them by Four Winds and I have not seen any with a antenna or a TV built in. So I don't think that they are prewired for that.
As for the Ones El Monte RV sells,they are production models right off factory line and as such they are pre wired for TVs and have antennas.
My unit has an antenna,and coax outlets in the front and rear also a exterior coax hookup in the electrical bay that I can hook up to cable at the campground if they have it,they all work perfectly in all locations.
There are a few other rental companies such as Road Bear that use production models that also are prewired and have antennas and TVs.
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adlereins
Tri-Cities of Apple Valley, Hesperia, Victorville
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Sorry Boxin; IAMICHABOD is right. I didn't notice the CA in your post.
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BoxinTheCompass
Florida
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Oh no worries ADLERINS, I am interested in hearing from the rest of the folks too.
I wonder how difficult it is to run new wiring in these units? I would think for maintainability there would be access and closeout panel (like trim panel) that can be easily removed on these rental units
If no access panels as I assume any ideas on best approach in running new wiring?
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