Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Buying a Former Rental Class C. How many of us out there?

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Topic: Buying a Former Rental Class C. How many of us out there?

Posted By: getmoving on 03/26/13 08:36pm

Thank you both for the reply. I forgot to mention that we already have a tiny Starcraft AR-ONE that we would be trading in.

IAMICHABOD, We will make sure to ask about the MFG warranty and the appliances.

Paullac, They have a 2008 Sunseeker, 28 ft, with 22,000 miles on it on consignment for 58K. We checked it out but weren't impressed. It had an entertainment center, but we like the bunk in the Freedom Elite as we have two girls ages 8 and 10.

Posted By: IAMICHABOD on 03/26/13 09:42pm

Getmoving

That sounds great,When I started my girls were 6 and 9 and it was nice for them to have their own bed and they really enjoyed the whole camping experience.

Please check back in and tell us how it all goes. Ill be happy to answer any questions.

Good Luck

2006 TIOGA 26Q CHEVY 6.0 WORKHORSE VORTEC
Former El Monte RV Rental
Retired Teamster Local 692
Buying A Rental Class C

Posted By: epmes on 03/27/13 09:12pm

Great thread. Thanks for keeping this alive; it remains relevant.

We bought our 2012 Thor Chateau 28Z about a month ago, from Tacoma RV here in Washington. They have a small rental fleet and sell the units after a season or two. Ours had 8,500 miles on it, but was available at about half of the original list price. And yes, I realize that list price doesn't equal retail. :-)

So far, so good! We did have a minor roof leak, but thankfully the dealer took care of it quickly. I was about to Eternabond all the seams myself, but the dealer found the o-ring on the TV antenna had slipped. Good catch there. He even replaced my cushions and topped off the gas (for my trouble).

I've had to fix a few minor things--like tightening the kitchen plumbing--but otherwise it's been a great experience. I felt much safer buying an RV with less than 10K miles from a local dealer than I would have felt buying one from a national rental chain with 10x the miles and a few more rental years.

2012 Thor Chateau "Noof" 28Z

Posted By: bigcitypopo on 03/31/13 04:36am

My mom just bought a 4winds 2007 23a from cruiseamerica. 165k on it... Ya high miles... But it NADA at $30k... Bought it for $14k. Thing was completely resealed and redone. New tires, brakes, batteries. Rebuilt genny, led lights. Backup sensors, solar battery maintainer. Water pump .... I went through the whole thing.... Solid unit. I'm gonna do shocks...

Great buy for my mom.... I'm the rv guy.. She just wants to tag along

2014 RAM 2500 BigHorn CrewCab 4x2 ShortBox, 6.7L CTD
2014 Keystone Springdale 294bhssrwe - Hensley Arrow!
The best wife, 2 kids and a bunch of fun

Posted By: jgorm1 on 03/31/13 08:25am

I don't own a rental, but I've been in a few of them for trips. Both of them were beat down pretty hard (RV america). They rattled like crazy, like an old city bus where you are worried about the windows falling out. I think rv america had the vendor make them extra cheap for them. It looks like some of you scored, but the rentals down here in san diego are beat pretty hard. We briefly considered them due to the much lower price, but passed on them in the end.

Posted By: bigcitypopo on 03/31/13 11:28am

Ya, it kinda rides like a uhaul. Lol...

But it's really setup nice. All new plumbing... Nice norcold fridge. The a/c isn't ducted but works great. They did a great job on the refurb. I looked a few of the rv's in progress of being setup for sale. They had checklists, and many work orders for new parts. My buddies family has an rv dealership that serviced many of these units. Cruise America always bought new parts and paid for quality service to be done... Their attitude was to fix it right the first time...

Posted By: gotsmart on 03/31/13 06:49pm

bigcitypopo wrote:

Have the roof inspected. My 2005 CA 28R's roof was at end of life and had a side-to-side seam across the middle. Without a ladder on the back of the CA motorhomes, it is easy to overlook the condition of the roof.

2005 Cruise America 28R (Four Winds 28R) on a 2004 Ford E450 SD 6.8L V10 4R100
2009 smart fortwo Passion with Roadmaster "Falcon 2" towbar & tail light kit - pictures

Posted By: IAMICHABOD on 04/02/13 10:06am

bigcitypopo wrote:

That sounds great! After a trip or two, check back in and tell us all how it went,what worked or didn't. That would be nice to know.

Thanks
[image]

Posted By: 62Doka on 04/02/13 01:19pm

jgorm1 wrote:

Same here, we considered one for the offered price but during the test drive, I seriously thought the windows were going to rattle right off the rig. We literally could not hold a conversation while driving it was that loud.

For those of you that did find a good one, congratulations and I hope you have many happy miles ahead of you!

Posted By: getmoving on 04/02/13 04:51pm

Just wanted to pop back in and say that we did purchase the 2012 Freedom Elite (previously a CW rental) over the weekend. Camping World fixed or replaced everything we pointed out (minor cosmetic stuff), added a spare tire, and tossed us a $500 CW gift card. Upon the first test drive the previous weekend, once you got it up to abt 65 the steering wheel shook like the tires needed to be rotated and balanced; by this weekend they had actually completely replaced the front 2 tires and it drove very smooth. Oh and the purchase came with the new Good Sam Elite 3 year membership.

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