Camper shopping, not so much fun...

[3girlsfun]

The pros of the shopping trip:

-We only had 1 of our 3 children with us while we shopped, so only minimal whining

-.............ohh, I can't think of any more!!!!!!!

Cons:

-more confused than when I hadn't looked yet
-annoying sales guy, who tried to pressure me as soon as my DH walked off (umm, my DH is a sales guy, I know the tactics!)
-95 degrees while shopping

Ok, so really though guys, this is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

Our first camper was a gift from my parents. They had narrowed the search down, did all the leg work, and then showed us two campers. Later that day I had a camper. It was wonderful! (And I am aware that this makes me sound like a spoiled brat, however, my parents love to shop and buy cars and campers, so they fully enjoyed the process!)

Now that I am doing this on my own with my DH, I feel so overwhelmed.

I have no clue if the camper is a "good deal" or not. I have no idea if it is worth the money to buy the campers with the "good cabinets" in them. I felt so completely overwhelmed when we were looking yesterday, and we only looked at 4 different units!!!! We will have a decent sized down payment or trade in, but we will need to finance part of it. Do people really finance these things for 10-12 years? (That is what the sales guy told us!) I mean, I know we should finance in whatever way is best for our budget, but wow, I would have never imagined financing for 10+ years. I didn't know that would be an option.

Ok, any guidance would be great. We are now trying to decide if we want to go ahead an put our camper up for sale, because I am afraid it is going to take me forever to decide on a camper!

 

[ftwildernessguy]

A 10 year term on a camper loan is pretty typical.

 

[3girlsfun]

Jim, that is amazing to me, I had no idea! I guess I have always just sort of based it off what my parents did, they normally don't finance anything longer than 3 years, however, they always have something they are selling when they buy something, so I guess that is why.

Any suggestions on which TT's "hold" their value? I just looked on RV trader, and there are some great units on the site. I saw a '04 Keystone for 12k, and then when I look on Keystone's website at a comparable unit, it is 30k.

 

[starbuc71]

Camper shopping is so much fun The best way I have made deals is reasearch all you can on the internet. Look at differnt floorplans, reliablilty from other owners of that brand, etc. The floor plan you want and the craftsmanship are my biggest things I look for, Then it's the price. Once you decide on a brand and model, Go to a dealer and look at it. Don't worry about the price, make sure it's the camper you want. After saying to yourself and looking at it, "that's it, that the model that will fit our needs perfect" Go back home and start looking for the best price on the internet. If you have a trade, I would highly suggest you try and sell it yourself. Trade-in's are very low value these days due to most people can walk out with a new unit for the same price a dealer may have to ask for your trade. The unfortunate thing I ran into, is that nobody has cash these days and the typical american will pay more for a unit at the dealer for the ease of financing. If distance is not an issue, you can find the unit you want at a best price if you will travel to pick it up. Some will call me stupid but I drove to Virginia last week from FL to get an awsome deal on the unit we wanted. The FL and GA. dealers did not want to budge but low and behold we found what we were looking for. I hope this help you in your journey to find the perfect RV

 

[terri01p]

 

[3girlsfun]

I'm glad I am not alone. My parents just bought a used motohome $30k under the blue book value. My Dad just knew it had to be to good to be true, but it wasn't. It is so nice. The guy that was selling had so much money, he didn't care he just wanted to get rid of it. I believe we will be putting our camper on the market very soon. I just have to clean it out. Where in the world am I going to put all of that "stuff!"

I am totally willing to travel to get the unit, that is not a problem. Or I'm sure my Dad would me more than happy to go get it for us, I just worry that we travel the distance and then the unit it terrible, or smoked in.

Yesterday at the dealer (largest one in the area) the sales guy told us the unit had not been smoked in, umm, ok, so what is that smell that knocked me down when I opened the fridge door? Nothing against smokers, I just don't want to be lied to by the sales guy!!!

 

[labdogs42]

Sounds like your dad is a good deal finder! Maybe he could do the shopping for you this time, too! have him find the rig, then you show up to sign the papers. I hate buying stuff, too (esp vehicles). We went out just LOOKING at RV's yesterday and it stressed me out. I prefer RV shows, at least those are less pressure.

 

[medic9016]

Any suggestions on which TT's "hold" their value? I just looked on RV trader, and there are some great units on the site. I saw a '04 Keystone for 12k, and then when I look on Keystone's website at a comparable unit, it is 30k.

Travel trailer value drops once you pull it off the lot. Some of the high end units do better than others.

 

[BibbityBobbitySue]

We purchased a new travel trailer last month and this is what I did:
Saw an ad in the local paper for an RV show at a nearby RV dealer and since DH and I had been mulling the idea over for the past few years since the kiddoes grew up and we sold our PopUp, thought we'd go check it out. The first thing I did was bring up their website and did a search for available inventory. I do the same thing when car shopping. I refuse to put up with the sales pitch. I know what I want and don't have the time or patience for the speil.
Anyhoo, I found a great deal on their website. Just the size and type of travel trailer we were looking for at a very much reduced price for the show. I called the person in charge of finance and gave her our info for pre- approval in case we liked the trailer.
We looked at the trailer with no sales person assistance, talked to the finance person and sealed the deal, all within a couple of hours with no pain or anxiety. Yes, we did finance for 10 years, and also got every extended warranty offered. We went back the next weekend for our walk through and towed our brand new Heartland Trail Runner home.
So, you can buy with out all the sales hassle and angst, just do your research and bypass the hassle. Hope this helps and you find the RV of your dreams.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Trailers depreciate like CRAZY!

Look for leftovers. The last 3 trailers I have bought were the previous years models and I saved thousands of dollars.

Extended warranties are up to the individual preference. No offense to Bippityboppitysue, but I NEVER get an extended warranty on anything. The extended warranties on campers cover the appliances mainly. They will NOT cover any problems with the structure of the coach past the 1 year (or in the case of Jayco, 2 year) factory warranty. Personally, I would take the money spent on the extended warranty, put it in a money market and tap into it if your frig goes bad after it's out of warranty. I am willing to bet you would be money ahead. I have also heard some real horror stories of people trying to get the companies that handle the extended warranties to honor them.

 

[doombuqqy]

Best thing is to research which ones are made the best and look at those brands.Have a list of needs such as the BH,length etc. Don't waste your time looking at something that won't work for your family it will just confuse you. Take notes of the ones you like, write down the model # and pro's and con's to it. Do this while you are shopping. Take some pics if you need to use them to refresh your memory. Use that list to dwindle it down to the few you like,get rid of the ones you know won't work or don't like. Finding the right RV is like finding the right house, when you walk into it you will know.

 

[BradyBz12]

We just bought our new TT about a month ago. We had our hybrid for 5 years prior to that. Best advice I can give you is do a TON of research before walking into the dealer - online, RV shows... Helps a lot to know walking in when the salesman is b.s.-ing. We had salesmen tell us things about units we knew simply weren't true because we'd done our homework.

Also helps to go in with your list of "must haves" and if you can narrow it down to specific types, floor plans, weight range, etc., that's a big plus too. I found it a lot less stressful having a short list of units to look at rather than being totally overwhelmed just walking into the dealer cold.

Once we'd narrowed it down to a few manufacturers/models, we also checked online to see what they were going for . Getting a deal on a leftover is great if you can swing it.

Good luck!

 

[freshlybarked]

I'll second the know what you want in floor plans or at least know what you don't want. I don't want a corner L shaped kitchen. I like a long straight or slightly curved at the end kitchen. I know with our next RV I want the shower in the bathroom and the bedroom must have a slide. We have a 32' Class C now and I never thought to look at Class A's that were smaller. We saw one this weekend that was 2' smaller, but had the exact things we wanted and because it is a Class A it looked bigger inside. Now we can't afford a new one so our salesman who is a friend will keep his eye out for the same model that is a couple years old. Who knows. Look at a lot of floor plans and see what you must have, what you hate and the things that you can give in on. It's really kind of fun until you sit down at the table and sign your life away for another 15 years.

 

[LarryJ]

Lots of good advice so far and here is some of mine:

1. Do tons of research ahead of time by looking at various manufacturers websites and brochures to sort of narrow down you general wants, what to avoid, etc.

2. Most dealers have online websites that will list what units they have and see if one might fit your need and then call and say you saw it on the internet and what the asking price is. Doing this by phone puts you in the driver's seat so to speak since they have to sweeten the pot to even get you to come in.

3. Look if at all possible at left over new inventory since that is where you can get some great deals.

4. Don't let the salesman walk around with you to look at units since you can talk candidly with those with you w/o him/her gaining some info to use in trying to get a sale. SAY NOTHING POSITIVE IN FRONT OF A SALES PERSON, ONLY NEGATIVE AND LITTLE OF THAT.

I have no advice on financing since for the last 15 years or so we have paid cash for our last 3 vehicles and our current trailer. Only exception was a car used as a business expense for several years and our most recent purchase because NFCU had some great new car rates that only cut into my new SS checks a small amount and none of that $$ is really needed for living expenses and it was only $10K financed over 48 mos.

Larry

 

[3girlsfun]

This is all great advice!!! I really appreciate ya'll taking the time to talk with me about this. I enlisted my parents into looking for me today. My mom actually went online and looked today for me. She wrote down the brands she thinks that would hold their value a little better than others.

It makes me feel a lot better hearing that a lot of people finance their campers for extended periods, bc I thought the guy was just feeding me a line of "bull." I did a little research online today, and I am going to do some more in a few mins.

I would love to either find a leftover, or a barely used unit. Our current TT was used, but in such wonderful condition.

I am going to look for a trade show that is coming up.

I think I have decided, I am going to get DH to figure out a time when we can clean out our TT and get it up for sale. I am hoping it will be within the next month. (We have so much going on during July!)

Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[stefa70]

While a ten year loan sounds scary, it's actually kind of nice. If I have a good month, I pay double or triple payment, if some "unexpected" comes up, I only have a small payment to be made. Just make sure in your loan agreement, there is no penalty for early pay off, and GOOD LUCK!

 

[rapriebe]

I have a different opinion than the previous poster's comment about extended warranties mainly only cover appliances. Possibly the one they checked into was that way but not all warranties are the same. We purchased a 2 year old Class A last year and the previous owners had purchased an extended warranty that was transferrable to us. In only one year, we have had to use it twice and it saved us alot of money. The first time we were just arriving in CA and it was a slide-out motor that died and it only cost us $25 to get it fixed. If we had to pay it was $425 for the motor plus the labor involved for 2 service calls. They paid for a mobile RV service to come out to determine the problem and manually put our slide out and then the return trip to install the new motor. When we returned home we noticed that the converter was not working and one of the heat pumps was not heating. It cost us only $25 to get both of these items fixed and that repair would have been well over $600.

So in my opinion, extended warranties are great on an RV. I never purchase them for individual items purchased at a store but there are so many mechanical parts in an RV that it makes sense to purchase one. Plus they are a great selling feature if you decide to sell your rig. It was nice to know that when we purchased our unit that we would have repairs covered until 2014 and all it cost was $75 to transfer it.

 

[BradyBz12]

So in my opinion, extended warranties are great on an RV. I never purchase them for individual items purchased at a store but there are so many mechanical parts in an RV that it makes sense to purchase one. Plus they are a great selling feature if you decide to sell your rig.

Agree across the boards here. We never used it in the first 5 years of owning our hybrid - until right before we were ready to sell it and the hot water heater needed to be fixed. And we now have a year left for whomever buys it - a good selling point for sure.

That said, you absolutely can negotiate on the extended warranty! DH works for a car dealership and deals with warranties all the time and knows the game. On our new TT he told them up front he'd take the warranty for XX over cost (I forget what the exact figure was) and that's what we got it for. Keep in mind that the warranty cost jumps dramatically past a certain # of years, so be sure to get all the info before deciding which to get (if any).

In our case, the bank we financed through also reduced our rate by 0.25 for having an extended warranty. Which raises another good point on financing - ask questions. Don't just take the first rate they spit out - see if there's anything you can do to bring that down - including trying another bank if possible. We lucked into another 0.25 discount for signing on the sale of our unit on Memorial Day weekend when the bank was running a promotion.

Bottom line from all the advice given here - if you go into the dealer having done your homework and knowing what you're talking about, you can avoid a lot of the salesman shenanigans and be confident in the end that you got the right unit for you AND a good deal.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I have a different opinion than the previous poster's comment about extended warranties mainly only cover appliances. Possibly the one they checked into was that way but not all warranties are the same. We purchased a 2 year old Class A last year and the previous owners had purchased an extended warranty that was transferrable to us. In only one year, we have had to use it twice and it saved us alot of money. The first time we were just arriving in CA and it was a slide-out motor that died and it only cost us $25 to get it fixed. If we had to pay it was $425 for the motor plus the labor involved for 2 service calls. They paid for a mobile RV service to come out to determine the problem and manually put our slide out and then the return trip to install the new motor. When we returned home we noticed that the converter was not working and one of the heat pumps was not heating. It cost us only $25 to get both of these items fixed and that repair would have been well over $600.

So in my opinion, extended warranties are great on an RV. I never purchase them for individual items purchased at a store but there are so many mechanical parts in an RV that it makes sense to purchase one. Plus they are a great selling feature if you decide to sell your rig. It was nice to know that when we purchased our unit that we would have repairs covered until 2014 and all it cost was $75 to transfer it.

Perhaps I should have expanded my statement about appliances to include motors for the slideouts. My point was a lot of people assume an extended warranty will cover things like delamination of the exterior, which they won't. I will stand by my statement, however, re the expense of the warranty versus paying out of pocket for repairs. While there may be exceptions, I am willing to bet that warranty that saved you 600 bucks cost much more than that when it was purchased. Many of them are also financed with the RV, so factor in finance charges. Like I said, this is my personal opinion re. extended warranties. Wonder how Larry feels about them?

 

[rapriebe]

Perhaps I should have expanded my statement about appliances to include motors for the slideouts. My point was a lot of people assume an extended warranty will cover things like delamination of the exterior, which they won't. I will stand by my statement, however, re the expense of the warranty versus paying out of pocket for repairs. While there may be exceptions, I am willing to bet that warranty that saved you 600 bucks cost much more than that when it was purchased. Many of them are also financed with the RV, so factor in finance charges. Like I said, this is my personal opinion re. extended warranties. . . deleted comment . . .

Yes , it's each person's personal preference. The extended warranty on my rig was under $2k and in just 2 service calls I have already saved over $1,100 (in parts alone plus labor charges). If you read my post, the first savings was $425 plus 2 labor calls and the second was over $600 plus the labor. So it has almost paid for itself in just 2 repairs. They do more than just "appliances to include motors for slideouts". Mine covers everything mechanical - - - all appliances to include my washer/dryer, furnace, heat pumps, converters, inverters, slide out motors, water heater, A/C, automatic levelers, etc. Any repairs to those items will usually be quite costly and I am very glad that I don't have to worry about it since I have the warranty.

Like I said, this is just my opinion but I believe people would like to have the complete picture about extended warranties and not be misinformed.