Going to look at 1999 Jamboree Class C 26ft.

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Travelingbird

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Hey, there. I?m a newbie (signed up today), so if this isn?t the right spot for this type of question, please let me know.

Long story short, I?m looking to purchase a Class C Motorhome to tour out of for at least a year with my bandmate and one medium sized dog. (Full-time, this will be our home.) I have an appointment to go look at a vehicle tomorrow, and I have no idea if this is a good asking price. It is a 1999 Jamboree 26ft. with 37,000 miles on it. They are asking $13,500. I have no idea if that is a good price. Can anyone tell me if this is (ballpark) a good price for this particular make and model? Also, is there anything in particular that I need to look out for, ask about?

I?m not dead set on buying this particular vehicle. But I like the layout, so I thought I?d go take a look at it and start to get a feel for what type of rv would be a good fit for us on the road. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!




 
You're going to be a bit shocked, but this is exactly what you're going to run in to looking at older rigs. The base NADA value on that rig is a little over half of what they're asking:

http://www.nadaguides.com/RVs/1999/Jamboree/M-F26-Ford/3018323/Values

And that's assuming everything, and I mean everything works (as verified by a professional third party that I highly suggest you seek out and hire). If this thing was an absolute cream puff, literally perfect including new looking fiberglass, new tires, batteries, maintenance receipts etc, perhaps it might be worth closer to $8-9K

 
Thank you so much! I thought the price seemed awfully high. I?m so glad I asked. Thank you for the link! I will definitely make good use of that in the future.

So here?s my next question- is it possible to find used Class C?s that are reasonably priced? ?
 
Travelingbird said:
So here?s my next question- is it possible to find used Class C?s that are reasonably priced? ?
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They're out there. Just keep looking and if and when you find one, get back to us with questions.
 
I would suggest getting to some dealerships just to have a look and see what is what.  Just look though  ;)

Take a bit of time to really figure out what you need.

Make a list of what you and your bandmate are going to take with you and then consider where you would put it when you look at the RV.  Also consider where the pooch will lie and what he/she needs and where you will store that.

Consider the floorplan carefully.  How do you like to sleep, cook, shower etc.

Checkout this website for floorplans as they have many to look at. 

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com

Good luck with your searach.

 
Rene T said:
They're out there. Just keep looking
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Yup. In the RV world the old saying ?ya gotta kiss a lotta frogs to find a prince? couldn?t be truer
 
You DEFINITELY want to spend a couple hundred $$$ to have one professionally inspected. Class C coaches, especially those with windows in the cab-over bunk area, are prone to leaks...doesn't take long for that little leak to lead to structural damage...the kind that can cost more to repair than the coach is worth. Look for signs of water leaks...usually discoloration of the fabric on the walls/ceiling, particularly around windows and where the walls meet the ceiling and bottom of the bunk area. (under the mattress)
 
While you're at it, don't rule out the midsize class A's. They are much better suited for two people full timing. Much more storage, larger tanks, more room, easier to drive, often larger showers, and a real bed you don't have to climb up to.

Ernie
 
BoomerD said:
You DEFINITELY want to spend a couple hundred $$$ to have one professionally inspected.
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And inside closets. We just had a member post an issue with paneling peeling inside of a closet caused by a leaky roof. She missed that while inspecting. That's why if you find one that will really work for you and you're not 100% sure as to what you should look for, hire someone to inspect it.
 
I'll take a bit of exception to the price comments above. The NADA RV value for a 19 year old RV is not a reliable guide to market value.  The RV guide keeps depreciating the value year after year, but after about age 12 or so, condition is far more important than age and the value flattens out.    That said, $13k is high and I would put the true market value somewhere between $5k and $10k.  You need to look around your area at other rigs and the asking prices (which are usually high to begin with). Use those as sort of a yardstick for values, even if they are ones you don't like or whatever.

Your problem is that being a newbie, you have little background for assessing condition or value of this one.
 
I too agree that $13,500 is probably a bit high for that coach, though you will never know unless you go look at it.  I also feel NADA is useless on older RV's, it not only is depreciation based, but does not even start with a specific model and lumps all coaches of a given size and general type in at the same price regardless of initial quality and price.  Sort of like saying all mid sized 4 door cars from 1999 have the exact same value today.

If you insist on paying NADA or less on a 15-20 year old coach with no major flaws and is not a money pit, expect to be shopping for a long time before finding a distress sale where someone needs the money TODAY.
 
I'm pretty sure that NADA RV starts with the units factory MSRP, but it is the base MSRP for that make & model.  No way to verify how accurate it is, nor does it include any delivery transport costs, which all buyers have to pay.  In any case, the original cost has little meaning after a dozen or so years, except perhaps as a comparison to other models of about the same year.

Many shoppers are accustomed to the excellent market price data provided by NADA for cars and light trucks, but the equivalent simply does not exist for RVs. There is no system of sales reporting at wholesale and retail levels, and no nationwide wholesale auction network to stabilize prices regionally or nationally.  Buying a used RV is more akin to buying a rug in a Turkish bazaar or an antique in a shop than to  buying a used car. Or even a used house.
 
Gary, I don't claim to know exactly how NADA determines its price, but I do know that on the public NADA search if you select ANY gasoline powered 1996-2002 Class A P32 chassis motorhome between 25-30 ft in length with no slides you will get the same $15,150 for average retail, this was the same as the NADA value was 2 years ago on my 2002 Safari Trek.    It does not matter if the coach was a entry level 1998 Fleetwood Flair with a base MSRP of $59,458 (according to NADA) or a Safari Trek with base MSRP of $101,668 (according to NADA, though other published accounts say base sticker in 2002 was $109,000 for a Safari Trek 2830 with 8.1L Vortec).
 
Thanks for that info, Isaac.  I checked a few older Class A's and you are spot on.  Best I can figure is that they have established a floor below which they won't depreciate a given year & type.  I don't know when they started that or how it was figured, but it is similar to what we've been saying here, i.e. after some age only condition is important.  2002 is 15+ years old, so maybe that is now their depreciation cut-off?  I'm just conjecturing... They used to publish figures only up to about 12 year and then you had to go to a second guide book that had a different methodology for "Older RVs". Now they have only one book for all years, so they had to accommodate the vintage rigs somehow.

From what I have observed, Class C's level off at about $5000 if they work at all and up to around $10,000 for the cleaner ones. That's my own observation, not an NADA RV thing.
 
Isaac-1 said:
Gary, I don't claim to know exactly how NADA determines its price, but I do know that on the public NADA search if you select ANY gasoline powered 1996-2002 Class A P32 chassis motorhome between 25-30 ft in length with no slides you will get the same $15,150 for average retail, this was the same as the NADA value was 2 years ago on my 2002 Safari Trek.    It does not matter if the coach was a entry level 1998 Fleetwood Flair with a base MSRP of $59,458 (according to NADA) or a Safari Trek with base MSRP of $101,668 (according to NADA, though other published accounts say base sticker in 2002 was $109,000 for a Safari Trek 2830 with 8.1L Vortec).
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I agree. I take NADA as a grain of salt when it comes to pricing older RVs. No add for low mileage or condition. I had my old Dolphin for sale for a bit last summer, and had a couple offers on it, way below low book. I just laughed at one guy, made him real mad, but I didn't care. You can't expect to buy a coach in very good condition for the same price as one with 100,000 miles needing a lot of work. I wouldn't even consider selling my coach for what NADA says it's worth low book. It's a joke. I ended up putting about 7000 miles on it last year, but it hasn't been out of the drive this year, yet. The kids can get rid of it when I die, but I'll never give it away while I'm sucking air.  ;D
 
Garry, the real kicker on this is if you go back just 1 more year on a P30 platform RV to 1995 they average retail drops by $5,000 to just over $10,000.  Of course on the P30 95 to 96 did bring the OBD-II diagnostic interface, the the engine switched from the 230HP 7.4 / 454 TBI engine to the 290HP 7.4 Vortec MFI engine, so there is some potential justification there, though at the same time they make no change in value in 2001 with the introduction of the 340HP 8.1 Vortec which had a 200,000 design service life vs the 150,000 design service life of the 7.4 Vortec in medium duty truck applications.  So we quickly get back to them just pulling a number out of the air.
 
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