Rent or purchase?

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Awesome starter RV. 

Please don't let the negative comments by some get you down.  I posted a question about a small leak and they had me thinking the whole RV was rotted and the termites it attracted had spread to my sticks and bricks?? - the mold it caused was going to make my whole family sick and I needed a new roof.  When I took it for repairs they fixed it for $150. And said the RV was in great shape and well taken care of.

At 23 feet and being newer to RVing you may want to leave the toad at home??  I know there are some roads through the badlands that are awefully tight so you may want to see how that handles or skip them this time if you choose no toad.

Do you have a good friend/mechanic that would take a look at it?  That is money well spent.  Also, check the date codes on the tires to double check the accuracy of the ad.  Google tire date code for simple instructions if you don't know how.

As with any RV, you may have a break down but when you think about it, you really arent running it all that far - 2000 miles or so.  If you were closer to your house and not putting all the miles on in a week you wouldn't think twice about it.

When you have a problem try to think SIMPLE first.  99% of the time I want to make it hard and it is easy.  Try to keep the attitude that problems are projects - learning opportunities for you and your son - not catastrophic ordeals.

Does your son think it is the coolest thing he has ever seen?  Mine don't know our's isn't the best RV on the road so I haven't told them.  THEY LOVE IT!

Have a mechanic take a peak and ENJOY, ENJOY AND ENJOY!!! 

Your math is solid by the way - same math I did plus you can pack it up and unpack at your leisure.

We are hitting Rushmore this summer too.  If I see a 23 footer with a guy smiling ear to ear, I will introduce myself!
 
OutdoorFT said:
Looks like a nice little home. Hopefully you dont kill each other after the end of the 9 days!
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I will say we have "RV SERENITY"? in our's.  This means everyone is expected to do more than their fair share and not push anyone else's buttons.  Arguments are to be negotiated BEFORE they escalate and if they do we review them so everyone can see what went wrong.  As the husband, I have learned a closed mouth and a smile is better than sleeping outside.  So far I never regretted keeping my mouth shut - I have regretted opening it??.

You may want to plan an overnight first and then a 2-3 day trip first.  Going 9 days out of the gate is a big bite to chew and it's yours so why not take a weeekend to get used to it?
 
Another thing to consider is cost of ownership, there are things like insurance (mine runs $85 per month), where are you going to keep the motorhome, depending on where you live simple outdoor storage runs $50 per month or more, add to that extra charges for electricity to keep the batteries charged and vents running to keep the mildew out, $100+ is typical for covered storage, and indoor storage may run $200 a month or higher. 


You may want to price check some of these items.  My insurance is cheap - I think $289 a year. We have a big deductible but who cares?  It isn't worth that much.  You can bring the batts home to charge rather than pay for electricity at storage.  Indoor storage on a $7500 RV ($2400/year) seems extreme compared to rig price.  We have places that you can store for $20/month.  They aren't rolling out the red carpet but it works.  Just look for high and dry. 
 
I saw a pic of the tire tread, but what about the DATE CODE on the tires.  Over 7-8 years old will cost you about 300-350/tire.
 
I will check the tire dates - I never knew you could even do that. I've calculated the cost of ownership and we are prepared to pay that. It is one of the reasons we are trying to keep our budget under $8,000. I'm a subscriber to Dave Ramsey and I don't want to tap into my emergency fund and there is no way I will go into debt. I looked at some bigger RV's and the ones I looked at had some off-putting aspects. The engine didn't sound right or the refrigerator didn't work, or it had some body damage, etc.

This one is sound as far as starting up and the way it drives. It certainly had a leak but from everything I read it seems like any RV over 20 years old probably leaked at one point. It's just a matter of did the owner repair it before it ruined the RV. Luckily our family travels well together. We drove out to the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago in a Kia Sorento and we had a blast. Last year we flew to New York and rented a car. We drove to Boston and to Maine and had a great time. The hotel in New York City wasn't much bigger than the RV we're looking at  :p.

We plan on taking it out at a nearby lake (5 miles from home) to get a feel for it. Then we might take it down to the Davy Crockett National Forest or to Galveston for a 3-day weekend in May to see how it does on a longer trip. Then in late June is the trip to Mount Rushmore.

My wife already said if this all goes well and we truly enjoy it, we may look at upgrading in 3 - 5 years. By that time we will have used it several times and we should know what we want and what we don't want. I'll have some miles under my belt driving a 23' and I won't be so intimidated at looking at 30' nor would I be terrified of spending more $.

When I do a tire check I'll verify if they are approx 3 years old. If they come back at 5 or 6 I will try to negotiate the price down in lieu of the impending tire expenditure. If they come back at 3 years I think I will be happy with the price. They guy I've been talking to has been so gracious every time I called him and the two times I went out there to look at it. I don't want to low-ball him because he has been great.

I am supposed to give him my final answer tomorrow (Friday) but my wife and I have every intention of buying this one. Of course, I will continue to read the comments posted here in case there are other things I haven't considered. Thank you all for your help!
 
$7500 seems [to me] to be overpriced for that vintage, especially since it is showing internal water damage. Somewhere around $5k would be more typical, I think. Certainly $7500 could not be called a bargain in any sense.  Hopefully the many repairs that rig has had were all done well. If so, it's probably ok.

I see it claims the tires were new 3 years ago, so that should be good. And a Ford van chassis is common and can be repaired most anywhere. Ford & aftermarket parts are easy to come by too, though the van cutaway chassis used for RVs will have some differences from standard cargo & passenger vans.

Best of luck with it!
 
Life's an adventure!  We had that 1/4 bed in our first Class A and it worked for us for quite a few years, but in retrospect wouldn't go back to it.  I personally would walk away because of the water damage.  My daughter trivialized that kind of damage on a pickup camper she bought and it quickly turned to de-lam on the side.  It cost her over $4K to fix and she never recovered it.
 
paulcharbo said:
I will check the tire dates - I never knew you could even do that. I've calculated the cost of ownership and we are prepared to pay that. It is one of the reasons we are trying to keep our budget under $8,000. I'm a subscriber to Dave Ramsey and I don't want to tap into my emergency fund and there is no way I will go into debt. I looked at some bigger RV's and the ones I looked at had some off-putting aspects. The engine didn't sound right or the refrigerator didn't work, or it had some body damage, etc.






Dave Ramsey fan here too and we used the exact same thought process you did.  If it isn't too inconvenient you still might want to have a mechanic take a look.  Sounds like you tested everything in the coach.  Were you able to take a peak at the roof?  Hopefully the leak was properly fixed.

Enjoy!
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As far as I can tell, the roof was repaired correctly. But I am certainly not an expert. The guy I am purchasing from does have a lot of receipts for the the repairs and maintenance that he has done over the past three years. He even kept track of the miles per gallon on his phone app every time he got gas. It is obvious when talking to him that he kept up with the motor home (however, he has only had it the past three years). I didn't have a mechanic look at it, but I drove it and everything seemed okay. There was no rattle in the engine, it didn't sputter or cough, the accelerator was responsive, it didn't drift out of the lane, it started and cut off immediately, etc. I'm always leery about buying a used vehicle and I have been pretty fortunate that I never got stuck with a lemon. If there was anything about the mechanical side of things I would have walked away right then and there. The only two other things that would make me walk away would have been a broken refrigerator and mold. I know its used (and old) but up to this point I feel pretty comfortable. I think I am ready to take the plunge - I am scheduled to meet him this afternoon to finalize the transaction (pending verification of the tires). If all goes well, I will join the RV community! Then my wife and I can start doing the fun things that will make the RV our own.
 
Sounds like you are almost off and running.

Get some spare keys made and put them somewhere that you can access when you lock yourself out.

Check the fire extinguisher and buy a couple more. 

Add a can or two of Seafoam to the gas tank. Run the generator a good half hour to get the Seafoam into it.

The refrigerator will take about 24 hours to get down to cold. That's normal.

 
Let us know if you got her!!  :D :D

Since you are a Ramsey guy I know you will immediately notice that people in $200,000 MH will be parked right next to much less expensive ones.  You know what?  They are both doing the same thing!

Enjoy!
 
Okay, we bought it! Hooray we are so excited! I now have a whole new set of questions but I will find the appropriate areas and start a new thread. Thanks guys!
 
Yay!  Sounds like "You are doing better than you deserve" ? with a paid for RV.  It will be a blessing.

 
KandT said:
Awesome starter RV. 

Please don't let the negative comments by some get you down.  I posted a question about a small leak and they had me thinking the whole RV was rotted and the termites it attracted had spread to my sticks and bricks?? - the mold it caused was going to make my whole family sick and I needed a new roof.  When I took it for repairs they fixed it for $150. And said the RV was in great shape and well taken care of.
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Lmao!! ??? I love this forum but that is SO true.

 
We didn't take any pictures, can you believe it? THe first thing my wife wanted to do was take out every cushion and curtain. We aired out the cushions out in the back yard, we hand washed every curtain, bleached the walls, tables, and counters, and shampooed the carpet. It smells so fresh now! Then I went to Camping World and bought a few things including a 3-bike carrier that goes on the hitch and an RV cover. Then I went and got an outdoor spot at an RV storage place (that's why I got the cover). I think the pictures will come in 2 weeks when we take it out to the lake for the weekend (about 5 miles away). That will be our first test and I'm sure we'll take some pictures at that time.
 
paulcharbo said:
We didn't take any pictures, can you believe it? THe first thing my wife wanted to do was take out every cushion and curtain. We aired out the cushions out in the back yard, we hand washed every curtain, bleached the walls, tables, and counters, and shampooed the carpet. It smells so fresh now! Then I went to Camping World and bought a few things including a 3-bike carrier that goes on the hitch and an RV cover. Then I went and got an outdoor spot at an RV storage place (that's why I got the cover). I think the pictures will come in 2 weeks when we take it out to the lake for the weekend (about 5 miles away). That will be our first test and I'm sure we'll take some pictures at that time.
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Congrats.

Hope it works out for you and you get many years of enjoyment from it.

Take lots of pictures - it might help you if anything ever went wrong (like a hurricane?) then you could prove (to the insurance Co.)
what good condition it was in before anything happened.  Just saying it can't hurt.
 
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