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otto1

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Joined
Jun 12, 2006
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3
Hi everyone,
We are Richard and Barbara. We are located in albuquerque and have both recently retired. we are anxious the join the family of full-timers. After deciding to explore FT, we purchase a used 34 ft (1995 alegro bay) in January 2006. we have taken several trips so far, the longest being 1 month. We have decided that we want to become FT. We purchased the alegro bay because it was in good condition and had good maintenance records. Also, it was attractively priced. We felt that if we did not like rving, we could recover most of what we paid for the alegro. However, we are hooked. We placed our home on the market 3 weeks ago and it has already sold. Presently, we are looking to upgrade to a newer, more spacious unit.  We foung a 2004 Fleetwood Bounder 34f (34 ft). It has triple slides and 3600 miles.  I am not familiar with RV's in general.  The dealer want approx. $93000 minus a trade of $27000. Does this sound like a good deal?  Also, I would like to hear from anyone who has had direct experience with this make and model concerning its reliability and possible maintenace and repair expense in general.  I am, in addition, looking at a maintenance contract thru good sam. Any thoughts on it value?



 
Richard and Barbara,

Welcome to the RV Forum.  Glad you found us.  Allegro Bay is a good coach and from our own experience the Bounder is too.  We had two Bounders before we bought the American Eagle and had very good service from both of them. For extended  I would recommend Warranty Experts (talk to Dave Gardner 877-673-1880) .  If you call them mentione my name. 

 
You might check NADA. If I am right the Bounder may be a 2005 model built in 2004, the 34f model shows up as a 2005 with an average retail value of 84,100 ans a low retail of 69,800. I would suggest making an offer towards the low retail figure.

Your Allegro Bay comes in at 17,600 and 14,600 so I am assuming the dealer is willing to put about 10,000 in it for inventory.

Low retail minus a 10k wholesale trade figure would be about 60,000 trade instead of his offer of 67,000. If it is REALLY super sharp you have to decide if you want to invest the extra cash. Another option would be to sell your Allegro Bay yourself, If it is in good shape you could probably get more for it.
 
The dealer has overpriced this unit by at least $10,000 (per NADA book values - see www.nadaguides.com ) an dis giving that $10k back to you in trade-in allowance above and beyond the wholesale book of your Allegro Bay. The online NADA guide doesn't give wholesale values, but on your 1995 it won't be much, probably no more than $8,000.

Used RVs generally sell for around the low retail NADA figure, once everything is figured in. I would say the dealer is not doing you any great favors, but the deal isn't  aterrible one either.  Make a counter-offer closer to the $60,000 that Jeff suggests and stick to your guns. You should be able to get it for at least  a few thousand less than the dealer's offer.

The Good Sam Continued Service Program (CSP) is a decent deal but you should shop around. In particular, get prices from Warranty Direct and RVProtection.net. Don't bother with the dealer unless he offers to throw in an extended warranty to sweeten the deal when you negotiate. Dealers get a huge commission on warranty sales and are always high priced for the amount of coverage you get, but once in awhile they will give up the commission and use the extended service plan as an enhancer for the deal. That way they can claim they "gave" you $5000 or so worth of something that actually only costs them maybe $1500 or so in premiums to the insurer.

The gas Bounder is a good rig, but you might want to consider a higher line, diesel coach for fulltiming. You will get better construction, a sturdier chassis and drive train, better fuel economy and probably better quality of materials and cabinetry in the interior as well. Fulltiming is hard on an RV and you want the best materials and construction possible.  Look at some used diesel models from Holiday Rambler (e.g. Endeavor) and Newmar (Dutch Star & Kountry Star). You can probably get a 2000 model and still have a quality rig in top notch shape.  There are lots of them around the USA to choose from.
 
2nd the Extended warranty with Dave Gardner  Done me good and on more than once.    3rd RV with him/.
 
Thanks for all the input. I looked at the NADA values and there were additionals entries for optional equipment. After i entered these, the value increased significantly. Was I not supposed to enter these options? Please advise
 
The average price includes most standard options included with most RV's. Dealers use options to try and run the price up, I don't listen to them.
 
Otto:

Welcome to the world of fulltiming.  The Admiral (wife Sharon) and I began just a year ago and we are loving it.  Currently touring the Adirondacks and Vermont, and heading west in another week. 

You are making a good move by upgrading.  I know many people who are reluctantly admitting that their older coaches without slides just do not give them enough room.

I agree with Gary's recommendation that if you are fulltiming, you should look into upgrading to a diesel coach.  Forum members here (especially Bernie Dobrin) recommended this to us when we were looking, and it was the best buying decision we made.  If you are going to be on the road all the time, you will benefit greatly from the reliability of diesel, and the sturdiness associated with diesel coaches.  I would also look into at least a 38 footer.  Quarters get tight when you have no other home to live in.

I know all of this costs money.  But, after all, you are buying a new home.  We did not cut any corners when we sold our stick house and bought our wheel house.  We knew we were going to live in it and we bought accordingly.

That said, while i do not know anything about pricing, I do know that bounder has a good reputation.  We gave them a good look when we were coach hunting.  Bounder makes good diesels as well.

Our short list ended up being what Gary listed.  The Beaver Santiam (same thing as Holiday Rambler or Monaco Diplomat) and the Newmar Kountry Star (Same thing as Dutch Star but with a smaller, more economical diesel engine).

Good luck with our purchase.  I feel certain if you and your wife are the exploring kind of people, you will love fulltiming.  Many wonderful adventures lay waiting around the next bend in the road.
 
We want to thank everyone who responded to our post. Your advise greatly asisted in our final decision. After many hours of painstaking thought and condsideration, and further negotiation with the dealer, we were able to squeeze another couple thousand off the price.  The coach is in superior condition comestically and only has 3600 miles. Final price was $65000 plus trade. I feel confident that we made the right decision.  Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Richard and Barbara
 
Hi,
My Wife and I are comtemplating a used Fleetwood Bounder 34F.  Did you ever purchase yours?  Ironically, we are  headed to NM as well: we have property in Chama, above Espanola. 
Take Care,
Mike & Mo
 
I'm sorry I didn't see all the posts first time around...I read them.  Great feedback!  The rig we are considering is a 2005 Fleetwood Bounder 34F w 3 slides workhorse engine, 2 ac units, leveling jacks, 4 door reefer, corian countertops and more.  Currently listed on Craigslist and located in Santa Cruz, CA it has 23k miles and the dealer wants $49,995.    We are comparing it to a well appointed 2004 Condor model 1351 by R-Vision with same engine but only 8k miles.  The Condor is on consignment and not advertised widely.  The price was higher, but the dealer says they will take $42k for it. 
If you have any feedback to help us with our decision, we would be most grateful.  We are going to see both this weekend.
Thanks, Mike & Mo
 

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