Hello

[WilliamRV]

Hi everyone, my wife and I are in search of a second-hand Class C motorhome. We have 2 kids one is 15 and the other 12. Planning to travel for use on weekends and during summer.  I ran across this forum during my research. I?ve been watching a lot on YouTube, watching a dozen RVs. We have not decided yet which one to purchase. I know I will be learning a lot from this group. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Hi William and welcome aboard. Feel free to ask questions - we can help.
My first bits of very general advice:  don't let your car-buyer experience mislead you. You are looking to buy a house.  It happens to have wheels and that makes it more complex, but it's still primarily a house.  Further, RV dealers aren't anything like car dealers, nor do most of the automobile consumer protections apply. Last, RV prices vary much more widely than car prices and new models are often deeply discounted, thus distorting used RV pricing vs MSRP.

 

[SpencerPJ]

I do not know your RV experiences or camping, but I will say that my family, we had an older Class C that we used for weekend fun for many years.  When our kids got to be 15ish, hanging with M+D became less cool, and really uncool when we'd be in a park with little to no cell service.  We sold our class C as the kids were in high school, sports consumed us.  We then bought a travel trailer after they went off to college.  My point is, If this is fairly new to you and your family, I highly encourage you to do a couple 4 day weekends and rent a unit like what you are thinking you'd like.  It sure is cheaper than laying out your money that may / may not keep the gang happy.  If you are sure this is what you want to do, I would encourage you to always get a second persons evaluation on your purchase, ie an independent inspection, at minimum a mechanics opinion.  Many of these old weekend warriors have been cared for, many not so much.  Some sit an awful lot and that can be worse than using them.  Good luck with this process and ask away as and when questions arise  )

 

[roninX]

Welcome to the forums! Good luck finding the best RV for your family.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Unless you have camping experience you have a steep learning curve ahead but a fun one. With camping experience you know what to expect from camping so you are left with buying a house on wheels and a vehicle when looking at class C.

X2 on renting one for a trip. You may learn a lot.

(PS - after 5 posts the annoying security stuff goes away...)

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Floor plan is your primary consideration, followed by house/chassis integrity.  Mileage and age is somewhat secondary.  These aren't like cars that go a hundred thousand miles before any major service, RV's need major service in comparison all the time irrespective of age or miles.  Not sure how pricing is going in the current market, when I got mine there was a good selection of used RV's to choose from and it came down to just picking one that we were comfortable with.  No idea from your post if you're looking for used, well used or fixer upper but just planting the seed that nothing you're going to see will be perfect, be OK with 'good enough' and as long as there isn't water damage or other obvious trauma you can work with it.  But if the floor plan is wrong even a 'perfect' unit won't work for you, so have some idea what you want it to look like living in it before you start looking.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[disystox]

Welcome to the Forum .  We travel in a pickup truck and tow a 5th wheel trailer... we like to park the trailer and use the truck to site see or go find a fishing  hole.  With a pickup  it is a lot easier to find a  parking  place than it is with a motor home.

 

[WilliamRV]

Hi William and welcome aboard. Feel free to ask questions - we can help.
My first bits of very general advice:  don't let your car-buyer experience mislead you. You are looking to buy a house.  It happens to have wheels and that makes it more complex, but it's still primarily a house.  Further, RV dealers aren't anything like car dealers, nor do most of the automobile consumer protections apply. Last, RV prices vary much more widely than car prices and new models are often deeply discounted, thus distorting used RV pricing vs MSRP.

Thanks Gary. I will definitely take note of your advise. Appreciate it.

 

[Tom55555]

WilliamRV,  If your Kids are 12 and 15 I'm surprised they would want to RV with mom & dad, just kidding but you know what I'm talking about. To make you feel better, they will want to hang out with you when they approach 30 and realize mom & dad aren't so dumb. LOL

With that said, get what you and your wife want. Our kids set up a tent and only came in the RV when the weather got bad. They just wanted to sneak off in the middle of the night, can't blame them, I was the same way. We just told them to stay together and gave them lights and a two way radio to mom & dad.

Good luck on TT, class A, B, C choice. I bought a 2015 Winnebago 22R new for 49K and they are selling for about the same now because of the virus. I only had two small problems in 5 years on my unit.

 

[WilliamRV]

I do not know your RV experiences or camping, but I will say that my family, we had an older Class C that we used for weekend fun for many years.  When our kids got to be 15ish, hanging with M+D became less cool, and really uncool when we'd be in a park with little to no cell service.  We sold our class C as the kids were in high school, sports consumed us.  We then bought a travel trailer after they went off to college.  My point is, If this is fairly new to you and your family, I highly encourage you to do a couple 4 day weekends and rent a unit like what you are thinking you'd like.  It sure is cheaper than laying out your money that may / may not keep the gang happy.  If you are sure this is what you want to do, I would encourage you to always get a second persons evaluation on your purchase, ie an independent inspection, at minimum a mechanics opinion.  Many of these old weekend warriors have been cared for, many not so much.  Some sit an awful lot and that can be worse than using them.  Good luck with this process and ask away as and when questions arise  )

Hi Spencer.  I will look into renting out first rather than looking to buy. I think this forum really helps out for newbies like me. Appreciate your input.