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Topic: Older vs. Newer (Read 1816 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #20 –
Quote from: craneman –
Found one in South Carolina, after phone negotiations, pictures and videos sent to my computer, took off  in the '01 Grand Cherokee with the towbar in the back along with many tools.  After arriving and checking the coach found some issues with the Aqua Hot and small items. Renegotiated, paid cash and drove back here to Los Angeles. found the Forum while looking for parts and the rest is history.
Goes to show you may have to go a long ways for your Foretravel. Thought no one was a crazy as we were but we bought ours in Love Valley, North Carolina and drove it back to California. We took a commercial flight to Charlotte and the PO picked us up. Bought three start batteries/belts at Autozone, $100 tools at HF, sheets and towels at WalMart and drove home. It had not been started in over two years. 8D house batteries were bone dry.
If you like the Old West but don't want to drive out here, visit Love Valley, pop you lation is 104. Links: love valley north carolina - Google Search

Pierce

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #21 –
My plans was always a sailboat 36 to 40 ft sail anywhere preferably the Orient. Having had other sailboats that's where I've come from. Then Right before retirement my plans changed and I started looking at RVs. My idea of an RV was always an airstream towing it behind something like a Dodge power wagon or a Ford excursion with a diesel like I used to have. In my search and research I found the foreforums this was a few years before I bought the coach and I read through a lot and I realized that these forums had a wealth of information. I also joined the IRV2 forums and read up on other RVs and coaches. I knew I couldn't afford a new one wouldn't even dream of spending that much money on something that would depreciate from day one. Same goes for boats.
I believe that there's a diminishing depreciation return on these things when you first buy them there's a huge amount of depreciation but as It gets older it slows down and sometimes even reverses. In terms of boats if I was to buy a 40-ft 20-year-old boat now I would probably pay close to what the original cost. That's not the same with these things though. Still for what I paid for my 1999 U320 was similar to what I would have paid for the sail boat that I was looking at. each of those I figured would require anywhere from 20 to $40,000 and upgrades and other work to make it what I would want. So all in any words from 80 to 90 to 100,000. I'm okay with that. Whether or not you are it's up to you and your wife spouse girlfriend or significant other. As others have said you never know what you're going to purchase. no amount of pre-purchase surveying will tell you all the things that you're going to find once you start really digging. When Brett did my pre-purchase survey he did not take the trim work from around the window and the door or would I have expected him to. He didn't find the corrosion there. He briefly look for corrosion on the bulkheads but again you going to have to really look for some of that stuff to see if there's an issue there and you may not be able to do that on a pre purchase survey. You're not going to know if the aqua hot is ready to give up a ghost and needs to be rebuilt for 8K. You're not going to know if the air conditioner is about to die or that you have extensive water damage underneath your tile floor. you may look at the tread on the tires and say they look good by 6 months down the road find out that you have a big bubble on the sidewall and all of them need to be replaced. So it's a crap shoot as others have said it cost money to own one of these things which is why I almost sold mine this year.
Thought about buying a sprinter van and doing a conversion. But the more I looked into it the more I found out that older Mercedes-Benz have their issues and their cost and the newer ones cost a lot of money so it's back up to pretty much where I was with this coach so I might as well just stay with what I have. And for now I'm happy with that. after a few years with this coach maybe I will pass it on to someone new and do something else. The only thing we can tell you for sure is that if you do buy a Foretravel these forms will be here and the knowledge of all the previous posts and the new post from here on in to help guide you in diagnosing fixing repairing replacing upgrading and generally spending your money to do it needs to be done, plus you'll make friends. Good luck.
Use my microphone on my cell phone to write this so any typos sorry about that.

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #22 –
I laugh when I hear someone stating they are going to invest in a motorhome, and I reassure them that it is not an investment it is a lifestyle.  We all get to make the choice of how and what we do in retirement.  We have been blessed and fortunate to be able to enjoy this lifestyle while hopefully helping others along life's highway.  I appreciate all the information on this forum and the members who take the time to participate.
Just My 2c worth
Chris

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #23 –
For every action there is and equal and opposite reaction. I read all the posts on problems that came up after they bought their coach. I figured that there are probably many that don't post because they had very little issues. I have not had any failures unless you count the non skid on the roof, one very small window creep and vacuum generator that I rebuilt. All money spent has been for tires, headlight conversion, step conversion, air bags, fuel lines, solar and other upgrades. Bought for $45k $15k in all the upgrades. I hope I didn't jinx myself, but thought a potential buyer should know all is not bad with an older coach.

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #24 –
Like Chris mention a few posts ago, if it wasn't for this forum and the members who give of their time and expertise, we would be high and dry and lost in limbo!  So thankful!  Also nice to be able to do some of our own work and save some $$ to boot!  Like I explain to those who are contemplating this lifestyle;  "an RV is a depreciating asset" !

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #25 –
As has been said, an RV is a "depreciating asset" but if you buy the right older one it HAS been depreciated and has plenty of miles (and years) left.
As others have also said, it is a lifestyle, especially if it becomes your home. The freedom of being able to relocate to -- and be comfortable -- in basically any area/environment is something that is hard to imagine until you do it. 
Obviously one's available cash will determine whether buying a new or even older coach makes sense and, as has been pointed out, being able to do your own maintenance and repairs makes a huge difference.
For me, an older coach made sense not only because of price, but because of it's ability to be lived in while off the grid for extended periods of time -- with large water, waste and fuel tanks.  Adding enough solar equipment to meet my needs was a great investment. 
I think of it as: no rent, no utilities, no property taxes, no association fees, no water bill and no trash bill. If you migrate like many of us snowbirds, you can keep your heating and cooling needs and costs to a minimum.
PLUS, in this day and age there are many benefits of the internet including being able to research and purchase virtually anything from anywhere. 
I guess the answer to Older versus Newer will depend on the individual but the posts made by this forum's members is good solid advice and the existence of this forum makes it a great idea to buy an older or newer Foretravel if you are going to buy any motorhome.

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #26 –
Bob,
You probably made a wise decision. Boat ownership on the far side of the planet (or this side) can be more expensive that you can imagine.
Having had a boat built and then sailing a lot of Asia, I can tell you that it's a lot more work and many more things go wrong on a new boat than you can imagine. Some countries like Japan are a pleasure to sail in their waters plus customs and immigration are a pleasure to deal with. Other lands I can think of may have wonderful people but their officials have their hand out big time for everything. Tales of pirates are not just stories as I met a couple of boats hit hard. Fortunately, not by the savage pirates in the Sulu Sea where they board your boat, kill you and sink the boat, all in 15 minutes. Do a Google search for "Sulu Sea." Check the world map for piracy: Live Piracy Map . This does not include fishing boats that get hit every day in places like Manila Bay. Despite all the crazy things that happened, some of my best memories are from blue water cruising. On the other hand, I could have never gotten insurance for the boat so there was always a risk and I was really lucky quite a few times not to have lost the boat.

RVs are a lot like boats where a new RV may need quite a few trips to the dealer before all the glitches have been worked out. Then, the RV should have a reasonable amount of time before systems start failing if a normal amount of maintenance is done. Winter driving can age a coach quickly and the used market for RVs seems to fall off a cliff after a certain age is reached. The cheaper quality coaches seem to last the least as you might expect while the professional bus conversions may keep their value the longest. Our Foretravels can keep a fair value but some design shortcomings (all brands have some type of achilles heel) do require attention to avoid becoming almost impossible to sell.

With an RV, the amount of adventure is only limited by what kind of outdoor life you are looking for. Like a boat, you can't put a price tag on the experience. For those looking for a weekend trip or full timing from plugin campgrounds to the next, good for you. Others may want to use the coach for coming back to "home", tired in the evening after exploring more exotic destinations. All of it sure beats watching Wednesday night wrestling on TV while drinking cheap beer or wine in a carton.


Pierce





 

Re: Older vs. Newer

Reply #27 –
Quote from: OldJD –
Exceptional input.  My hoped-for plan and approach to home-and-vehicle care/maintenance reflects the guidance given here, so that's good to see.

Keep the knowledge coming (or am I being too greedy / demanding?).
David, this is today's experience with our new to us Foretravel.

We suspected that we had the original upholstery, and with use it did indeed explode from sheer age.

I started in on my dinette chair this afternoon, and when I turned it over I found a piece of aged masking tape with my build number and stapled to the seat bottom was a Made by Foretravel label.  It's not exactly an F.L. Wright house but it will do for us.