Buying Advice


cabayne

New Member
we live in So Cal and unfortunately bought a home at the top of the market. People are walking away from homes that has resulted in a decline in our value by over 200K-225K....am over the agony of it all, challenge we have is we are in the military and HAVE to move next year; renting isn't an option; we make too much to qualify for a modification so we are hoping to short sale or worst case walk away too. Regardless, we have been looking at RV's as a temporary living arrangement, transferring and driving across country before we decide exactly where we want to put down our roots, if at all. our kids are both in college so that isn't an issue.

We have decided on Class A, gas; want it to sleep 6 for the occasions our kids come along...we want to save $$ so used is our choice, we found two that we like, one is a 2006 Tiffin Allegro 35TSA with only 8300 miles, it is on consignment in a rvusa lot, it has 3 slide outs and is in excellent condition inside. the left front wheel cover has some damage with two lug bolts missing (my husband says it is an easy fix? we both took it for a drive and it drives very smooth, it is only 59K the owner just came down from 69K to 64K to current price...

the second one is a 2004 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager with 20K, it is from a repo and is pristine as well with more aesthetically appealing interiors, solid wood cabinets...it has 3 slides.

I know about the rv.org and have purchased a membership, my worry is that these are great deals and am not seeing a lot of tiffin allegros for sale, is that b/c there aren't very many or is it b/c they are so durable and well liked that people keep them? would appreciate any advice, words of wisdom...have been impulsive in the past and want to find something we will enjoy living in for a year or so...
 

Kirk

Senior Member
Re: Buying Advice

First of all, Allegro is one of the two highest rated RVs and it comes from Tiffin Indsutries, who has probably the best known reputation for support of any company in the RV business. Second, I owned an Allegro and can confirm their reputation for quality construction. Tiffin is the only company who supplies their customers with a phone number to call the CEO if they have a problem which can't be solved. There is no company with a better reputation than the manufacturers of Allegro.

The price that they are asking is also right about where it should be. NADA guides lists the retail price range for what you are looking at as between $57,000 and 6$60,000, ignoring any optional equipment. See the link below:
http://www.nadaguides.com/default.a...&m=0009&d=2200043622&y=2006&ml=A&gc=RV&gtc=MH

The Gulfstream company has a pretty good reputation for travel trailers and in motorhomes it is just average. They are not especially bad, but I know a couple of really ugly stories about them, especially their Friendship. It is possible that this is a good quality motorhome, but nothing at Gulfstream matches the stellar reputation for support of their motorhomes and Allegro is a motorhome company, while Gulfstream is a trailer company who started to build motorhomes as well, some years back. I don't have a great deal of knowledge of the Sun Voyager, but while it might be a good buy, it don't have anything like the history of an Allegro behind it, and it is two years older. NADA lists it's retail price as from $45K to $54K.
http://www.rvusa.com/forum/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=10578&posts=1&start=1

You will have a hard time in finding any brand with the loyal customer base of an Allegro. In every poll of motorhome owners that I have ever read, the top three brands of motorhome are always from Allegro & Newmar, with Winnebago right on their heals. Everyone else falls in somewhere farther down the line.

Then there is the factor of being a repo. Consider just how much effort you would put into maintenance of an RV that you know that you are going to loose to the repo man? An RV is a luxury for most owners and poor maintenance can cost a huge toll on the life and reliability of that RV.

Lastly, if you are wise you will pay for some qualified, independant RV tech to check out the coach completely before you spend any money and then also do the same with a good mechanic. Unless you happen to be an RV expert and/or a chassis expert, these inspections would be money well spent on either or any used motorhome you may buy.
 

cabayne

New Member
Re: Buying Advice

Thanks Kirk, appreciate your taking the time to answer. We did a full inspection, learned a lot this weekend! plan to also get an extended warranty of course. Also will be having a RV mechanic take a look at it as well...turns out it wasnt a repo but from a dealer that went belly up? regardless, I have a saying "believe none of what you hear and 50% of what you see", after looking at a lot of RV's this one is the best priced, low miles, quality. One of the salesman shared the Tiffin stories, same as yours, he said you can also bring your RV to alabama and they will go over it with a fine tooth comb making repairs....only issue I had (and it is a typical female issue) is I didn't like the decor. But, always can modify. I have a couple of questions:
1. Since I am a resident of Florida I want to take advantage of this and register it in my name only. I have done this with cars but never owned an RV and don't know how this works...or should the rv be financed and registered in just my name?
2. we were talking about putting wood floors (only b/c we have enough left over from our primary residence); have read online about ensuring there is enough room for expansion/contraction; your thoughts, we were only going to do the area that currently has vinyl...just the walkway. Is wood too heavy or wood we be better with a "look a like"?
3. Last question, there are some places on Pendleton that you can stay but they are for more brief lengths of time...not sure yet what we plan but..just doing the military thing and looking at all the options so there are no preventable surprises! are you familiar with this area?
Will let you know what we end up doing ,and again, thank you!!!
 

cabayne

New Member
Re: Buying Advice

one more question wrt insurance....am getting quotes and I have heard the AAA is the best...I have USAA for all my cars, also understand the benefits of having all vehicles under one carrier (also mentally easier!).....again thanks, am off to the grind....
 

DL Rupper

Senior Member
Re: Buying Advice

If you are talking about Camp Pendleton in CA, I'm familiar with the San Onofre Beach RV Park and they only have Electric/Water hookups. They don't have sewers, but have a dump. There is an RV Park elsewhere on the base, however, I'm not sure if they have full hookups. Check Out U.S. Military Campgrounds on the Internet.
 
Top