No matter what the season, a used motorhome may in fact be one of the best buys you can make, if you do your homework, be patient, and be prepared to jump on the best deal that you find.

It’s true that motorhomes can be hideously expensive when new, that is why I recommend that you consider taking the time and effort to find a used motorhome in great shape, at a great price. I’ve written down three of my favorite reasons to buy used to help you be a smart shopper.

Depreciation

Like new cars, a new motorhome will lose a huge chunk of its value as you drive it off the lot. How much value can it lose? If a new motorhome is anything like a new car, it could lose up to one-third of its value within the first year of ownership! So, if you paid $60,000 for a new class C motorhome, at the end of 12 months it could be worth as little as $40,000! Of course, there are a lot of things that can factor into this depreciation such as the type and brand of motorhome, its condition, the mileage and so on.

But the fact remains that depreciation is a huge expense, and you can put depreciation one your side by buying a year or two old motorhome and putting that loss on your side of the balance sheet!

Relaibility

There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a new motorhome, and the chances are good that, if anything will break or wear out prematurely, it will do so during the first ten or twenty thousand miles. The warranty will usually cover these problems, they do get repaired, and the chances are great that the motorhome will chug along for another 60 thousand trouble free miles or so are pretty good. That is the “sweet spot” during which buying a used motorhome could be right in the middle of a great life expectancy, meaning that you probably will have minimal repair expenses during this time frame.

So, the sweet spot for a good used motorhome could be between 20,000 miles and 80,000 miles. Could a well taken care of motorhome go beyond 80,000 and not have reliability problems? Most definitely, although the chances something big will go wrong increase as the miles roll by.

Convenience

I will admit it right here – I like to buy vehicles from private parties. That’s right, I deplore the high-pressure sales tactics of some of those motorhome dealers. Plus, I have usually had a good experience buying from a private seller. I think that they are mostly more honest and open about problems and issues with the motorhome. And, they’re usually much easier to deal with and seldom do they hit you with high pressure sales.

On the downside, private sellers don’t offer financing (you must bring cash).

That is the only negative I can think of for buying a used motorhome from a private party.

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