The Age Old Question: New or Used RV?
A highly debated question and one that this RV Buyers Guide will not put to rest. This controversy will live on long after you have made your decision. You can find discounts and great deals on used as well as new RV’s. Sometimes the best places to look  are for new RV’s that are a year old.
Used
The advantage of buying a Used RV is most often the price. Autos and RVs share this characteristic as they start depreciating as soon as you leave the RV Dealers lot. Many people find the used RV to be a far better value but they also could bring higher maintenance costs and could be more difficult to finance. There is a HUGE used RV market as many RV’ers trade in their RV’s for newer models every few years.  Unfortunately regardless of price , with a used RV you never know what it has been through. Be it bumpy roads, water damage, or infrequent maintenance; the person before you could have traded this RV due to any array of undesirable reasons.
Further Used RV Purchasing Resource: What to look for when buying a used RV.
New
Getting a brand spanking new RV typically means you will have less maintenance issues initially and you will also receive some type of warranty from the manufacturer of the RV.  The downside to purchasing new is that RV’s tend to depreciate at a more rapid pace than cars. I cant argue however with the fact there is something special about driving off the lot with a brand new RV that is yours and yours alone. But used RV’s allow for the previous buyers to take the hit on the depreciation allowing you to get more bang fo your buck when you make your decision.
Further Thoughts and Information on this issue:
http://www.rversonline.org/ArtNewUsedRV.html
Pricing Guides
RV Values: How Much Is My RV Worth for Trade In, Used and New
Very good info…hope to buy and go part time ina few years and full time about 10 years from now. The grey/black lettering on white is just fine for those of us who are color blind!
I have to agree. The spelling and grammatical errors were driving me crazy. Its vs. it’s. Your vs. you’re. Those types of errors can completely change the intent of a sentence, which in turn makes the article more confusing than it needs to be. But otherwise, a lot of good useful information. We are looking to get into RVing in a couple years once my wife and I have enough passive income from our rental properties to financially fund our desire for adventure.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for your comment. We steered clear of the ratings as that is an entirely different topic to tackle. We put together a post on “RV Reviews: The Best Resources for Finding The Right RV” to speak to that instead. We dont pretend to be experts on the ratings but there are certainly others that do. The article tells you where to look and how to interpret them.
I hope that helps!
Could you go into the safety ratings some? I understand that there is a lot to consider with the class A for instance. Thanks for all the good info.
Sorry about the typo’s! You have to expect them when some of our writers just learned to use a computer!
Don’t forget the B+ category of RV. Also noticed at least one grammatical, spelling, or type-o error(s).
You are welcome Al! I hope your search goes well for your new RV!
Thanks so much for this – lots of good info!!
Nice, comprehensive guide! Great compilation!
Great stuff! I am going to forward to a few people that are first time buyers.
why oh why do you use grey text on a white background in the smallest font size possible??!!