Getting into almost full time Rving

[ondroad]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are about to purchase a 5th wheel for extended living.
Nice to find a forum where we can I come together.
We live in Florida right now but plan to travel a lot in it and go all the way to Alaska.
Thanks,
Orita

[CaptainPalapa]

What are you planning to get? We have a 2018 Grand Design 399TH here. (We picked GD after a LOT of research. Seems like a pretty good company.)

[ondroad]

Hi CaptainPalapa. We've done a lot of research also and love the Grand Design 3540GK-R. We like the rear living floor plan. It will just be the 2 of us and maybe an occasional grown child or grandchild so we don't want any bunks.
We also just looked into the new Alliance Paradigm the same size and I love it!
Now we need to do more research on dealers as I understood it's very important.
We live in Central Florida.
We've heard Lazydays in Tampa are ok. It seems that all dealers don't have very good reviews.

[CaptainPalapa]

Originally Posted by ondroad

It seems that all dealers don't have very good reviews.

I have heard as much. My suggestion (and many, many others' as well) is to buy used. We used RV Trader. We bought from a private seller in California. (Flew out, brought it back to Texas. Maybe we were lucky, but the unit was in such wonderful shape. In addition, we got about $10K worth of solar we wanted, but weren't expecting. (And in our case, we bought their F350 Dually, too! With just 7800 miles on it. And the rig's generator only had about 90 hours.)

All RV's have issues. Period. Seems to be a fact of life. But buying a USED RV means that a lot of issues might have been worked out already, handled by a dealer or shop.

Also, regardless of whether you buy new or used and from a dealer or a private seller, get an independent inspection. We used https://nrvia.org/ and I would recommend you definitely do this. They will look for all the hidden stuff that neither a dealer nor a private seller will tell you.

Those are my two cents!

[ondroad]

@CaptainPalata I have had a lot of people tell me to buy used also because of having most problems worked out.
For us it will be a new one because we have a trade in, so we gain on taxes, and we'd like a long term loan to give us the flexibility of low payments. We do plan to pay it off faster. I just hope we're lucky enough to get a good one.

[wingnut60]

Research/research and more research, particularly as to reviews of the dealership you are considering.
Look at RVTrader.com and RVT.com for pricing comparisons, new and used. Can trade on a used one also...

[fjr vfr]

It would help knowing what your past experience with rv's is? Also what you have as a tv?
With that said you should realize what other people like and have may or may not be what's right for you. Over the last few years of rving we've met couples full timing in mini vans as well as ginormous moving houses! What's right for you?
Consider big 5th wheel trailers offer comfort and luxury, but they also cost much more to buy and keep up. There's always a trade off.
If you can live with a little less luxury, maybe something around 30' or so would be a lot less expensive, you might not need that long turm loan.
A lot to consider, but we don't know just where you're coming from for past experience? Think about you experience and what you can live without and what you can't live without?
Good Luck

[Notanlines]

I agree with most everything that has been said so far, particularly where it comes to what you have to tow this new RV. And make sure that your selection will cover the size of the RV you might want to tow to Alaska. Not all RV parks along the way will handle a 40 foot RV. Let us hear from you with your progress.

[Army Guy]

Welcome to the group. A lot of great information here.

[CoMaddMax]

Hello and welcome to the forum. We bought a new 5er that was the previous model year and got almost 50% off list. Our dealer sucks and DON"T get talked into an extended warranty if you are handy at all... the wait to get work done at our dealer was 6 to 8 weeks during the summer when you need things fixed and they didn't fix all the items we requested the first time.

[RangerSal]

I would look at a Vanleigh. I have been doing a lot of research and they seem to have great customer service. I have been following them on there form and FB. Everyone seems to love them. We have a 2017 DRV and we are looking at trading it in for one. I think they are made well and I like how the customer service is willing to help them no matter if they are out of warranty. TJMO.

[jdrmaps]

I don’t know if you can get to Ok but rolling retreats is a great dealer all the way.Also RVS for Less in Ten are ok for the most part I’m not sure about service and warittes. I’m praying

[jdrmaps]

Sorry miss read your post was thinking you were going to trade in for a drv