By Chuck Woodbury
EDITOR
Page Contents
Free listings for RV inspectors
We increasingly believe that anyone who buys an RV, new or used, must get it professionally inspected before buying, much the same as home buyers get a home inspected. If you are a trained, licensed inspector from the NRVIA or a knowledgeable RV mechanic who does inspections we will list your location and contact information for free. Learn more.
Want a bigger audience for your blog?
We are opening our website to RVer bloggers, those already blogging but who would like a much larger audience. Please let me know if you are interested. We will provide you with access to a special section of RVtravel.com where you can blog to your heart’s content.
We’ll publicize your most interesting posts, which should send hundreds if not thousands of our readers your way. If your blog attracts a significant audience we can help you make money from it. Please contact me for more information — chuck@rvtravel.com . Be sure to include a link to your current blog (which must be related to RVing). It’s a bonus if you’re already familiar with WordPress (but not necessary).
Free publicity for your RV park and bargain camping for readers
If you own or manage an RV park and would like to offer a discount for our member-readers (those who voluntarily subscribe), please let me know. Below is an example, courtesy of my friend Alan Warren, who owns the Big Chief RV Resort in the Texas Hill Country.
There is no charge for your park to participate, so it’s free advertising. We’re not interested in 10% off offers, that’s not good enough. How about providing a “stay one night get the next night free” offer? Or, as Alan has, provide a free night (chances are most people will pay to stay longer) with no strings attached. We want to provide our members with genuinely great deals, not tiny discounts that are almost meaningless. We can make up a simple coupon for you at no charge.
Why we “preach” sometimes
I am 100 percent against 20-year RV loans, or loans with no money down — and I say so all the time. Here’s one example why: Listen to this one-minute excerpt from The RV Show USA where a woman really messed up when she financed her RV. We shared this yesterday in our newsletter, Beginner’s Guide to RVing, but you, too, really should listen.
Here’s the scoop: Six years ago a woman bought an RV for $90,000. She put zero down and financed it for 20 years. Then, after six years, she needed to sell the RV. She took it to consignment dealer PPL Motorhomes in Texas. Here, according to PPL owner Diana LeBlanc Link as interviewed on The RV Show USA, is what happened — how the woman needed to write a check for $40,000 after selling the RV just to pay off the loan!
What is recommended for the length of a loan? I’m in the process on buying a new RV and this would be helpful to me. Thanks, John Rist
The shorter the better. And once you get a loan, try to make extra payments when you can. Be sure to put down at least 20%. Your RV will depreciate 25% when you drive off the lot and then depreciate fast after that.
20 year loans. Come on now, we’ve all been around the block a few times now……. I don’t mind the 20 year loan, or the 7 year vehicle loan, if the interest rate is good. I look and the numbers and if I can afford to double the principle amount every month then I take it! I have the flexibility to back off that extra payment if something happens down the road somewhere. Hopefully you’ll get a good 5 years of double payments in before you have to do that, and by then you should not be upside down any longer. I have found the best RV financing is at a FMCA show, or at Hershey, where banks are wheeling and dealing, and there is usually factory money on the table. But, you have to be realistic about your financial health.
Chuck, not sure where to put this comment, but figure you will read it here. About the new ad-free issue: while l don’t mind paying to get the extremely helpful information you publish, l learn much from pursuing the ad links, too! So I’ll probably wait until Sunday to get my weekly fix of RV news. Thanks for what you do! Christie
Wow, reading your views on 20 year, no down loans and mandatory RV inspections reminds me of how Liberals are trying to control every aspect of my life. I agree that 20 year RV loans are bad news. The buyer needs to take responsibility for their actions and be smart enough to stay away. Yes, you are helping buyers and that is good! I am surprised lenders are willing to loan that much money at those terms which has the potential to make a bad investment for the lender. What is to stop me from defaulting on the loan and let the loaner eat the loss. Too many people feel this way. Like the mortgage bust 10 years, or so ago, I blame the lenders for bad loans.
As for mandatory inspections, you indicated that buying a home requires and inspection. If an RV gets the same inspection as my house did, I would feel my money would be wasted. My last house inspection was superficial and reported no issues. OK, my house has been a good house. My RV was purchased used and without an inspection (other than my own) and had no surprises. Let the purchaser be responsible for getting an inspection, and a loan that is a good fit for them. “they” are stupid. I will stand down off my soapbox and continue enjoying life.
Happy camping
This is not a liberal/conservative agenda. No need to bring that into this discussion. It’s irrelevant. Yes, buyers must take responsibility for their actions. And that, more than anything, is why we keep atop our soapbox, because so many are sucked in by pretty RVs and go a bit crazy when they buy. You write: “Yes, you are helping buyers and that is good!” And that, Primo Rudy’s Roadhouse, is why we do what we do.
There are many tools available for us through out our lives. We must know HOW and WHEN to use them or LEAVE them on the shelf. I recall that covered in 6th grade economic class. The 20 year loan has made me a lot of money by leaving investments in tact and still paying over 1/2 the balance in less 2 years.
Captn John. Good for you. But let’s take the normal buyer, not you because few people who finance an RV for 20 years pay off half the loan in two years. Come on, don’t think everyone is as lucky as you to have that kind of money! The problem with people who sign on for 20 years is that life in those 20 years in the future doesn’t always go the way they assume it will — somebody gets sick, somebody loses a job, the economy takes a nosedive and investments tank, a flood destroys their home and they don’t have insurance — or, most likely that cheap RV they financed for two decades falls apart so badly after 10 years that they can’t afford to fix it. So they have a loan to pay for the following 10 years on something they can’t even use or sell. What kind of school did you go to in 6th grade that taught economics? Or are you just making a little joke?
Hi Chuck, Captn John is not the enemy here. Sounds like he has/had a sound financial plan in place when purchasing his RV. For all the reasons you gave in your response, illness, job loss, natural disaster, etc, are the things every buyer needs to keep in mind and plan for when taking on any debt, not just purchasing an RV. Like Captn John, my wife and I looked into issues like these, when we purchased our new RV, with a 20 year loan. We did this to keep the monthly interest payments low so we could put more on the principle each month. We paid it of in five years and now enjoy a rig that was only owned by us from the start. The onus is always on the purchaser. If they don’t plan enough, read all the fine print or don’t do a really good PDI, you get what you get. I think we all can be in an agreement that RV’s, like any other purchase, will have problems during use. If the buyer is unaware of this and has no plan to overcome these obstacles, then they get what the get. I appreciate your advocacy for the RV consumer, but we all are not foolish buyers. If you want to help educate RV consumers, give equal time to educate how to use 20 years loans to the advantage of the consumer. Help educate those on how to plan for unexpected obstacles during ownership. I believe most of your readers understand the RV quality issue and would enjoy reading articles on a broader awareness of RV purchasing, not just the same old “poor me” stories. Thank you.
No, Captn John is not my enemy, Bill T. I simply believe that anyone financing an RV for 20 years is cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Too many people buy on emotion or out of ignorance and then get in trouble. I am writing to them, not the wiser of you who are aware of what they are getting into with such a long-term loan on a incredibly depreciating asset.
Hi Bill, Please allow me to say “I don’t think that Chuck has ever intimated that any of we RV’ers are “foolish buyers”. So let’s not throw fault where it doesn’t belong. I live in and travel full time in a 43′ Fifth-wheel. This begins our 5th year. We had never rv’d before making the decision to make a big change in life. Being college educated and good executive business people, we thought that we did an exhaustive study of the ins and outs of buying a new RV. All us “smart people” always think that don’t we? But still and all we found out that we had a lot to learn about all the little things and the big things that could and did go wrong on our rig. It was reading this newsletter and talking to hundreds of other RV’ers that truly educated us. I’m not happy to admit this, but with all our education, our business experience over 40 years, we bought that over-priced and worthless extended warranty after the clever salesman told us of all the problems we might face out on the road. We thought we read all the “fine print”. But it was Chuck who educated us that since we live in our RV, our entire warranty was cancelled. Now that is not a happy thing to discover. Chuck, I say keep on doing what you do.
Chuck,
I like your actions here. However, I’m concerned that now the ads not only separate, and sadly lower the impact of your efforts, but that a google ad blocked half of your writing about bloggers. It also appears that you failed to tell your long-standing supporters of the Advantage this gains in furthering efforts other than increasing your income.
Hi John, I’m sure Chuck will respond to this, but he never said it would mean there were going to be ADs on the site, or that he would be receiving any income from any of this.
As I understand it, it would be free advertising for the folks that want to sign up, and there would be an “area” (a link) within RVtravel you would go to to review what is available in any given category.
…just my opinion…
I have contacted John Whitney and now have his phone number to call him.
Sorry about those ads, John. Had a few other complaints so will need to see what is happening. Not sure what you mean about gaining advantage and income. My income is half what it used to be since I began investing in the business which includes hiring more freelance contributors. You have been critical of my efforts recently. Please email me, chuck at rvtravel.com , with your phone number and I will call and address your concerns.
Terrific idea! You are so right, too, in that 10% off isn’t enough of a “Deal” to most people. The buy one, get one free is perfect.
Thanks again!!
Chuck, these are the kind of subscriber offerings that make you #1 in my book. Keep up the good work!