Why Class A?

[LeslieTX]

I’ve been lurking here for over a year; this is my first post. I’m in the dreaming, scheming, planning phase of becoming a full timer. I can retire in 10 years with a meager pension; working on getting out of debt now to make my limited funds go further towards my nomad life. Last summer we rented a Class C 23’ Coachman Freelander for a 10 day trip through the desert southwest. I learned that it was two small for two adults and three dogs to fulltime in; and, that I’m too old and fat for that over cab bed!

I’ve pretty much ruled out trailers, because I want the option, during an emergency situation, of getting out of bed and driving away without any outdoor exposure. I’m leaning toward an older, used Class A as our first motorhome. I’m fairly handy, both on the engine and coach side.

I’ve been price shopping/daydreaming on rvtrader and have noticed that Class C’s seem to hold their value longer; or put another way, used Class A’s seem to be priced cheaper than comparable Class C’s. I usually set my maximum on a search at $30K, and get many more hits on Class A motorhomes. My question is, why? Am I missing some inherent flaw in Class A’s?

 

[mayble]

Generally speaking, every part of a Class A seems to be more expensive than a Class C.  Bus vs truck.
More and bigger tires, for starters.  People may be more eager to part with them when faced with a $3k bill to replace tires every few years.

 

[Queen]

Most Class A's are built VERY poorly, unless you go high end. Had a buddy who worked in Elkhart for one of the manufacturers, he said they are stapled/glued together and are really only designed for someone who wants to go camping occasionally. My parents experience with many Class A's bore this out; dad was a contractor and traveled with a full set of tools for rolling repairs.

 

[DannyB1954]

A lot of people shy away from a class A because they are not familiar with driving a large long wide vehicle. The Class C's are more like driving a van or pickup with their seating arrangement.

Class A's may be harder to work on mechanically. Not all shops will work on them, but most any shop will do a class C.

Class A's tend to be more expensive when new. Many who shop for them are "financially advantaged" and do not want to buy used. Since there is a smaller amount of people who want a used Class A and there are many used class A's available it goes back to the rule of supply and demand. Those selling a used one have fewer people that they can sell it to, and there will always be someone else that will sell theirs cheaper.

 

[squatting dog2]

I've owned both class A and class C. When I was younger, the class C worked best. However, as I aged, I found a class A suits our needs better. The fact that for some reason, people seem to think a class C gives way better mileage, I think has driven the price of a class A down. I would tell you that you should search out smaller dealers to buy an RV from. Most of them have a large lot loan and need to turn over stock much sooner than a large dealer. I was able to buy my 2007 Gulfstream for $46,000 instead of the asking price of $59,000. I also think a class A is more suited to boondocking. I am able to pull a fully loaded 24 foot trailer, and the roof has endless space for solar panels. I've got 4 on the roof now and room for at least another 4. 
Oh yes, when I found this motorhome, it only had less than 9400 miles on it.   They are out there... you just have to search.

 

[bullfrog]

I have lived in a 1983 28' Barth class A for 12 or so years. Traveling in smaller class A's is easy. Couple hose connections, plug and if your lucky push a button and it self levels, but stay in one place for more than a few months and seals and mechanical things dry out and rust. Big bucks for tires and exhaust. 100 gallons of gas goes bad. If tank goes below 1/4 generator won't get gas and gums up it's fuel system. Wiring problem requires diagram which wasn't followed when they built it so good luck! Room is better in a travel trailer as there are less mechanical items to take up space. Don't get me wrong we love our motor home when we traveled, and still use it as a home base but we will sell it where it sits most likely as to get it road worthy will cost thousands of dollars. Now we travel with a small trailer.

 

[SoulRaven]

After watching the industry for 30 years, "supply and demand". A LOT of snowbirds and full-timers choose the Class A and the market is flooded with them. Class C is a very attractive choice for those that have children and with fewer of them out there in the used market, that is what keeps the prices higher. Even higher end Class A's go at attractive prices her in the central US. You want to understand that just because the name is impressive, many have higher and lower end units, so they are not created equally nor do they perform equally.

 

[hepcat]

It really depends on your situation. As Bullfrog says above, if you intend to stay in one place for a month (or months) at a time, get a pickup and travel trailer. If you move every few days, a motorhome is great.

There's another class as well... the Super-C which I have. They're medium duty truck front ends (mine is a Chevy Kodiak,) tend to have 19.5" tires rather than 22.5s, and my local auto shop car mechanics are fine working on it for me... not so for my folks' 38' class A. My 32' Super-C has a rear island queen, which is why I bought it. They're out there... you just have to be patient and dogged about finding one.

 

[MrNoodly]

...are really only designed for someone who wants to go camping occasionally...

This is true of most RVs.

 

[ceejay]

I have lived in a 1983 28' Barth class A  for 12 or so years.  

Never heard of Barth .... just looked up what was for sale ... wow some really nice features ... thanks

 

[mpruet]

I’ve been lurking here for over a year; this is my first post. I’m in the dreaming, scheming, planning phase of becoming a full timer. I can retire in 10 years with a meager pension; working on getting out of debt now to make my limited funds go further towards my nomad life. Last summer we rented a Class C 23’ Coachman Freelander for a 10 day trip through the desert southwest. I learned that it was two small for two adults and three dogs to fulltime in; and, that I’m too old and fat for that over cab bed!

I’ve pretty much ruled out trailers, because I want the option, during an emergency situation, of getting out of bed and driving away without any outdoor exposure. I’m leaning toward an older, used Class A as our first motorhome. I’m fairly handy, both on the engine and coach side.

I’ve been price shopping/daydreaming on rvtrader and have noticed that Class C’s seem to hold their value longer; or put another way, used Class A’s seem to be priced cheaper than comparable Class C’s. I usually set my maximum on a search at $30K, and get many more hits on Class A motorhomes. My question is, why? Am I missing some inherent flaw in Class A’s?

Supply and demand.  A lot depends on whether it is a gas or diesel class-A and who made the body frame.   I got a used class-A diesel pusher built on a Freightliner that had about 50K miles on it and cost about 40K.  It is older (2001) and the original parts are no longer available.  I've had to do a lot of maintenance on it because of the age.  This includes a new refrigerator hot-water heater and washing machine.  Also I chose to replace a couch because the one it had was not a sleeper and I wanted to be able to have guests. 

I've had to have work done on the engine (fuel pressure regulator and starter relay).  Also I had to replace all of the tires and just had some body work done. (I just finished an Alaska trip and you can't hardly do that type of trip without some body damage...)

I'm glad that I got it and since it is built with a quality engine and on a quality frame, I'm comfortable keeping it. In my Alaska trip, I was able to get about 10 MPG, which for a class-A is fairly good.    However, I sometimes wish that I had gotten something much smaller - even a truck camper. 

When I purchased the rig, we were going to be living in Houston for a year taking care of my new granddaughter.  We needed the space because my wife would be living for a year and she didn't like the idea of living in a 'box' to begin with.  We also wanted to do the Alaska trip the following year after that.  I felt that there was a huge advantage of having an onboard washer/dryer so we chose the class-A.  But now, I don't think that my wife will be willing to go on long trips.  If it is mainly me going, then something much smaller would be better so that I would be able t go with much less planning. 

I can get buy with something like the wonder washer & spin dryer for my clothing.  I could also get by with just an under-counter fridge.  I really like some of the class-B's that I've seen that have a murphy bed in them.  I don't particularly like a corner bed because of the funny sheet and the fact that they are difficult to make up.  I also think that having 'dual purpose' spaces make a lot of sense when in a small space.  Most of the murphy bed class-B's that I've seen become a sofa or dinette when the bed is raised.  The other advantage of a smaller class-B or truck camper is that you don't have to have a tow car like to do with both the class-A and class-C.  The disadvantage of a smaller rig is that a lot of them don't have that large of a fresh water tank, so you can't boondock quite as long.