New or Used?

So now that I had decided on the Rpod and I had found a specific model I now had another decision to make.  Do I buy a new or used Rpod?  Given the resale values of recreational vehicles I had initially decided to only look for used Rpods and what I found really shocked me.  Perhaps what I did not find is more appropriate.

If you want to buy a used Rpod be prepared for extremely high re-sale vales and ridiculous asking prices on private sales and even more ridiculous prices on trade-in Rpods at dealerships.  And that is if you can even find the specific model you might be looking for.  If you do find one that is priced right it will most likely be gone before you even get a call in.  Don't misunderstand me.  Used Rpods are out there and are on the market.  Just not a lot of them, with even fewer if you are looking for a specific model.

What kind of price points am I talking?  It was not uncommon to see two year old RPT176T models with an asking price between $12,500 and $14,000.  The lower being a private sell and the higher being a dealer.  I found one for $12,300 and called on it immediately.  The seller said he could have sold it twenty times over and told me it was already sold.  I asked him how many days the ad had been listed and he informed me it was not days it was hours.

It was clear to me, after nearly a year of watching the Internet and using a search engine called www.searchtempest.com to search the entire U.S. for Rpod listings I was moving towards a new one.  I had been looking at both new and use on-line and the price spread here was even greater.

Most dealerships, but not all,  will only list the MSRP on-line so I would see prices for a RPT176-T of upwards to $25,000 to as low as $16,000.  I knew the lower price was obviously not MSRP so I knew most of the dealerships would move on price.  The question was how much?

Originally, I had hoped to only spend $10,000 to 12,000 on a used Rpod so even a jump to $16,000 was a big jump for my budget.  $18,000 was out of the question as it left absolutely no room to modify or upgrade the Rpod in any way.  (Which is a totally different topic I hope to cover soon).  You might, however, begin to see the dilemma I was facing.

If I could even find a used one, I was most certainly going to be paying no less than $12, 000 and if I found one that was spec'd out nicely and well taken care of that price was going to be closer to $13,500.  If I bought a new one the price was more around $16,000.  That is a $4000/ 25% increase to my budget on the low end and $1,500/ 15% on the high end.

These calculations, for me, helped me to see what the basic cost of ownership (BCO) was going to be like with an Rpod.  Essentially, If I bought a used one I could expect the BCO on a two year old Rpod to be roughly $2000.00 per year on the low end or $750 per year on the high end.

I think it is important to point out BCO does not reflect gross costs of ownership (GCO) which would be BCO plus insurance, maintenance, repairs, interest (if you financed), storage, etc..  It only reflects the anticipated depreciation based on an anticipated purchase price in today's dollars.

That said, when I took the average asking price range for a two year old used RPT176-T model over a six month period, it was around $13,250.  After calling around to a dozen or so dealerships I found the average asking price for new RPT176-T models was around $15,700.  That meant the average BCO on a two year old RPT176-T was $2,450 or $1225 per year.

As the used market for Rpods remains solid, it also meant that if I could find a new RPT176-T for less than the average new asking price, then the BCO would be even less.  So what if I could find a new one for $14,000?  When compared to used prices (ceteris paribus- latin for all things constant) the BCO for the first two years of ownership on a new Rpod could be as low as $375 per year.  With info like this.  It was getting harder not to get excited about buying a new Rpod.

With the camping season over, I began to see some of the same dealerships I called begin to drop their prices.  Not a lot but certainly a downward trend.  Then one day this past October (2012) I jumped on-line and found a dealership in Omaha, NE listing a 2013 RPT176-T for $14,900.  I kept an eye on this listing for a few weeks and then in early November I found the ad had been updated with a new price of $14,500.

That was evidenced to me this dealership really wanted to move this trailer.  I called them that day and offered $14,000.  They counter offered with $14,250.  I countered there offer with $14,250 and they install axle risers (about $180 in labor and $80 in parts).  They accepted this and we struck up the paperwork.

What does this mean?  Aside from joining the community of Rpod owners.  It means that potentially I bought an RV with a BCO for the first two years of ownership of $500.  It is all relative but I found that number to be quite inexpensive when compared to other travel trailers on the market.  It also means I have some money left over to Mod the POD!