prestadude
05-05-2009, 01:46 AM
I am deliriously happy to announce that I have purchased a Newell (2000, 45', single bedroom slide, Coach #541) and will pick it up in little more than a week. With my son just starting college, I was not planning on making such a purchase until after he graduated, but the deals on used RVs are so good that I decided to buy now rather than wait.
The financial environment now is crazy (not that I need to tell anyone). In spite of having a high FICO score with a big down payment (55%), I really had to hunt for a bank that would give me a loan. There were two problems, the age of the coach and the fact that it is a Newell. Banks turned me down for the following reasons:
Coach is too old (2000, 9 years by my math)
Rig has too many miles (77,500 or about 8,600/year, not much for a big diesel)
Newell is not listed in NADA (I ran into this a lot)
The broker helping me find a bank finally found one (Sun Trust in Texas) but because there was no NADA listing, we had to establish value using comps, just like real estate. Of course I recommended Newellclassic.com and Newellcoach.com as good sources. After jumping through several hoops, the last one was the need for an inspection to verify value. Fortunately I already had an inspection done (RV Smart in Gilbert, AZ) and the bank accepted that.
Insurance was similar in that we had to use comps to establish value (the NADA thing again).
Well, I sign the loan papers on Thursday and then the coach is mine. Early this summer I will travel to Startracks in Illinois to add some handicapped equipment for my wife (she can't climb the steps and refuses to sleep in the compartments). On the way back, I plan on stopping at Newell in Miami. At a minimum they will put on new tires (they quoted a very good price for Michelins) and will redo the anti-chip coating on the front of the coach (the existing 3M film is heavilly crazed and looks terrible). Newell doesn't use 3M film anymore, they utilize a spray-on product.
What else should I have them do/look at? I was thinking checking the alignment and other suspension items makes sense since they designed and built the frame.
Anyhow, I can't tell you how excited I am and look forward to participating in the next mini-rally.
The financial environment now is crazy (not that I need to tell anyone). In spite of having a high FICO score with a big down payment (55%), I really had to hunt for a bank that would give me a loan. There were two problems, the age of the coach and the fact that it is a Newell. Banks turned me down for the following reasons:
Coach is too old (2000, 9 years by my math)
Rig has too many miles (77,500 or about 8,600/year, not much for a big diesel)
Newell is not listed in NADA (I ran into this a lot)
The broker helping me find a bank finally found one (Sun Trust in Texas) but because there was no NADA listing, we had to establish value using comps, just like real estate. Of course I recommended Newellclassic.com and Newellcoach.com as good sources. After jumping through several hoops, the last one was the need for an inspection to verify value. Fortunately I already had an inspection done (RV Smart in Gilbert, AZ) and the bank accepted that.
Insurance was similar in that we had to use comps to establish value (the NADA thing again).
Well, I sign the loan papers on Thursday and then the coach is mine. Early this summer I will travel to Startracks in Illinois to add some handicapped equipment for my wife (she can't climb the steps and refuses to sleep in the compartments). On the way back, I plan on stopping at Newell in Miami. At a minimum they will put on new tires (they quoted a very good price for Michelins) and will redo the anti-chip coating on the front of the coach (the existing 3M film is heavilly crazed and looks terrible). Newell doesn't use 3M film anymore, they utilize a spray-on product.
What else should I have them do/look at? I was thinking checking the alignment and other suspension items makes sense since they designed and built the frame.
Anyhow, I can't tell you how excited I am and look forward to participating in the next mini-rally.