General questions

Off topic, tall tales, general chit-chat.
Jay
Posts: 1
Joined: July 5th, 2021, 7:02 am

General questions

Post by Jay »

Hello,

My wife and I are retired and seriously considering
buying our first motorhome. We both like the
Chinooks very much. My biggest question is if
your not an all cash buyer is there financing
available for 20yr +- old RV’s?

If anyone knows someone thinking about selling
I would appreciate a heads up. We live in San Diego
but would travel for the right situation. Any insight
or info would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
chin_k
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Joined: June 26th, 2017, 9:38 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: General questions

Post by chin_k »

You may check credit union and see if they are willing to loan, but they may pull one of those NADA Guide and tell you that it is worth $1000 for the Chinook :lol:

I would strong suggest anyone not to buy an used RV if they need to finance, since unless you buy it from a local dealer with reputable and good service tech, you will very likely need to put money into it to fix some of the issue that is inherent in anything 20 yrs old. The Chinook is overall a great quality rig, but there is nothing they can do with wear and tear and simple aging. No tires will survive 20 year even if the previous owner jack up the rig and store it indoor. If someone can't prepared for the incidentals, it is very likely for them to be discouraged and not able to use it to its full potential. This is especially true for someone who is not familiar with the various systems in a RV.

A good local dealer who deals with used RV is hard to find, and they usually will command a good price for their knowledge and the amount of work they spent in preparing the rig for sale. There are large number of Chinook along the West coast, so if you have patience, you should be able to find one with relatively good shape reasonably priced. Good luck in your hunt, and you can try to post WTB post in the classified forum and other forums. Just watch out for the fellow who is selling a Chinook for $2k but he is moving to a military base in France, and need you to wire him some money before he arrange the rig to be transported to your house...
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
JabberBox

Re: General questions

Post by JabberBox »

I highly doubt you will find financing of any type for a 16 year old RV, unless youre on good terms with your banker and he will float you a personal loan or you put up something additional as collateral combined with a large down payment.
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SMan
Senior Member
Posts: 633
Joined: February 17th, 2015, 1:57 pm
Location: 7 Lakes, WA

Re: General questions

Post by SMan »

My thoughts are worth the price you paid. ;) :) That said most Chinooks priced correctly seem to sell very quickly and a seller may be reluctant to wait for a buyer to arrange financing.

We bought our Chinook from a relative that hardly used it. It had only 15K miles and was less than 10 years old. Things we repaired right away included seized front brakes, cruise control, (3) new batteries, and getting the generator to a running condition. We also put new tires on right away due to age. (Many Chinooks still have their original tires :o )

Other things repaired include the refer circuit board, toilet valve, spark plugs (not cheap at a shop), the generator again, the co2 and lp gas detectors, and a MAF sensor on the engine. We also replaced the A/C Shroud.

Things on our list now include all the cabinet struts, suspension upgrade, and repair the jack system.

Always budget that repairs will be needed.
Steve aka SMan
2004 Premier V10
68camaro
**Forum Contributor**
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Joined: May 16th, 2018, 4:49 pm

Re: General questions

Post by 68camaro »

I agree with Sman....before I bought mine I lost 2 due to wanting to think it over, in one case i called back several hours later and it was gone. When my rig hit for sale site I called immediately, talked with owner, immediately paid $1,000 payal deposit and flew out couple days later to pick up.

Sadly, with markets as hot as they are for these things you will need to accept a certain amount of risk in time, hassle and possible getting vehicle it wasn't cracked up to be.
2001 Concourse XL Lounge model, 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis.
Hittheroad
Posts: 18
Joined: June 21st, 2018, 6:40 am
Location: Tillamook Oregon

Re: General questions

Post by Hittheroad »

When we purchased our Chinook we used a credit union that we have belonged to for years we were pre approved for x amount we went and looked at it and gave a down payment to hold it. We went back to the credit union with all the info and that is when the facts hit us in the face they pulled out the Nada guide book and started down the list of items it had by the time we got to the end of the list the loan value was half of buying price of the Chinook, we got the Chinook for decent price so we went ahead and signed the papers we could have paid cash but it would have left us little for emergency fund. It was a shock to us because we know what they sell for but lenders do not know or care as they have to have some guide to go buy Nada needs to have a way to look at special items and value them accordingly.
chin_k
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Joined: June 26th, 2017, 9:38 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: General questions

Post by chin_k »

:lol: So someone here got hit with the NADA guide :lol:

That is how the credit unions works. Regular bank will be even more difficult to work with, from what I heard. I heard the same story with insurance, when you try to make a claim. I heard some insurance company will pull out the NADA guide, and tell you how much to pay you to total the rig when you want to get the AC shroud replaced (well, not true, but you got the idea.)
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
SLCinWA
Posts: 3
Joined: August 29th, 2021, 10:22 pm

Re: General questions

Post by SLCinWA »

My credit union just financed the used 2004 Chinook Summit 2700 I just bought at the end of August, 2021 without any down payment and even threw in some extra to cover taxes/licensing in my home state.

They used the NADA guide.
2004 Chinook Summit 2700
chin_k
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Joined: June 26th, 2017, 9:38 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: General questions

Post by chin_k »

I am curious how much is your 2004 Chinook Summit on the NADA guide? If you paid the NADA price, you must got a great deal.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
User avatar
caconcourse
Posts: 489
Joined: October 31st, 2014, 10:25 pm

Re: General questions

Post by caconcourse »

You can get NADA estimates here: https://www.nadaguides.com/RVs/2004/Chinook My 2001 Concourse is around $30K, up from $17K when I bought it in 2014. Back then, no one could come close to paying NADA estimates, which seemed to be about half of true value.
Clay
2001 Concourse
Santa Barbara, CA
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