How to buy an RV on a budget
Our Marriott on wheels!
That may be one of those oxymorons for buying an RV on a budget, but you can still get the best deals if you just spend a little time finding what you want.
We officially started camping with a small 14′ Fun Finder in June of 2009. Since that date, we’ve discovered that camping can be addictive.
There’s something about being away from home for a weekend, or even a couple more days, that gets into your soul.
For us it’s total relaxation and the ability to fish in many bodies of water that we probably wouldn’t try. It is like taking a short vacation since you are away from home and daily routine.
Well, after nearly three years of a pretty cramped space while camping, we made the decision to upgrade our RV. So, I started researching hundreds of travel trailers, not only locally, but I searched almost daily online nationally.
I even sent out several brochures for the floor plans that we decided we would like. Naturally, I studied them over and over, checking every last detail. Many RVs are similar in size, but floor plans change and finding one you like is the best feeling for RV buyers.
After all that research, we finally came up with the floor plan we wanted. We had narrowed our search down to a Kodiak, Aerolite, or Bullet. Our decision not to sell our Fun Finder ourselves led us to contract with a local consignment RV lot.
January 2012 was the last time we camped with our Fun Finder, then the search intensified to find our “dream RV”.
I searched and searched all over the web looking for what we had dreamed of and put on our goal board in my office. We had pretty much narrowed our search down to a Keystone Bullet due to its floor plan and build quality.
One weekend we had decided to drive to a Camping World not far from our house just to see other models. Low and behold, they actually had a 2010 Keystone Bullet in the floor plan we wanted, so we gave it a serious look. The moment we entered Bullet, our hearts skipped a beat almost at the same time. It just turned out to be EXACTLY what we had dreamed of for our next RV. We tried not to show our emotion to the seller, but it was like the cat that ate the mouse, we just couldn’t stop smiling.
Naturally, the seller was interested in selling us this RV, but we had decided not to buy it yet. Especially since they were asking around $25,000. Which, for us, was simply out of the budget we had set for this type of purchase.
That one day began a frenzy of searching for a Keystone Bullet with a rear bathroom, a single slider, and a center wall complete with a swivel TV that separated the sleeping area from the living room.
I searched the internet looking for RV sites all over the US before finally finding a manufacturer’s representative lot in Michigan called Lakeshore RV. My contact was a guy named Mike and we began our endless barrage of questions. One of the things we learned was that they wanted $2200 to deliver a new RV to our home in Florida.
It took about a month of discussion before we finalized our options, prices, and shipping arrangements. And because of all the options it already came with, we only added a larger air conditioner, a sliding top, and an E2 equalizer hitch to handle this sub-5,000-pound weight. ultralight motorhome
One of our main decision points for Bullet was that Lakeshore RV had told me that they sell less in the winter months so they had a special price with lots of options and overall it turned out to be about $6,000 less than most. of the lots they asked for. .
Day was fast approaching before we headed north to pick up our new Bullet. After logging into Map quest, I found out how many miles we had to drive there and back, which gave me an idea of how much our gas would cost. So we decided to drive up north and personally pick up our new “Marriott on Wheels.”
We left our house in Cape Coral, Florida at 6:00 am on a Saturday. With our GPS mounted and set to somewhere in North Georgia, plus my trusty laptop ready to scout out places to sleep on the nights we’d be away, we set off.
It was a beautiful day to drive, and about ten hours later, with only a minor thunderstorm in South Georgia, we arrived in Dalton, GA. where we booked into a Motel 6. Laugh all you want, but they’re great, cheap places to stay, and they’re usually near a restaurant or two. We are not going to buy the hotel; we just want to rent a clean room to sleep.
The next morning we started again around 6:00 am and drove through the hills of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana before reaching our next destination, South Bend, IN, where we again found a Motel 6 online at a affordable price. Fortunately for us, this one even gave me a senior discount on top of the low rate.
On the third day, our research showed us that our destination was only 150 miles to the north. It took us two full days and a few hours on the morning of the third day before we reached our final destination. Our first stop was at a Wal-Mart to pick up some large pillows. We then continued on to the RV lot, which was only a few more miles away. Needless to say, our hearts were racing when we finally arrived at Lakeshore RV in Muskegon, Michigan.
Since it was still in winter mode, the temperature hovered around 50 degrees, so for us it was literally freezing. We had planned for the cold and had our hoodies with us, but I didn’t want to wear long pants, so my legs got a bit chilly.
Lakeshore RV told us we could stay in their lot for the night if we just wanted to check things out before heading south.
Since I had the weather channel saved on my laptop, I had checked the weather for this particular day and it was showing a very cold front coming our way. So, we made the decision to continue our journey to a warmer climate. So after the deal was done we walked off the lot with our 2012 28′ Keystone Bullet. Needless to say my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating because I was thinking this monster behind our Tundra was going to be very difficult to retrofit but quickly found out it was as easy as the 14′ RV we had sold. .
It wasn’t long before Karen got out of our Passport America camp guide and located a camp in Indiana, so that was our goal for day 1 of our drive home.
Around 4:00 pm that afternoon, we arrived at the Caboose Lake Campground near Remington, Indiana, and settled in for the first time. It was cold but there were beautiful blue skies so we located our allotted space and set up our Bullet for the first time.
At least we got a chance to operate our propane heater and luckily for us it worked perfectly. The best part was that it only cost us about $15.00 due to the 50% discounts that Passport America offers its members.
The second day we arrived in Tennessee and booked at the Nashville Country RV Park near Goodlettsville and still arrived in the early afternoon. Since it was in the central time zone, we arrived about an hour earlier than expected, so we walked through this beautiful park and took some photos. We paid a bit more here but it was much less than a hotel and we knew our room would be very exclusive.
Day three was also an early start, around 6:00am, and again 10 hours later we arrived at another Passport America listed park called Florida Gateway RV Resort near Jasper, FL. It’s a beautiful park with wide open spaces and a few small cabins for rent. We only paid $20 to stay in this beautiful park and as usual this includes water, sewer and electricity. Some parks even have internet if you need it.
It wasn’t until day four that we finally reached our final destination, the Sun-n-Shade RV resort near Punta Gorda, FL. Which turns out to be only 16 miles from our house.
It was here that we were finally able to stay more than one night. And after getting ready, which only took about 15 minutes, we headed home and picked up our Sea Eagle boat so we could finally do some fishing and just enjoy our time in one place.
And that Sunday, April 1st, we connected for the last time during this trip and drove our “Marriott on Wheels” to our prearranged storage lot.
Today we camp every other week and are still addicted to this lifestyle. Most of our state and federal park campgrounds cost us $11-$13 a night because I can use my Interagency Senior Pass, and private parks are usually $20 a night or more depending on where you want to stay.