1998 Roadtrek 190 Popular with 158k - OK or not OK to buy?

[resucami]

Hi forum,

Is it at all worth to look at a 1998 Roadtrek 190 with almost 160,000 miles on it? I am looking at one on Craigslist with an asking price of $12,500. Unfortunately it is 400 miles away from me - I can not "just" go there.

I talked to the seller and had basically a very good impression of him. He is selling the RV for his grandparents and has a clear and clean title in hand. His grandparents were the third owners and had the vehicle for about three years.

See also the screen shot of the Craigslist ad below the text. The pictures look good but I know that that can be deceiving. One of the pictures shows that the generator has 474 hours on it.

The seller told me about the vehicle:
- The vehicle runs very good and has no leaks.
- Everything works (he mentioned AC, stove, fridge, and some more).
- It is very clean on the inside.
- The inside cabinets have been painted white which, he thinks, looks very good.
- It has a couple of dings on the body but in general the body looks very good.
- The vehicle might need new shocks (the ride is a little jumpy).
- The tires are still OK but definitely not new.
- The batteries are still working but probably also due to be replaced.

I definitely would have to talk to the seller again before seriously considering to go there, but I am certainly interested in seeing this RV. The asking price is a little below my (limited) budget which means that I could put some money into the vehicle. Moreover, the 1998 Roadtrek 190 is only 8' 4" high (now they are 8' 8" high) and would therefore fit into my carport (which is 8' 5" high), and I think this would be a great advantage.

It would be great to get some feedback about this vehicle. Thanks!

Nick

[gklugie]

offer 10 grand. You will need to retain some money for updates like shocks, tires, misc. I think the seller is a bit high for the age/mileage.

[BBQ]

.

150,000 miles?

You will need a new engine soon.

The beast can go 250k... but anything from here on is a crapshoot. There are no guarantees.

Bear in mind, this is not just a van. Most vans spent half of its life empty. An RV is fully loaded all the time.

The ride is jumpy? They all are. You might not need new shocks. But you'd never know until you looked under.

[Bruceper]

Need a "new engine" soon? No. May need to do major service? Yes. And that is MAY. At a minimum you would want to replace the timing chain and perhaps seals and gaskets. But an engine doesn't fail at a certain mileage just because. It fails due to wear and lack of maintenance. The good news is that if nothing major is broken, it can be rebuilt at a reasonable cost.

Or if you're that concerned you could purchase a brand new crate engine and go another 30 years.

[resucami]

Thanks for the answers. The ad for this RV disappeared within one day, then came back for a day, and disappeared again. I guess that means it sold - I would have tried to go there this week if it hadn't.

[Ron J. Moore]

Sometimes you just have to take the gamble. Only two things come to mind for me....selling for the parents, and the generator is right on target for a vehicle that had a little over 8K miles per year. If they have the maintenance record - big plus. We know that most B owners keep that maintenance are well kept. Ron

[rjf7g]

I have a 1999 American Cruiser on a Dodge chassis. I bought it in pretty rough shape and have brought it back to life. We agreed we would put in 50% of it's value (ala NADA) and we came in under budget. We fixed the brakes, belts, batteries, tires, flushed all systems, etc. for a total of about $3,500 as well as taking care of issues on the RV side (about another $1,400). Since then, we have had to do normal stuff that you have to do on a vehicle that is almost 20 years old - replaced the water pump, replaced the window motors, and a few other little things.