women buying A/S...

[Inland RV Center, In]

REMEMBER when Airstreaming.

If "mama" isn't happy, NO ONE WILL BE HAPPY!!

Andy
inlandrv.com
airstreamparts.com
airstreamcandy.com

[59toaster]

Nice Mustangs Steph!
We had a 69 Mach1 with a 390 and shaker hood that was stollen in the process of rebuilding.
My Bud has his mom's Mustang that she bought new in 1964.5. It was on the first truck of Mustangs to come into Atlanta. It completly restored 90point car (missing original numbers matching motor so it gets docked some). Back then and "Lady" who bought a car from Ford could take a class offered by Ford on how to take care of their car. After you took the course you recieve a tool kit with your name embossed on the cover and he has that as well. Very rare and I think Ford stopped offering the course not long after she took it.

[flyfisher]

I was waiting to see if Smallfry replied to your post, but so far I guess she hasn't.

I'm a fisherman, as is she, and I know from a post she made a few months ago on another BB that she had purchased her first Airstream in Oregon, and was going there from California to pick it up.

There can't be too many women on the "left coast" (*G) who are interested in acquiring old Airstreams to rennovate, so perhaps you'd want to hear of her experiences. I could possibly get her email for you you want.

By the way, being a fly fisherman I'm really envious of where you live. I make it as far west as MT each summer for a month or 2, but am hoping to get to BC and/or Victoria Island this coming summer. I heard about a really nice RV park in Campbell River and I know there are lots of other great places for camping and fishing, etc. there as well.

John

[femuse]

I'm sorry for Mike

Hey, Hart feel sorry for yourself. My horse tradin' wife saved us close to $6,000 on the Airstream we just bought.

Instead of buying the Sony Digital camera we had discussed, I'm now going for a Nikon. Man! I fell bad.


Mike - who knows a good thing when he sees it, the other half of:

[ipso_facto]

I'm looking for any women out there who have wheeled and dealed their way into an A/S!

You might like this site:

http://www.rvingwomen.com/wwwboardin.html

..... Any one else faced this mess? When I pointed out to the last seller that one of the windows had not only 'moisture' (as he called it) trapped in it - but enough water that I suggested that he add fish and list it as a feature - a built in aquarium! He, in a huff, replied that if I didn't like 'looking at the window' I could just keep the blind closed!

Well, I am not a female but I am not really "mechanically inclined" - I do get things done but it takes me a lot of time and patience. The tecniques I employ when buying cars and trucks (and 3 weeks ago, my first A/S)

• Why is the seller selling this item? Is it because it is a worn out piece of junk? Or money maybe? Or he has no place to keep it at? Etc.? If the latter, you can sometimes get good deals.
  
• Try to get a general feel for the owner and how he took care of the unit. Anything more than 10 years old will have major parts replaced. Fridge, univolt, whatever. Upholstery probably. Carpet? The point is, if this guy had a "Zen relationship" with his A/S (or any other unit), he took good care of it, replacing parts, not letting it go. If you don't get a good feel for it, as you obviously didn't, walk away, which you did.
  
• I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, don't go there with a confrontational attitude. But, I expect full disclosure. I get very concerned when I see there are trying to conceal something. Like a new carpet hiding potential floor rot. (Which the one you looked at probably had).
  
• Take your time. I looked for my towing vehicle for 6 months. I looked for my A/S for 3 months. Be very discriminate. You already know that. It is the buyers market right now. So get what you want. I surely did. I had to drive 15 hours to get it, but I got 99% of the features I wanted in the size I wanted. An 30 year old unit can be a good buy if its price reflects that. And you have the patience for fixing these leaking windows. I honestly don't, there will be enough issues as it is.
  
• Always ask for an objective opinion. I ask a lot of questions. As many as I can. Ask for 2nd and 3rd opinions. I don't' ever decide without consulting with others. If you notice a pattern in responses, there is probably a reason for that. Look at something from all angles. Surely someone will point out something you have not even considered. Like, realize 5 year old tires are probably rotten from the inside even if they look good on the outside. If you don't get a good feel for the seller, it is may not be safe to even tow it. No matter what he tells you. There is no way to check it out. Unless you see receipts for new tires. And so on, lots of tricks you learn. I just began that journey. Others cannot decide from you, but they can surely assist in the decision-making process. It is easy to lose objectivity.
  
• I always deal with private owners. It takes more skill and knowledge but if you know what you are doing, it may pay off. Being selective is the key. I walked away from an A/S 1.5 hours from my place. Instead drove to another part of the country.
  

[femuse]

ipso_facto made a lot of good point here, but I would like to comment on the following:

Anything more than 10 years old will have major parts replaced.

Not necessarily. The fridge on our 1974 was original and worked great until its death in 2000. Over 25 years of faithful service.
We replaced the converter I think 2 years ago.

Dealing with private owners vs dealers is not always a choice you can make if Airstreams are a rarity where you are for example, or in our case when we had to buy our #2 in a rush.

_We bought our #1 from a private owner. Sad story - true or not - of wife now having cancer and they stopped traveling. It's more dificult to bargain in a case like that.

_our #2, we needed to find right away to replace #1 who had its water lines frozen.
Mike found it driving by an RV dealer, selling mostly new white boxes. It did not want this AS to distract form his color scheme I suppose. He wanted $4000 for it, Mike offered him $2500 that he took. (Yes, I was not with him when he saw it,....he did that all by himself, and is very proud of it . )
I followed prices on the Net for over 3 months. I agree with the general opinion that RV dealers will be the most likely to over or under price used units they are not familiar with.
They are worth looking into for bargains.

_our #3 we just bought from an AS dealer. It is said that they tend to have the highest price.
They had several used AS since the end of the 2003 camping season, and needed to make room for the new units for the coming season.

We used most of the conventional ways to buy our 3 AS, I even checked Ebay and did not like it, after finding out that the first one we looked into was misrepresentated regarding the length.
Some people may have had good luck that way, but have to be a lot more savy as we are.

So in the end, there is no right or wrong route to follow, some are more confortable for some than for other

[alt]

Flyfisher- John

Yes. Any contacts are good to have - I am sure Smallfry will have some good stories to share. I fall asleep at night planning my renovations/repairs...how we are going to live in the A/S during the whole process- I have decided to add a tent to my budget so we don't have to sleep in the mess.

As for BC - I love being here. Nice choice as a home base. If you do make your way to Vancouver Island I can point you in the direction of some great places. I myself haven't yet practiced the art of fly-fishing...one day. But I'm sure I can find you a good watering hole (and a place to fish too!). Thanks. A

[ipso_facto]

femuse
Not necessarily. The fridge on our 1974 was original and worked great until its death in 2000. Over 25 years of faithful service. We replaced the converter I think 2 years ago.

I didn't mean all parts, but "some" parts. There is no way to tell which ones, or when. I would think the biggest indicator is the usage. The point in my original post was, if the owner replaced things in it, and did not neglect it, it's a good thing. There is also the possibility of the owner neglecting crucial repairs, as I think was the case with this purchase. (Leaky windows).

Dealing with private owners vs dealers is not always a choice you can make if Airstreams are a rarity where you are for example, or in our case when we had to buy our #2 in a rush.

Undoubtedly. You can always find a nice Airstream but it is always on the other side of the continent. I got lucky. My '86 Excella was merely on the other side of my region.


So in the end, there is no right or wrong route to follow, some are more confortable for some than for other

Depends on individual circumstances and aptitude. For me, repairs, whether major or minor turn into huge research projects. I learn a lot, eventually get better but also take probably 10 times longer than a pro would. But then, you always have to start somewhere. With others, they thrive on these challenges. I was just happy just to get the truck and the unit back home safely without major events.

[ipso_facto]

alt

Since I went through the process you are going through only very recently, I thought I would mention all the resources you could use to find the perfect unit.

http://www.thriftynickelads.com/
http://www.airforums.com/
http://www.rvtraderonline.com/
http://rvsellersonline.com/
http://airstream.net
http://usedairstreams.com
http://www.abracat.com

ebay.com is another resource.

Your local newspapers on-line.

Then there are these local "for-sale" type papers.

I am sure you will find something sooner or later.

[Stefrobrts]

My best move so far has been posting a wanted ad to the airstream classifieds. I got quite a few leads right in my region, or people willing to drag theirs out to my area. None of them have panned out yet, but I'm being choosy about finding exactly what I want. I'm looking for a 20ft Argosy, but if I were willing to move up to a 22-24 ft trailer, I would have a trailer by now. But anyway, posting that wanted ad brought quite a few out of the woodwork that I hadn't seen advertised anywhere else.

[femuse]

An other thing you can do is email RV dealers in the States you are willing to travel to. Gathering of those emails is very time consuming. It's a long shot, but worth a try.
A very few % will be listed in some links. (they pay/they get full listing)
Unfortunately, a lot of them with web sites and emails are not listed, but you can always start here:

RV America

RVer Search

RVNet Linx

Directory of RV, Truck, & Auto Dealers

There are a lot more like that. Listing of this type must exist for Canada too.

Good hunting.

[nayl]

I purchased my Airstream all by myself with the aid of my computer and telephone. I was constrained as to the size by my tow vehicle and don’t have the ability or the desire to restore an older trailer so my search criteria were pretty narrow. I searched many internet sites for Airstream ads and also contacted numerous dealers for price quotes on new models.



I was surprised by the number of dealers who never responded to my e-mail or phone messages. Perhaps they thought that a woman wasn’t really going to make a purchase and it wasn’t worth their time to respond. Silly of them. I was willing to travel in order to get a better deal so I wasn’t restricted by location. Fortunately I got the best deal at the closest dealership to my home



I called the dealership and spoke to a salesman and made tentative arrangements to visit and take a look at their inventory. I told the salesman that I was really just in the looking phase and had actually never been in an Airstream trailer and was coming to satisfy my curiosity. He was very gracious and said that I was more than welcome to come and “just have a look.” Based on the tow rating of my vehicle he recommended one of three models (one 19’ and two 22’) stating that trying to pull anything bigger wouldn’t be safe. I had done my research and already new this, and wondered if he would try to sell me on something larger and more expensive. He then gave me a very informative tour of all three vehicles. He was easy-going and at the same time very professional and was never once condescending especially considering that I was just there to look. I made up my mind right there and left a first time Airstream and travel trailer owner.

[norbert]

Originally Posted by alt

When I pointed out to the last seller that one of the windows had not only 'moisture' (as he called it) trapped in it - but enough water that I suggested that he add fish and list it as a feature - a built in aquarium! He, in a huff, replied that if I didn't like 'looking at the window' I could just keep the blind closed! - punctuating his sentence by yanking the blind down and changing the subject. This after I had had to sweet talk him into unlocking the trailer to let me inside - no joke, he told me to just look in the windows!

HAHAHA....i like your style....you didnt want that schmucks buggy anyhow....arm yourself with knowledge and be assertive....be yourself, because you cant be another femuse.....if you do , you will have to change your username from alt to cobra.....
fabulous norby

[norbert]

doh!...i see i replied to a rather old post....alt, i hope you are now a proud owner...
norby