I am looking at a 1986 Regal 31 original owner 40k he is asking $16500 nada says $9800. What would be a fair price for this year if everything is in good shape?

The RV market is pretty soft now, so anyone hoping to sell their RV (of many make/model) for MORE than the NADA value is dreaming. You should not be paying any more than Low Retail in my opinion, unless it's a rig you just can't live without.

I think you should keep looking. The asking price is so out of whack that a reasonable deal is probably impossible. The only way to know for sure is to shoot an offer, say 6500 bucks, and see what they say. Look at what has gone through here in the last couple months, absolutely beautiful coaches going for 3G, and fine coaches being parted out just to get rid of them.
IMHO, don't even think of paying 5 figures for an 86 gasser.

Four years ago I made an informal survey & found that Barth sales over the previous year had averaged about 90% of NADA low book. That's what I paid for mine, no dicker, the guy was happy to get it. A year ago, after marketing it for a year, I sold my Barth for just half of the then current NADA average retail.

I doubt the market has improved since. I think Danny's advice is good.

I agree with the others on this coach, but I have to say that sometimes paying top dollar is a good investment. We paid top dollar for our 96 Monarch about 18 months ago, but it had less than 17K miles in ten years. I grew up in the car business and learned early on how much money you can spend making a piece of coal into a diamond!

I'd say it is often wise to buy a Barth as you would a vintage car, pay as much as you can afford for the best example. It is cheaper in the long run and far less stressful. The 1997 22 footer for sale on this site is a good example of a high price that is worth paying. You simply can't save enough to pass up such a well cared for rig.

Corey

Possibly, but statistically cars are almost never wise investments. You will almost always lose money, either in depreciation or repair/restoration costs. Of course "sentimental value" is a whole different ballgame, and maybe that would make it worth the money to someone. But it's nearly impossible to predict what vehicles will become collectibles later on (the '57 Chevy Bel Air and '64 Chevy Impala were ordinary family cars in their day for instance), so taking a gamble like that will probably not pay off. In the monetary sense anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by noble97monarch:
I agree with the others on this coach, but I have to say that sometimes paying top dollar is a good investment.

quote:

Originally posted by scottydl:
Possibly, but statistically cars are almost never wise investments.

I could be wrong but I think he was referring to is the difference between paying for a coach in mint condition vs one needing a lot of work and the cost to bring it up to the same condition as the "top dollar" coach. In that respect, it might be a good investment to go with the coach needing nothing.

I've gotcha, I can see that now that I re-read it. Even so, is a used RV ever in need of nothing? It's always smart to budget in and expect $1000-2000 worth of expenses that will probably needed, even on coaches that appear very well maintained.

In need of nothing, not on this planet! Even brand new coaches spend too much time in the shop. These things require expensive gifts at times but, all things being equal, the one already needing work will require a lot more.

quote:

Originally posted by scottydl:
Even so, is a used RV ever in need of nothing?

This one would be the closest.

As are many of the coaches owned by Barthmobile Forum members.

No doubt there is no such thing as a coach that needs nothing. I wonder if we don't all have a psychological condition that "craves" a problem to fix, in fact! When I don't have one, I invent some needed gadget that I overlooked as a "must have".

I definitely don't recommend any RV as an investment. - Then again, I could have bought an old Beaver for, say, $10K - drove it off a cliff, walked away - and have done much better than my stocks this year!!

Most people think of investing as making a profit. It is much more financially prosperous to, instead, lower overhead thereby saving spending. You don't get taxed on saving money, but do on the profit. This is why a well cared for older coach is such a good "investment" (again, meaning comparatively to some other spend). Less insurance, less initial cost, less registration, and less sales tax for those of you that don't live in NH (where we don't have one). All this saving hard cash and we already established that the new coach will need just as much attention, albeit under warranty most likely.

We recently met some really nice Cajuns in a three year old Wanderlodge at Ft Wilderness. We toured each others coaches and the wife was was adamant that they should have bought something like the Barth. Apparently the Wanderlodge had been bought new for $250K+ by the first owner and then spent most of it's life back at the Bluebird factory getting cut up and re-skinned. Bluebird made a mistake in design that buckled the fiberglass skin in the middle of the lodge. These nice folks bought it for way less, but had easily spent as much time, effort, and frustration as the first owners chasing gremlins.

I will admit that I did offer to trade "even Steven", but Mr. Cajun didn't bite. I think Mrs. was considering though!!

Corey

Consider I paid $12,500 for my 28' 89 Regal. I figured out later too much.

AND there was more work needed than I thought. Because I have to hire someone for most things, I've spent quite a bit.

But I still love it. Go figure.