gpziggy:
In addition to the good comments already posted, for reference; We purchased a
barely used 2008 2720SD TM in Oct of 08. We'd been looking at them for several years, so when I found this one at a dealership on line, I jumped. Discovered that it had been purchased new in Aug '08 in Phoenix, moved to Oregon and traded in on a Hi-Lo in October. We paid $19,000 for it, NADA currently rates it at $20,040 avg retail. The stove, fridge, shower, bed.. nothing had been used - most of the protective plastic and stickers were on everything! The toilet was charged, but only used once on their move to OR. Owner's wife had declining health issues & he decided he was better off with quick set up of the Hi-Lo.
When we finally got to use it last summer /fall '09, we were discovering all sorts of moderate to minor issues that disturb us only because ours was essentially
new. I agree with Bill's note that
"As for "only been used once for two weeks by the dealer owner" - well, maybe, maybe not"... he is right on. If you pay a little more than NADA to this dealer, get some kind of warranty coverage
included so that if you find something like we did, you know it will be taken care of, since it has "only been used once for two weeks"!! I have documented all of our issues by photos, and am beginning to look and seek info in the forum for some of them. I plan to post them as well as talk to the factory about them. I feel most are Quality Control issues because, while we might expect many of these to be present if the trailer were 2-3 years old with some real use, we would not and did not expect them from a 'new' (or "lightly used") RV. Sort of feel like we got the model that was assembled on the last Friday of the month and just before a holiday.
The worst issue we've had is that during manufacture, some idiot ran a screw through the bathroom cabinet cleat on the floor into the water line under the floor of the bathroom! Discovered that a couple days into our first 2 wk trip - pump occasionally coming on for 1/2 a second, then finding some moisture wicking up the inside wood of the cabinet! No evidence of it when I first set up at home, got the water lines flushed and tanks filled and tested everything. I was talking to Ed Lytle at the factory while on our trip over the course of several days and even emailed him pictures of the wet area and screw; he also discussed it with the lead designer and assembly floor tech and Ed told me there was "no way" a screw could have been put there.
The repair facility tried to talk to the TM factory about it being an obvious factory defect and didn't get anywhere either.
Good thing we were tent campers and used to packing water and not needing the sink! And thankfully had presence of mind to purchase the
Good Sam CSP warranty for it right after purchase. It paid for all but the deductible to have a large local dealer here repair the water line. I have yet to take that up with the factory, since they would do nothing when the repair facility told them the screw and leak were obviously factory caused. I also found 2 screws (mounting the water heater, screwed from the outside of the trailer that were sharp, self-tapping) in direct contact and rubbing on two water lines above the water heater.
IF we had been closer to the dealer that I purchased from (Geo. Sutton RV in Eugene, OR) I am sure they would have done a lot to cure my problem, but seeing as I could not easily get it to them to find the cure, they had no chance to help.
I still have many issues to deal with, for example: the black rubber exterior seals around all the windows have shrunk (I guess) and separated at a corner leaving a 1/2" plus gap on all but two windows; Have some screws that are just plain loose on various pieces of exterior molding; 10"+ of each of the velcro strips on the interior walls for holding down the weather flaps on the front top section have come unglued; 3 of the window drapes are undersized (short vertically) for the windows they are on and several of the little plastic sliders sewn on the fabric have broken; the vinyl (?) covering on the interior of the bathroom walls is delaminating. We have only used the shower twice (remember no water for our 'maiden' trip!); the kitchen sink was only clamped/screwed down in the back (loosely at that), front clamps were not engaged and sink was not sealed with caulk at all when set into the counter top. Just a few off the top of my head.
Other than these issues, we are still very excited with the trailer and figure we'll have many years of enjoyment (albeit with a bit more immediate "maintenance" than I expected so early into the life of the trailer!). So I guess I'm suggesting that you should get a good price and/or get some written assurance from the dealer to take care of what otherwise would be warranty items on a new trailer, then you should be good with the '08.
Good Luck! Fred