Anticipation is driving me nutty

[VoltageGuy]

It's been a roller coaster ride. We found the 2013 Voltage 3950 sitting at Richardson's RV in Riverside. It's been there some time. So the other day, we put some money down to "lock in the deal."

Then we were told we couldn't be financed. Huh? That was odd. I was troubled by that news. So I went in search of financing on the web, and found it.

So now, we are going to be the new owners soon. The second weekend in August is when we should be doing the PDI. My wife and I have been making all kinds of plans for his new rig. Want to add a tiled backsplash in the bathroom. Add lot of LED lighting. Do some LED strip lights in the generator compartment. And lots of other places.

We have a memory foam mattress we used in our old tow-behind. We'll replace the OEM unit with the foam. Sleeps very nice.

I've heard the electric jacks work just fine. This has the 6-point leveling system on it. Lots of bells and whistles.

I have created a web site for the rig. Feel free to visit MyVoltageRV.com for plans, ideas, improvement projects, and lots of my thoughts on things related to this RV and my Ford F350 dually. I installed a Reese R20 in that, and did some other things. It's all on the blog site.

See, I'm so excited about this I'm already creating a blog. Well. What fun.

This is a great forum, exactly what I was looking for. Hope to meet some of you someday. I'm in So Cal. Orange County to be precise.

Well thanks for a great place to meet people and share. I hope to help others and enjoy more reading of your experiences. Thanks!

[lmsteck]

Welcome to the forum, VoltageGuy!

[VoltageGuy]

Originally Posted by lmsteck

Welcome to the forum, VoltageGuy!

Appreciate the welcome. It's always good to read those words.

[packardfrank]

Congrats on your new baby!! We bought our coleman cts19 rd from Richardsons in Riverside as well..they have a store right across the street from us in Menifee but the salesman there was so overbearing and outright rude that we closed the deal 35 miles down the road.Best of luck to you and let us know how your experience with them works out for you...I think that lady that runs the office there used to be on one of those mob wives shows...nice person though

[VoltageGuy]

Originally Posted by packardfrank

Congrats on your new baby!! We bought our coleman cts19 rd from Richardsons in Riverside as well..they have a store right across the street from us in Menifee but the salesman there was so overbearing and outright rude that we closed the deal 35 miles down the road.Best of luck to you and let us know how your experience with them works out for you...I think that lady that runs the office there used to be on one of those mob wives shows...nice person though

Great stuff. Mob wife, yea, I can see that. She really is nice, though, and none of the sales people have been in slightest bit overbearing. If anything, not quite bearing enough, actually. Very laid back.

I'll be sharing my experience with the whole sales and PDI process on MyVoltageRV.com blog. I also have a way there for folks to sign up for notices whenever I post new information, tutorials, photos, etc. It's just an option. I'll also be sharing here as well.

Really appreciate the offer of help. This is great place to be!

[hddecker]

Voltage, you a probably lucky that you got your finacing for a source other than the dealer.

I came across an interesting web site that is very revealing about some of the games played by vehicle dealers.

RV and Motorhome Secrets: Buying the Right RVs, Campers, Motorhomes, and Travel Trailers for Steep Discounts

I found it very enlightening, I wish I would have had the info about 30 years ago, when I bought my first vehilce.

[VoltageGuy]

Originally Posted by hddecker

Voltage, you a probably lucky that you got your finacing for a source other than the dealer.

I came across an interesting web site that is very revealing about some of the games played by vehicle dealers.

RV and Motorhome Secrets: Buying the Right RVs, Campers, Motorhomes, and Travel Trailers for Steep Discounts

I found it very enlightening, I wish I would have had the info about 30 years ago, when I bought my first vehilce.

Well, the fact that you're posting this is great. Someone may benefit from your knowledge and willingness to share. I like that about this community. We're here to help each other and learn from each other.

I'm very glad I found that website, and the company. I'm not sure what I'd be doing right now if I hadn't. Probably sitting in a corner banging my head against the wall.


But instead of or I'm and which is really wonderful.

[VoltageGuy]

Well, today there are only 5 days, 13 hours and 39 minutes left before I hit the lot for the PDI. The excitement is growing as the wife continues to pick out new stuff for the new rig. She might be more excited than she was when we got married.

It's been a long time coming. Four years. Three of them dealing with a trailer that just doesn't cut it for us anymore. Cleaned it out. It's totally empty now, just waiting for me to drag it in to the dealership. We're losing our shirts on the trade in, but don't care. It's just one of those things in life that didn't work out great financially, but the old trailer sure did teach us the ropes.

I posted some photos of the old Vortex, cleaning it out, and all the stuff that's piled up in the garage waiting for the Voltage. Follow this link: » Blog Archive » Vortex Gets Cleaned Out

Good times. It was hot, sweaty work, but all the same enjoyable.

[packardfrank]

Richardsons owns both dealerships but the staff at the riverside storeriving an extra half hour is head and shoulders above the menifee store...we have no problem driving an extra half hour to be treated well...

[wsrsdca]

Happy for the 2 of you and your new VOLTAGE.
We are waiting for the Dealer to be able to order the 2015's. Hopefully March 2014.
Were glad you mentioned financing. We were going to go through Richardsons.
Our Credit Union also does financing. Any thoughts on that?
Can't Wait.

[VoltageGuy]

Originally Posted by wsrsdca

Happy for the 2 of you and your new VOLTAGE.
We are waiting for the Dealer to be able to order the 2015's. Hopefully March 2014.
Were glad you mentioned financing. We were going to go through Richardsons.
Our Credit Union also does financing. Any thoughts on that?
Can't Wait.

Well, let me tell you this. I would never try to get financing through a dealer. That is, never try again. I actually DID try that, with Richardsons. They approached TWO banks, B of A and US Bank. Both declined me. Then Richardson's gave up. Said they couldn't find financing.

Should I have given up as well? No way. I started looking online, of course. I mean, where else do you look these days? I found a company called Essex Credit in northern California. I applied online. I did NOT fill in any of the information about current debt, bank accounts, that sort of thing. Then I submitted the application. The next day, I had an email saying after they reviewed my information (they pulled my credit through Experian, so all the financial info they wanted online wasn't necessary to fill out) and the loan was approved.

I put 10% down on a $79,995 sale price. Essex financed the rest.

Before I continue, let me tell you something more. My State Farm agent called and said how about an RV loan through State Farm Bank. So I agreed to have them try. They wanted to do 8% and would finance only $50,000. Richardson's was trying to get me a loan at 5.99%. Keep this number in mind.

So, Essex comes through at 3.99%. And on that site linked to above, about what to watch out for when purchasing, they said dealers will mark up interest rates by 2% and keep the profit. This would be illegal, so I'm not sure that's accurate information on that site, but anyway, 3.99 is 2 points lower than 5.99, right? Draw your own conclusions.

If you want, call Dani White at Essex. Well, don't call. Just go online and fill out the credit application and she'll call you. That's how it worked for me. And, they're financing my Voltage for a 20 year term. Now, for those of you with money to burn, that may seem silly. But for me, it keeps my monthly payment at $479, which is really, really affordable for me.

Essexcredit.com is the place to go. They may or may not finance you, depends on your FICO score, income to debt ratio, number of outstanding debts, etc. But certainly go online and fill out the application, submit it, then watch your email. And if you're approved, Dani White will be the one handling your account, probably. Tell her Tom sent you. She's good people.

Then let us know how you made out. I'd love to hear your story.

Dealership = meh. That's not working for us. Independent financing is better. No credit union or bank could match Essex. They only make loans for RVs and boats. So that's all they do, and they're owned by Bank of the West. Check them. And no, this not an ad for Essex.

But wait, there's more!! (Just kidding... there's not.)

[wsrsdca]

Really appreciate the financing info. It is sure worth it to save 2%.
We will look into Essex.com. We will be ordering in March.
Waiting for the new 2015 3950's to come in.

[Nana & Poppy]

Try your credit union first......any financing thru and RV dealer is usually thru banks and "lenders" - who want to get the "big bucks"! They don't know you whereas your credit union has a history with you!

Whenever I've had to finance anything I go to our local bank - where they know my face and credit history - because of that I get great interest rates....but they again, they only have my mortgage loan! However at one time, they held the mortgage on a commercial business property we owned - everyone wanted 9%+ (back in 1998) - I got it thru them at 6%! So shop locally first!

[wsrsdca]

Wow! Huge differences on Rv Loans.
Took your advise and called our 2 credit Unions. CRAZY!
Did not give either one personal information, so just general info.

Navy Federal=says it is not called an RV loan it is a tangible collateral loan
Interest rates are 8.55% - 17.55% , upto 180 months, upto 100% financing.

San Diego County Credit Union finances Rv loans.
Interest rates are 10.99% -20.99% upto 84 mos, 80% financing

Was in the KOA Campground website and also saw they advertise Essex Credit. Will talk to them next. According to their website, it looks like their rates are approx. 4.88% and up.