Sprinter for sale! Fair price or not so much?

[Macodiva]

So i've seen a 2002 sprinter conversion for sale. This the ad title - 2002 Mercedes Sprinter RV Road Bear Euro GT conversion van

Has anyone any knowledge of the Road Bear company. I've tried researching & they just come up as a rental company. Obviously 2002 was a while ago so maybe they used to do conversions before. 

My question is if they did do the conversion, did they have a good reputation for quality work?

Also from photos van exterior looks in good shape, it looks like a full conversion but it's hard to see the inside & there's not really a good description. It has 109000 miles & they're asking $26000. Do you think that's a fair price?

I know nothing beats seeing it in person but it'll be a fair long trip to see it so thought i'd ask you opinions first.

Thanks

[jpcoll01]

My first thought at seeing Road Bear was the rental company. If those are 109k rental miles my guess would be those are some mighty hard miles, but anything is possible. 

[Biker56]

Check what PPL has for sale that is less then $26K

[Jeff & Suzanne]

Take a look at this site    https://www.rvtrader.com/New-and-Used-PHOENIX-Cruiser-2350-RVs-for-Sale----RVTrader.com/search-results?sort=featured%3Aasc&radius=150&layoutView=listView&make=PHOENIX|79715412&model=Cruiser 2350|764939857& and other used RV websites.  I mentioned Phoenix Cruiser since we own a 2012 Phoenix Cruiser 2400 Sprinter; and Phoenix is very much in business and makes good stuff.  The Sprinter Forum is a good source for information too. https://sprinter-source.com/forum/index.php .  You can draw your own conclusions as to which Sprinter year models have the fewer mechanical issues.  Good luck.

[Kirk W]

If you look at the Road Bear website, they state that they rent 2017/18 RV's from Thor & Coachman. Thor and Coachman(owned by Forest River) both build several models specifically for the rental market, so this isn't surprising. But are us sure that your ad comes from RoaBear as the unit you are looking at is now 15 years old and their ads state that they don't keep them in the rental pool for anywhere close to that many years? I'd bet your seller is someone who bought one of their units after they put it up for sale. In addition, I don't see any Sprinter units built by either of those companies back in 2002.  There is far more information needed before I'd even guess at this one. At the minimum, you need to call the seller and find out more about this unit, like who built it. The price seems very high for a unit of that age, but even that is only a guess since we don't even know what size it may be or any other details??  

One other thought.......  I strongly suggest that if you do buy this or something similar, you need to get a professional to inspect it for you unless you have a lot more RV knowledge than I have. 

[Macodiva]

Thanks all.

Kirk Wood don't worry if i find something i like i will be sure to get it inspected. I already found a guy who goes through everything inside & out & writes a report for $160.  I was also thinking the price is a little high, that said the miles are fairly low for comparable van that age & even newer. 

I'm thinking likely a pass on it. Ta 

Jeff & Suzanne i've posted the same question on sprinter source to  

[Jeff & Suzanne]

Remember a couple of things about mileage:  190,000 for a normally maintained diesel engine isn't anyway nearly as wearing as the same number of miles on a gas engine. That being said, low mileage on any older RV means that bad boy/girl has done a lot of sitting and not being used, which is worse than putting miles on with regularity.  Just sayin'.

[Macodiva]

55 minutes ago, Jeff & Suzanne said:

Remember a couple of things about mileage:  190,000 for a normally maintained diesel engine isn't anyway nearly as wearing as the same number of miles on a gas engine. That being said, low mileage on any older RV means that bad boy/girl has done a lot of sitting and not being used, which is worse than putting miles on with regularity.  Just sayin'.

I wouldn't have thought that, i'd assume if it was turned over once in a while it'd still be good to go. Thank you for that insight, more things for me to consider! I'm glad to be learning this stuff before putting my money down

 

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Macodiva said:

wouldn't have thought that, i'd assume if it was turned over once in a while it'd still be good to go

Just starting a motorhome isn't good for it as it should be driven each time that it is started. But low mileage for a motorhome is quite different from that of an automobile as the average mileage per year for most motorhomes that are used for weekends and vacations is only between 5000 & 7000 miles per year, or about 80 - 100k miles in 15 years. The mileage you were quoted is low if it was a rental for 15 years but it isn't low for an RV that was in typical owner's use. We bought our fulltime motorhome new, kept it for 14 years with 12 of those years being fulltimers, yet when I sold it the mileage was about 80k. It did sit for one to 4 months at times, usually twice each year but we traveled through nearly all of the states in those years on the road. It was gasoline powered and when I last heard from the new owner they had been very happy with it for 5 years and were shopping to trade it in for something much newer.