Thinking about buying 2004 Salem 19FD

[jmbowman1]

Howdy all,

We sold our 2006 Work and Play 28BD because we never used the toy hauler as planned and the darn thing was just too big. We have been looking for months for a smaller traditional TT.

I saw a 2004 Forest River Salem LE 19FD at Camping World of Chattanooga. It looks really good, but was missing the awning. i have been going back and forth with the dealer. They said that they will replace the awning with a new one, repack the bearings, and install a new battery. I can get the trailer for $6,500 out the door including TN's nearly 10% sales tax. They say that everything is in working order.

Assuming that I inspect the trailer and everything looks okay, would you veteran Forest River owners think that this would be a good deal?

Thanks,

John

[Emptypockets]

Have you checked to see what the price of this unit is in Kelly Blue Book.
We paid less than $13,000.00 for our 2011 Rockwood Mini Lite 1809S that you see in our signature.

[jmbowman1]

Yes,

I looked up the price on NADA (around $6,300 average retail). Of course, the dealer wanted a lot more for it. I calculated what I thought was fair and based my offer on an "out-the-door" price. This would be around $5,800 plus taxes and doc fees. $6,500 total. Based on what I am seeing on E-bay and craigslist, I thought that was pretty fair.

My main concern is if there are known problems with this model. I know some models are plagued with roof leaks, frame problems, etc. I was really happy with the quality of the W&P toy hauler that we had. It was just too big and heavy. We want soemthing that we can keep at the house versus pay for storage.

Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

John

[LadyWindrider]

I have a Work & Play 18LT, and we love it. Search the Work and Play forums, and you'll find very little, troubles or otherwise. Search the other forums, Salem, in particular, since that is what you are looking at. There will hopefully give you a better insight instead of here in the General discussion. For us, we'll always have a toy hauler, even if we don't have toys. They are the most open floor plan out there. Everything else seems cramped, all the furniture, etc. Just a note, we use our camper to haul or bikes and ride. We camp. We don't care about television, wi fi, surround sound, entertaining others, sleeping friends, grandchildren, etc. We go to get away, and have only spent two night where we got television. If you don't haul toys, can always install a couch.

Anyway, check the Salem forum on here. Good luck.

[Emptypockets]

Originally Posted by jmbowman1

Yes,

I looked up the price on NADA (around $6,300 average retail). Of course, the dealer wanted a lot more for it. I calculated what I thought was fair and based my offer on an "out-the-door" price. This would be around $5,800 plus taxes and doc fees. $6,500 total. Based on what I am seeing on E-bay and craigslist, I thought that was pretty fair.

My main concern is if there are known problems with this model. I know some models are plagued with roof leaks, frame problems, etc. I was really happy with the quality of the W&P toy hauler that we had. It was just too big and heavy. We want soemthing that we can keep at the house versus pay for storage.

Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

John

Sounds like you have done your homework on pricing - if there are any real issues with this unit some one on this forum will tell you about them. Enjoy!

[bigdaddy23]

I would check out www.lakeshoer-rv
For forrestriver product

[BigDTx]

It sounds about right to me. We bought our 2005 Salem LE 29BHSS for about 8K out the door with awning, TTL, etc. we have had no problems excpet for the "Half Time Oven" the door release broke and the oven would not open. Fixed for about $10.00 with replacement part.

I would definatly have the roof resealed, cleaned and conditioned right off the bat. being 6-7 years old, you have no idea what maintenance has been done to the roof.

[bigdaddy23]

Its seems like a good deal. Good luck