An unofficial survey - cost and setup of used MHs

hmm, I didn't buy any of them to flip - the Beaver we did 28,000 miles on a 34 state 'trip of a lifetime' - the Monaco was because I wasn't working at the time and needed a hobby, the Coachman was a mistake - no, 2 people and 2 albeit tiny, dogs cannot survive for more than 24 hours in 19' and the last one is our second 'trip of a lifetime' cos we loved the first one so much ;)

And Bluewater, you didn't mention how much you paid for the coach and yes, I include such things as tires because that's a cost for most buyers (most people don't put new tires on their RV and then sell it (except me!))

What I was hoping that it would give new owners an idea of what owning a used RV actually costs - over and above the sticker.

Actually it is very useful, because it gives newbies some statistical analysis of what to expect. Its not about flipping the coach, its about budgeting costs of buying a used coach. There was a thread several years ago here and the typical expenditure was around $8K.

When I bought my coach, I was spending an average of about $1K per year to fix worn/broken parts. Some of that was forced expenses, some of it was things that I knew were broke and just was waiting to fix. That lasted about 7 years, till I burnt a valve in the engine. That was an excuse to spend tons of money. I could have done it much cheaper, but I wanted to be able to tow and be able to maintain any speed on any hill/mountain. So for the totals over 11 years, I've paid $11,000 and have probably dumped another $17K into it. The engine and trans was around $11K or that 17. In 11 years, I've broken down numerous times, but have never been left stranded.

Still unanswerable as it will totally depend on the MH. So far our 2000 Beaver has taken a grand total of $318.00 for refurbishment and that was for a new front TV.

Repairs on the other hand have amounted to a whopping $1,100.00 and most of that was for the Dash air and a new control board for the fridge.

I don't count consumable items like tires, batteries, and the like.

Point is, its a******shoot. Personally, I always but an RV from a reputable dealer as you have a lot of leverage when uncovering something during the PDI and walk-through. On ours I saw the in-house invoice for work done before delivery and it was over 5K.

Tough crowd!

I dunno, it's interesting to me.

I'm sure that is basically and unanswerable question because each MH out there is unique a year or two after the sales date. 30~40yo makes it even more so.

In our crowd there are a couple of lines that are just standard...
The one that applies here is,"
"A nice clean, comfortable, dependable and road worthy coach will cost you about 25K$. That can be all at once or kit that can take years to assemble."
People prove this axiom every year....

Matt (Who has proof of above)

OnaQuest wrote:
I'm not sure just how helpful this will be to anyone. Not too many folks buy and refurb coaches just to flip them.

I can see it now. The next mind numbing TV show.

1984 Monaco - Paid $2600 Refurb $8000 (2009)
$10,600 in an old unit worth???
sounds like an old friend of mine. buy an old car for 2, 000, put 2,000 plus many hours of labor in it and sell it for 4,000???
bumpy

I'm not sure just how helpful this will be to anyone. Not too many folks buy and refurb coaches just to flip them.