Answered: How Much Does a Class A DP Cost?
I often see the question "how much does a motorhome cost" posted on these and other forums, and the provided answers are always lacking. Responses range from "it depends" to "impossible to answer," b...
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Hi Lurker 1,
Great post, thank you for doing this. This should be a real reality check for anyone considering buying a DP.
We have been living in our coach full time since June 2014. My experience has been very similar to yours, omitting trying to sell as we have no plans for now of selling. The cost of ownership has been much higher than I would have thought. Mine is even higher given the maintenance on a Cummins ISX 600 needing 54 quarts of oil. Something is always breaking or needs maintenance or repairs. Most of them minor however they still need to be done.
We have met many Rvers traveling for over 2.5 years. For those who own a DP your experience is much more common than unusual. In spite of us sometimes feeling like we travel from one RV repair shop to the next (mostly for minor things) we have met many who have had amazing horror stories.
Being fulltimers, no longer own a house, and living in the motorhome the cost is justifiable to us. If however this was just a "toy" or "vacation" vehicle I could never make sense of it. I would instead own a small bumper pull RV for that.
When you consider the cost of owning a DP for vacation use you could instead vacation anywhere in the world in luxury accommodations for far less. We love the lifestyle that our motorhome allows us and would not trade it in for anything right now. That being said, this is a lifestyle for us and not a vacation.
One last note. Thank goodness diesel prices have plunged down over the past few years. If diesel was at a high of $4.27 per gallon when we left Vermont in June of 2014 the story would be that much more bleak.
Thanks again and hopefully you will be doing a service to those who are considering getting into a DP. How someone spends their money is truly a personal choice and I would never tell someone they are wrong for doing something one way or another. I have seen where a few people have been bold over by the romance of owning a DP and traveling without carefully considering how large an investment it takes.
Great post, thank you for doing this. This should be a real reality check for anyone considering buying a DP.
We have been living in our coach full time since June 2014. My experience has been very similar to yours, omitting trying to sell as we have no plans for now of selling. The cost of ownership has been much higher than I would have thought. Mine is even higher given the maintenance on a Cummins ISX 600 needing 54 quarts of oil. Something is always breaking or needs maintenance or repairs. Most of them minor however they still need to be done.
We have met many Rvers traveling for over 2.5 years. For those who own a DP your experience is much more common than unusual. In spite of us sometimes feeling like we travel from one RV repair shop to the next (mostly for minor things) we have met many who have had amazing horror stories.
Being fulltimers, no longer own a house, and living in the motorhome the cost is justifiable to us. If however this was just a "toy" or "vacation" vehicle I could never make sense of it. I would instead own a small bumper pull RV for that.
When you consider the cost of owning a DP for vacation use you could instead vacation anywhere in the world in luxury accommodations for far less. We love the lifestyle that our motorhome allows us and would not trade it in for anything right now. That being said, this is a lifestyle for us and not a vacation.
One last note. Thank goodness diesel prices have plunged down over the past few years. If diesel was at a high of $4.27 per gallon when we left Vermont in June of 2014 the story would be that much more bleak.
Thanks again and hopefully you will be doing a service to those who are considering getting into a DP. How someone spends their money is truly a personal choice and I would never tell someone they are wrong for doing something one way or another. I have seen where a few people have been bold over by the romance of owning a DP and traveling without carefully considering how large an investment it takes.
