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," but rarely is an actual question answered with solid data, which leaves prospective motorhomers unsure.

I'm ready to answer the question. I just lived through two years of owernship, most of which was tremendous, but in the end, the cost drove me away. It really is simply amazing how much money I lost.

Obviously, my experiences are mine, and other experiences will be different. Probably a big part of it is luck of the draw with the motorhome you own (but some expense will happen REGARDLESS of type of motorhome!). Please understand that this post is provided without emotion, simply to let others know how much my motorhome cost me.

Background:
Coach: 2007 Itasca Horizon 40TD with Cummins ISL
Usage: Exercised twice per month religiously. Camped in it ~8 times per year / ~30 days per year / 15,000 miles in total. I meticulously maintained the coach, always performing preventative maintenance and fixing issues promptly at big/legitimate dealers.
Purchase: I bought it following an eight month exhaustive search. I thought I knew what I was doing, and thought I was buying a great quality unit. In hind sight, I think I bought a coach which had been neglected for a long period of time. This undoubtedly contributed to some of maintenance issues.

Depreciation:
Purchased Aug 2014 for $130,000
Sold Aug 2016 for $90,000 (took nearly a year of me trying to get more money, reducing price throughout until it finally sold as a consignment on a CampingWorld lot)
LOSS THROUGH DEPRECIATION: $40,000

Preventive Maintenance:
Tires $5300
Oil ~$800 (genny and engine)
Filters (Air Intake, Water, Air Dryer, Fuel) ~$500
Tranny ~$600
Coolant $0 (not needed in the two years, but that was coming!)
LOSS THROUGH PREVENTATIVE MAINT: $7200

Unscheduled Maintenance (i.e., it broke!):
Rebuild slide mechanism ~$1200
Leaking roof ~$400
New mirror glass ~$400
Transmission wiring issue ~$1100
HGH leveling computer issue $200 (most covered through service contract)
Recliner motor ~$200
I'm sure there's more, but I gave away all my receipts when I sold the coach
LOSS THROUGH UNSCHEDULED MAINTENANCE $3500

Storage Fees:
$100 x 24 months = $2400

Insurance:
$100 x 24 months = $2400

Interest on loan:
Financed $110,000 @ 4.9%
$300 x 24 months = $7200

Hitch install on Jeep Wrangler:
$2200

I'm not counting fuel and camping costs since I don't really consider them part of the loss, but if you do, add them in!

So the totals are:
$40,000 depreciation
$10,700 maintenance
$14,200 misc

Total lost money out of my pocket to own my class A motorhome over the two year period: $64,900

It pains me to look at that. With my coach depreciating at almost $1000 a month, and stuff breaking every time we took it out (it was nine years old, afterall), I made the decision the experience was unaffordable. That's too bad, because we loved using it (when it didn't break). We camped in the Grand Canyon, Fort Wilderness Disney, the Rockies, Key West, and Pt Reyes National Seashore, among many other tremendous places.

Good luck to anyone considering a DP! I hope my experiences help some of you figure out if you can afford the lifestyle.

Class A

79 Replies

Lurker1
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
usersmanual wrote:
based on my experiences through 3 of them over 10 years yours is abnormal
The last one I have had since January 2011
I don't pay to store and I buy with cash
expenses like oil@ $800 don't make sense to me? I can see maybe $400
if u don't change your own and had a full gen and engine sevice done
but based on how many miles you may have put on it only one service was required at most and that would depend if it was done when u bought it
Iam looking at 45K depreciation after 5 years so either u paid too much or u panicked to sell or both loosing 40K after 2 years
tires can be bought for as little as $2700
My tranny has oil good for 300000 miles only have to do filters at 50K or so
lots of miles left before that

My point is watch what u buy,watch what u pay, try to not finance and avoid the pitfalls of above

$800 oil was for two years.. $400 per year. Regardless of mileage, oil must be changed every year (at least, that's what it was on the Cummins ISL). Allison 3000 tranny needs fluid change every three years, regardless of mileage.

Maybe your tires could be purchased for $2700, but my bus-sized tires were purchased through the Family MotorCoach Association (FMCA) Michelin program @ $540ish per tire, plus balance/installation/alignment.

Doesn't matter if you pay cash or finance, depreciation is real and hits you the same. For reference, numbers on my coach when it was sold:
NADA Low Retail value of my coach: $105,950
New owners paid CampingWorld: $103,000
I sold it as a consignment for $90,000
Auction value (after four months of consignment, I almost went this route): $78,000

So the new owners, regardless of HOW they paid for it, drove off the lot having lost $13,000 best case (if consigned) or maybe as much as $25,000 (if they needed to unload it). These are real numbers for a nine year old DP coach.
S-n-L
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
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.
Ivylog
Explorer III
Sep 03, 2016
When asked, I recommend NOT buying an expensive DP unless you can use it 100+ days/year. If I read this correctly, you used it 60 days in two years so your "cost" was $1000+\day of use. Even at 200 days your cost would have been $320/day. I understand your unhappiness but much of it was self inflicted as I find your $ numbers very high. I agree that depreciation is the biggest $$$$ number often not thought about when buying a toy.
That said, m 1978 Cessna 182RG that I bought for $40K is now worth $85K many years later... it's called inflation.
From a previous post of mine on cost:
A" large DP is the nicest and most expensive way to see the USA, OK and Canada. You can save a lot of money and then buy a slightly used DP when you retire. My criteria was until I could use a RV 100+ days/year I should keep the price below $60K... $75K in today's dollars. Even paying cash, this is not a cheap sport... For 11 years my depreciation has been $14K/year, insurance $1200/year, 1000 gallons fuel/year ($2-3000)... at 100 days/year that's $160/day for it to just move down the road... even at 180 days/year that's $90/day and well worth it. :B * Not sure I really wanted to know this.:h If I divide it by 2 people that's only $45/day/person."
In 12 years I've spent $3400 on tires and have six years before needing to replace.
In 70K miles five oil changes at $250... $1250 as I do my own and not once/year.
Probably my biggest repair expense has been my NoCold 1200...$4000 which includes the cost of replacing with a residential last year.
$1000 TV and Sat dish upgrades.
$500 for a spare old style AC/Heatpump... I plan on keeping this DP for another 10+ years which will help on the depreciation number.
$350 for three AquaHot services.
wallynm
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
Cost info

Posted this several years ago. Does not include deprecation 8K damage paid by insurance. Agree deprecation can range upwards from $1000.00/month
qtla9111
Nomad
Sep 03, 2016
You mentioned a water leak. Makes you wonder if the construction of rvs is all wet. It doesn't matter how much you spend it seems that leaks are inevitable. That's a shame considering the amount of money spent.

There has to be a better way to build an rv. Cars don't leak. What are they doing that rv manufacturers aren't?

Someone may mention cost but think about what the OP paid for his rig. His leak was fixed for $400 but how much if any underlying damage exists or continues.

Every six months I inspect and seal my TT. It still got a leak. Who knows the answer? I sure don't.
oldmattb
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
Though my analysis is not as detailed as yours, I will chime in because we have had our coach for a similar time period. 1998 Monaco Windsor, no slides.

Depreciation: Probably $2K, maybe none due to improved condition since purchase.

Maintenance: Around $4000, including new air bags, new shocks, new suspension bushings, roof recoat, fluid changes - all work done by me.

Misc: stored at home, no loan, total around $3000.

This information is in no way intended to be a nyah-nyah to the OP. I wanted to show that the experience can be different, depending on the approach to ownership and maintenance. Like any item out of warranty, we could be one bump or cough away from repairs exceeding the total value.

Matt B
1968mooney
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
I had a similar experience. Purchased a 8 yr. Old MH for $100,000. Used it for 40 mo. sold for $72,000. Total cost of ownership was $1,000 per mo. This did not include fuel or campground costs. Cost of ownership also drove me out of the hobby.
usersmanual
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
based on my experiences through 3 of them over 10 years yours is abnormal
The last one I have had since January 2011
I don't pay to store and I buy with cash
expenses like oil@ $800 don't make sense to me? I can see maybe $400
if u don't change your own and had a full gen and engine sevice done
but based on how many miles you may have put on it only one service was required at most and that would depend if it was done when u bought it
Iam looking at 45K depreciation after 5 years so either u paid too much or u panicked to sell or both loosing 40K after 2 years
tires can be bought for as little as $2700
My tranny has oil good for 300000 miles only have to do filters at 50K or so
lots of miles left before that

My point is watch what u buy,watch what u pay, try to not finance and avoid the pitfalls of above
Mr_Mark1
Explorer
Sep 03, 2016
Mr. Lurker1,

Thank you for sharing your experience as I think it will help someone make a more informed decision.

Any toy, like a motorhome, will cost to enjoy it. A lot of 'things' can fall into that category like a boat, jet ski's, 4 wheelers, car collections, etc., everything depreciates except maybe some collectible cars.

I bought a 1964 antique car in 1998. I have put about $15,000 in repairs/tires over the years. I probably could get 75%-80% back of the total investment. It is much slower depreciation than if I had bought a new car in 1998 and kept it 18 yrs. Every time I put more repair work into it, the thumbs up I get driving it around just seals the desire to keep spending and enjoying it.

MM.

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Answered: How Much Does a Class A DP Cost?

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