class A devaluation

I can give you some actual numbers and the original purchase price was the primary driver of the purchase of this particular RV. We purchased a 2008 HR Vacationer XL with a 360hp/660ft.lb. Cummins ISB and Allison 2500 trans. This was not a real popular diesel pusher because it was on a leaf spring chassis. The MSRP was $158,000 and we purchased it for $103,000 out the door (NEW). The reason we bought an RV was for an extended search for our final retirement destination. We spent 9 months looking and another 3 months of shuttling back and forth from the original S&B to the new S&B for a total of 36,000 miles. I crunched the numbers and to stay in hotels and feed our selves for this same extended period of time would have run some where in the $35,000 to $40,000 range. When we decided we were not using the RV enough and it was time for it to go I contacted LD in Seffner and arrange the sale over the phone. We sold the RV for $67,000 give or take. The actual sales loss for owning the RV approximately four years was $36,000. I am not including maintenance or fuel costs because we would have had about an equal amount on the car we would have driven around the country. The RV allowed us to spend time in areas we were interested in retiring to and allowed us to "get the hell out of Dodge" if an area did not appeal to us. For our use it was well worth the cost. You have to decide if weekends at the lake, in another state, or any other place you want to visit is worth the expense involved in owning one of these depreciating assists/liabilities.
The other thing a potential buyer needs to know is these figures are based on a cash purchase. If you have a loan against your self destructing hotel room on wheels the non returnable costs (interest, etc.) plus depreciation increase your actual costs exponentially.
Randy