How long have you had your C?

We have had our C for two years and 23500 miles. We enjoy it greatly and expect to have it until we can no longer safely drive it. You might this interesting. A couple I know just bought a new TT last summer. The sales rep who sold it to them said to expect to trade it in 7 years.

Great replies as usual! I take care of my stuff so hope to be one of the 20+ year crowd someday.

Love the E350 V10

Bought a new Mallard in '88, sold in '02. 22' Ford E-350
Bought a new Itasca in '02, still have it. 24' Ford E-350.

We bought our 2004 motorhome over 8 years ago. Has been a great winter home for us. Hope to keep a few more years. Until I cannot drive it anymore.

I've had my 22' Lazy Daze on a Chevy G30 for barely 9 months. But it is 23 years old now and in gorgeous shape. We are the third owner.

The first owner kept it 8 years for 120,000 miles. The second owner kept it alongside his house for 14 years and barely put on 12,000 miles. Both took immaculate care and didn't change a thing besides adding solar panels round about 1996.

We will be replacing the carpet for vinyl or wood floors and I've added a flat screen 12v tv where there was none before.

I don't know how long we will have it but it's certainly not ready for retirement for many years yet.

tatest - you make some important considerations regarding the idea of keeping a single RV for a lengthy time frame. I have seen a lot of friends, relatives, etc. who started out with a small TT, TC, or popup, and then moved into a 28+ foot A or C, and then moved back down to a small C, B or TT. Their lifestyles changed over the years enough to necessitate the changes. Similar to home buying historically. The difference from the home buying trend is that with an RV, most people go to the bigger units when they become empty nesters (whereas with housing, the go bigger when the kids arrive).

I do find it interesting that a lot of clipper owners have actually owned them for longer than expected. They bought them when the kids were young and have kept them well past their empty nester phase. One of our club members is 81 years old now. She and her husband bought their clipper brand new and she only sold it when her husband died several years back. She still attends the rallies - sleeping in a tent surrounded by clippers. That dedication for a 21 ft Class C is common among clipper owners.

Which leads me to this thought. I think RVs have three eras: new - it's exciting, up-to-date, on the edge, etc.; old - it's outdated, drab compared to new RVs, etc.; and classic - it's passed the point of old and has a retro-ness that is refreshing.

If you can manage to keep your RV through the old era, then you will likely keep it until you can't drive it anymore (whether due to your inability or the RV's inability).

Almost exactly a year.

11 years. It's like doing hard time! Ha!

I've had mine since 2005, and if I decide it fits my needs as I get older alone, I might keep it another 10-15 years. Or I might give it to my kids to use and get something entirely different, like a tiny TT or a pop-up. Then they might use it for another 5-10 years, or maybe not, as their kids grow up and leave the nest. More on that later.

I've seen very few RVs traded, sold, or abandoned because they were worn out or no longer useful. There are hundreds of 1970s Winnebagoes running around out there, saw three on the road today and a half-dozen more parked as I crossed Indiana from the Elkhart area toward Champaign-Urbana in Illinois.

RVs get traded, sold, or abandoned because the needs (or more often, wants) of the original owners change. Almost every RV that gets sold because it is "too old" very shortly becomes someone else's "new to me RV" which may be kept and used much longer than the first owner used it.

I think the risk you face going into retirement with a C you bought now is that it may fit well the way you use a RV now, but when you retire the way you use a RV will change, and something else, maybe a larger A or a fiver, may be more useful.

Wife and I got our 30-foot C to use for travel, and for a one week each month group "campout." We used it that way, traveling 30,000 miles over three years, the two of us and some trips with 3-4 children and grandchildren. Then she got sick, and our travel became trips to the cancer center, and the RV got used only for the group campouts and one more long trip with the kids.

Then the camping group started dying off (five members over three years, counting my wife) and there is not much left of the group that camps, I need to find a new group. Alone, I don't use the C for travel, it is a lot more RV than I need, I'll be outfitting a van as an overnight camper. The C sort of works for solo trips to one of the lakes for some quiet time, but it is big, I have to tow a car to get around while the C is parked at a lake, think I'd get better use out of smaller towable.

Every one in our RV club, most now in 80s and RVing or camping for 30 to 50 years, is on 3rd, 4th, etc RV, because over the years, from starting as a couple, raising growing families, having kids grow up, changing from vacation or travel use to more frequent and longer uses, meant getting rid of one RV and moving on to something different (not another of the same).

That's why any particular RV might not be owned for a long time by any single person, though it might be owned for a long time by several people in succession.

I've had mine just over 1 year now, but it was built (chassis and house) in 1975. That's 39 years and still going strong - thank you Irv Perch! I am planning on having it for another 39 years.