Forum Discussion

bluebarry1964b's avatar
bluebarry1964b
Explorer
Apr 02, 2015

Long Term Storage: Can it be done??

My wife & I bought an RV to use while she travel-nursed across the country. It's a 2003 Holiday Rambler Neptune, diesel pusher. She now has a permanent full-time job where our house is located. I've been insisting that we should sell the RV because I'm worried sick that even if I take it on the road every couple of months to exercise the brakes, transmission, etc, if we are only using it for trips once every few years we're going to be dealing with nothing but expensive headaches because of it being stored for so long. My concern stems from the fact that even when we were using it full-time and driving it every month, both the back and front brakes seized, costing us thousands to fix. The problem is that we've already taken the RV to a dealership for an appraisal and been told that we can expect, at best, to only get about 30 or 40% of our purchase price back because of the fact that the RV is now 12 years old and because the interior needs so much work from being lived in full-time for a number of years. It's a diesel pusher with only 40,000 miles on it so it certainly has plenty of life left in it mechanically. But the thing is, if we were to keep it, is it really possible to have an RV that is only used once every few years for trips (but taking it out for short runs every couple of months to exercise the brakes, etc) without the RV ending up with an endless repair bill from sitting so much?
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  • Rick_Jay's avatar
    Rick_Jay
    Explorer II
    Apr 02, 2015
    Hi,

    I don't understand why you won't be able to use it periodically. Are you saying that your wife's work schedule and yours is such that you'll never have the same days off? No "weekend get-a-ways"? Heck, even overnighters...in the driveway? :) Man, you're in Florida where you can use the rig 365 days a year. You don't even have to take it "out of commission" for winterizing.

    At 40,000 miles, the chassis has lots of life left in it. I can't directly respond about the interior. Do YOU think it's very worn? Remember the buyer (dealer) will do and say whatever possible to keep the price low.

    We've often used our motorhome just for day trips. It's just so much nicer to travel in than the minivan. During the off season, we sometimes even use it just to go to the mall or do other shopping.

    I'm assuming your rig is paid for, so the biggest expense is behind you. We've had a few summers where we weren't able to use our rig as much as we would have liked, but I really can't even imaging NOT having a motorhome to travel in.

    Good Luck in whatever decision you make.

    ~Rick
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Apr 02, 2015
    Of course you can let a motor home set for years at a time. All you have to do is to not abandon it completely. If you occasionally check to insure that you will not have any leak deterioration and run the engine by driving the coach from time to time, it should not be any problem.
    It makes no sense to take a 30-40% hit when just requires a little upkeep to store the coach for a long term situation.
    I live in Florida, right on a lake, and within a mile of the salt water and my coach sits outside all of the time. As long as I make sure there are no roof or window leaks, the coach will last a long time. The tires will also be OK especially if you keep them covered to help prevent sun damage. Your tires will probably age out, just like 90% of the other RV owners tires age out.
    By driving the coach every few months, you are exercising the coach as much as many full timers do down here.
    Many people on this forum have purchased really low mileage RV's, that obviously sat for years with little use, and they without any major problems.
    As long as you do a regular inspection of your coach to insure that no problems have cropped up, you should be fine.
  • valhalla360's avatar
    valhalla360
    Navigator
    Apr 02, 2015
    60-70% depreciation on a 12yr old unit is doing pretty good. On the positive side, you are at the point where depreciation starts to slow down but it won't stop and when you factor in maintenance and repairs you will continue to lose money.

    40k miles: This is why I always get a chuckle when I hear people talk about million mile drivetrains. It would take upwards of 300yr to get to that million mile mark given your past usage rate and you aren't that far from typical.

    If you won't be using it regularly, you are best off selling it.
  • Grandpere's avatar
    Grandpere
    Explorer
    Apr 02, 2015
    jerseyjim wrote:
    ONCE every couple of years? That system you have to running the motorhome every couple weeks is fine...but that DOES get old after awhile. Then...rust gets into everything...tires go bad....it just doesn't make sense (to me, anyway).
    I suggest....cut your losses...sell the thing...and use whatever thousands you get to take vacations via airplane or autombile/hotels.

    g'luck!


    X2, it will just deteriorate sitting idle, the use it or lose it adage applies here. Definitely, cut your losses and sell it.
  • jerseyjim's avatar
    jerseyjim
    Explorer
    Apr 02, 2015
    ONCE every couple of years? That system you have to running the motorhome every couple weeks is fine...but that DOES get old after awhile. Then...rust gets into everything...tires go bad....it just doesn't make sense (to me, anyway).
    I suggest....cut your losses...sell the thing...and use whatever thousands you get to take vacations via airplane or autombile/hotels.

    g'luck!

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