Miles

winnietrey wrote:
Both Mocoondo, and Ichambod are big fans of ex-rentals. Icamabod has not chimed in yet, but I am sure he will.

Both are good guys, and make valid points.

Just to clarify what might be a few misconceptions, while I wouldn't exactly consider myself a "fan" of ex-rentals, I do think ex-rentals are an excellent bargain because I have extensive experience with the product. My current rig is not an ex-rental, but I have owned many ex-rentals in the past and never once got hurt.

but the other part of that is the higher the milage, one would guess the more use on the house internal systems, heater, fridge etc. So one would think they would be prone to fail earlier, than a low use unit.

This is a common misconception. There is really no way to correlate systems use with chassis mileage. I have seen PLENTY of units that spent their entire life driving 30 miles round trip to a race with rowdy NASCAR fans jumping around on the roof. 15,000 miles on the odometer and 2,500 hours on the genset. These units have low comparitive mileage, but are rode hard and put away wet. On the other hand, I've also seen plenty of high mileage units that spent most of their lives on the road and were gently used camping here and there, always plugged into FHU sites where the genset was never run, water pumps never turned on, etc. You get the idea. Also, the average usage profile of a motorhome dictates that the coach systems are rarely in use while traveling down the highway. There are always exceptions, but most people do not run their genny while going down the highway. I know, I know...some do, but MOST don't. Most people do not run the RTAC or furnace full time while driving down the highway, instead relying on climate control from the chassis. Most water pumps are not active while driving down the highway. Most fridges are in LP mode with only a small pilot light flame lit. The actual coach systems, normally, receive most of their use while the unit is parked. Heck, my 2013 unit is now two full seasons old, 18,000 miles and come to think of it, I don't believe I have ever even turned on the furnace, and I think I have 6 hours on the genset.

Since I also work on these things for a living, I can tell you from my experience that I cannot directly correlate failure of any of the systems with the odometer reading on the chassis. In fact, the only thing I can really say with any honesty is that systems repairs tend to correlate well with coach AGE and preventative maintenance instead of mileage on the chassis. Older units tend to see more repairs needed as do units which receive less than stellar preventative maintenance, irrespective of mileage.

So, I still maintain that mileage is not a good indicator of future performance of a given coach. With proper maintenance, the number of miles on the odometer is more or less irrelevant. The house will still outlast the chassis.