New Motor Home vs Used

A motor home is a major investment. If you are going to live in it part of the year or travel a couple of weeks a month it is possible to make a case to buy new. Otherwise, used makes more sense to me, because the cost of the depreciation is so high compared to the amount of times they typically get used. It makes the cost of ownership too high.

Floridastorm wrote:
Yes, there are some where the asking price is outrageous and where I would imagine extreme negotiations are in order to lower the price down to a manageable amount.

Some prices are outrageous because the owner is upside down on their RV loan.
There may not be a lot of room for negotiation. I know someone who paid 5K out of their pocket when they sold their motorhome. They felt the loss was better than continuing to make payments and the maintenance on the rig.

ppine wrote:
A motor home is a major investment. If you are going to live in it part of the year or travel a couple of weeks a month it is possible to make a case to buy new. Otherwise, used makes more sense to me, because the cost of the depreciation is so high compared to the amount of times they typically get used. It makes the cost of ownership too high.

But, if the initial price you pay for new is equal to the NADA average price then do you have much depreciation? :@

I don't have a motor home, but as with used cars, you don't know the history of a used vehicle. All my life I purchased only used vehicles, until we bought our first pop-up camper and realized the value of buying new, with warranties and the known history of the vehicle / RV from the very beginning.

I started purchasing new vehicles and found I really, really, really liked NOT having to deal with repair bills due to hidden problems that unearthed after a short while. Yea, there is a depreciation, but the feel and experience of brand new is marvelous.

If I were to get a motor home (of any class), I'd go for new. Depreciation yes, but at least the first 2-5 years there's no repair bills to deal with. The cost of unforseen repair bills on a used unit could end up costing more than depreciation over the same amount of time of ownership. New for me! As all my trailers were, and now all my vehicles... including my Riding Mowers.

There is only high "depreciation" in the beginning in cases where buyers overpaid. MSRP is not a real value, it's an inflated number created to facilitate lending too much to underqualified borrowers.

If you compare the real market prices from new to each year older 1-5 the picture is more realistic.

The delta between selling price and buying price is also a consideration. New or used, the dealer will purchase at wholesale and sell at retail. Pay that gap once in ten years and amortize it it's not a big deal. Do a trade in every year on used units and it'll eat your lunch.

When I started looking for my next RV I looked very carefully at the the depreciation factor of buying new as opposed to used.

I had no intention of selling soon after buying but if it happened that I had to, then that was a big concern. That is why I opted to go to the used market.

After a lot of looking I opted to go with the Former Rental option.

Here I got a RV that was reasonably priced, well maintained with documentation,a 1 year or 12,000 mile power train warranty and 30 days on all major appliances, very little depreciation and in almost new condition after the refurbish process.

After almost 7 years I have had no problems with the unit,just all the proper maintenance that is required of owning a RV.

This option may not be what you are looking for but there are 100 Members of this forum that have had very good luck with it and are pleased with their decision.

IAMICHABOD wrote:
When I started looking for my next RV I looked very carefully at the the depreciation factor of buying new as opposed to used.

I had no intention of selling soon after buying but if it happened that I had to, then that was a big concern. That is why I opted to go to the used market.

After a lot of looking I opted to go with the Former Rental option.

Here I got a RV that was reasonably priced, well maintained with documentation,a 1 year or 12,000 mile power train warranty and 30 days on all major appliances, very little depreciation and in almost new condition after the refurbish process.

After almost 7 years I have had no problems with the unit,just all the proper maintenance that is required of owning a RV.

This option may not be what you are looking for but there are 100 Members of this forum that have had very good luck with it and are pleased with their decision.

Yes, I have already looked into purchasing a previous rental unit and with all that you stated think it is a very good deal. A compromise between brand new and used.

I agree with Ductape. The whole depreciation thing is a bit of a myth. It’s the MSRP that is the boogeyman. Get a proper price on your new unit and the legitimate depreciation is well worth the value of warrantee and ”newness”. Negotiate down to the NADA.
If, on the other hand, you get joy from doing things in the most frugal way possible and don’t mind dealing with other people’s usage then go the used route.

My current MH I bought new and it was relatively cheap, for what I was getting. NADA valued it for more than I paid for it for almost 2 years. I didn't get that good a deal, so I put very little faith in their valuations. I wasn't concerned with depreciation since I planned on keeping it for a while.

My previous MH was a voluntary repo, which was in excellent condition. It was 10 years with 32,000 miles on it and I bought it for $7,000, which was considerably less than what was owed on it. Depreciation was definitely a non issue with that MH.

No can decide for you which is better, new or used.

I bought my 08 Bounder used when it was only 5 years old very low miles and about $10,000 in after market upgrades and paid almost half what a new one was and no issues as of yet, sometimes used is OK than other times its not..

Even new ones have issues, just search the forum and see..