Answered: How Much Does a Class A DP Cost?

usersmanual wrote:

$800 oil was for two years.. $400 per year. Regardless of mileage, oil must be changed every year (at least, that's what it was on the Cummins ISL). Allison 3000 tranny needs fluid change every three years, regardless of mileage.

Maybe your tires could be purchased for $2700, but my bus-sized tires were purchased through the Family MotorCoach Association (FMCA) Michelin program @ $540ish per tire, plus balance/installation/alignment.

Doesn't matter if you pay cash or finance, depreciation is real and hits you the same. For reference, numbers on my coach when it was sold:
NADA Low Retail value of my coach: $105,950
New owners paid CampingWorld: $103,000
I sold it as a consignment for $90,000
Auction value (after four months of consignment, I almost went this route): $78,000

So the new owners, regardless of HOW they paid for it, drove off the lot having lost $13,000 best case (if consigned) or maybe as much as $25,000 (if they needed to unload it). These are real numbers for a nine year old DP coach.

Hey you don't have to justify it to me? Iam just saying that your case is far from the Norm and NO you certainly do not have to change the oil in a ISL once a year when u only go 2000 miles and NO I don't change Allison synthetic trans oil after 3 years and only a few thousand miles and my BUS sized tires can be bought for as cheap as $2700.I never said Michelin I just said new tires
Iam just saying your situation is FAR different than mine
and it does matter if u pay cash because then your not paying interest and you don't end up upside down as many do that finance
Not saying you did just saying it does happen
What Iam saying is your situation is far from normal in my world

Okay, I'll give you back the $800 in oil and $2500 in tires. And if you chose to disregard the factory recommendations on fluid-change intervals, that's your risk. But what I forgot to mention in my original post was tax, something all of us have to pay, unfortunately.

Tax varies by state, with some states ~7% (Cali, Florida, a lot of northern states) and some states cheaper at ~3% (like North Carolina). Lets just assume an average of 5% sales tax, which on a $130,000 motorhome is $6500.

So if you take back $3500 I "overpaid" in maintenance, but add in the tax I forgot to mention, I've now lost ~$69,000.

I don't believe my experiences are abnormal, as you claim. Sure, some won't need to pay for storage, some won't need to pay finance charge, some won't pay as much on maintenance... but in the end, even if you're paying none of those things, you're still losing A LOT of money.