You will have the smallest depreciation loss on the oldest vehicle. Sale prices on mass production motorhomes tend to decline exponentially, on a small negative exponent, flattening out to a floor price of around $3000 to $5000 for something in usable condition at 25-30 years old. I worked this out while shopping 10 years ago, asking and sale prices on about 100 samples.
So it is a matter of deciding how new a motorhome you want to use vs how much you will pay for depreciation. If you are going to use it for a year, you could probably buy it new and come out ahead vs rental costs, but something 10 years old is going to cost a lot less than something new or something 3-5 years old.
Also an issue about desperation inthe market. You will probably pay close to average retail to buy, though you can buy for less from a desperate seller. When ready to sell, if you want to sell "right now" what you can expect is something lower than auction wholesale prices, 20-30% below retail. If you can wait several months to a couple years for a retail buyer, selling yourself, you might get even more than what you paid for it.
License fees, taxes, insurance, cost of money (usally interest on a loan), and maintenance costs are usually built into rental rates. As an owner, you pick these up on your own. At 10 years, mine are a little over $1000 a year, excluding cost of money. They were about twice that when the RV was new. Cost of money, depends on interest rates, or earnings on the money you've tied up. When I got started it was about 8%, but money is a whole lot cheaper the past few years.
