routine costs

Purchased a 15 year old MH in excellent shape with 36k miles on it with new tires and batteries, and no leaks. BUT it is 15 years old and I dropped $3,200 for total preventive maintenance. Remember I said it was in good shape. It is a 23 foot Class C with a V10. One thing I have learned about MH's is everything gets way more expensive the bigger and older they are. Read all the blogs on here before you buy, great lessons.

I replaced shocks with HD Bilstein's, serpentine belt, flushed engine and radiator, clean mass airflow sensor, installed Ingalls Engineering caster/camber kit, all new cooling hoses including heater hoses and filters, and alignment. That was the list I gave them, they found bad tie rod ends and leaky rear end seal, and cleaned rear end and new oil. I've since had the breaks flushed and new front break hoses installed, and a new high profile Dometic 320 toilet installed.

I changed the converter from a single stage to a three stage converter. I added a dash camera, and in the process of installing two backup cameras. One to feed my GPS and one to feed monitor on rear view mirror. This is all in the first year of ownership. This is my second MH, and five TT, with one still in the driveway.

Sounds outrageous, but at 70 with some physical limitations , I don't want to find myself stuck on the road, worth it to me. Plan on keeping some money back for repairs.

wbwood wrote:


My father in law had a Monaco 42 or 45' DP a few years ago that they bought new in 2004 I think it was. He told me at one point it was costing around $10,000 a year to keep it going.

Gulp! Ours is a 2004 and haven't come even close to that figure in 10 years!! He must have had a lemon. :)

Yearly routine costs can vary, depending on how old the unit is, all the different things you have on it and how often you drive it. You may not need to replace the tires, but every 5 years, but if you have 6 of them, it could cost you anywhere from $1500 - 3000+ for new ones. If it's an older MH, you've got to count in things that will eventually fail and need replacing.

My father in law had a Monaco 42 or 45' DP a few years ago that they bought new in 2004 I think it was. He told me at one point it was costing around $10,000 a year to keep it going. The unit was paid for, but he was talking about costs in maintenance, repairs and etc. Not sure if he was talking about taxes and insurance also, but could of been. Of course that could of been one year that he was talking about he spent. But you never know.

A lot will depend on how old your MH is, how you define "general maintenance" and how much work you you do yourself. I bought a 1996 MH is 2004. I have put $12,000 in it so far in 10 years. Half are mods and upgrades like headers,FF mufflers, CAI, suspension mods,front end repair,auto park repair etc the other half was fluid chgs (oil,trans,diff,brakes,genset) tires. I did most of the work myself except for headers, front end, and suspension work. So I spent $1200 per year for every thing that broke, modded or maintained. On a newer MH I would expect "general maintenance" to be $600/yr if you do the work yourself. Hope this helps.

Maintenance might be one of your lowest costs. The biggest costs for my MH have been depreciation (I started the second year) and cost of money (loss of investment income in my case, but could be interest on a loan). Over ten years, these have averaged out to about $3000 a year, based on a $60,000 into the MH initially, scale to another price.

These, and items like insurance ($1000 a year), storage ($400 a year for me, but I know people payong over $2000 a year) and maintenance of and repairs to the house stuff (has been about $300-400 a year for me, with covered outdoor storage, can be much more in a harsher environment) will be more or less fixed, no matter how many miles you drive, how many nights you sleep in it.

Chassis maintenence costs will be more measured per mile, rather than per year, so it depends on how much you drive. For my C, and an A gasser will be similar except that tires will be a little more expensive, I'm seeing about 40 cents a mile fuel costs ($9000 for 36,000 miles) but that is going up. Oill changes, transmission fluid changes, a set of tires, brake maintenance, has added up to about $1800 over 36,000 miles, or 5 cents a mile.

Maintenance on the drivetrain and " vehicle" portion of the MH will be the same type of items as a car just more costly depending on whether it's a gasser or diesel pusher.
Maint on the "home" portion will be things like keeping the roof penetrations sealed and any items that may wear out. Kind of depends how old it is.
Will you be traveling regularly with it?
As said above if you're not putting on a lot of miles and camped in one place for extended periods then it may be better to get a TT or a 5ver and a tow rig instead. Eliminates the need for another vehicle and maint and repairs are now mostly on a common pickup truck.

Is it gas or diesel? If it is a diesel, and you will not be moving at all, it is not adventageous to let it sit for 6-8 months. Maintenance costs vary between DP''s and gas coaches too.

Tires will run you about $500 each and any kind of service will be way more expensive than a car. It all depends on how lucky you are and how the motor home was maintained prior to you buying it.