10 Reasons RV Vacations are Better
My wife and I put together a fun list for the Jayco Journal about "10 Reasons Why RV Vacations are Better." I thought some of you might enjoy it. What other reasons can you think of? I'd like to pu...
Forum Discussion
et2,
I see! Your $175K MH has zero resale value after 10 years??? So you lost $175K, ya right! You live in Michigan where trailers/towables have a onetime low license fee good for as long as you own it. NOT MH's and there's your license cost problem as it has a very high yearly license fee, very high insurance cost, very low MPG's, very high maintenance and repair costs, fast depreciation, very high dollars initial cost with usually a long term high monthly payment and lots of interest paid, and it's a one use motorized vehicle. We used to have big Allegro MH's ourselves but soon learned the money pit they really are and switched to towables. Yes we took a bath when selling the MH's but it was a ONETIME Bath as we learned our lesson well.
We on the other hand have a dual purpose tow vehicle usable when not RV'ing, TC's, TT's, 5th wheels, all purchased new and paid cash. Not cheapies but Carriage, Lance, etc and we keep them for a very long time. Over ten years! Our 1997 Lance 9.5' cost us $16,840 new and was sold to a private party in 2009 for $5700. Our 1991 Carriage 5th wheel 3 axle Chaise model purchased new with cash cost us $33,700 and a tree feel and crushed it in November 2006 and our insurance sent an adjuster who stated on his report that the Carriage was in exceptional condition and we gat a check for $14,690 in January 2007. We sell our RV's rather than trade in and thats huge differences in dollars. Our 2004.5 Chevy D/A CC LB 4X4 optioned out and ordered in February 2004 and took delivery April 2nd IIRC, and I wrote a check for $36,002 out the door with my prime supplier discounts and it included the sprayed in Rhino bed liner up over the bed sides. Truck has over 150 k now and never had any repairs needed other than normal scheduled maintenance and the 10 year old truck still has a NADA used value of $21,380 as I checked it last Thrusday. Check it out for yourself! Nope! Not going to get a new truck because this truck in perfect and still looks new! Presently have an 11'4" Lance TC and a 29' Carriage Carrilite 5th wheel as we recently sold the Sunline Solaris trailer which we bought real cheap and actually made $2740 on over what we'd paid for it 2 years earlier. We just weren't using it and stuck a "for sale" sign on it with the price we wanted and it sold less than 3 weeks later. Yes, we did come down $400 to make the buyer happy or we'd made more. It was truely like new and only used less than 10 times since new.
You made your purchase decisions and we made ours and ours still have high resale value and we have lost so few dollars owning our items and still will own them for a lot more years as they are in excellent condition and do everything we want. If we wanted a new truck or RV, we'd simply buy them and pay cash, but why?
Using your $175K numbers and the cost of owning and using it, of course you feel as you do as to how expensive it is to RV your style. If you have your wants so exclusive and extreme in cost, of course you'll be upside down on the money end of it. Depreciation alone is more per year on your $175K MH than all our vehicles, boats, amd RV's combined. You make your decisions and we'll make ours and that's why we can pay cash for ours or RV so cheaply in upper end RV units and a paid for truck that's still like new!
I see! Your $175K MH has zero resale value after 10 years??? So you lost $175K, ya right! You live in Michigan where trailers/towables have a onetime low license fee good for as long as you own it. NOT MH's and there's your license cost problem as it has a very high yearly license fee, very high insurance cost, very low MPG's, very high maintenance and repair costs, fast depreciation, very high dollars initial cost with usually a long term high monthly payment and lots of interest paid, and it's a one use motorized vehicle. We used to have big Allegro MH's ourselves but soon learned the money pit they really are and switched to towables. Yes we took a bath when selling the MH's but it was a ONETIME Bath as we learned our lesson well.
We on the other hand have a dual purpose tow vehicle usable when not RV'ing, TC's, TT's, 5th wheels, all purchased new and paid cash. Not cheapies but Carriage, Lance, etc and we keep them for a very long time. Over ten years! Our 1997 Lance 9.5' cost us $16,840 new and was sold to a private party in 2009 for $5700. Our 1991 Carriage 5th wheel 3 axle Chaise model purchased new with cash cost us $33,700 and a tree feel and crushed it in November 2006 and our insurance sent an adjuster who stated on his report that the Carriage was in exceptional condition and we gat a check for $14,690 in January 2007. We sell our RV's rather than trade in and thats huge differences in dollars. Our 2004.5 Chevy D/A CC LB 4X4 optioned out and ordered in February 2004 and took delivery April 2nd IIRC, and I wrote a check for $36,002 out the door with my prime supplier discounts and it included the sprayed in Rhino bed liner up over the bed sides. Truck has over 150 k now and never had any repairs needed other than normal scheduled maintenance and the 10 year old truck still has a NADA used value of $21,380 as I checked it last Thrusday. Check it out for yourself! Nope! Not going to get a new truck because this truck in perfect and still looks new! Presently have an 11'4" Lance TC and a 29' Carriage Carrilite 5th wheel as we recently sold the Sunline Solaris trailer which we bought real cheap and actually made $2740 on over what we'd paid for it 2 years earlier. We just weren't using it and stuck a "for sale" sign on it with the price we wanted and it sold less than 3 weeks later. Yes, we did come down $400 to make the buyer happy or we'd made more. It was truely like new and only used less than 10 times since new.
You made your purchase decisions and we made ours and ours still have high resale value and we have lost so few dollars owning our items and still will own them for a lot more years as they are in excellent condition and do everything we want. If we wanted a new truck or RV, we'd simply buy them and pay cash, but why?
Using your $175K numbers and the cost of owning and using it, of course you feel as you do as to how expensive it is to RV your style. If you have your wants so exclusive and extreme in cost, of course you'll be upside down on the money end of it. Depreciation alone is more per year on your $175K MH than all our vehicles, boats, amd RV's combined. You make your decisions and we'll make ours and that's why we can pay cash for ours or RV so cheaply in upper end RV units and a paid for truck that's still like new!
