jplante4 wrote:
I'm not sure a properly maintained RV will ever be worth zero. I bought my first gasser for $12.5 and put about $5k into it over the 2 years I owned it. The next owner bought it for $13k and put something into it (I know because he called me for help on a couple of things) and it's on CL for $14.5k now. We're talking a 1995 P30 chassis beach buggy here.
I can agree that a properly maintained RV will always have a residual minimal value.
But let's take the 12.5K RV you had. Between the 3 owners how much did you spend over a 3-5 year period to keep it well maintained? did you spend/invest $15K between all 3 owners on an RV that is still only worth 14-15K? There is a point of diminishing return where you start putting good money into a bad project.
My venerable 2007 Duramax Dually has 280K miles on it, If the tranny fails tomorrow do I put a new $5K Allison transmission in it or do I put that 5K into a newer truck?
Do I sell now while the truck is still worth $15K, or do I hold onto to it until the tranny failure plummets that $15K value to only $5K. If only we had a crystal ball to tells us exactly when to buy and sell to maximise our finances.
In the end despite the love we have for our current RV, there is a dollars and cents decision to be made when it comes time to sell.
However as long as the RV is getting the job done you are still getting full value out of it, the value of the RV is not strictly determined by its cash value. Cash value is only one factor in determining an RV's worth to its current owner.
