Are you satisfied (repair cost wise) with your MH?

Someone at a campground that one should set aside $2000 a year in the budget to maintain a used MH. I think $3000 wouldn't be too much.

Speedco for annual service, but with the help of generous folks on this list and YouTube, I have done most of the other maintenance the past five years.

Replaced the water pump, changed the tube TV to a flat screen, replaced the water heater, replaced the satellite dish with HD, replaced the solar panel with two 100 watt panels, recoated the roof, Eternabonded the roof seams, replaced most of the filters, replaced the Norcold 1200 cooling unit with an Amish unit, replaced the CU propane nozzle, replaced the retracting step unit, installed the TPMS, replaced the front power screen mounts.

Most of the readers here could do this and some could do much more. If you are a motorhomer, I think it is good to be able to do most of your own maintenance, except for major engine, transmission or chassis work.

I did have an RV mechanic set up my M&G and Demco baseplate on the Buick and set up the wiring and air connections on the motorhome.

On the road for 15 years part to full time. Bought the first coach new, cheap, had a couple of chassis problems, not related to "cheap" but between warranty and Coach-net cost us nothing but a couple of days inconvenience. Drove that coach 45,000 miles in three years and completed the trade while broken down in rest area waiting for a tow, paid for by Coach-net.

Replaced that coach (Damon Daybreak 33') with new '04 Southwind 36' on Workhorse Chassis. The only mechanical failure in 110,000 miles (including Alaska) was burnt out exhaust donuts, total cost $250. I had every PM service in the book done on time or early. The only thing I did myself was the routine Generator service every 100 hours or year. Coach was sweet in good repair when traded, but the interior needed to be redone after 8 years of living in it.

Bought the current coach in May 2012. There has been a fair amount of repair work done, but it has all been self inflicted. there were two major repairs, new floor in the DS/LR slideout and the roof rails were replaced. Tiffin took care of the that, even told us it needed to be done. Cost was a couple of week camping on their dime in Red Bay. Not the most pleasant camping but we all have to be someplace. The interior failures have been minor, no more than you would experience in a s&b and mostly fully covered by Tiffin. We love the coach.

Clearly this is not a poor person's activity and I am prepared for large expense should it happen, but it is our lifestyle and it fits within our financial ability. I know there are much less expensive ways to RV, but those were not our need or choice.

"Jayco-noslide"......Yes, good point and you're right about the TITLE of the post, but the OP was discussing how many newbies read these posts and think there are nothing but issues with RV's. Many of us are trying, at least what I was doing, to point out that buying an RV is great, but not for the faint of heart. If you can do your own work, great, but I would guess that 60% -70% of RV owners don't have the skill, time or health to do their own repairs. In that case, a new owner should be made aware of what is involved. If someone new makes a purchase knowing there are going to be things that will occasionally need repair, it might be easier for them to accept with less aggravation.

I tell anyone who buys a major item like a car, boat or RV to go to the forum related to that vehicle and read up on the complaints, then make a decision if they're founded or affect your use of the vehicle. I just bought a new Acura MDX. The Acura forum had several complaints about the new 9 speed transmission not shifting smoothly. After reading through the complaints (reading between the lines, mostly guys trying to drag race the car) a went to the dealer and spoke to a service tech. He said they hadn't seen the issue at their dealership on the MDX, but had on his own TLX. They made some updates provided by Honda and it's fixed. He said if I had an issue they would just do the updates. The answer was good enough for me and we bought the car. It runs great with no trans issues. It just takes a little homework.

There is a lot of experience and absolute brilliance posted so far in this thread. I'm not being flip or sarcastic. When you commit to buying an RV you are buying a house, a car, a power plant, a sewage treatment plant, and all the related things that go with it all in one. (except the yard work!) I'm an Architect, a General Building Contractor, a Mechanical Engineer, a Machinist, and an Automotive Technician by trade. I've regularly needed ALL those skills to keep my current RV on the road at a reasonable cost. I feel sorry for those who aren't. Make this thread a sticky!


Chum lee

The biggest problem we have had or do have with our rig is that it is 26 years old. A lot can happen in 26 years and the worst thing I had happen was a $15.00 relay went bad but not just died but died off and on. Other than that we're really happy with ours. Oh yeah, we are looking for a replacement due to it's age.

I envy you guys that do a lot of your own repair or maintenance. That must help a lot with expense. But, keep in mind that this post is for any and all potential MH buyers, not just the mechanically inclined. I'm guessing most are more like me (about all I do is winterize it; no repair)than the semi-mechanics so, yes, it's going to cost you.

DutchmenSport wrote:
A little off-topic, but it drives me absolutely insane watching television home-buying programs

A television show, Nuff said.
But, I agree with you. :)

Wow.....I've been on here for almost ten years. This has been the best, most civil post with the greatest information that I have read to date. "Cloud Dancer" is correct about writing a book on things these coaches need.

I'm certainly not rich, but often worked two and three jobs to be able to RV and boat with my children when younger and now get to enjoy RVing with my wife of 40 years in our retirement. I have two main reasons why I do my own work. I just can't afford to pay to have people do repairs on my coach. The other is that having done mechanical work in my high school days, I don't trust most repair shops. I also believe that if you learn to do some basic repairs, like changing fuel filters (DP) you're less likely to get stuck on the road at someones mercy. My coach is my hot rod, so I enjoy working on it and fabricating items that make life simpler.

Outside of some minor warranty work, my coach(s) have never been worked on by anyone but me. I know that many can't do their own work because they're smart enough to know it's not their thing or their health prevents them from doing so. I always try to tell new owners that they need to be able to do some minor stuff on their own, or they'll go crazy with the stuff that pops up.

Over the ten years I've been posting here, I see guys that R&R their own motors to guys that complain to a dealer that a screw is loose, their coach must be a lemon. I think there needs to be a happy median. "rgatijnet1" brings up a great point about maintenance. We RV with many different families and friends each year. There are two in particular that show up every trip with something that broke on the last trip, but never repaired it. Then they complain the whole time. I'm a big believer in washing and waxing your own coach inside and out, if you're physically capable, as one of the best ways to find problems with your coach that you may have not noticed.

Lastly, I'm guessing that less than 1% of the RVing population shows up on these websites and the majority of those are looking for a fix or complaining about something that broke. If people recognize this, it should help them realize that RV's are not as problematic as they appear on here.

Mostly we are pretty satisfied with our 2002 30 ft. Itasca Class C purchased 2 yrs ago but afraid I can't do much to allay the newbies fear about the expense of a motorhome, new or used. New ones have terrible resale value so depreciation becomes the most expensive part of RVing. Used ones also depreciate and at times it seems that it needs something repaired or added most of the time. Going a year without repair cost would be unusual even though ours only had 21,000 miles. My son, with a used Class A, feels the same. He jokes (not funny) that it costs him $300 every time he takes it in for anything. I guess we have grown to expect and accept the cost and really enjoy using it and just hope that in the long run it won't cost more than long trips using hotels, etc. I never advise anyone to RV to save money, even with trailers but we do hate motels. Sorry, just trying to be realistic.