Isn't High Mileage Still a Problem on DP's

It all has to do with maintenance.. A well maintained vehicle can last for hundreds of thousands of miles.. A poorly maintained vehicle has a short life span.. Keep your maintenance up to date and it should serve you well..

Some COACHES and CHASSIS are built for 1,000,000 miles of use, like the Prevost chassis motor homes. These are the very expensive RV's used by NASCAR teams, Hollywood celebrities, corporations, and anyone else that has the means to afford them. Many of these are listed for sale as used high end coaches, with hundreds of thousands of miles, and they are still going strong, and still fetch some pretty big bucks. These are built on the same chassis as the coast to coast Trailways and Greyhound buses.
Most other diesel coaches fall in the other category and they are NOT designed for a million miles but they can do several hundred thousand miles with proper maintenance. As you read on this forum, diesel engines do break down and DP chassis and suspension items do break.
The facts are that if you do proper maintenance on ANY coach, and replace everything that breaks or wears out, there is no mileage limit. The limit is reached when it is no longer financially feasible or practical to continue to dump money in to a coach that is worn out. That does not mean that an old coach cannot continue to be used, but at a certain point in time, the coach is worth less at resale than the cost needed to keep it running.

Born To Travel wrote:
It all has to do with maintenance.. A well maintained vehicle can last for hundreds of thousands of miles.. A poorly maintained vehicle has a short life span.. Keep your maintenance up to date and it should serve you well..

You missed the point of my question. I am really asking if you would buy a high mileage DP without fear of resale consequences.

A lot has to do with the person buying and their experience level. I bought a hard to find crew cab FL 70 with high miles because it was fleet maintained and the engine was at a lower HP than most. Now that I'm trying to sell... most are afraid of the higher miles. I would take a 10 year old DP with 90K miles over one with only 20K assuming the low miles was because it sat a lot. Now if the 20K was used to tailgate close by most of the year, it could be a great find.
OP, yes most buyers will shy away from a high mileage DP because there are plenty with fewer miles for sale. Supply and demand trumps everything and there are plenty of mid mile DPs for sale... 5K/year.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Some COACHES and CHASSIS are built for 1,000,000 miles of use, like the Prevost chassis motor homes. These are the very expensive RV's used by NASCAR teams, Hollywood celebrities, corporations, and anyone else that has the means to afford them. Many of these are listed for sale as used high end coaches, with hundreds of thousands of miles, and they are still going strong, and still fetch some pretty big bucks. These are built on the same chassis as the coast to coast Trailways and Greyhound buses.
Most other diesel coaches fall in the other category and they are NOT designed for a million miles but they can do several hundred thousand miles with proper maintenance. As you read on this forum, diesel engines do break down and DP chassis and suspension items do break.
The facts are that if you do proper maintenance on ANY coach, and replace everything that breaks or wears out, there is no mileage limit. The limit is reached when it is no longer financially feasible or practical to continue to dump money in to a coach that is worn out. That does not mean that an old coach cannot continue to be used, but at a certain point in time, the coach is worth less at resale than the cost needed to keep it running.

Great observations and a well thought out response. In our range of DP's, you point out the absolute need for maintenance, and this is definitely a fact. But would you be afraid to buy a high mileage DP in the first place, given you will face the resale market down the road.

Ivylog wrote:
A lot has to do with the person buying and their experience level. I bought a hard to find crew cab FL 70 with high miles because it was fleet maintained and the engine was at a lower HP than most. Now that I'm trying to sell... most are afraid of the higher miles. I would take a 10 year old DP with 90K miles over one with only 20K assuming the low miles was because it sat a lot. Now if the 20K was used to tailgate close by most of the year, it could be a great find.
OP, yes most buyers will shy away from a high mileage RV because there are plenty with fewer miles for sale. Supply and demand trumps everything and there are plenty of mid mile DPs for sale... 5K/year.

You nailed my question. So why do we keep hearing about this "hardly broken in"? Sounds like its okay to buy them but don't try to sell?

StuartT, we have been so geared to think lower mileage is better because 99% of us have bought gasoline cars. 'Low mileage', 'cream puff', 'only driven on Sundays'.... etc.

Our coach will be a good example of what you bring up. We currently have almost 65,000 miles on our '08. You can find '08 coaches all day long with 30,000 miles or less. I really do 'over' maintain our coach and have everything fixed as needed (I keep all receipts).

Our coach looks like new on the inside as we take care of our things. We're thinking about ordering a new coach and I also wonder what difference the mileage will do to the asking price. We'll probably have closer to 70,000-75,000 miles if and when the new coach gets ordered and built. It will take 6-9 months to build the new one so that will put us at the end of next summer if we order soon.

We purposely bought a color palate that I think is attractive to most buyers. If you put two similar coaches side by side and one has 30,000 miles less than the other, I honestly think it will affect the price even though NADA says if it's a diesel, don't worry about the mileage. I couldn't help but think that way myself.

But, I think the condition of the interior will also be a major factor. If the coach is lived-in full time and has 15,000 miles vs. ours as I described, ours may be more desirable because of the interior condition. Our stove top has only been used once or twice in 6.5 yrs. I keep the coach (interior and exterior) clean and oil the wood cabinets at least once a year. The only thing that is showing some wear are the sink drain stoppers (dark copper metal color) and the bathroom door knob (has scratches on it). Other than that, it looks barely used.

MM.

"So why do we keep hearing about this "hardly broken in?" Guess there's a little bit of used car salesman in most of us.:B

StuartT wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Some COACHES and CHASSIS are built for 1,000,000 miles of use, like the Prevost chassis motor homes. These are the very expensive RV's used by NASCAR teams, Hollywood celebrities, corporations, and anyone else that has the means to afford them. Many of these are listed for sale as used high end coaches, with hundreds of thousands of miles, and they are still going strong, and still fetch some pretty big bucks. These are built on the same chassis as the coast to coast Trailways and Greyhound buses.
Most other diesel coaches fall in the other category and they are NOT designed for a million miles but they can do several hundred thousand miles with proper maintenance. As you read on this forum, diesel engines do break down and DP chassis and suspension items do break.
The facts are that if you do proper maintenance on ANY coach, and replace everything that breaks or wears out, there is no mileage limit. The limit is reached when it is no longer financially feasible or practical to continue to dump money in to a coach that is worn out. That does not mean that an old coach cannot continue to be used, but at a certain point in time, the coach is worth less at resale than the cost needed to keep it running.

Great observations and a well thought out response. In our range of DP's, you point out the absolute need for maintenance, and this is definitely a fact. But would you be afraid to buy a high mileage DP in the first place, given you will face the resale market down the road.

A lot depends on maintenance records and coach features/systems. A low mileage DP could have a coach that is worn out from use by a full time owner, that only traveled from North to South twice a year. In other words, the house will have 365 days worth of use each year but the engine may only have a few weeks of use, and a few thousand miles. This type of coach has spent most of it's life sitting in an RV park and I would pass, unless it was very cheap. Many new buyers love these and will buy them based ONLY on the mileage.
Now you have the coach that is used by people that like to travel a lot, but also still have a stick house. I fall into this category. We usually put close to 20,000 miles per year on our coach but only spend about 6 months on the road each year. Our coach will have high mileage when sold, but it will also have been maintained regularly and systems updated as needed. I expect it will sell below NADA value based on mileage.
There are also the full time coaches that are lived in 365 and are driven 10,000-20,000 miles per year. these are usually meticulously maintained, by virtue of the fact that they are used and driven. I would not hesitate to buy this type of coach, as long as the maintenance records are available.
Unfortunately a lot of people look at the mileage and do not have the slightest idea what maintenance records can tell them. They will be willing to pay more for a low mileage vehicle, and will probably have future problems. Rodents and other critters love low mileage RV's that sit most of the time.
Any vehicle used on a regular basis, and maintained properly, should be worth more and sell easier to a knowledgeable buyer. Finding that buyer is the key.

Mileage is just one factor most people will take into consideration when buying a used Diesel Pusher RV. Most people will be a little less concerned with relatively minor differences in mileage (say they were looking at a rig with 60K and another with 80K) so they wouldn't expect a huge discount on the 80K), but they would expect the 80K rig to be somewhat less than the 60K assuming they were otherwise exactly equal, which will never be the case.
You do have to take mileage into consideration. But remember, a very low mileage rig might be low mileage for a reason. It could be a full time residence for someone, and all the interior dodads have much more wear and tear than average and maybe it hadn't moved in 5 years and one side is more weathered than the other. Also, never driving a rig isn't good for it either.
In my opinion, at the end it comes down to the overall value. I surely would rather have a better rig with a higher mileage than a substandard rig that hasn't been driven. But you cannot view any one attribute in a vacuum, you need to evaluate the entire package.