Anyone out there adhere to the "new rig every six year rule?

[Danpaine]

Hi, Everybody. When my wife and I bought our then-new Class C at an RV Show in 2016, lots of people we spoke to talked about the 'six-year rule,' in that when you buy new, after six years it's customary to trade your unit in for a new one, roll over the payment, then go another six years, trade, and so on.

We're just curious, is it common to do this? Or do most people just buy the unit they like, keep it and pay it off forever like we are?

Thank you.

[Lantley]

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.

[DownTheAvenue]

Danpaine wrote:
When my wife and I bought our then-new Class C at an RV Show in 2016, lots of people we spoke to talked about the 'six-year rule,' in that when you buy new, after six years it's customary to trade your unit in for a new one, roll over the payment, then go another six years, trade, and so on.

WOW! Just WOW! That is a sure way to watch your money quickly evaporate. A 6 year old Class C RV is worth about 30% of its price new. So, 6 years ago, you buy for $80,000. Now you get $24,000. Say good bye to $56,000!!! do that just 2 times and you have lost $112,000! Add the interest you are paying and you are over $200,000, maybe even closer to a quarter of a million dollars.

This is the way to stay broke and enslaved to the banks!

[ol__yeller]

Never heard of a 6 year rule. Rolling over payments is really bad financial advice. That means that when you are financing your third RV, you are still making payments on your long gone first RV.

[ppine]

The Six Year Rule was made up by a salesman.

[FunnyCamper]

sounds like cars are their 'thing' and we are the type to have new rvs on a whim kinda people LOL
everyone spends their money somewhere, exactly where they want to spend it 🙂

sayoung wrote:
We hang out with a couple that trades in both cars every 30000 miles period. They just don't understand how we keep cars for 10 or more years & lots of miles.

[afidel]

sayoung wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
sales BS. why do that unless you are NOT happy

there are some people that trade cars every few years
and guess some that trade RVs more often than most of us
but i do not think 6yrs is the National avg
or avg RULE

We hang out with a couple that trades in both cars every 30000 miles period. They just don't understand how we keep cars for 10 or more years & lots of miles.

Sounds like they made up their own rule back in the days of Detroit reliability and never updated it for the fact that cars routinely go 17+ years and 200k miles. I guess it's good for people who need solid reliable transportation without taking the first few years depreciation hit that folks like them are willing to take one for the team as it were.

[jplante4]

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.

[john_bet]

Keep our Montana for 12 years and the truck for 14. New 5th last May and new truck this April.

[Lantley]

toedtoes wrote:

Lantley wrote:
I don't believe in the 6 year rule. But there is some sort of age rule out there.
Maybe it's more like 10 or 12. At some point the RV wears thin and needs some upgrading. While it may remain functional for the most part, the interior becomes dated and the resale value plummets.
Maybe it's different for every rig. But there is a point where selling an upgrading is more beneficial than holding on to it until the wheels fall off and its value erodes to almost nothing.
How many rigs do we see that have rotted away that should have been sold when they had some value remaining.

I'm not sure I agree with this. If you aren't using it, then selling it instead of letting it rot is a good thing. But if you use it and maintain it as much as possible, why not run it to the ground.

The money I have put into my 42 year old clipper is far less than I would have put into buying something much newer and I plan on using it until its in pieces. Who cares about getting any monetary value out of it, I'm getting a much better value by keeping and using it.

Running it into the ground will result in an RV with zero /minimal resale value because the RV is 42 years old and worn out vs. selling that RV when it has 5-10K worth of resale value remaining.

There is a point of no return when the RV is only valuable to the owner.For the most part this is OK as long as the RV is being used it is providing its full value even if its book value is close to zero.
There is a balancing act between selling and keeping. Maintenance required to keep the old one viable vs. getting a fresher updated model. I don't think it is as simple as keep it to the wheels fall off.It is possible to put too much money into a tired worn out RV vs. throwing in the towel and getting something newer/in better shape.
In the end there is no date or amount of years that will determine the time to sell/trade. Condition of the RV,the desire and ability to use RV will be bigger factors.

[valhalla360]

Danpaine wrote:
Hi, Everybody. When my wife and I bought our then-new Class C at an RV Show in 2016, lots of people we spoke to talked about the 'six-year rule,' in that when you buy new, after six years it's customary to trade your unit in for a new one, roll over the payment, then go another six years, trade, and so on.

We're just curious, is it common to do this? Or do most people just buy the unit they like, keep it and pay it off forever like we are?

Thank you.

I'm a strong supporter of the 6yr Rule. I think it should be mandatory for all new RV buyers...of course, I benefit from the large supply of good condition used RV's on the market at a fraction of the price when you sell, so I may not be the most unbiased person to consult.

I'm betting 6yrs is probably the average duration that a new RV buyer keeps the RV, so the salesman turned that into an assumption you should start from because they aren't exactly unbiased sources either.

[toedtoes]

Lantley wrote:
I don't believe in the 6 year rule. But there is some sort of age rule out there.
Maybe it's more like 10 or 12. At some point the RV wears thin and needs some upgrading. While it may remain functional for the most part, the interior becomes dated and the resale value plummets.
Maybe it's different for every rig. But there is a point where selling an upgrading is more beneficial than holding on to it until the wheels fall off and its value erodes to almost nothing.
How many rigs do we see that have rotted away that should have been sold when they had some value remaining.

I'm not sure I agree with this. If you aren't using it, then selling it instead of letting it rot is a good thing. But if you use it and maintain it as much as possible, why not run it to the ground.

The money I have put into my 42 year old clipper is far less than I would have put into buying something much newer and I plan on using it until its in pieces. Who cares about getting any monetary value out of it, I'm getting a much better value by keeping and using it.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

🙂 Hi, we studied long and hard to find our one and only trailer. We have had it since September of 2004 and have no desire to buy anything else.

[Ron3rd]

I've been on this forum for 14 years. I'm embarrassed to admit I've never heard of the 6 year rule

[fly-swatter]

I guess that means I have to replace both truck and fiver this year.
Wait a sec, I just bought the truck and we love the trailer so we're gonna keep it at least 6 more years. It helps that everything is paid for too, no desire to take on any payments.

[MitchF150]

15 years with the first trailer we bought.. 🙂 Made a lot of mods to it over the years to keep it working for us.

When I price out new or even a couple of year old rigs, it does not make any sense to get rid of my paid off rig (that's been paid off for at least 12 years now...

Do what you gotta do and get what you gotta get.. But, always having a monthly payment on an RV is not what I gotta have.. 😉

Good luck!

Mitch