How do you decide how much to spend on an RV

[wowens79]

We've been RVing for 16-17 years now, and are looking for a new RV, but are struggling on how much we are willing to spend. We are pretty conservative when it comes to spending money.

We really want a Brinkley Z3100, which will end up probably a little over $80k, but it puts a knot in our stomachs thinking about spending that much money on something that is going to depreciate. Should we settle and spend like $40k on another TT?

We bought an new F-350 last year not knowing what kind of camper we wanted, so we bought a truck to pull what ever we decided on, so we don't have to worry about a new truck.

We could sell some non retirement stock, and pay cash for it, and we would still have an emergency fund of a years expenses. We have no debt other than our mortgage, and it is about a third of our homes value, and financed at 2.4%. It would take us about 2 years to replace the funds if we went with the Brinkley. We are in out mid 50's, and have put 12-15% in our 401k since our early 20's so we should be fine for retirement if the market performs like it has historically.

Should we bite the bullet??

[wowens79]

We buy things for long term. I drove my previous truck for 20 years, and we had a pop up for 9 years, and our current TT for 7, and would keep it, but it’s been pretty crappy.

[Lantley]

"My strategy is to buy quality gear used, maintain the heck of of it, and sell for a premium. The depreciation alone of driving a new rig off the lot would far exceed my total net RV outlays."


Your concerned about depreciation because you are looking to sell the day you buy!
Now RV's are a bit different because they are all junk and it's hit or miss if you get a well built model or a clunker.
When it comes to vehicles I have learned to buy new, maintain it and drive it to the wheels fall off. When I get done the vehicle will be well worn with at least 300K on it. I used to by used but I learned what I save in purchase price I lost in premium life of the vehicle. Those first 5 years are generally repair free.
I could not say that when I bought used.
My RV is a 2012. I purchased new. Granted it's an RV so I have had my share of repairs. 90% of the I did myself.
I do not wish I had purchased used to save money. I have the exact RV I wanted. In the exact colors I chose. With the exact features I wanted and none of the features I didn't want. For me the RV experience is not about bang for the buck.
We all have budgets and finances. However every dollar I spend does not have to be done rationally. THere are smart things to do with my money and investments to be made and then there are fun things to do with my money.
Sometimes fun is the only return you get on your money and that's fine with me

[laknox]

wowens79 wrote:


Agreed, we are pretty conservative financially, so this is kinda out of our comfort zone. We could buy what we want cash, and still have a years expenses in cash, and like someone suggested, it would be less than 5% of our net worth. But we are in our mid 50s and working for another 7-8 years, so would only be able to use it for probably 30 nights a year.
This made me look at the cost per night over 10 years, and it would probably be $200 a night when you calculate depreciation.
I think I just talked myself into a $40k travel trailer 🙂

Why not a $40k fifth wheel? 🙂

Lyle

[Durb]

I also calculate my cost per night regarding my RV purchases. Prior to buying the fifth wheel, I had 3 tent trailers and a Bigfoot travel trailer; my net cost per night of RV ownership over 30 years was less than a dollar. Right now, with the fifth wheel, my cost per night is around $100. If I were to sell the fiver right now, my cost would approach zero. Of course, this doesn't include maintenance, fuel, and the price of campgrounds.

My strategy is to buy quality gear used, maintain the heck of of it, and sell for a premium. The depreciation alone of driving a new rig off the lot would far exceed my total net RV outlays.

[wowens79]

BB_TX wrote:

Michelle.S wrote:
Live for the day, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Ahhh, and there is the issue. You might have many years of carefree life left. Or you may suddenly find you have major life events occur that suddenly turn your financial situation upside down and you struggle to make ends meet.

Having cash doesn’t necessarily mean you can go buy what you want when you want, unless you have plenty of it. Accidents and unexpected major illnesses do occur, often times severely affecting a person’s financial stability. I hope to never be a financial burden on my children. If only we could plan life so our last dollar was spent on a bottle of good brew to toast our passing. :B

Agreed, we are pretty conservative financially, so this is kinda out of our comfort zone. We could buy what we want cash, and still have a years expenses in cash, and like someone suggested, it would be less than 5% of our net worth. But we are in our mid 50s and working for another 7-8 years, so would only be able to use it for probably 30 nights a year.
This made me look at the cost per night over 10 years, and it would probably be $200 a night when you calculate depreciation.
I think I just talked myself into a $40k travel trailer 🙂

[nickthehunter]

Michelle.S wrote:
Live for the day, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

so, spend all your money so you’re flat broke by the time you’re 80? Then what?

[Samsonsworld]

I value shop for my trucks and my RVs. What am I spending and how much do I expect to lose when I sell. You will lose more $$$ over time with an $80k RV. You'll have to decide if the additional amenities are worth the extra cost. They may be. Personally, I want my RV and my cake, too. But I work and I can only camp 4-5 weeks out of a year. It's just not worth a hefty investment for me. I may think differently upon retirement when I have more time to spend in it. My $.02.

[BB_TX]

Michelle.S wrote:
Live for the day, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Ahhh, and there is the issue. You might have many years of carefree life left. Or you may suddenly find you have major life events occur that suddenly turn your financial situation upside down and you struggle to make ends meet.

Having cash doesn’t necessarily mean you can go buy what you want when you want, unless you have plenty of it. Accidents and unexpected major illnesses do occur, often times severely affecting a person’s financial stability. I hope to never be a financial burden on my children. If only we could plan life so our last dollar was spent on a bottle of good brew to toast our passing. :B

[winnietrey]

You and your wife are in the go go go years, So I think you should go see and do. Older you get harder it gets.

If I were in your shoes the question, I would be asking myself, is how much better will buying the higher end rig make my camping life and by extension make my life better. Would I go more, and for longer? Would it be much easier to use? Those are reasons to go for it.

On the other hand, if it would not really improve our camping and life much, I felt like it would preclude us from doing other stuff like flying somewhere, or not doing other things we enjoy. And or having to save hard for two or three years doing only camping. then it would not be worth it to me.

Those are the sort of guidelines I would use to make a choice

[4x4ord]

Our old 5th wheel doesn’t really get used much and we are quite satisfied with it so spending more to get something better doesn’t have much of an appeal but I think if I were to retire and planned on spending much more time camping there’s two ways I could see myself putting a limit on what we would spend on a new unit.
1. I think I’d have a hard time having more than about 5% of my net worth tied up in something like a trailer.
2. I could see coming up with a formula like: days per year spent in the trailer x $60 per day x 10 = price of fiver. So if I was planning on using it 100 days per year I might be willing to spend 60k and if I wanted to full time with it I might be willing to spend $220k.

[bucky]

A lot of this lends cred to the back of so many RVs.
"We're spending our children's inheritance"
We are not going to blow it all but at the same time we are going to enjoy our lives.

[Michelle_S]

Live for the day, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

[TravelinDog]

Buy what you want and enjoy it now. You don't want to be sitting around years later thinking "I wish we had done this or that". It's too late then.

[bob_nestor]

nickthehunter wrote:
In my opinion, Wait a few months, you’ll be able to buy it at recession prices. The down side of that is your 2016 will be correspondingly worth less also. I’d say it’s not really an optimal time to buy a depreciating asset.

I suspect you're right. Driving past RV lots now they appear to be full or filling up with RVs, both new and "used only once or twice". Many who bought RVs during the pandemic are also finding out what it really costs to own an RV and many of those are probably under water on the financing they used for their purchase - they're starting to try and get out from under their RV purchases. I'm seeing a lot of alarming reports on the massive buildup of debt for things like cars, homes and RVs as well as the steep decline in peoples savings. It probably isn't going to be a pretty sight when things hit the fan, but could be an excellent buying opportunity for those who bidded their time on major purchases and kept their powder dry.

Also good to keep in mind that cost is what it took to build the unit; price is what the dealer is asking (cost plus profit or loss), and value is what someone is willing to pay.