August 2002
By: Bob Gummersall
REFLECTING - The process of deciding what to ask for a relatively expensive motorhome is quite a task. As a part of this exercise, Sylvia and I reflected at our last four years of motorhome travel and what it really cost. I have written about this great RVing Lifestyle many times and would find it very hard not to participate in it. We had to find a way to analyze our costs and we choose to compare them with what it would have cost to do the same kind of travel using another mode – A Car, Motels and Restaurants (CMR). The following spread sheet represents our actual costs for the motorhome travel and estimated costs for CMR.
| 99 MONACO DYNASTY EVALUATION | CAR/MOTEL/RESTAURANT | |
| 4 YEARS OWNERSHIP | 4 YEARS (CAR) OWNERSHIP | |
| ACTUAL COST | ESTIMATED COSTS | |
| Purchase Price | 195,000 | 25,000 |
| Tax and License | 12,000 | 3000 |
| License 2000 2001 2002 | 4,500 | 400 |
| Improvements GPS Alpine Security RR4 Atc | 7,700 | |
| Maintenance, Tires, Batteries | 3,400 | 800 |
| Fuel Cost | 11,000 | 6000 |
| Lost interest (cost of money) | 31,200 | 4,000 |
| Yearly Interest Rate | 4.00% | 4.00% |
| Estimated Depreciation | 68,000 | 10,000 |
| Miles Traveled | 72,000 | 72,000 |
| Days Rving per year | 110 | 110 |
| Days in Motel or Campground per Year | 30 | 80 |
| Average Cost of Motel or Campground | 25 | 110 |
| Estimated Selling Price | 127,000 | 15,000 |
| Cost of Ownership | 137,800 | 24,200 |
| Cost Per Year | 34,450 | 14,050 |
| Cost Per Mile | $1.91 | $0.78 |
| Cost Per Day | $320.00 | $127.73 |
Several things pop out at you. First the cost of ownership of $137,800 is a very large number. It includes the depreciation and the cost of money at 4% that the initial investment would have earned if in a savings instrument (definitely not the stock market). The MSRP for this coach was over $245,000 but we all know that the actual market value is near to the $195,000. Taxes in Washington are a very high 8.6% and for the years of 1998 and 1999 the License costs was outrageous because it was taxed like real property and based on its value. Washington passed an Initiative for Vehicle Registration of $30 in 2000 which turned out to be closer to $500 but a lot better than the $4500 license in 1998 and 1999.
The $137,800 is made up of Depreciation $68,000, Cost of Money $31,200, Tax and License $16,500, all the new equipment and maintenance costs and fuel cost of $11,000. A lot of people focus on fuel cost but as you can see it is one of the least significant parts of ownership. Now that said, we stood back and say “was it worth it?” There is no way to put a price on the quiet desert sky with no city skyline diminishing the view, or that ocean front camp site and the sound of the waves, or the majesty of aspen trees on the side of a Colorado mountain turning color in the fall, or the ability to park in a relatives driveway and be able to “go home to your own bed” at 10pm. Other people spend their money on cruises, airplane vacations to exotic places, golfing at expensive clubs. We have chosen to spend our money on the RVing Lifestyle and will continue to do it in the future, but as you know from the Title of this piece of writing – Downsizing. We do not plan the long trips and will probably cover way less than 8,000 miles per year in our downsized rig. We could have used a less expensive coach but God has blessed us with some money to use this way and we would probably do it the same way again for that kind of travel. As the spread sheet shows, it would have been a lot less expensive to do the same 72,000 miles in a car staying in Hotels/Motels and eating at Restaurants, but it would not have been the same experience. It is hard to put a price on never having to unpack a suitcase, sleeping in your own bed, cooking good food in you own kitchen, using your own bathroom and just simply having the flexibility of not having to take a chance on getting a reservation. The RV lifestyle offer unequalled freedom and flexibility. When you have your own bed with you, it is a simple matter when you get tired of finding a place to park. I’m sure we would not have chosen to travel in a car and stay in hotels and eat plastic food, but it was a way to compare. Maybe in a future article, I will try to find a better comparison of pleasure. HUMMMM.
SELLING OUR RIG – Establishing the asking price takes some work. http://www.nadaguides.com lists book prices, but the important thing is estimating the Actual Market Price. That is the price someone is willing to pay me for the rig. The NADA book showed a range of Low Retail $124,000 (rig needs lots of work) to Average Retail $146,000 (rig shown small amount of wear). We thought $139,000 was a good place to start. We have listed it one about 6 web classified sites for nominal cost or in some cases no cost. We have listed it in the FMCA magazine for the October Issue. The obvious disadvantage of the FMCA printed media is the time lag for publication. We also have it for auction on eBay with no action. We have attended three rallies where we posted “for sale” signs and handouts. The biggest problem we have right now is our rig has no slideout. This feature seems to be the most sought after in used luxury coaches, especially by the wives. You know from reading http://208.55.19.51/Sliders.html and http://208.55.19.51/ArtSlider2.html that we purposefully chose not to order our coach with a slideout. I have heard from many readers about problems with water leaks, wind noise, dust and dirt etc but people still want the room that a slideout provides and they are willing to put up with all the negatives. It is becoming very obvious that we are experiencing one of the negatives of “no slideout” and that is “resale”. We are three weeks into the process of selling our rig. The national average time for a private party to sell a luxury coach is 6 months. We have had two serious inquiries so far. One chose to buy a new rig, maybe he should have read http://208.55.19.51/ArtNewUsed.html. The other is still looking because the wife wants a slideout.
THE GMC - As I write this, the GMC is still in North Platte Nebraska and about to be repaired. All the parts are there or shipped and the repair work will begin soon. I ordered several upgrades to be installed, Disk Brakes on the rear to replace the barely adequate drum brakes, Headers and Exhaust System, Shocks and a few other small things.
Part IV will probably be more about selling the Dynasty and just possibly the rest of the drive to get the GMC home to Washington. I am going to investigate consignment possibilities for the Monaco. Bob
[Ed Note: No doubt in describing the process of "how to sell" a used upscale RV Bob purposefully omitted reference to one other technique -- creating a web page to advertise the unit for sale. We link it here as an example of just one more empowering option available to RV sellers...]