Mileage Question

[GypsyQueen7]

Hi all,

 

Well, it begins...finally....the hunt for my (new to me) home!!! So i'm looking at Motorhomes, and I've read everywhere that low mileage isn't necessarily a good thing since it likely means it's just been sitting - not good for parts that should be moving! My question is, what is a good rule of thumb for RV mileage? I found a 1997 National Sea breeze class A gas engine with 65,279 mileage...all things being equal, is that good or bad or ??? And while I'm at it, is National a good RV?

 

Here's a link to one I'm considering:

 

http://www.rvtrader.com/dealers/Camping-World-RV-Sales-of-Portland-713565/listing/1997-National-Sea-Breeze-129-115255648

 

 

Thanks!

Kirsten

[AFchap]

I would be looking for a minimum average of around 3k miles/year. This one exceeds that by a bit, so good there. With a motorhome of this age, brand name isn't terribly important ...how well it has been maintained/cared for is far more critical.

[kathydavidb]

I would be looking for a minimum average of around 3k miles/year. This one exceeds that by a bit, so good there. With a motorhome of this age, brand name isn't terribly important ...how well it has been maintained/cared for is far more critical.

This is good advice. To me the maintenance record is very important. Ask to see what has been done over the years. A 1997 is 18 yrs. old now and things have needed to be repaired/replaced or updated. Ask.

[Medico]

Just remember, unless you are good at repairs (A DIY queen) then you might be spending a lot on repairs. With this age coach there may be a lot to be fixed. Plus many things that work now have to be getting close to their useful life expectancy, or past it. Fixing the little things as they crop up can be satisfying, but after a while that gets old in a hurry.

 

Generally, it's not the engine so much, although it can be if it sat for years, it's the tires and other items. Generally the tires are good for about 7 or 8 years. Sitting for long times will cause weathering on the tires. Tires need to turn to exercise the inner belts. Expect to sped 500 to 700 dollars each for tires. That coach probably has 6 tires.

 

That coach has averaged around 3600 miles per year. I generally put 5000 miles per year on my coach. That coach should be fine from a mileage perspective. I think the other factors are more of a problem for you than the mileage. Many of us travel from point A to point B then spend weeks or months at point B before traveling to our next destination. With this model you will not put as many miles on a coach as those spending just a few days or a week at each destination.

[bruce t]

We purchased a used coach with very few miles on it. While the number of miles was very low it was used every weekend few tailgating. So it got it's exercise without the long mileage wear.

There are a huge number of factors in buying used. I would rather a used coach that needs a new motor than a used coach that needs new sidewalls! I've seen how some folks look after their coaches, or rather not look after them, so it's more than just the mechanics.

 

regards

[Kirk W]

 

My question is, what is a good rule of thumb for RV mileage?

I have owned RVs now since 1972 and while I've been given many views on the issue, there really is no hard answer. Any motorized RV does have more serious issues based upon mileage but it is only a hint and examining any older RV is much like doing detective work. Mileage can very extremely widely because of who owned the RV. The most typical user is only a weekend & vacation driver and so will usually put on somewhere between 3k & 5k per year. As the miles per year increase, that don't always mean a lot and neither do lower numbers because we simply do not know. If you can find an RV that has had one owner for the entire time, that is a very good hint of good care, but you may not actually know that. We sold our 1998 coach after it was 14 years old, and it also had 78,000 miles or 5500 miles/year. Yet we also lived in ours full-time for nearly 12 of those years! Do not put too much into the mileage on the RV unless that mileage happens to be really excessive. For a gas chassis, I'd hesitate once it gets much above 100K, unless I knew the owner history and care it was given. I would also look hard if the miles/year were under 2K but it don't mean it will be bad.

 

And while I'm at it, is National a good RV?

You happen to be considering an RV which is the same year & model as one of those we shopped when we bought our fulltime RV home. We didn't choose the Sea Breeze, but it was mostly for reasons of floor plan. The Sea Breeze at that time was still 96" wide, while others were moving up to the 102" width and that was a factor in our decision. We found the SB to be one of the highest quality coaches of it's price range and to have amenities that were very rare in gas chassis coaches of that era. The main negative issue for the SB was that because of the higher quality construction materials, the added weight also left it with a pretty low cargo capacity or CCC. I suggest that you need to look hard at the GVWR and the GCWR for the coach and take it to a scale so that you know the actual weight of it because back in 97 the weight labels were sketchy at best and didn't list as much information as they do today. On the other hand, if that rig has been well cared for, that was a premier gas coach of the time and it held one of the very best ratings by the RV Consumer Group which they gave with the only weakness being it cargo capacity.

 

No matter what you decide, remember that with any RV the age you are shopping, care and condition are everything! Even the very best built RV can be junk if not properly maintained or abused and the older the RV the greater the risk. A complete examination by an RV tech and also a good mechanic is vital for any used coach and even more important as the age increases. The pictures make it look good, but pictures can be taken to distort things. Are the appliances all still original? If so, at least some of them are bound to be near the end of their useful life and will have to be replaced before many years of fulltime living pass. What of all rubber items? All belts and hoses, brake lines, shocks, and other normal wear items must be examined and likely replaced. All fluids, including things like brake fluid must be replaced. Check out the tires, especially the age of tires because they age best when driven and sitting in one spot can destroy them more quickly than traveling on the highways. Look at the DOT code to see when they were built and plan to replace if much more than 5 years old, even if they look good. Most important is to use a good check list, such as this one from the RV Consumer Group before you pay for professional help so that you at least have a good idea of it probability of being sound.

 

I would consider that RV to have been one of the top ones of the time in which it was built. If it is in really good condition it may be exactly what you are seeking, but it is still 18 years old and so you should figure at a minimum to spend several thousand dollars on it in making it ready to be your permanent home. And be sure to have a reserve to use in replacing an appliance or two since that is probably going to need to be done. Remember that the age of an RV today is only part of the question. You need to also keep in mind what age that RV will be by the time that you expect to replace it. We started our fulltime adventure quite proudly in an RV that we purchased new, but we soon discovered that new lasts only a short time so condition and maintenance is much more important!

[LindaH]

That coach probably has 6 tires.

 

Seven, if you count the spare (assuming it comes with a spare). If it does have a spare, it's entirely possible that it could be the original that came with the rig. I'd want to check the age of *all* the tires and, depending on their age, use that information in negotiating the price.

 

I'd also want the rig inspected by a professional...it may need two such inspections: one for the chassis and one for the "house."

[GypsyQueen7]

Wow! Thank you all so much for the great advice!! I really appreciate it! I found a local RV mechanic who is mobile, who looks a rigs for buyers...but how do you find someone to inspect the 'house' part?

 

So many things to think about!! But it's so exciting!!!!!

[LindaH]

It might be that the RV mechanic you found will also do the house part. If not, he might be able to recommend someone, probably another mobile RV tech.

[Medico]

Check out RV Inspection Connection. The inspector that inspected our coach was here for 8.5 hours doing a Premier Diesel coach inspection. I suspect the gas coach would not take as long, but they do really check things out.

[Ray,IN]

IMO low mileage is not the negative some believe. We bought our MH (see sig) in 2013, with 23,xxx miles. It had been parked in a barn for 6 years without moving. We bought an extended service contract (expensive) just in case something major failed. To date the service contract has nearly paid for itself. Every repair has been for the house part of the MH. The chassis has been trouble-free, generator too. Here we are 2.5 yrs. later, coach now has nearly 40,000 miles and running great.

BTW, there were no maintenance records, so we had Camping World do a complete fluids and filters change. This established a base-line for future maintenance.

[GypsyQueen7]

Thanks RayIN! I was thinking that and extended service contract would be a good investment.

[Kirk W]

 

I was thinking that and extended service contract would be a good investment.

They can be, but keep in mind that as the RV gets older the price per year rises and many companies do not sell them for RVs of more than 10 years age. I suggest that before you shop extended warranties, you might find it helpful to read this article from Escapee's Magazine.

[jimnina]

As most have mentioned the driveline isn't the issue. The house appliances might be. We bought a used 88 Southwind with 61K on it. We owned it for 4.5 years and it never gave us a problem. With low mileage it may mean full time living which equates to many hours on the house appliances. Not real expensive per item but if they all go then the cost go up. On the forums I have seen where appliances have lasted 12-16 years or more without any problems. Our 88 had most of them replaced after 16 years.

[Medico]

Unfortunately those appliances each are generally more expensive that their SB counterparts. This is usually due to the installation costs. Take a fridge for example. In many cases a replacement has to be taken through the windshield opening which means the windshield has to be removed and reinstalled in addition to the old fridge being removed (usually built into a cabinet) and reinstalled. Very time consuming and time consuming means dollars.

[2gypsies]

Personally, I would put the money you'd pay for an extended warranty aside for needed repairs. I also wouldn't be concerned with only 65,000 miles. It sounds like it might have been used for short vacations so it's been driven and not just sitting for years.

 

Does the RV come with maintenance receipts? This would be a big plus to make sure things were kept up. If you could get a good inspection I'd say it's a 'go'.

 

RV appliances could die at any time of age. They aren't the best to begin with, unfortunately. You'll rarely find a RV for sale with almost new tires. Tires need changing at the proper time on all RVs. On that RV they could have been changed twice already because of it's age. You can easily check the age of the tires by reading the numbers on the tires. You shouldn't depend on tires by just the looks of them.

[Ray,IN]

Putting money aside for repairs instead of buying an extended service contract is one line of thinking, However, a man on irv2.com wishes he had one when his ISX Cummins dropped some valves requiring a rebuild of three cylinders. Oh, I don't think he had the $29,000 saved-up even though Cummins kicked-in $10,000.

[GypsyQueen7]

Yes, I had thought about putting the money into savings instead, but then realized, that the 'point,' if you will, of paying for insurance is to have access to a pool of money for repairs...I'll just have to do some research once I pick out my rig, to see what is out there...of course, if it's too old, it sounds like there may not be to many options for extended insurance.

[GypsyQueen7]

Ok, so just discovered that Good Sam doesn't do warranties on 1997 - so the rig in my OP is out but I did find a 2000 Rexhall Aerbus I like, and the plan with a $1000 deductible is $1028.98/year, which includes coverage for seals, gaskets, and tires. Seems reasonable?

 

Thanks again for all the advice and information! You all are awesome!!

[Kirk W]

Yes, I had thought about putting the money into savings instead, but then realized, that the 'point,' if you will, of paying for insurance is to have access to a pool of money for repairs...I'll just have to do some research once I pick out my rig, to see what is out there...

An extended warranty is really a health insurance plan for the RV. The choice of buying one or not should be made as a business or financial one. A business buys insurance to cover any loss that will mean financial distress.On the other hand, if you have the financial resources to pay for the worst that could happen, it is then not a sound choice to buy insurance for the problems it would cover. These plans work just like insurance in that better coverage means a higher price and larger deductibles mean a lower one. It has been my observation that those who buy the lowest priced plans are seldom happy with their coverage while those who buy one of the more costly plans usually are satisfied.

 

As with any type of insurance, you should not buy an extended warranty to save money because the only time that insurance of any kind actually saves a consumer money is when they have a lot of problems to generate claims. All insurance has to take in more in premiums each year than they pay out in that same year, so must extended warranties do not save money. What they do is to allow the owner to sleep well if they don't have the money to pay for replacement of an engine, transmission, or air conditioner without wrecking their financial security. I strongly recommend that you take the time to read this article from my website, which was published twice in Escapees magazine about these plans. I believe that you will find it helpful in shopping for coverage.

[Medico]

Just remember many of the covered repairs will be less than the $1000 deductible. The best method is to wait until you have found several repairs and combine them. Unfortunately, some repairs can not wait.

[GypsyQueen7]

Very true Medico! Though, I am a close relative to Murphy's Law, so possibly if one thing goes wrong, many will at the same time Actually, reading Kirk's article about extended service contracts is what made me decide that the piece of mind is worth it, even if I don't end up needing it, I know I'm covered, or will be as long as my rig isn't too old! Great article Kirk, thank you!!!

[Phil Saran]

OK, you've been given good advice, but I did not see anyone touch on the subject of age of the rig and where are you going to live in it?

 

On another one of your posts about a TT I talked about the one I bought when I got divorced, what I did not say was I already had a 1979

TT and the park I wanted to live in had the 10 year rule so I sold what I had and bought a one year old TT.

 

So where do you plan on living in this 2000 Rexall MH you mentioned in this post?

[GypsyQueen7]

OK, you've been given good advice, but I did not see anyone touch on the subject of age of the rig and where are you going to live in it?

 

On another one of your posts about a TT I talked about the one I bought when I got divorced, what I did not say was I already had a 1979

TT and the park I wanted to live in had the 10 year rule so I sold what I had and bought a one year old TT.

 

So where do you plan on living in this 2000 Rexall MH you mentioned in this post?

 

Hi Phil,

 

 

I'll be living in an RV park that has no age restrictions (rare, I know!) I took a drive around it to make sure it wasn't a dump or junkie haven. It's actually part mobile home park, part RV park, and clean and well-taken care of. And in the RV part, while some of the RV's are older, like 70's, 80's, 90's , they are obviously well looked after, no mold, no tarps (not allowed), and no junk all around the RV. Some of the long-timers have even put up nice temporary fencing - which I really like because I have two dogs that I like to sit outside with. But, it was the ONLY park I found near me that has no age restrictions...some don't want anything older than 2005 if you're going to be there monthly.

 

I have since decided that travel trailer is my best option while I'll be stationary for the next 3-5 years, since I can get a newer one for about the same as an older motorhome, I won't have to worry about the engine just sitting there collecting dust