Cost of TT

[marytaz]

Newbie here. I'm going to be purchasing a TT when I retire and paying cash for it. Trying to figure out how to determine an inflation price hike as I won't be buying for 5-6 more years to give me guide as to how much to put away for it. Any ideas? Thanks!

[Kirk W]

If you already know what you want, you could take that price and inflate it by the typical historic price rises. The problem is in knowing what you will want when the time comes since RVs change over time in more ways than just inflation. Designs change, amenities change and event the things which most owners consider to be necessities change. Just to get some idea of what the rate of change has been over recent years, I took the price of the three finalist RVs that we were shopping for in 1998 when we were preparing to go fulltime and compared each one to the listed prices of the same or equivalent model of the same brand today. Since each one was in a directly competitive market, I then did some math and I found that the one with least change over that period averaged an increase of 0.4%/year and the one with the greatest price increase was just over 0.6% so you could probably be safe if you figure at least 5% and something less than 10% for inflation per year.

 

That is just a guess, but it is difficult to do much more.

[marytaz]

Thanks, Kirk! That's exactly what I was looking for. And yes, I have an idea of layout, what I want, what I don't want, and I've walked through some. But you are correct, I won't really know until the time comes until the time comes. I have a $ now that I was thinking about as max spending, but I had forgotten about inflation. So, thank you! Need to plan on saving some extra money for that.

[Kirk W]

It is actually more than just inflation. As the RVs progress they also change in available features and we seem to change what we want in them along with that. Some things are just a given, but the builders seem to add items that soon become vital even though we never needed them until the showrooms plant that idea. A good example is the way that TV started as an option, then became a requirement and today most larger RVs have more than one.

 

Our first RV, was nothing more than a tent trailer with beds and some storage space and it was wonderful because we moved to it from a tent. The next seemed almost like home as though it was still a tent trailer, it had a water tank (no water heater and a manual pump), refrigerator, furnace, cook-top, and lights. That was all anyone should ever actually need! But like most people we then moved up to a hard wall trailer which was fully self contained, then to one with an on-board generator set, TV, and such, with each time we bought we "needed" even more features. The progression happens in RV designs just as it does in our view of RVs and new features always add to the price. As we watch a particular model of RV over a series of years, the more popular ones slowly rise in position in the marked and some new model is introduced at the bottom of the price/quality range to replace the one you were following. By doing this the manufacturers seem to carry most of us along with the market plan to spend even more each time we buy. As an example, when we first began to watch class A units(mid 90's), the Dutch Star (by Newmar) was at the upper end of Newmar's gas powered units and they even had an option for one on a diesel pusher chassis. Today the Dutch Star is the second from the top of the Newmar price/quality line up, and new names have appeared below it.

 

Because of this movement in the market one needs to keep checking on various models as time passes or you will find yourself in an entirely different price range than what you actually began to observe. The effect seems to happen in all of the most successful models and especially so in the class A market. It doesn't harm a thing, but just means that one has to not lock into a particular make/model until they are near the point of buying. It can be great fun watching and dreaming so I'd suggest that you become a regular at the local RV shows and such, as it will open a lot of doors to new ideas and also you can learn a great deal about RVs in the process. You may even want to pick a model or two and then watch how they fare in succeeding years on resale prices and that helps to narrow the quality side of the field since the rigs that hold up best tend to maintain price better than those that do not.

[marytaz]

Thanks for that, Kirk. Technology does get us with a firm grip. I was just telling someone that other day that everyone did just fine before cell phones came along. Now, it seems to be a necessity to most people. Cable TV and all the channels they give you as well. I currently had my cable disconnected and I'm back to the old rabbit ear antenna. Love the few channels that I do get.

 

I'm also looking at used trailers. So a new trailer today will be 5-6 years old. If I can find a good used one at that time, it's a possibility. Keeping all my options open and doing research on everything and all the possibilities. All of the comments, suggestions from this board have helped a great deal. Going to the RV shows is a great idea...hadn't thought of that one.

[Phil Saran]

Just keep putting money away in a saving or Cd.

 

Of the last two TT I purchased, the first was a 2004 27ft. that was 10 months old when

I purchased it in 2005 and I purchased for the bank payoff of $14K.

 

The second TT was a 2011 Keystone 30 ft. that I bought in 2013 and I paid $18K, about

$2K less than the seller owned on it.