New Purchase Depreciation; Class A Diesel

[burtcooper]

What should one expect on value depreciation of a new Class A diesel? That is, the day I drive it off the lot, what is the normal depreciation to expect? After one year? After two years. Thank you.

[Mr_D]

The only time depreciation comes into play is if you go to sell or trade otherwise it's a non issue.

[burtcooper]

Well, I'm looking at it from a used unit buyer perspective.

[barmcd]

A whole lot! The assumption is that the value goes down 20% when you drive it off the lot, but it really depends on who is selling and how much the buyer is willing to pay. I have the paperwork for my coach from the first two buyers, the first paid $240K and sold it to the second owner six years later for $170K. That's $12K depreciation per year over the first six years. That's off the sales price, not the list price of the coach.

[hohenwald48]

Go to NADA and check the value for last years model. Might help you get some idea. Also look on RVTrader and other sale sites. It's probably manufacturer/model dependent.

Just like a Jeep Wrangler doesn't depreciate as fast as a Smart car. Same with RVs.

[wnytaxman]

Originally Posted by barmcd

A whole lot! The assumption is that the value goes down 20% when you drive it off the lot, but it really depends on who is selling and how much the buyer is willing to pay. I have the paperwork for my coach from the first two buyers, the first paid $240K and sold it to the second owner six years later for $170K. That's $12K depreciation per year over the first six years. That's off the sales price, not the list price of the coach.

That's actually about 5% per year over the six year period which I don't think is too bad. The first two years will be the greatest drop percentage wise and then it will be a declining number after that. Much does depend on make, model, etc. A 45 foot coach would be much more in demand at today's $2.50 diesel than it would be at $5 diesel.