Staying ahead of the depreciation curve.

[buddy110]

Hi Folks,
I would like to hear your thoughts on my options

I am currently a low milage 2015 CS 3914 owner. My long term plan is to get into a DSDP. As of right now, it's a little out of my reach so I am faced with a decision.

Buy a new Ventana or Insignia now and trade it up in for an '18 or perhaps '19 dutch.

Keep the CS and trade that up for the same thing.

I want to stay ahead of the depreciation curve.

I prefer a spartan chassis, which is why the Insignia is an option. After looking at all three, DS Ventana and Insignia I of course prefer the DS. That said, I believe I can get the insignia for about 25K less than the Ventana. Assuming that is the case, what are your thoughts on the potential depreciation of my CS vs either of my other options?

I realize it's a subjective question as the Insignia's resale can't really be gauged yet. But from what I have seen Newmar's hold their value better than Entegra

Anyway, thanks in advance for any feedback

[ewlee]

Originally Posted by buddy110

Hi Folks,
I would like to hear your thoughts on my options

I am currently a low milage 2015 CS 3914 owner. My long term plan is to get into a DSDP. As of right now, it's a little out of my reach so I am faced with a decision.

Buy a new Ventana or Insignia now and trade it up in for an '18 or perhaps '19 dutch.

Keep the CS and trade that up for the same thing.

I want to stay ahead of the depreciation curve.

I prefer a spartan chassis, which is why the Insignia is an option. After looking at all three, DS Ventana and Insignia I of course prefer the DS. That said, I believe I can get the insignia for about 25K less than the Ventana. Assuming that is the case, what are your thoughts on the potential depreciation of my CS vs either of my other options?

I realize it's a subjective question as the Insignia's resale can't really be gauged yet. But from what I have seen Newmar's hold their value better than Entegra

Anyway, thanks in advance for any feedback

There is a firestorm on depreciation currently ongoing. A person can figure it any way they want, as a recent seller of a 2013 Phaeton, I will share my experience. I figured a 10% hit from what my purchase price was for the first year and then 8% for each year afterwards.
The dealer offered me wholesale on a trade which would have been greater than 38% depreciation on a 4 year old coach. This offer actually worked out to be ~12% for first year and ~10% for every year afterwards. I ended up selling the coach myself and did much better than my original estimate. This is not typical because I had many extras that I had added onto the coach and it was a high demand floor plan. I think my original estimate is closer to norm. I sold before I had to replace tires and before the coach was too old in technology.
IMHO, if your current coach is working, I would wait until you could step up to the end desired unit. If you wait until '19, your coach will only be 4 years old which is still in a good range for resale.

[MRUSA14]

You will always come out beter in depreciation by keeping what you have vs buyng new. A new coach gets a huge depreciation hit immediately. Your coach is past that and its depreciation has begun to slow down.

[Dutch Star Don]

If you have anything like California, it will cost you 10% in taxes and license fees each time you change. Depreciation hits the hardest the first year or two and then tapers off. Your plan to buy a Ventana and then a Dutch Star sounds like a waste of money to me. Keep your coach and wait until you can afford the DS.

[Gamaliel Kid]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

If you have anything like California, it will cost you 10% in taxes and license fees each time you change. Depreciation hits the hardest the first year or two and then tapers off. Your plan to buy a Ventana and then a Dutch Star sounds like a waste of money to me. Keep your coach and wait until you can afford the DS.

New coaches ALWAYS take a bigger hit - just like a car! However, The sweet spot for the value of your canyon star is now. 2018 orders will be taken in the next 60 days or less - making your coach three years old - currently it is still only two years old. I had a dealer try to sell me a 2015 recently - guess what I ordered a new one for almost the same price! So, that tells me that 2015's are in good demand at the moment.

Now as to taxes - it depends on where you live. Some states have no sales taxes on motorhomes, some have a flat rate and in Florida where I live the taxes are based on the difference in trade price. So, you can buy a $200K coach with a trade difference of $25K. Some states the sale tax could be as high as $14,000 and in some 0$. In Florida the sales tax would be $1,750.

Hope this helps in some way.

[Cranemec]

Being in debt is never a winning option. Live your wage. The Jones are bankrupt, quit trying to keep up with them.

[buddy110]

Originally Posted by Gamaliel Kid

New coaches ALWAYS take a bigger hit - just like a car! However, The sweet spot for the value of your canyon star is now. 2018 orders will be taken in the next 60 days or less - making your coach three years old - currently it is still only two years old. I had a dealer try to sell me a 2015 recently - guess what I ordered a new one for almost the same price! So, that tells me that 2015's are in good demand at the moment.

Now as to taxes - it depends on where you live. Some states have no sales taxes on motorhomes, some have a flat rate and in Florida where I live the taxes are based on the difference in trade price. So, you can buy a $200K coach with a trade difference of $25K. Some states the sale tax could be as high as $14,000 and in some 0$. In Florida the sales tax would be $1,750.

Hope this helps in some way.

This is my thought also. The trade value is pretty good for my coach now.

As it turns out, I have negotiated a deal for an Entegra coach. I hate to leave the ranks of Newmar. My experience here has been exemplary. That said, the Entegra has most of the features that I wanted in the DS including the side rad and 450hp motor, floor heat etc. for about -80k. I hope I don't regret the decision, but I can alway trade back if I desire.

Thanks for the feedback

[lakebuster]

Funny how things change, we purchased a 2015 DS4369. Thought this would be our first and last MH. But business has been good so looking at LA and Essex. Well I liked the 4519 floor plan, but it does not have a slide out for more counter space. Also new FWS was sloped inside and stuck out about 1/4" on reveal. DW noticed the inside and I noticed the reveal, she did not care about the 600HP and 4000 series transmission. She could not see / understand why a price difference and stated we could buy a second home for the difference. So now I am in limbo!

[tjZ06]

If you want to stay 'ahead' of the depreciation curve you have to buy a much, much older RV. The depreciation curve does hit a point where it stalls out and in some cases even will reverse and the coach can increase in value for a very short window. And example would be the higher-end, barely pre-emissions coaches right now. You'll see '06-08 very clean, very nice coaches selling for a little more than they might have 2-3 years ago as the supply of pre-emissions coaches becomes smaller, yet currently some people are still hung-up on that. Before long the market will no longer bear the inflated prices as those coaches just get 'too old' for most buyers (especially those that frequent parks w/ 10 year age limits on coaches) and buyers become more comfortable with the emissions equipment. There is another class of coaches where you can actually add value with some TLC and improvement/repairs (which they'll need at that point). But we're talking something like 15-20 year old coaches, and only the most desireable makes and models. You'll also have to be able to do all the work yourself or you'll burn any 'profit' on labor. Even then, it's a gamble and extremely, EXTREMELY difficult to be ahead of depreciation if you keep the for any time at all or use it yourself. I know a few "RV flippers" that do okay, but it's a business to them, not their own personal RV.




What I assume you're actually asking, is "how to not get hurt TOOOOOO bad by depreciation." In that case, the answer is probably to hold on to what you have until you're ready for your DSDP.

Your CS is only a '15, so you're still in the early part of the depreciation curve, which is the steepest. The minute you drove it off the lot it took the biggest single hit that it will take in its entire lifetime. As each year goes by, the depreciation hit is a little less. There is one possible exception, and that is the "cliff" you will hit when the coach becomes too old to finance. That narrows your potential buyer's market considerably which tends to lead to an outsized depreciation drop that year. IIRC most institutions will finance out to about 7-9 years without issues, and some (perhaps Esex) go out further. Since you have a 2015 that means you're looking at 2022 at the earliest before you hit that cliff, and you intend to buy the DSDP before then. All of that says to me, "keep the CS until you buy the DSDP".

Of course, that's just the pure economics of it. If we all operated on economics alone we wouldn't have any of these RVs in the first place, so you have to factor in what matters to you. How much do you drive the coach? How much does the noise/stress etc. of the gasser take away from your vacation experience right now? What else would you be giving up staying w/ the CS for the next 2-3 years vs. getting a stop-gap pusher of some sort?

Once you answer those questions you can do the math and determine if getting your hold-over RV is worth it. These are entirely made-up numbers, but let's say your CS will depreciate at $5k/year for the next 3 years while you wait to buy the DSP. Now, let's say getting the Insignia or Ventana will cost you $15k in taxes up front, and an additional $5k/year in depreciation ($10/yr total). That will be an extra $30k out of pocket while you wait for your DSDP order. If those #s were real, you would simply need to decide if the benefits of the Insignia or Ventana are worth $30k to you. When you run the real numbers you'll probably see you have an easy call...

-TJ