Mileage on coach

[luckyd]

We buy coaches with diesel engines that will
give us a "million miles".
Why is it that buyers panic when a 10 year old coach
gets up to the 75K mark, a 5 year old gets up to 40K?????

We see ads for very low mileage coaches and are we
at the point where this is the norm.

I use my coach and love travelling around the country.
Our coach just turned 90K and some people are
quite shocked that it has "that many miles".

What is your normal driving????

[Mac99]

In four years, I have 56K on mine. By the way, if you go to the
NADA site to find the value of a coach, if it is a diesel,
they don't even ask the mileage. The mileage is not
relevant to the value. I think an 8 year old coach with 12,000 miles
is going to be a problem, but the uneducated purchaser may
think that it is good to have low miles. Oh well....

[vincee]

IMHO, mileage isn't always relative to the daily wear and tear on the non-chassis part of a coach. Upholstery, appliances, flooring, counter tops, water heaters and plumbing in general. A good example is to upgrade to digital televisions. Beautiful early to mid 2000's rigs with old style TV's. Free standing Tv units aren't bad to upgrade, the TV's themselves are cheap today. But rigs that had them installed in cabinets over the dash, above bedroom vanities etc. now you have issues to upgrade besides the TV's and how nice will the finished product look? Also, many RV's don't have a lot of miles on them but they have a lot of wear because they were used as mobile cabins, sitting in one place for long stretches of time or seasonal campers. You hear all the time of how long a diesel rig will last with quotes of 250K, 500K, 1M miles. I would not want to own anything with that use on it because of the multiplier of how worn out everything else is.

[so47]

Low miles would only be bad if the po didn't do pm by time intervals instead of using mileage. Regardless of miles driven, I get things done by time since I take short hops and squat in place for weeks if not months at a time. I'm the second owner of an '06 dp and I just broke 15K. No problems with things so far, but the po had done pm by time passed, as I continue to do. YMMV.

[bas]

Vincee is right!!
I have a 2000 MH with 114K 450hp "Cumalong".
I am from the north so I winterize every year. When spring comes the coach goes through a DOT inspection. ALL filters are changed no matter what miles are on the prior year. 5k 10 k it doesn't matter. All systems are checked. a list of items that have been written over the past season are fixed. You must keep ahead of any problems. If you are having work done that must be done I give the mechanic the list to perform. I do not work on my coach. The person that does, his title is CERTIFIED RV TECHNITION, my title is Sales person RETIRED. I can sell RV's but wouldn't even think of working on one. Diesel coaches are expensive just take care of them and update what you are desiring. I have old TV's but they work. Replace them with new ones would be expensive just in the cabinet work let alone replace the in motion to HD $10K comes to mind.

I also have a 2003 Tahoe with 310K miles and take care of it too.

BAS

[gruelens]

Yes diesels have longevity. Big rigs running team drivers go 250K a year and often go 3/4 of a million miles before overhaul. But a MH is in a constant earthquake condition rolling down the road. It is not the engine/chassis, but the house above it that wears out. Of course quality varies with manufacturer and model.

[Daveinet]

Originally Posted by luckyd

We buy coaches with diesel engines that will
give us a "million miles".
Why is it that buyers panic when a 10 year old coach
gets up to the 75K mark, a 5 year old gets up to 40K?????

Very simply because old philosophies never die. It was ingrained into us that both cars and motorhomes don't last more than 100K miles. So deeply ingrained, that we just can't let go of that thought process, even though it has been obsolete for 15 years.

[t55watson]

My last coach was sold with 254,000 on it and in very good condition. The present coach is @ 128,800 and doing fine.
Maintenance as scheduled and repairs as needed is what it takes.
Low miles on an old coach spells TROUBLE !

[laj]

x amount of twisting down the road loosens everything. less miles equals tighter coach. has nothing to do with running gear.
I looked for a lower mileage one when I bought mine. no issues

[mel s]

Originally Posted by luckyd

What is your normal driving????

luckyd
My normal has been between 5,000 and 10,000 miles a year.
A diesel engine and the Allison transmission may last a million miles,
however, by 150k miles many/most other parts of a coach have been repaired or replaced, (sometimes more than once).
Mel
'96 Safari, 3126 Cat

[C350AMG]

Gasser with currently 188,000 km (117,000 mi) next summer will put another 25,000km (15,000 mi)

[StevenNSteph]

Originally Posted by luckyd

What is your normal driving????

Full-timing = 5-6K a year
Part-timing = 7K-9K a year

I always sell a coach before it gets to be 10 years old, seems that most get a hefty depreciation hit at that magic number.

[Ron & Kerrie]

We just bought our 1999 Dutch Star it has 149,000 miles on it. The previous owners took VERY good care of it. The4 only thing they did I don't like is, his wife did not like the decals and so he took them off.

[Arizona]

For those that want the engine longevity, maybe a company will start a program that exchanges the engine/trans out of the outdated worn out chassis and body with a new coach. Better yet, just pull a few pins and do it yourself. Johnny Cash might have written a song about that!