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RV Depreciation Rates Per Year + Method To Calculate 2024

What Is The Typical Depreciation Of An RV Or Camper?

We have made four tables with depreciation rates for Class A, Class C, fifth wheels, and travel trailers.

The numbers below are the average/typical depreciation rates per year found when comparing the advertised price of different types of RVs all across the United States.

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The depreciation rate is the percentage rate at which an RV is depreciated across the estimated productive life of an RV.

How fast or slow a specific RV depreciates depends on several factors, and we’ll talk about a couple of them after listing the depreciation tables down below.

Please take these numbers with a grain of salt, since these were the averages at the moment we created the tables.

Let’s look at the tables first and then talk about how you can calculate the value of an RV, what to think about, and how we found these numbers.

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Class A

We’ll assume that the average new Class A costs $120,000 out the door.

A few things to note

  • The difference between year 1 and year 2 isn’t huge. But do the year 2 models sell? The bigger drop between year 2 and 3 could indicate that a lot of Class A’s that are two years old don’t get sold, and then in the third year, the price goes down because of this. Just speculating.
  • If we imagine that we buy the Class A for 35% off MSRP, it’s down to half the MSRP value after just one year.
  • The biggest drop is in the first year, which tells us that new RVs lose 5-18% when you drive them off the lot. With a Class A, this is a lot of money lost in depreciation.

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Class C

We’ll assume that the average new Class C costs $80,000 out the door

A few things to note

  • Class C’s depreciation rate is lower than the rate of Class A’s. Why? Could be because they’re cheaper and more people can afford to buy them.
  • Class A and C depreciation rates are somewhat close to each other until after 10 years. Then the Class C slows down.

Fifth Wheels

We’ll assume that the average new fifth wheel costs $50,000 out the door

A few things to note

  • Pretty slow depreciation rate until after 11-12 years
  • Goes up significantly after 13 years
  • 19.3% depreciation after one year is a big loss

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Travel Trailer

We’ll assume that the average new travel trailer costs $25,000 out the door

A few things to note

  • Travel trailer depreciation rate is significantly higher than fifth wheels, especially after 12 years
  • Travel trailers have a more steady depreciation rate even from the start compared to every other kind of RV
  • A 21.2% depreciation after one year is pretty big
class c rv motorhomes that will depreciate in value every year
Understanding RV depreciation rates can help you decide which type of RV to buy and if new or used is right for you.

RV Depreciation Rates – What To Think About

Today I would like to talk about RVs and how they lose value over time, known as depreciation. We’ll talk about Class A’s, Class C’s, travel trailers, and fifth wheels.

There are people that believe you should never buy a new RV, while other people have never thought about buying a used one.

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We’re all in different financial scenarios and do things differently, so there really isn’t a right or wrong. Keep that in mind and in the end, do what makes sense to you.

There are tons of factors that play in when it comes to the value of an RV you want to buy or sell but speaking in general, these play a big part.

Brand

Some RVs and trailers are made better from the start and depreciate slower.

Take a look at Airstream trailers and you’ll quickly notice that the depreciation is slower on those trailers.

That isn’t just because of brand reputation and quality, but the demand.

Demand drives prices up and down so don’t go buy an Airstream and think that it will lose value as fast as a lower quality trailer.

Location

Where you are going to buy or sell matters. If a trailer is manufactured in the west and you live in the east, the price you’ll pay in your state for that trailer new will include shipping.

But when the time comes to sell the trailer, you might have to forget about the shipping cost and sell your trailer for however much it costs where it was made, because your buyer can be comparing it to prices in the whole country.

Time of the year 

There are fewer trailer sales in the winter and more in the spring, so if you plan on selling your trailer, plan ahead and do it at the right time.

On the other hand, if you’re buying, you might be able to find a better deal in October/November as the dealership is trying to clear their inventory out.

If you’re buying in the spring or summer, the chances of getting a great deal are lower.

State of the Economy 

The economy in your country is an important factor in whether you’ll get a good price when selling or buying.

If the economy is down, people have less money and are more careful with spending.

When the economy is up, there is a higher demand, and dealerships won’t give you an incredible deal if they know that someone else might walk in tomorrow and buy it for more.

State of the RV 

If you’re planning on selling the RV, the shape it’s in will matter.

Just because the average depreciation value for a travel trailer might be 50% (for example) doesn’t mean that you will sell for that much or little.

How much you’ve used and stored it will be the big one but also what kind of work you’ve had to do on it.

Don’t overvalue the work you’ve done, it doesn’t matter how much you spent on fixing the leaky roof.

It’s basic functionality of a trailer and not something a buyer should be paying extra for.

It’s different if you’ve replaced the roof completely on a 10-year-old travel trailer and it’s only a few months old.

The reason I wrote these factors down is that I don’t want you to get discouraged or led wrong with the numbers below.

While you will see an average depreciation percentage, remember that it’s a general guideline and not true for all RVs.

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Why MSRP Vs. Price Out The Door Matters

MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) is the list price that you’ll often see on dealerships’ websites or locations.

There’s often a marketing ploy like “30% OFF MSRP” below it to trick you into thinking that you’re getting the best possible deal.

The truth is that nobody pays the MSRP price, and the dealership knows this.

Any serious dealer expects you to negotiate so know that their sale price often isn’t the lowest they’ll go.

You could very well get an additional 5-20% off depending on demand and time of the year.

I visited 20 different dealerships from different states online and picked five trailers from each at different price points to calculate what the average difference was between their “sale price” and the listed MSRP.

The total average on travel trailers and fifth wheels was 34%. So MSRP was on average 34% higher than their sale price.

This means that when you drive off the lot, your out of the door price should be at least 35-40% off the MSRP in my opinion.

These kinds of numbers might be harder to reach on a Class A and Class C.

Why am I going through this? Because this is also a factor that plays into the percentages.

Some dealers mark up their trailers more than others, and since we’ll be seeing an average percentage that is based on their list price, you’ll have to take this into consideration.

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How We Calculated Depreciation Percentages

My wife and I put together a list of 160 RVs. 40 of each RV type that we’re looking at. Class A, Class C, Fifth Wheels, and Travel Trailers.

You might have read somewhere that fifth wheels and travel trailers depreciate at the same rate, but according to our calculations, there is a big enough difference to put them into their own tables.

As both are big markets on their own, it made sense to us (although it took us a few extra hours).

What we then did was go on Nadaguides and RVTrader and started looking at each trailer from each year starting with the 2019 model as new.

From 2018 we looked at used, and so on. We tried to make sure the options selected on Nadaguides were as close as possible to the trailer for sale.

We picked RVs from different brands, states, and price points.

We quickly ran into a few trailers that were new models and not on sale 10 years ago, so what we did then was found a new trailer and added that to the list as well, so we ended up with about 250 RVs in total.

Because of this, years 1-8 will be based on more data than years 9-20. We did the best we could with the data we had.

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Class A RVs that depreciate in value every year
Class A RVs depreciate a lot after the first year and lose the most value after 20 years when compared to other kinds of campers.

What We Can Learn From These Depreciation Rates

The first thing to remember is that we should take these percentages with a grain of salt, each percentage shown in each table is a very general average rate.

The $-amount in each table is there to show what that percentage looks like in numbers, not to be the correct average value of RVs.

What I learned

  • Class A’s depreciate a lot, especially after year 10. This could have to do with engine work that usually has to get done around this time or mileage. Let me know what you think could be the reason.
  • Class C’s don’t depreciate as fast. Most likely due to them being cheaper which means that the demand is higher since more people can afford them.
  • Fifth wheels hold their value the best but have the second to biggest depreciation after the first year
  • As soon as you drive off the lot, no matter what kind of RV you’ve bought, you’ll lose 5-20%.
  • I saw some incredible deals from dealers, I found several new RVs that were cheaper than two-year-old used ones of the exact same model. Not all of the used ones were priced high according to NADAguides either, which shows that there are good deals out there, especially in the late winter/early spring months.

How You Can Use The Numbers

Say that you’re planning on buying a used RV. Use these numbers to figure out what a good year to buy from would be, meaning the years when RVs depreciate the most.

Let’s look at some examples.

  • Class A depreciates almost 4% on average between years 5 and 6, that’s some savings right there if you plan the purchase right.
  • Fifth wheels depreciate on average 5.7% between years 4 and 5.
  • Travel trailers depreciate on average 3.1% between years 2 and 3

As you can see, if you plan your purchase you can save more or less money by choosing an RV that is a little bit older or newer.

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You can also use the numbers to calculate what your RV could be worth right now. Here is how:

  1. Scroll to the table about the kind of RV that you have.
  2. Figure out how old your RV is and copy the depreciation rate percentage from the table next to that year
  3. Go to Google.com and insert how much you paid for the RV out of the door. Then subtract (-) the percentage you copied, click enter and read the value

Example: I have a travel trailer that I bought for  $25,000 new, it’s a 2015 model so it’s four years old.

I’ll go to the travel trailer table above and take the percentage next to year 4, which is 31.3%.

Then I’ll head to Google.com and input “25000-31.3%” and hit enter.

The value that returns is 17,175, this is how much my travel trailer is worth based on the average rate.

Take these numbers with a grain of salt though, since some people might negotiate a $25,000 down to $22,000, but that doesn’t mean that it’s worth less when you sell it.

Let me know if you have any questions down below and I will do my best to help you.

by Jesse
Jesse has always had an interest in camping, technology, and the outdoors. Who knew that growing up in a small town in Sweden with endless forests and lakes would do that to you?

17 thoughts on “RV Depreciation Rates Per Year + Method To Calculate 2024”

  1. I feel strongly about it and really like mastering more on this subject. If feasible, as you acquire experience, would you mind updating your blog with much more information. It is very helpful for me. thanks for sharing amazing information.

    Reply
    • This doesn’t make any sense to me if I understand your process correctly: “Go to Google.com and insert how much you paid for the RV out of the door. Then subtract (-) the percentage you copied, click enter and read the value”.
      Using your example of a trailer you bought for $25K new, a better negotiator could have paid $22K and a less experienced negotiator could have paid $27K. Using your process, the value of the trailer is a function of how well you were able to negotiate the original deal ($15,114 vs $17,175 vs $18,549)

      Reply
  2. I am considering a 2019 Rockwood 8299BS, with a MSRP of about $60,000. This is a new unit, but will be 3 model years old in a few months when the 2021 models start hitting the showroom. What is a reasonable offer for me to make. Your article says 35-40% off MSRP for a new model. Would 50% of MSRP be unreasonable? Thanks

    Reply
    • 50% off is a bit much for a 2019 model, but like you say, in a couple of months it wouldnt be too unreasonable. I would start around $35,000. The market is high right now though, so that might be way low depending on the seller and location.

      Reply
  3. Is this depreciation based off of what we pay or what to expect for trade in? I am looking at a 2021 Grand Design travel trailer at $35000 new. Do you have an opinion about it’s resale value or what brand might have a better one besides airstream?

    Reply
    • Hello Ron,

      It’s based on the cost without a trade-in involved.

      Grand Design campers hold their value quite well and better than most other brands. Not as good as Airstream, but still better than most. Some of the other ones that do well, based on what I have seen, are Lance and Winnebago campers. You’re always going to lose money buying a new camper but that’s what I’d go for if I bought new.

      Jesse

      Reply
          • Hello Ron,

            They’re alright, not the best but not the worst. You can find bad reviews of every trailer manufacturer out there, so what matters more is where you buy it. See what other people have to say about the dealer you’re planning on buying from and watch out for dealerships with a lot of bad reviews.

            Jesse

  4. How come you didn’t do a chart for Class B or B+? That’s what I will be looking to purchase this winter or spring.
    Would like your input.

    Thanks
    Rafael

    Reply
    • Hello Rafael,

      Because most of the dealers we looked at with a big inventory didn’t sell Class B’s so it would’ve taken a lot more work and research, but I am considering doing one for Class B’s as well.

      Thanks for the suggestion.
      Jesse

      Reply
  5. I’m a little confused. You base your chart on “out the door” price of $120,000 on the Class A but in response to one of the comments you say (I think) it’s based on what the dealers advertise.

    Here is my example. I’m looking at a one year old high end Class A for $379,000. I know from looking at numerous models of this coach that the MSRP was around $494,000 – $500,000 which is a 20-25% discount. If that’s the case the seller wants to sell the coach roughly what he paid for it. In my negation am I right to offer 18% off the $379,000 which is roughly $311,000?

    In other words it seems depreciation should be based on what you actually pay for the coach and not the MSRP.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  6. What do you think about what happens with depreciation in the current environment of rising MSRPs. For example the Boldt

    2020
    List Price: $211,541
    Low: $133,250
    https://www.nadaguides.com/RVs/2020/Winnebago/M-70BL-Sprinter-4×4/6592516/Values

    2021
    List Price: $215,092
    Low: $138,100
    https://www.nadaguides.com/RVs/2021/Winnebago/M-70BL-Sprinter/6606748/Values

    2022
    List Price: $227,569
    Low: $160,900
    https://www.nadaguides.com/RVs/2022/Winnebago/M-70BL-Sprinter-4×4/6608278/Values

    I recognize we are in a strange psychology driven market where for the first time ever sellers think their model will increase in value next year (it was true during 2020-2021) and they are holding on to that idea (maybe fantasy) continuing. I have seen a dealer wanting to sell a 2022 for $179,999 while a private party was holding firm on this barely used model at $175k. Maybe these one off examples are not unusual, I just wondered what you thought of the recent blip. Would it for example be a better deal (2-3 years from now when selling) to buy a 2020 for $150k or a 2022 for $175k? Or are both fairly priced? With the 2020 we would expect OTD price to have been $211k x 75% = $158,655.75 and today’s 3rd year value around 75% of that, thus a selling price of $118,991.81. However, we know that the dealer probably paid much more. I would suspect the dealer paid something like 10% less than $133,250, or around $120k on trade. Maybe my numbers are close enough, and still valid. But the dealer’s asking price of $155k for the 2020 sounds ambitious. Thoughts and comments? Has the model changed today? I guess you dont want to do all the work again (must have taken hours), but you must have some guess on this as well. Thanks!

    Reply
  7. This may not be as complicated as we think. If the depreciation numbers are relatively accurate, and they appear to be, the key is assuming a reasonable purchase price and forget buyer competence. If a motorhome MSRP is $300,000, assume the purchase price is (25-30% discount), $210,000 to $225,ooo. Use the depreciation numbers in the chart and you should be in line. Look at new prices today, (10/25/23). Dealers are offering discounts of 25 to 40% all over the country. That is likely consistent with previous years. Good luck.

    Reply
  8. I’m glad others are looking at the depreciation. I have an unused 2023 Mallard M260 by Heartland. I purchased all accessories and bells and whistles for it. At approximately 55,000.. Due to health issues that came up I decided to sell. The same dealer I paid 55,000 to offered me 20,000 for it . 5 months old and never used

    Reply

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