How long to keep a Jayco?

[Riverman]

Lets say everyone on this forum has a new 2018 Jayco.

How many years should we keep it before trading again?

There has to be a formula for keeping an RV, and getting the best return out of it, on a long range plan.

Ideas?

[SkyBound]

Honestly, these days, if you have a good trailer with little to no issues I would hang on to it as long as you can. Pay it off quick and enjoy no payments, do some mods, and enjoy using it. I would be nervous trading my trailer in for something unpredictable.

[Riverman]

The longer you wait, the more you owe to trade. Guess it's like owning a car or truck.

[robkelly]

We’re hoping for a minimum seven years, and hopefully a lot longer than that - we’d love to be able to keep this rig until I retire. Our first two Jaycos could have gone that long, for a variety of reasons we just didn’t give them a chance to. The Pinnacle is a keeper though

[Quantum]

We kept our last one for 7 years.

We hardly lost any value on it when we sold it (privately) since the value of RVs in Canada have gone up in the last 7 years due to the increase in the US dollar.

[JFlightRisk]

Ours is going on 6 years old this spring. We haven't found anything we like better...yet. (OK, the Prevost thing keeps popping into my mind.) If you like what you have, take tare of it, and don't acquire "two-footitist", they'll go a long time.

[WinnieView]

The Jayco is our third RV we have had for 2 years and it fits us perfectly at this time. We have had others for as long as 10 years and as short as 18 months.
We have only ever purchased used and only bought and sold with other private owners for cash.

[Jagiven]

Personally I would keep it as long as it fits your needs, and it is still in good shape. Our plan with our htt, is 10 years. At that point kids should be out the door, and on their own, and our needs will have changed. It has been paid off for years already, so any small hit to depreciation will be made up by not having payments.

[lonestarrpm]

In my case I’m in pre-retirement mode.

My daughter heads to college next year and I amateur race with Porsche Club.

I wanted something that could haul my race trailer and cater to my wife’s rolling hotel preference :-)

I considered a gen 2 Seneca, but they were all > 37’ and I have a 28’ encloses car trailer. Legal limit in most states is 65’.

So I found a 2008 Seneca at 36’ 8” :-)

As I’ll only use it a handful of times each year, I don’t see myself looking to replace it anytime soon.

If I was like looking new, I’d look at the depreciation curves and see if 3 years outstarted to level off, and is buy one that old that had the kinks sorted. Hold for a few years, and repeat.

Mike

[Tunce the traveler]

Originally Posted by SkyBound

Honestly, these days, if you have a good trailer with little to no issues I would hang on to it as long as you can. Pay it off quick and enjoy no payments, do some mods, and enjoy using it. I would be nervous trading my trailer in for something unpredictable.

X2, mine is now 8 years old and must have 40,000 +miles on it between 2 owners and the 6 states he took it to. It still looks and works like new, nothing needs repair or freshened up. For the $15K I paid for it I feel it owes me nothing for all those good times and memories for everyone involved.

[o2silverado]

Had a 1989 jay not one leak or issue sold it for a 2005 forest river . Needless to say the 05 was a total pile of junk . Could have dropped it in the Bering sea & caught crabs with it . So we just purchased our 2018 jayflight with hope it lasts longer than 12 years.

[ReelCool]

We had our first MH, a 10 yr old Hurricane for 2 years. We wanted to see if we liked camping. We traded it two years later for $1,000 less than we paid. Then we bought a 2 year old Monaco diesel pusher. We kept that 9 years and traded it in for the 2015 White Hawk (used). (The MH depreciated 50% of what we paid but we walked away with a check on the trade). We would have kept the motor home but our needs changed so it was too expensive to sit and depreciate even more. I imagine we will keep the camper for a long time. We really like the size and floor plan. We bought it used and have had no major issues - knock in wood. I would buy what you can afford for cash and keep it as long as it is reliable and safe. Trading too often is expensive. There are a lot if good deals on almost new.

[Atlee]

I'm hoping my current 2017 Jay Flight 23RB which I bought new 6/2017, is my last one. I'm 70 now. I hope this is the trailer I retire from RVing with.

I have yet to find a floor plan that suits the two of us better than our current one.

[Quantum]

I should have also said....we keep it as long as it fits our needs.

We started to out grow our x213 as the kids are getting bigger and we are doing longer trips, so we upgraded to the Whitehawk 28BHKS.

Once the kids stop coming along, we'll probably upgrade to a couples unit and maybe a 5th wheel.

The only reason for us to buy another unit is a change in family needs.

We like the unit we have, it fits our needs well. I keep it stored indoors, so no UV damage or fade.

[Rafstar]

If the RV has a gas engine, I would keep it no longer than 10 years. My experience has been that the engine starts to have a lot of problems when they get past the decade mark.

As for a diesel engine, I would keep it as long as the interior and exterior look nice. Once it starts showing age, I would trade it in.

Bob

[Steinberg Enskyovich]

Riverman, I have a 2002 Designer 31 FKS (new at purchase). 16 years is a long time. Had one problem with it right off the batt, shore power cord had the one hot wired to ground. As i have found the longer and more frequent use the higher chances of equipment failure. I've been fortunate so far. Meticulous care and pampering have been a plus. Other than normal road dings and a few branch brush marks all has held up extremely well on this TT. A few visits to the dealer always help as they remember your unit and make note to notice the upkeep on the TT. No reason why you couldn't get as many years as I have and still get a decent trade. We used it almost every weekend since we have had it.

I have a 330 RSTS on order and have to say I am leary that the quality may not be that of the Designer series. However, all the reviews here have indicated this new TT is all it is promoted to be.

Happy camping and be safe.

[koko]

Don't know about Jayco, but we owned our Shasta for 22 years. It had no leaks, perfect plumbing, perfect appliances - we had purchased it used. We kept it in great shape with light maintenance through the years (and we had 4 children camping in it with us). As long as it worked for our needs we kept it. Trailers depreciate so quickly that it's not worth trading in something that's good just because it's a few years old. We lost thousands of dollars not buying the right fit in the first place and trading too soon.

[wags999]

No one knows what the economy will doing in 2 years let alone longer out than that. Nor do we know where fuel will be down the road. Demand has as much to do with value as the actual condition of the RV.

I think you can only ascertain the value in real time.

I've seen one year old RVs the looked like they went through a war, and I've seen 40 year old Rv's that were in showroom condition.

Selling something you know for something you don't know trying to save a few thousand, doesn't sound like a great plan to me.

Good Luck.

[vcbice]

We keep our RVs as long as we need them.

Think about what you look for when shopping. Me? I look for ones that are around 5yrs old and no sign of water damage. That seems to be when the prices drop a lot. They drop a lot again at the 10yr point. For MH's there is also a mileage factor. On gas engines the first hit is at 50k miles, then at 100k miles. On pusher diesels they do not drop much with mileage. Diesel class C drop at about 100k miles.

[DonaandDon]

I've read the norm is 8-10yrs. Depends on the model, mileage, and of course road conditions. We kept ours 8 years, had 50k miles on it, but were full timers. If that's matters. If you owe on your trade and the dealer knows it then you have to be willing to walk away from the deal. Trade are notoriously under marketed. I liken it to a pawn show, you get 50% net worth. The real deal is what's sitting and for how long its been sitting on their lot.