This article is about the cost of full time RV living. And our personal costs to maintain and repair our motorhome during our full time travels.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our motorhome for the last five years.

And if you’ve been watching my YouTube channel for a while you know what kind of RV we have.

It’s a 2004 Newmar Class A Diesel Pusher. And you probably also know that I’m a big fan of buying older luxury motorhomes.

Especially those built between the years 2000 and 2007. Because I personally believe that they are some of the best motorhomes ever built.

Now I made a whole video about that. So I won’t go into that subject deeply here.

However, you can click here to watch that video and learn more about that subject if you like.

Table of Contents

• What We have learned In Five Years Of Full Time RVing
• RVs Need Constant Upkeep Through Repair And Maintenance
• Why Bigger RVs Require More Upkeep Than Smaller Ones
• The Cost Of Full Time RV Living – RV Maintenance
• Even More Maintenance Items That Needed Attention
• Our Cost Of Full Time RV Living – RV Repairs
• Even More RV Repairs We had To Make
• Help With Our Cost Of Full time RV Living – A Service Contract
• The Cost Of Full Time RV Living – Our Budget
• A Big Lesson Learned About How To Manage RV Costs
• A Big Way That You Can Save On RV Upkeep Costs
• What About The Service Contract?
• Small Things That Also Need Attention On An RV
• Our Cost Of Full Time RV Living – My Conclusions

What We have learned In Five Years Of Full Time RVing

But here we are more than five years down the line from buying our RV.

And I figure that it’s a really good time to review the costs of owning this RV.

I feel that it would be very helpful and educational for you to know.

Especially if you are wondering about the cost of full time RV living now.

And it doesn’t matter whether you have a motorhome or even a towable RV like a travel trailer or a fifth wheel either.

The reason for that is there’s always an engine somewhere that’s moving whatever RV you have down the road.

And that’s true even on towable RVs, as you will have a tow vehicle that you use in that case.

And if you do, that engine is going to need regular maintenance and repairs.

Also the house of the RV is constantly going to need some kind of repair and maintenance too.

RVs Need Constant Upkeep Through Repair And Maintenance

In fact, I have a running list of all the things that I need to do on my RV.

And as soon as I get something checked off, well something else comes up on the list.

So you never really get caught up on all the things you have to do to repair and maintain an RV.

And full time RVers can certainly sympathize with that statement.

Why Bigger RVs Require More Upkeep Than Smaller Ones

But our Class A diesel pusher will often require more money for upkeep than almost any other kind of RV.

That is, except for other big motorhomes like super C’s. And the reason for that is these kind of RVs are bigger and more expensive to begin with.

They have more amenities and there’s more complexity in the systems than in most smaller RVs.

But even though I’m going to cover expenses related to my diesel pusher, it’s still going to be helpful for you.

And that’s true no matter what kind of RV you’re thinking about getting or already have.

Because our experiences will still be helpful. You can just adjust it to the size and kind of RV that you have or are considering.

So let’s go ahead and talk about what it has cost us to maintain and repair our motorhome so far.

And before I get to the actual expenses let’s explain what was maintained and repaired.

The Cost Of Full Time RV Living – RV Maintenance

So let’s start with the list of maintenance items. And right at the top of my list is oil and filter changes for the engine.

Of course, you have to perform that kind of maintenance regularly.

Also, the air filter will need to be changed on a regular basis too. And believe me on these big diesel engines that’s not a small expense.

Then there’s also fuel filters that need to be changed on that big diesel engine too.

But don’t forget about the generator on this motorhome either.

The one we have is a diesel generator. So you’re going to need to change the oil and filter for that at pretty much the same time you do the engine.

But then there’s that big radiator back there that keeps your diesel engine running cool.

You’re going to have to take care of it too. So it has to be flushed every few years or so.

And when we did that this time, we also replaced the thermostats at the same time.

Even More Maintenance Items That Needed Attention

Then you need to lubricate the chassis regularly too. That’s just an ongoing process that is essential on motorhomes.

And then we had our shocks start to wear out on us too. So those needed to be replaced, and that was certainly not cheap.

Then our chassis batteries finally gave out and needed to be replaced as well.

But the big expense we had for maintenance was the motorhome tires on our RV.

And when you have a diesel pusher, buying six or more tires at that size is not cheap. We just got through doing that last year.

OK, so that’s the list of things that we needed to maintain on our RV since we bought it.

Now it’s actually not the full list. It’s just a generalized list that covers the bigger things that we had to maintain on our motorhome.

And hopefully it gives you an idea of the things that need to be done and scheduled.

Our Cost Of Full Time RV Living – RV Repairs

Now what about repairs? Well, I’ll also show you what we had to repair on our motorhome as well.

And let’s start at the top with a brake problem that needed to be fixed.

Then there were suspension bushings that also had to be replaced too.

Inside the RV, some of our ceiling lights just wore out. So we replaced them.

Then the backup monitor stopped working and had to be replaced.

And with these kind of motorhomes, the air system is prone to leaks. So sure enough we’ve had leaks in the front and the rear system too.

Then our house water pump needed to be replaced when it wore out.

And the exhaust tip on our engine started to rust out. So it had to be replaced too.

Then both ceiling vent Fantastic Fans that we have in the motorhome finally needed to be refurbished.

And that meant that all the gears and the arm mechanism for the lid had to be replaced.

Then the TV antenna had to be fixed along with the mechanism that moves it.

And we also had a battery cutoff switch that just stopped working and needed to be replaced.

Then our power seat that we use for driving the RV stopped working. The solenoid for it went out and that had to be replaced.

Even More RV Repairs We had To Make

But one of the really big expenses we’ve had is the slide toppers needed to be replaced.

Now normally I would put that under maintenance of the RV. But these had to be replaced early because of some hail storms we went through.

So I’m counting that as a repair because we could have gotten more life out of them.

But the really big expense though that we’ve had for repairs has been replacing both house air conditioners. And that was done over the last couple of years.

Then finally, our water heater needed to be completely refurbished too. And that’s something that I did myself.

OK now lets total up all of this maintenance that I just covered. Along with all of the repairs too.

And they cost us a total of $16,373. Wow! Even we were surprised by the amount of money we had spent altogether on our RV.

Help With Our Cost Of Full time RV Living – A Service Contract

Now to be fair let me mention that we had a service contract that covered some of these expenses.

And by the way, I’m very glad that I had that service contract. I feel that it worked out very well for us.

And I highly recommend getting an RV service contract on these older motorhomes. Or what some people call an extended warranty.

Because it covered $3,120 of our expenses. So that means that our own out of pocket expenses were actually $13,253 instead.

Now if you work that out over the first four years of ownership, it was $3,313 a year.

And to help you decide whether a service contract or extended warranty could help you, watch this video I made on that subject.

Also, if you choose to get a service contract, here is the company that I recommend. Especially if you want to get RV protection you can trust.

The Cost Of Full Time RV Living – Our Budget

Now when we first got this RV I had made a budget for maintenance and repairs.

And this is what I encourage you to do as well. Don’t avoid trying to figure out what you are going to need to budget for these costs.

But the good news is that I had budgeted from my research about $3,000 a month when we first got the RV.

So I’m not that far off of my original budget. But clearly, I think I’m going to have to raise that projected budget amount a little more.

Because the cost of full time RV living is going up. And that applies to RV repairs and maintenance too.

So as a result, I’m going to move from $3,000 to $3,500 a year for my budget moving forward.

A Big Lesson Learned About How To Manage RV Costs

OK, so what do we learn from all of this? Well first of all, what I want you to understand is that the cost of full time RV living can be a lot.

It can be expensive to maintain and repair an RV when it’s being used on a full time basis.

And the bigger the RV is, the heavier it is, and the more amenities it has, the more costly it will be.

So that means more expense you’re going to have for maintenance and repairs on your RV.

Now that statement can also be reverse engineered too. So what if you don’t want to be spending $3,000 – $3,500 a year on keeping your RV going?

Well then I recommend that you get a smaller RV. Get one that’s not so heavy and doesn’t have so many amenities.

An RV that is not so complex overall. And as a result of that, you can save money on maintaining and repairing an RV like that.

A Big Way That You Can Save On RV Upkeep Costs

Also, there is something else you can do to save money on RV upkeep.

And that is to learn how to repair and maintain things around the RV yourself.

Because roughly 80% of the things that go wrong on an RV really can be taken care of by an RV owner.

Especially if they have some guidance and knowledge to know what to do.

And that is true especially on chassis maintenance for motorhomes.

What About The Service Contract?

Now for us ,we actually chose to have our chassis maintained by professionals.

And the reason I did that is because I had the RV service contract. So I wanted a clear record of the maintenance and repairs that had been done.

And that way the service contract company would know what I’ve been doing. And they would know that it had been maintained correctly.

But you don’t have to do that if you don’t have a service contract.

In fact, you could do a lot of the chassis maintenance yourself instead.

Especially things that have to do with lubrication or replacing fluids and filters. And by doing that you can save money!

Small Things That Also Need Attention On An RV

Now let me mention that there’s a lot of things in this article’s list that I didn’t include. A lot of small repairs that goes on from day to day.

And little maintenance items that I do regularly. Because it’s just not worth mentioning all of that.

There’s too much of it to even mention in an article like this. Because those kind of things don’t really cost a lot.

They just mainly involve some labor that you need to put in to handle the situation.

Our Cost Of Full Time RV Living – My Conclusions

But remember that you still need to do the small things as well. And that way you can keep your RV in good shape.

In fact, what I recommend is try to learn as much as you can about your RV. Or about the RV that you intend to buy if you don’t have it yet.

Try to learn as much as you can about it. Try to get as much information about it as you can.

And that way you can figure out ways that you can do as much of the work yourself. If you do that, you will save lots of money!

I also recommend talking to more full time RVers. And ask them about what the cost of full time RV living has been for them.

Don’t just read this article about my experience and feel that you have everything you need to know.

And the good news is that there are lots of full time RVers. And many of them are happy to share their experience about RV maintenance and repairs.

So try to get a big pool of information that you can draw from. And that way you can get a good feel for establishing a workable budget.

One that will work for you and the RV that you buy.

Well, I hope this review has been helpful for you if you’re planning on future full time RV travels.

And I hope that what I’ve shared with you in this article will help you get started with more reliable information to make your travels a success.

Have safe and happy travels my friends!