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What An RV Really Costs You At Every Level — Transcript

by Leinad Levels · 3,154 words · 440 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Level one, the payment.
0:02$689
0:03a month. Brent writes it on the back of
0:05his business card and slides it across
0:07the dinette table inside the motorhome.
0:10That is it, he says. That is the whole
0:12thing. You are 44, an operations
0:15supervisor at a distribution center out
0:17by the airport in Mesa, Arizona. $68,000
0:21a year, and you have spent most of your
0:23working life in a building with no
0:25windows. It is April 2021. The lot at
0:29Sun Streak RV on Main Street is half
0:31empty. Everything has sold. The country
0:34is buying motorhomes faster than the
0:36factories in Indiana can build them.
0:38This one is a Rome Well Vista 31, a
0:41Class C, 31 ft on a truck chassis with a
0:44bed over the cab. Paige is 12, and she
0:47has climbed up into that bed with a book
0:49and will not come down. Wyatt is nine,
0:51and he is opening every cabinet in
0:53order, like a man checking a hotel room.
0:56Renee stands in the doorway and looks at
0:58the sticker. $114,900.
1:02No discount, Brent says. If you walk, it
1:05is gone by Saturday. In the finance
1:07office, the number grows. Mesa's sales
1:10tax, the Arizona license tax, the
1:12paperwork, and a service contract for
1:14$5,950
1:17for peace of mind. Out the door,
1:19$132,900.
1:22You put down 28,400,
1:24most of your savings. Larkspur Finance
1:27lends the rest at 4.99%.
1:3020 years, the finance manager says,
1:32because a motorhome has a bed, a stove,
1:35and a toilet, so a lender can treat it
1:37like a second home. You sign a loan
1:39because your credit is better. The last
1:41payment is due in May 2041. You will be
1:4464. Renee reads the card. "689," she
1:49says. "That is a car payment." Rome
1:51Well's warranty runs 1 year. The loan
1:54runs 20. Level two, the bunk.
1:57Your father has an opinion before you
1:58are out of the driveway. Walt is 71, a
2:02retired diesel mechanic, and he lives in
2:04a manufactured home in Apache Junction
2:06with a carport full of tools. He lays a
2:09flattened box on your driveway and
2:11slides under the Vista on his back, like
2:13he did for 40 years. He is under there a
2:15long time. When he comes out, he says
2:18one sentence. It is a house bolted to a
2:21truck, son, and you get the trouble of
2:23both. He will not come home on the first
2:25trip. His knee cannot take the step up
2:27into the door, and he would rather lose
2:29the knee than say so. The homeowners
2:31association gives you 48 hours in the
2:34driveway to load, then a letter. So, the
2:37Vista lives on a gravel lot off the
2:39Superstition Freeway behind a chain-link
2:41fence with wire on top for $165
2:44a month. In May, you drive it north to
2:47the Grand Canyon. Every campground near
2:49the rim is booked, so you take the last
2:51site at a private park outside the gate.
2:53$78 a night with full hookups. It is
2:56about 460 miles there and back at 9
3:00miles a gallon, and gas is $3.45, $176.
3:05You do not care. Paige sits on the edge
3:08of the canyon at sunset and does not
3:10look at her phone once. Wyatt falls
3:12asleep in the bunk with his shoes on,
3:14and Renee takes a picture of him and
3:16puts it on the fridge at home. In July,
3:19the monsoon comes. The storm drops an
3:21inch of rain on Mesa in an hour, and the
3:24next Saturday, you drive to the lot to
3:25check on it. There is a brown ring on
3:27the ceiling over the cab. You climb up
3:30into the bunk. The mattress Paige sleeps
3:32on is wet through, and it smells like a
3:34basement. Level three, the service bay.
3:37Hector writes service at Sun Streak, and
3:40he does not look up from his screen.
3:42"The first opening is October 11th," he
3:44says, "9 weeks. Everybody who bought a
3:47motorhome last year is standing where
3:49you are standing." Behind him, the
3:51service lot is full. 40 motor homes in
3:54rows, some with blue tarps tied over
3:56their roofs. You keep paying the storage
3:58lot, because if you give up the space,
4:00there is a waiting list for it. You keep
4:02paying Larkspur, because Larkspur does
4:04not care where the motor home is. In
4:06October, you drop it off. Then,
4:09Sunseeker sends photos to Road Well, and
4:11Road Well decides what it will pay for.
4:13That takes 5 weeks. Hector calls in
4:16November. The plywood under the bunk has
4:18rotted soft. Road Well will cover the
4:21leak where the roof meets the cab. It
4:23will not cover the damage. The sealant
4:25on a roof has to be inspected every 90
4:27days, Hector reads to you, and resealed
4:30when it cracks. And that is owner
4:32maintenance, on page 41 of the manual
4:35you have never opened. You remember the
4:37service contract, $5,950
4:41for peace of mind. Hector finds the
4:43page. Seals and sealants, excluded.
4:46Water damage, excluded. Then, the parts.
4:49The floor panel and the cab seal come
4:51from a factory that cannot keep up with
4:53its own orders. Every few weeks, Hector
4:56says, "Next week." On a Sunday, you take
4:59the kids to see it. It sits behind the
5:01building with the tarps, and Wyatt it is
5:03still ours. You pick it up in February
5:062022, 131 days after you dropped it off.
5:10Your share of the bill is $4,860.
5:14Driving home, you do the arithmetic at a
5:16red light. Nine payments, $6,201.
5:2111 nights in it, $564
5:24a night. And that is before the gas.
5:27Three levels in, and it has not left the
5:29lot. $689 a month, still owed.
5:32Subscribe, and see where it goes.
5:35Level four, the gas.
5:37Renee says that this summer, you use it.
5:40So, in June, you plan the big one. North
5:43through Utah and Idaho to the geysers in
5:45Wyoming. 2,100 miles round trip. Wyatt
5:49draws the route on a paper map with a
5:51highlighter. Paige is 13 now. She asks
5:54if she can stay at her friend Kayla's
5:56house instead, and the answer is no. And
5:58she spends the first 600 miles in the
6:00bunk with her earbuds in. On the 17th of
6:03June, gas in Arizona hits its highest
6:06average ever, $5.39
6:09a gallon. The Vista gets 8 and 1/2 miles
6:11to the gallon loaded. Every fill-up is
6:14more than 200 and 50 dollars. By the
6:17end, the gas is 1,260.
6:2011 nights of campgrounds at about 92
6:22dollars a night is another thousand. In
6:25Idaho, the slide-out, the wall that
6:27rolls out so the dinette has room, rolls
6:30out and will not come back in. You
6:32cannot drive with a wall sticking out.
6:34You sit at the campground two extra days
6:36until a mobile technician drives in from
6:3890 miles away. He finds a stripped gear,
6:41charges you 640 dollars cash, and tells
6:45you he has seen four of these this
6:46month. Renee does the math on a napkin
6:49at a diner in Jackson. Four plane
6:51tickets, a hotel, a rental car. Less
6:54than the gas. We could have flown, she
6:56says. Then you have the first real fight
6:59of the trip in 31 feet of motor home,
7:01where the only door that locks is the
7:03bathroom. The kids hear all of it. Wyatt
7:06turns the television up. At the geysers,
7:09Wyatt runs from one to the next with the
7:11map, and for a whole afternoon, it is
7:13the trip you bought. On the last night,
7:15Paige climbs down from the bunk and says
7:17it plainly. She is not coming next
7:20summer. Renee does not argue with her.
7:22That is worse. Level five, the trade.
7:26In May 2023, Renee asks you to sell it.
7:29Not a fight, a request with the storage
7:32bill in front of her. The lot at
7:34Sunstreak is full now. Rows of new motor
7:37homes with orange banners in the
7:38windshields. Huge savings. Brent walks
7:41around the Vista twice with a clipboard.
7:44Then he goes inside for 20 minutes. He
7:46comes back with a number, $57,000,
7:50half the sticker. You laugh because you
7:52think it is the opening offer. It is
7:54not. The market, he says. Two years ago,
7:57people bought anything with a toilet.
7:59Now, every dealer in the valley has too
8:01many. By the end of the year, used motor
8:03homes will be worth about a fifth less
8:05than they were 12 months before. You
8:07check the Larkspur app in the parking
8:09lot. 24 payments made. Balance, $98,100.
8:14On 24 payments of 689, you have paid
8:17down about 6,000 of it. The rest went to
8:20interest. You owe $41,000
8:22more than the dealer will give you for
8:24it. Brent has a plan for that. Roll the
8:2741 into a new one, a Class A, 36 ft, a
8:31real motor home on a 20-year loan at
8:338.99%,
8:351,280 a month. You say no. He offers to
8:39sell yours on consignment for 10% and
8:41shows you the row where those sit, some
8:44since Christmas. At home, you search the
8:46listings. 312 motor homes like yours for
8:49sale within 200 mi of Mesa. Larkspur
8:52will not release the title until it is
8:54paid, so you cannot sell it without
8:56$41,000
8:58you do not have. You tell Renee that
9:00night. She looks at you a long time and
9:03says, "So we keep paying for it to sit
9:05there." You drive it back to the gravel
9:07lot that Saturday. It is the last time
9:10all four of you ride in it. Level six,
9:12the lot.
9:13In August, the storage lot raises its
9:15rent to $210 a month on a sign taped to
9:19the gate. The insurance renews at $1,860
9:23a year. The Arizona license tax on a
9:263-year-old motor home comes to $1,345.
9:31You add it up on a Sunday night. 689,
9:34the lot, the the
9:35the tax. $1,166
9:39a month for a thing that does not move.
9:42The manual says to run the generator for
9:442 hours every month, so the fuel does
9:46not gum up. So, on Saturday mornings,
9:49you drive out to the lot alone and sit
9:52in the driver's seat while it runs. The
9:54desert sun has bleached the tire walls
9:56gray and opened fine cracks in them. A
9:59mouse has built a nest of insulation in
10:01the dash. The house batteries die. New
10:03ones are $400.
10:06Walt comes out with you sometimes in his
10:08own truck with a 5-gallon bucket to sit
10:10on because he will not use your step. He
10:12checks the oil without being asked. He
10:15does not say, "I told you so." He tells
10:17you about a boat he bought in 1981 and
10:20could not sell for 4 years and how your
10:22mother never once mentioned it, which
10:24was worse. Renee works the front desk at
10:27a dental office in Gilbert. Her paycheck
10:29covers groceries. Yours covers the
10:32Vista. The savings account is gone.
10:35There is a balance on two cards. Paige
10:37is 15 and has a job at a smoothie place.
10:40Wyatt asks every few months when you are
10:42going camping and then he stops asking.
10:45In February 2024, you come home from the
10:48lot at noon on a Saturday smelling of
10:50exhaust. Renee is at the table. "You go
10:53see that motorhome more than you see
10:55us," she says. In March, she tells you
10:58she has talked to a lawyer. Level seven,
11:00the decree.
11:01Arizona is a community property state.
11:04What a couple earns during a marriage
11:06belongs to both of them and so does what
11:09they owe. The mediator in a small office
11:11in Mesa with tissues on every surface
11:14explains it on the first morning. Then
11:16she lists what there is to divide. You
11:19rent your house, so there is no house.
11:21The savings are gone. The cards are
11:24about $9,000
11:26and there is one asset worth anything,
11:28which is worth less than nothing, the
11:30Vista. Wholesale, about $49,000.
11:34The Larkspur balance, about 94,000.
11:37Renee's lawyer has done this before. Her
11:39client does not want the motorhome, she
11:41says. Her client never wanted the
11:43motorhome. The loan is in your name
11:46alone because your credit was better.
11:48Renee looks at the table. You signed for
11:50it, she says quietly. I was in the
11:53doorway. So, the decree is simple. Renee
11:56keeps the kids and the lease. You keep
11:58the Vista and its loan and both of the
12:00cards. You pay $890 a month in child
12:04support. You get Wyatt and Paige every
12:06other weekend and on a Wednesday night.
12:09The judge signs it in June. That leaves
12:11you a question about where to live. An
12:13apartment in Mesa near your work runs
12:15about $1,600 a month with a deposit. You
12:19add it up on the back of the mediator's
12:20handout. 1,600, 890, 689, the lot, the
12:26cards. It is more than you take home.
12:28Except there is one place you are
12:30already paying for. It has a bed, a
12:33stove, and a toilet. Larkspur said so,
12:36and so did the government. On the last
12:38Sunday in June, you carry four boxes and
12:41a lamp out of the house. Wyatt holds the
12:43door. Paige stays in her room. You drive
12:46to the lot, pay the last month of
12:48storage, and drive the Vista out through
12:50the gate for the last time. Level eight,
12:52the park.
12:54Saguaro's Sun RV Resort in Apache
12:56Junction is 20 minutes from your work
12:58and five from Walt. Site 41. $825 a
13:03month in the summer plus the electric in
13:05your name. From May to October, most
13:08sites are empty. The winter people home
13:10in Minnesota and Ontario. The ones who
13:12stay are like you. In July, it is 115°
13:17by 3:00 in the afternoon. The roof air
13:19conditioner runs all day and all night
13:22and loses anyway. Inside the Vista, it
13:25is 91. The electric bill comes to $310.
13:29You sleep in the bunk over the cab
13:31because the bed in the back is under the
13:33part of the roof the sun hits hardest.
13:35Wyatt comes every other weekend. He is
13:3712 and the first time he sees the bunk
13:40he says, "This is where I used to sleep.
13:42Now it is where you sleep." And he gets
13:44the dinette folded down into a bed with
13:47his feet against the wall. Paige comes
13:49once. She looks around for a while then
13:52sits outside in a camp chair on her
13:54phone until Renee picks her up. She does
13:56not come again. In October, the winter
13:59people come back with their license
14:00plates from four states and two
14:02provinces. And on the 1st of November,
14:04the rent goes to $1,395,
14:08the season rate. Walt brings a cooler of
14:10food every Sunday and says it is extra
14:13that he made too much. He has never made
14:15too much at anything in his life. The
14:18cards climb. In August 2025, at 116°,
14:23the roof air makes a sound like a coffee
14:25can of bolts and stops. A new unit
14:28installed, $1,400.
14:31You pay it because without it you cannot
14:34sleep in July in Arizona. In September,
14:36for the first time in 51 months, you do
14:39not pay Larkspur. Level nine, the tow
14:42truck.
14:43Larkspur calls in September then every
14:46few days from numbers you do not know.
14:49The letters say past due then seriously
14:52past due. The one in November says,
14:55"Larkspur may take the collateral
14:56without further notice. In Arizona, it
14:59does not need a judge, only a tow truck
15:02and no fight." On a Thursday in
15:04December, you come home from a 10-hour
15:06shift at the warehouse at 6:00 and site
15:0841 is empty. A rectangle of dust where
15:11the Vista sat. The power cord and the
15:14sewer hose lay coiled on the gravel.
15:16Your neighbor, a retired machinist from
15:18Duluth named Gus, says they came at
15:2010:00 in the morning with a heavy
15:22wrecker and were gone in 20 minutes. He
15:24tried to tell them somebody lived in it.
15:26The driver said he knew. Your clothes
15:29are in it. Your work boots for tomorrow.
15:31Wyatt's sleeping bag and the picture of
15:33him asleep in the bunk with his shoes on
15:35which you brought from the fridge. The
15:37park manager hands you a card with an
15:39address in West Phoenix, the
15:41repossession company's storage yard. You
15:43get one appointment to collect your
15:44belongings, 1 hour by Friday. At the
15:48yard, a man stands with his arms crossed
15:50while you fill 11 garbage bags. That
15:53night, you drive to Walt's. You do not
15:55call first. He opens the door before you
15:57knock because Gus has a cousin in his
15:59park and he has already made up the
16:01couch. He does not ask you anything. He
16:04never asks for anything and he does not
16:06make you ask either. The next week, a
16:08letter comes to Walt's address. Notice
16:11of our plan to sell property. The Vista
16:13will be sold at a public auction in
16:15Phoenix in January. You can get it back
16:17by paying everything you owe plus the
16:20costs of taking it before the sale.
16:22$91,717
16:25plus costs. You put the letter on Walt's
16:27fridge under a magnet from a part store.
16:30Level 10, the deficiency.
16:32The auction is on a Wednesday in January
16:352026.
16:37The letter comes in February. Sale
16:39price, $41,000.
16:42A dealer from Tucson bought it with 11
16:44others. Then the arithmetic. What you
16:47owed with the interest and the late
16:48charges, $91,717.
16:52Taking it, storing it, moving it, and
16:55selling it, $4,060.
16:57Minus the $41,000. Deficiency balance,
17:00$54,777.
17:04It is not a motorhome anymore. It is a
17:06debt in your name. A woman from Larkspur
17:09calls Walt's house phone. She is polite
17:12and in no hurry. She can offer a plan,
17:14she says, if you would rather not go to
17:16court. you ask what it would be." She
17:19types for a while. "The same payment you
17:21had," she says, "as if that were good
17:23news. It continues at your contract
17:25rate, 97 payments. The last one in March
17:292034. Larkspur is fine. It was paid
17:32interest for 4 years and 3 months, then
17:35$41,000 at the auction, and every cost
17:38of the auction went on your bill. The
17:40dealer from Tucson will clean the Vista
17:42and put it on his lot in the spring. Sun
17:44Streak is still on Main Street. None of
17:46them lost a dollar on you they had not
17:48priced in." At Walt's kitchen table, you
17:51added up on the back of the letter. The
17:53down payment, 28,400.
17:5651 payments, 35,139.
18:0097 more, about Nearly the price out the
18:03door
18:06for a motor home somebody in Tucson is
18:08washing. Walt reads it over your
18:10shoulder and goes to bed without a word.
18:13You take out your wallet. Brent's card
18:15is still in it, soft at the corners. On
18:17the back, in his handwriting, the whole
18:19thing. $689
18:22a month. That part was always true.

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