Price of a Bluebird

[Ryan Wright]

On 1/23/08, Ryan Wright wrote:
>
> I haven't owned my coach a year yet, but I have a comprehensive
> spreadsheet listing all costs involved. So if anyone wants info, I can
> get it, just let me know.

I had enough off-list interest in this that I decided to post some
statistics here:

I bought my '86 PT-40 in April 2007. Since that time, the coach has
been driven 3,446 miles and the genset has been run 138 hours.
Expenses are as follows:

Fuel: $2,800

Preventative maintenance: $375 - This is for oil changes on both the
8V92 and Yanmar genset, as well as new filters, including fuel
filters, all around, and some extra oil & spare filters.

Repairs: $2,850 - About $1,500 was for transmission service and
another $600 to replace the alternator & belts. Most of the costs on
those repairs went to labor. The rest of the repairs were all minor
parts expenditures with no labor costs involved (I fixed it myself
with the help of the list - thanks guys for giving me free repair
advice and saving me thousands more on labor!). Note that I bought a
very clean, well cared for coach, so the "$10,000+ for initial fixes"
figure that some have thrown around has not applied to me.

Misc: $6,200 - These are the various odds and ends we bought to
"stock" the coach. It includes $1,200 in air fair to fly my family to
Texas and things like pots & pans, dishes, kitchen supplies, linens &
bedding, tools to stock the tool chest, etc. I wanted the coach to
have it's own set of "everything", like a second home, so we didn't
have to waste time "loading up" housing type supplies every time we
went somewhere. Most of these are frivolous expenses; about $4,000 of
it is in a computer/entertainment system.

I expect to continue spending $2,000 - $5,000 a year on maintenance
and repairs, plus fuel & licensing costs, figuring most of the labor
will be my own with only the occasional outsourced job. I am finicky
about maintenance and will spend top dollar on parts to keep the coach
in perfect condition and repair even trivial cosmetic blemishes.
Someone who is less finicky may be able to get away with spending
less.

Hope this helps those who were interested in understanding some first
year ownership costs. Of course these will be different for every
person and every coach.

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92