Which RV Brands Hold Their Value The Best

When it comes to personal finance, most folks approach buying a car as if it were the second-biggest purchase they'll ever make — with No. 1 being a house. But if you're into the great outdoors, you may have another massive expense that slots between a house and a car, even as it combines the functions of both. We're talking about RVs, which, to be clear, include both motor homes and trailers.

These machines can easily cross into six-figure territory — like this absurd $110K destination trailer — and it's not difficult to find lux motorhomes that cost millions of dollars. And with that kind of outlay, protecting your investment by taking into account an RV's depreciation, is an important part of the purchase decision. Well, Jalopnik is here to help — although it's interesting to note that Consumer Reports isn't. CR doesn't test RVs, likely because of the huge cost in time, effort, and money it would take to evaluate recreational vehicles as thoroughly as cars.

So we're going to turn for assistance to the team at Roamly, an insurance company for adventure-friendly customers. Roamly looked at industry data, including used RV sales, and also drew on dealer feedback to come up with its list of RV brands that best hold their value for the long haul — such as Jayco, Airstream, Winnebago, and Grand Design. Just keep in mind that, generally speaking, the RV industry is known for poor build quality and purchase contracts that assume new RV buyers are fools, rubes, and suckers.

As Roamly points out, Jayco consistently leads the way in RV resale value, and that's partly due to its strong warranties. In fact, Jayco boasts a two-year limited warranty and a three-year structural warranty from the factory, plus 15 more specific warranties from Jayco suppliers for these components — highlighted by a 20-year warranty on roofing materials from Dicor, 25 years of coverage for the Huber industrial floor decking, and a lifetime warranty for the Tredit aluminum wheels.

Jayco is also backed by more than 50 years of experience, beginning life in 1968 as a producer of pop-up trailers. Today, the company sells a full line of RVs that range from travel trailers to Class A motorhomes. An even longer track record of success is part of the picture for Airstream, ranked second for resale value by Roamly. Founded in 1931, Airstream produces immediately recognizable trailers wrapped in aviation-grade aluminum. Some can retain 50% of their value even after a decade of use, and collector models have actually appreciated in value. Tom Hanks' well-loved Airstream, for example, sold at auction for $235,200 – no doubt helped by its provenance and accompanying memorabilia.

Beyond its value-enhancing name recognition, Airstream RVs help hold off depreciation through their high-quality, handcrafted construction. According to the company, it takes about 350 hours to build the average Airstream trailer versus closer to just 50-60 for a basic trailer from a typical rival. That helps explain why the company can claim Airstreams have the lowest maintenance and ownership costs, and some of the highest resale values of any trailers on the road today.

Another popular and long-lived RV brand, Winnebago, was third in the Roamly rankings. Like Jayco and Airstream, Winnebago offers both motor homes and trailers, and it was the former that earned the most praise from Roamly — especially in the Class C category. These are campers manufactured to fit on cutaway chassis from other automakers. For instance, Winnebago's Class C Spirit campers are mounted on a Ford F-450 chassis. Now, this is according to Roamly, which says Winnebago's Class C campers are "among the best on the market" and can hold their value as well as some of the larger, more expensive bus-style Class A setups. Class B motor homes are the sweet spot, however, as these mid-size RVs tend to retain value better than either Class A or Class C alternatives.

Grand Design shares a lot with Winnebago — including a parent company — since both brands along with Newmar RVs, are owned by the Winnebago Industries holding company. For its part, Grand Design was founded in 2012, rising to prominence in only a few years for its quality construction featuring laminated aluminum wall frames, roofs made with residential-style wooden trusses, fully enclosed undercarriages, and more. Winnebago Industries snapped up the brand in 2016 and has seen much more success with it than some of the other Winnebago innovations of past years. Remember when Winnebago once tried selling a flying RV based on a helicopter?