Introduction to Recreational Vehicles (RV Blue Book)

For over 80 years, the Recreational Vehicle Blue Book has been the trusted source for the proper identification and valuation of the full range of Recreational Vehicles including motorhomes, travel and fifth wheel trailers, folding camping trailers and Truck Campers. Find numerous rich specs and pricing for nearly every RV since 1976 including manufacturer, series, type, weight, MSRP, along with options, mileage and condition adjustments. Ability to save valuations in inventory for future revisions and valuation, organize in groups and print or save to .pdf. Updated Quarterly on 1/1, 4/1, 7/1 and 10/1.

Starting a Search

To search for a Recreational Vehicle from the application home page, first click or tap on the Recreational Vehicle icon. It will turn green when selected.

After the appropriate asset type is chosen, you are able to search by Make/Model/Year.

Please note that though VIN Verification is shown, it is not applicable to Recreational Vehicles.

 

Make/Model/Year Search

The Make/Model/Year search works with at least one of the four fields completed. For example, to find a 2017 Fleetwood 38K, one could enter any combination of the manufacturer name, the model year, or the model name. Alternatively, if those are unknown, the category search allows for a combination search. It is possible to search for all 2018 Travel Trailers, or to see results for all Coachmen recreational vehicles produced in 2018.

 

Specifications

Specifications provide a helpful way to compare any asset with the correct configuration in the Price Digests database. Manufacturer publications are the main source of specification data. Though a manufacturer may typically offer many different options on any given model, the standard specifications on the most basic model is shown on each configuration.

Specifications are an easy way to find the configuration that matches an asset. After searching for an asset using the Make, Model, Year search, the following search screen appears:

In this example, two configurations match this Make, Model, Year search. Confirm that the correct asset was returned and select that result. The following page will appear:

The specifications displayed here are called display specs. These are shown to help accurately select the configuration that matches the asset. Once the correct configuration is selected by clicking on the row of display specs, the following page will appear:

This is the configuration page for the specific asset that was searched. At the top of the page you will see the displayed specs that were selected on the previous screen. To see a full list of specifications for this configuration, select the “View full list” button.

The full list of Specifications for a configuration is called the rich specs and is shown when this button is selected. These are intended to give a more precise look at the standard specs applied to the most basic model of an asset. To go back to the display specs, simply select the “Hide full list” button.

For questions on the definition of these specification names, a complete list of specification definitions can be found here: Price Digests Dictionary

 

Valuations

Price Digests allows users to build Recreational Vehicle valuations from a base unadjusted model and add on options and adjustments as needed.

Unadjusted values are displayed by default for every base configuration.

Base configuration options are also available. Right below Specifications, all available options and extras are listed. Checking any of these options will add them to your vehicle valuation.

If the recreational vehicle has a custom option, it can be added in the Options section.

The custom option feature allows for the addition of options or equipment to be added to the agricultural tractor that may not have come standard. Upon selecting this button, please name the option that is being added along with its MSRP, Retail, High, and Low Values. These values must be determined by the user as each option depreciates in value at its own rate. Once the custom option is filled out, please select the “Add” button.

The custom option will appear as its own line item called “User Defined Optional Equipment”. Values that were determined by the user are added to the overall total value of the asset. Please note, that if a value is omitted in this process, the total value will effectively add zero to that column.

To make any edits or remove the item, hover over the item name in the option section and select “(edit)” when it appears.

The custom option window will come back up which includes the ability to save or delete the custom option.

All changes and updates to the base vehicle configuration are recorded at the bottom of the page. From this area, it’s possible to change the Revision Date of the valuation, as well as Download a copy of the valuation.

Revision Dates are discrete dates on which values were updated. If, for example, a valuation is needed as of July 1st, 2017, click on the drop-down date menu, select a date, and values will update accordingly.

Price Digests also provides a value trend line at the bottom of the screen which displays the last six value revisions of the vehicle. For recreational vehicles, this will show the last 6 quarters of valuations.

For more information on how to download a valuation and/or save a valuation to your inventory, check out our product guide on Saving & Exporting Your Valuation.

After all Options & Extras have been added, Value Adjustments are available to further refine and enhance the valuation.

These adjustments allow for adding premiums or discounts to the value, modifying currency, adding taxes, and making mileage and condition adjustments. All changes will be reflected in the values table in real time.