Shopping for class c, daily cost to operate?
My wife and I have started class c shopping. We're looking in the 24' range. My question is what does it cost daily to operate when traveling? For instance, we just drove from GA to CO, and with gas a...
Forum Discussion
It all depends what kind of traveling you are going to do and where. Also, the size and age of the unit you are going to purchase.
Personal example: I bought our 24' E450 C to use as a tow vehicle and home base at the track to support the family auto racing hobby. Definitely a better than breakeven deal most weekends, as where we go is for a couple of nights no more than 250 miles away. RV towing the trailer at 6 or 7 miles per gallon is a fuel expense of maybe $225, vs. towing with the truck and staying in a hotel, which while the fuel is 3/4 the cost, there is easily another $200 in lodging plus food on top of that. The RV really comes out ahead if we are somewhere for a week. An example is the week in March we spend in Sebring, Florida, where any hotel room you would want to stay in is at least $250/night with a 7 or 8 night minimum. We spent about $850 on fuel for the 2200 miles down and back, $100 for the camping pass at the track, and Wal-Marted the overnights each way. Food was what we would have eaten at home. Even if we had driven a 30mpg car there, and used a cheap allowance of $75 per day for eats, due to outrageous hotel rates the trip would have been almost $3,000 instead of the $1,300 it was.
I bought a new RV, negotiating a good deal, with the intent that I was going to keep it for 10+ years. While there are usually a few fix its required on a new one, and early depreciation can be a hit, if the unit is owned long term, the benefits of getting all the life-cycle out of the expensive components IMHO makes it a better deal that buying something older and dealing with 4-figure repairs on regular intervals for things like generators, refrigerators and a/c units.
Personal example: I bought our 24' E450 C to use as a tow vehicle and home base at the track to support the family auto racing hobby. Definitely a better than breakeven deal most weekends, as where we go is for a couple of nights no more than 250 miles away. RV towing the trailer at 6 or 7 miles per gallon is a fuel expense of maybe $225, vs. towing with the truck and staying in a hotel, which while the fuel is 3/4 the cost, there is easily another $200 in lodging plus food on top of that. The RV really comes out ahead if we are somewhere for a week. An example is the week in March we spend in Sebring, Florida, where any hotel room you would want to stay in is at least $250/night with a 7 or 8 night minimum. We spent about $850 on fuel for the 2200 miles down and back, $100 for the camping pass at the track, and Wal-Marted the overnights each way. Food was what we would have eaten at home. Even if we had driven a 30mpg car there, and used a cheap allowance of $75 per day for eats, due to outrageous hotel rates the trip would have been almost $3,000 instead of the $1,300 it was.
I bought a new RV, negotiating a good deal, with the intent that I was going to keep it for 10+ years. While there are usually a few fix its required on a new one, and early depreciation can be a hit, if the unit is owned long term, the benefits of getting all the life-cycle out of the expensive components IMHO makes it a better deal that buying something older and dealing with 4-figure repairs on regular intervals for things like generators, refrigerators and a/c units.
