Should we Rent or Buy an RV?
Our family (my wife, 3 kids, 11, 8 and 3) is planning a month long vacation this summer. We're going to hit the midwest including the Dakotas, Yellowstone, Glacier NP, some of Utah, Colorado and as ma...
Forum Discussion
Thanks for all the thorough points everyone. I really appreciate the advice. Responding to a few questions:
@todedtoes, my wife feels OK with driving out with kids. She will likely bring a friend or her mother to help out while she drives. She'll probably stop a bit along the way. The hope is that we'll get an RV in good enough shape that breaking down is unlikely. I appreciate your concern though.
The whole reason we wanted to take an RV was to be able to see all these places, but have a better travel experience for the kids. They'll much more enjoy playing games and eating at a table rather than being strapped into their seats in a minivan for a month.
We're also able to pay cash for the RV if needed, so a loan is not an issue.
@Matt_Colie, as a fellow engineer, of course I have a spreadsheet! Several! Here's one that calculates the one-year cost for several years: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wmKZeY1EWC7Q5uUiy3RntuztcQIUWNudRpVBOX9hIO0/edit?usp=sharing
@theoldwizard1, I'm not sure how much we'll use it after the big trip. We plan to take it on a least a few test runs before that. My spreadsheet above includes the number of equivalent rental days to break even.
Based on the numbers, I think we're leaning more towards renting right now, but please let me know if my numbers in the spreadsheet are way off.
@todedtoes, my wife feels OK with driving out with kids. She will likely bring a friend or her mother to help out while she drives. She'll probably stop a bit along the way. The hope is that we'll get an RV in good enough shape that breaking down is unlikely. I appreciate your concern though.
The whole reason we wanted to take an RV was to be able to see all these places, but have a better travel experience for the kids. They'll much more enjoy playing games and eating at a table rather than being strapped into their seats in a minivan for a month.
We're also able to pay cash for the RV if needed, so a loan is not an issue.
@Matt_Colie, as a fellow engineer, of course I have a spreadsheet! Several! Here's one that calculates the one-year cost for several years: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wmKZeY1EWC7Q5uUiy3RntuztcQIUWNudRpVBOX9hIO0/edit?usp=sharing
@theoldwizard1, I'm not sure how much we'll use it after the big trip. We plan to take it on a least a few test runs before that. My spreadsheet above includes the number of equivalent rental days to break even.
Based on the numbers, I think we're leaning more towards renting right now, but please let me know if my numbers in the spreadsheet are way off.
