Real world cost of owning a class c - ouch!

[super_camper]

I just sold my class c after 7 years of ownership. Since I have all records and an accurate depreciation cost (buy-sell) I thought I would calculate the real world cost of use.

The costs outlined below include everything related to the rv itself. The costs DO NOT include campgrounds or other vacation expenses.

I bought in 2007 and got a great deal with a good discount. We vacationed exclusively in the RV while we had it
- owned it for 7 years
- drove it 68,500 miles
- generator had 455 hours
- used it for 455 nights over the 7 year period

The total cost over 7 years including depreciation, insurance, license, storage, maintenance, and fuel was about $87,000
- $12,900 / year
- $192 / night
- $1.28 / mile

A motorhome is absolutely the best way to travel but obviously not the most economical.

[super_camper]

Mike NW wrote:
Numbers can be slanted to show just about anything you want. Interesting cost analysis. One thing that sticks out to me is that your average mileage per night out is about 150 miles. That seems like a lot of miles per night. But to get the true 'cost' of the RV you would need to deduct the cost you would have spent traveling in your car or flying and then also deduct the hotel cost. This would then give you the true cost of owning the RV.

I suspect you are like us in that we enjoy the conveniences of traveling in the RV (i.e. we have our bed, food etc with us).

Interesting analysis thou.

My numbers ARE the true cost of owning an RV. I wouldn't bother with comparing to air/hotels as we would not have been able to do what we did with planes and hotels, we are alike in that we enjoy RV travel.

The reason I shared the annual number is it would be comparable to say an annual vacation. Oddly enough we took our first cruise on the NCL Epic to the Caribbean last February in a suite and the total cost with air was $12,500 for 8 days which is almost exactly the annual cost of RV ownership.

BTW: we're a family of 5.

[super_camper]

super_camper wrote:

SkiMore wrote:
Thank you for posting the numbers. Interesting and eye opening. Would you mind sharing your fuel cost? You say fuel was the biggest cost by a large margin. At 9mpg and fuel at $3.50 a gallon it works out to be about the same as the depreciation you quoted.

At 65 nights per year it sounds like you got more use than a lot of people from your RV. I have neighbor that uses their RV about 7 nights a year. I'd hate to see their cost per night number.

I didn't average any where near 9 mpg. My travel log included annual mileage and fuel costs for many stops, but not all.

To calculate my total fuel cost I took the mileage for each year and multiplied by the average cost of fuel we paid for the year, the average fuel cost was just eye-balled but it will be very close.

We burned about $32K in fuel over the 68,500 miles. Whenever I spot checked mileage it was usually around 7mpg. If you reverse engineer the mpg from my numbers using $3.35/gal the result is 7.1mpg. Not great mileage but not really bad either, it was about what we expected.

[super_camper]

SkiMore wrote:
Thank you for posting the numbers. Interesting and eye opening. Would you mind sharing your fuel cost? You say fuel was the biggest cost by a large margin. At 9mpg and fuel at $3.50 a gallon it works out to be about the same as the depreciation you quoted.

At 65 nights per year it sounds like you got more use than a lot of people from your RV. I have neighbor that uses their RV about 7 nights a year. I'd hate to see their cost per night number.

I didn't average any where near 9 mpg. My travel log included annual mileage and fuel costs for many stops, but not all.

To calculate my total fuel cost I took the mileage for each year and multiplied by the average cost of fuel we paid for the year, the average fuel cost was just eye-balled but it will be very close.

We burned about $32K in fuel over the 68,500 miles. Whenever I spot checked mileage it was usuallyaround 7mpg. If you reverse engineer the mpg from my numbers using $3.35/gal the result is 7.1mpg.

[jammiebob1]

Thank you for all the imput selling class a and going to c. I can see the savings

[SkiMore]

Thank you for posting the numbers. Interesting and eye opening. Would you mind sharing your fuel cost? You say fuel was the biggest cost by a large margin. At 9mpg and fuel at $3.50 a gallon it works out to be about the same as the depreciation you quoted.

At 65 nights per year it sounds like you got more use than a lot of people from your RV. I have neighbor that uses their RV about 7 nights a year. I'd hate to see their cost per night number.

[Bordercollie]

Many hobbies and sports require a substantial initial investment and ongoing costs. The total cost of buying, owning and using an RV for touring compared to the cost of buying, owning and touring in a car isn't really "fair", owning an RV is mostly a "luxury" but owning one or two cars is considered a necessity. If you buy an RV and use it a lot in camping and touring it may bring you a lot of enjoyment and family memories. If it winds up mostly sitting parked in the driveway, well, you know....

[tpi]

It is interesting analysis, and he did use his RV quite extensively. Fuel and depreciation are going to be the big expense, especially if you're planning on 100K miles in the RV. It could cost up to $50K per 100,000 mi for fuel depending on fuel cost and how much below 10 MPG the RV gets.

Reading this I was trying to come up with least costly RV.

1. Inexpensive trailer or low depreciation trailer such as Casita. Casita would help in fuel economy department.

2. Already own a truck
3. Trailer stored on your property, no storage costs.
4. Loves local vacations or vacations with many nights without moving.

Under this scenario cost of RV travel could be much lower.

[Mike_NW]

super_camper wrote:
The purpose of my post was to look at the costs of RVing objectively, I am not trying to rationalize it, it is what it is!

To respond to the earlier questions:
- I bought a new 2006 in 2007 and negotiated a pretty good deal

- as I'm not trying to argue one way or the other on costs I believe the numbers are objective and not slanted in any direction, just simple math.

- I also thought about the mileage/night cost and it starts to make more sense when the destinations are factored in. We did travel just about everywhere in the US and Canada.

- about $27,500 of the total cost was depreciation (buy-sell)

- the largest share of the cost is not depreciation, it's fuel by a large margin. I would think the next 7 years would be similar in costs given increased maintenance and could actually be higher with gas prices

- my costs capture everything related to the MH including registration, tax, etc.

To RVWithTito: our needs have changed and our kids are traveling for school so this year we're going to the UK and Belgium. We will likely be back into RV's closer to retirement.

Here is another interesting breakdown on costs: fixed vs variable.

The fixed costs to own the vehicle including depreciation, registration, insurance, storage, and tax are about 54% of total costs or $0.69/mile.

The variable costs to use it including fuel and maintenance for the mileage outlined were about 46% of the total costs or $0.59/mile

One additional note: the costs exclude towing. We had a dolly and setup two different cars for 4-down towing and none of these are included.

Thanks for the clarifications. It is an interesting analysis and one that everyone needs to consider when looking at owning any type of recreational vehicle. I have done a similar analysis on our use and there certainly is a 'cost' of ownership. I just would disagree that the marginal costs are as high as you stated in your original post.

[psa0298]

This got me doing a quick calculation on my rig. I tried to include all the same costs the OP mentioned. I came up with A cost of $40,000 over 6 years. My rig was not purchase new(obviously) and I have done a ton of work myself. It is quite surprising what it costs when you add it all up...BUT I wouldn't trade any of it. My family and I have made the best memories and you can't put a price tag on that. Also, when you consider this is for six people it becomes rather reasonable. I've often spoken with people who think purchasing an old RV would make for cheap vacations....what they don't realize is there is always something to fix/repair/upgrade or a new gadget.(never mind the gas)

[PghBob]

super_camper:

Thanks for the analysis. Have a great trip to and in Europe. See you down the road sometime when you get back to the RV lifestyle.

Bob

[super_camper]

rr2254545 wrote:
7 years is 2,555 days

87,000 divided by 2,555 is $34.05 per day not $192

$192 is the cost per camping night which could very widely based on a persons use

$192 is the cost of the RV per night of use and excludes non rv expenses like camping fees.

[rr2254545]

7 years is 2,555 days

87,000 divided by 2,555 is $34.05 per day not $192

$192 is the cost per camping night which could very widely based on a persons use

[super_camper]

The purpose of my post was to look at the costs of RVing objectively, I am not trying to rationalize it, it is what it is!

To respond to the earlier questions:
- I bought a new 2006 in 2007 and negotiated a pretty good deal

- as I'm not trying to argue one way or the other on costs I believe the numbers are objective and not slanted in any direction, just simple math.

- I also thought about the mileage/night cost and it starts to make more sense when the destinations are factored in. We did travel just about everywhere in the US and Canada.

- about $27,500 of the total cost was depreciation (buy-sell)

- the largest share of the cost is not depreciation, it's fuel by a large margin. I would think the next 7 years would be similar in costs given increased maintenance and could actually be higher with gas prices

- my costs capture everything related to the MH including registration, tax, etc.

To RVWithTito: our needs have changed and our kids are traveling for school so this year we're going to the UK and Belgium. We will likely be back into RV's closer to retirement.

Here is another interesting breakdown on costs: fixed vs variable.

The fixed costs to own the vehicle including depreciation, registration, insurance, storage, and tax are about 54% of total costs or $0.69/mile.

The variable costs to use it including fuel and maintenance for the mileage outlined were about 46% of the total costs or $0.59/mile

One additional note: the costs exclude towing. We had a dolly and setup two different cars for 4-down towing and none of these are included.

[johnnyrv]

Good analysis. One of the reasons I prefer a tt.

[suprz]

Vacations, traveling, and memories can never have a price put on them. I understand the costs involved, but that never factors into the things mentioned above