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.

[burlmart]

At 10mpg and 150mi/day, and $3.3/gal, MH daily gas use is $50, so for a family car getting 20mpg saves $25/day. But depending on cg nightly fees vs hotel/cabin room...hard to say, but I'd guess these two will at best cancel, but more likely, overnite family lodging vacation style will cost more.

Hard to figure fraction of overall car cost for those 150mi/day, but this would further reduce the $192/night figure a bit, but you may be looking at something like $125/nite extra to travel w/ your MH.

[NCWriter]

Very interesting.

Makes me curious to do a similar analysis to yours (based on my best guess for current selling prices for my model/year) and see how my numbers would come out.

I will probably break mine down into two sub-sets of numbers:
First spreadsheet: "Ownership" costs (purchase/sell depreciation, taxes, maintenance, repairs, annual registration, insurance etc.) I'd have those even if it sits in the driveway.
Second spreadsheet: trip variable "vacationing" costs (fuel, campgrounds, attraction entry fees, tours, ferries, etc. we've incurred.

Then I'd add the two and divide by the number of nights, all trips, to get a total picture of how much per night we spent vacationing via RV.

I ran the trip-variable cost analysis last year based on our first three long trips (about 7800 miles and 2 months+ per trip), and came up with a look-back cost per day of roughly $100 "vacationing" expense.

I'm sure our eventual bottom-line number will be an "ouch" too, although not nearly as bad per day as a boat we once owned. The RV has been a great investment in happiness, delivering really priceless experiences.

[RVWithTito]

super_camper wrote:
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.

Based on your cost/value analysis, will you now be traveling the "other" (not best) ways, or will you buy a cheaper RV? Just curious.

[toedtoes]

I think it's a given that an infrequently used very expensive "plaything" that requires ongoing expenses to make it work is not going to be "cost effective" in a relatively short period of time. The more you use it, the less you pay for it, the longer you own it, will all improve the cost effectiveness.

[CodyClassB]

Traffic tickets, upgrades, gadgets (toys you buys with the HM such as bike rack, TV, movies), highway fees, DMV registration, tax on initial purchase (10% in CA)

super_camper wrote:
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.

[4x4van]

How much of that was the depreciation? In other words, what was the purchase (+interest) price vs selling price? Did you buy brand new, or used? Since a brand new MH (or any vehicle for that matter) loses a major portion of it's value the minute you drive it off the lot, I would suspect a used MH would have significantly better numbers in your analysis.

As Capt Storm points out, wonder what another 7 years of ownership would look like? Interesting analysis indeed.

[Mike_NW]

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.

[Capt_Storm]

Wonder now how it would come out if you kept it another 7 years.

[kendall69]

super_camper wrote:
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.

Your math is correct but you " SAVINGS" is WAAAAYYYYYYY off.
A suite with a built in kitchen with a great view on a lske mountain etc. runs anywhere from $650.00 - $1,200.00 a night. Soooooooo, let's average shall we and say $1,0000.00 a night.

455 nights $1,0000 a night is ...wait for it.... $455.000 dollars. I'd say a class C or any RV is a bargain when you calculate real world executive suite numbers.

So now you can see how much money you SAVED.

Now let's talk about PRICELESS memories, that no money on earth can buy Like me this week with my wife and 17 year old daughter on our last run before she goes to college and fly's out of the nest.

No money can buy these memories NONE. I wouldn't trade all the money on earth for what I'm experience in this month with the both of them.

Anyone that tries to reduce RVing down to dollars and cents, is not seeing the the true value of RVing.

You can take all my money, all my possessions, but no one will ever take the memories I'm making as I type this, sitting next to a camp fire eating smores watching my daughter and wife read a book by the light of the fire.