How to calculate the cost of RVing

[Jayco-noslide]

I'll use a 2003 Class C motor home purchased 7 years ago as an example because that's what we have.
I paid $23000 for it. Let's assume I sell today for $15000. OK much of this has to be estimated. So I spent $8000 (Not the price I paid for it). I estimate I've spent 75 days per year using it(525 days) so = $15 per day for "lodging". Not bad. But to the $8000 I need to add Camping fees($2000), repair, service and improvements($5000), fuel that's over and above traveling in a car for 40000 miles(that's actual)= $3600 car versus $12000 MH = $8400. Plus Misc. cost of $1000
Grand total cost = $24000 for 7 years, 40000 miles and and estimated 525 days of living in it. Averages out to $45 per day.
I can live with that. But a new MH, fewer nights use and trading soon would raise that to way more than a luxury hotel for same number of nights.
Different viewpoints or math?

[sayoung]

I don't ever want to start keeping track of owning and using our rv. I would give it away if I kept accurate records. We enjoy our 5er.
It's one of those activities to just enjoy. My BiL has deer hunting as his life's enjoyment so one year he kept track of every dime it cost to do his loved pastime. End of season he sat down & added it all up. He said he would never hunt again, tooooo expensive. He finally figured out to quit keeping books and renewed his lease.

[Walaby]

I don't even attempt to calculate the cost. It's a hobby and I blow money on hobbies.

Im with ToedToes. If I can afford it, and I enjoy it, then the cost is acceptable. That's as far as I go.

I collect firearms, and restore classic cars as well. Two other expensive hobbies. I consider myself very fortunate to be in the position to enjoy these hobbies. But, if times changed, I'd change too...

Mike

[jplante4]

At one point I decided to calculate how much I spent to get my flight instructor certificates in an effort to see if I will ever break even. That was a good 5 minute laugh.

[harryjr]

I'm waiting for all the Walmart parking lot campers to chime in.

I don't think even Walmart will let you stay in the parking lot if you don't have a RV. I haven't seen anyone sleeping on the pavement yet as I drive by.
But at Walmart, you never know what you might see next.

If Walmart is the only place to get it, I'll live without it.

[JAC1982]

These days, even a basic hotel that you won't get sick from is usually around $100/night. Cheapest one we've done in the past year was $85/night and that was a horrid Motel 6 in Laramie WY. The KOA there is $50/night but we figured since it was a quick trip for a concert it wasn't worth the extra gas money to haul our trailer up there for what amounted to about 12 hours. Most other trips where we can't take the camper we either do Air BnB to the tune of anywhere from $100-150/night, or hotels in the $125-150/night range.

But as others have said, we don't have our camper to save money vs staying in hotels. There are no hotels in the places we like to take our camper. So for us, it's a hobby and a vacation home. For our annual cost for the trailer, we could not afford a vacation home anywhere near here except for maybe a time share in the mountains. And we can vacation somewhere different every year.

But, if you're full-timing in one, I think you do save money over a sticks and bricks or living out of a hotel.

[K_Charles]

You spent 525 days and think campground fees were $2000, that would be less then $4 a day. You never paid tax or registration or insurance?

[Grit_dog]

One "can" save money vs hotels with RV's, or could save money with RVs vs hotels. This is a silly argument to make either way.

[Grit_dog]

RobWNY wrote:
Here's some examples of what I've experienced in Hotels that have never happened to me in my RV...Kids running and stomping their feet for hours in the room above me while I try to sleep. Constant doors slamming all night long. The group of teenagers that rent the room next to me and have a party only to be broken up by the Police. The smell of Marijuana coming through the air ducts because the people in the room next to me thought they would "relax". I can't put a price on any of those things that I get to avoid with my RV.

My advice is find better hotels and you can't include Vegas in your list of hotel turnoffs! Lol
Or just don't exaggerate. Now tell us per 100 nights in hotels, how many nights resulted in behavior you considered disruptive? And be honest, how many disruptive campground or RV park nights?

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Back when we owned our Class C, it didn't get used nearly as often as the OP shows using theirs, so the "cost per day" would have been considerably higher for us.

But as I look back at 45,000 miles of travel in that RV, the "priceless" moments, the ones that are not duplicatable by staying in a hotel, were the places we camped. On the shores of oceans. In forests of gigantic trees. Listening to a babbling brook just feet from our door. Watching Sea Otters play. Being "one with Alaska, or Nova Scotia, or British Columbia...". Or simply sitting in a State Park around a campfire with the kids and grandkids, toasting marshmallows - can't do that at a Holiday Inn, either.

There are just certain magical places where one will NOT find a hotel - and experiencing those is worth whatever the Class C cost was.

[js218]

Just because I'm bored, my rig has 139,000 miles at 8 mpg that's 17,375 gallon of fuel isince 10/16 . At $3.75 a gallon that's $65,152 that's just my fuel cost it is expensive but I knew that before ordering my rig.

[Campfire_Time]

SoundGuy wrote:

p220sigman wrote:
I don't think most people RV in order to save money though.

No, but when first starting out I'd bet most of us thought RVing was a way to save $$$ on recreational activities. No so, not by a long shot. :E

Well, no. By the time we bought a full height trailer we knew it wasn't going to be cheap. But we started off tenting, which really is cheap. And that's why we did it. When we were young and our daughter was a year old, it was a stretch to scrape up $100 to go for a 2 or 3 night weekend. When were ready for our first hybrid I did the math. Comparing that to getting a room was and still is a wash. Far more fun in the trailer too!

That said, we've had friends and family who are not campers comment that we must have nice cheap vacations. :R

[RobWNY]

toedtoes wrote:
Wow, I have never experienced any of those things at any hotel. Even at the hotel with the indoor water park.

The worst at campgrounds have never been that bad either.

I guess I'm either lucky or I pick my hotels and campgrounds better than some.

I would say you're pretty lucky. Just this past March, we went to an RV show in Syracuse NY and stayed at a very nice Hotel with another couple. 2 Bedroom, 2 bathroom suite. It wasn't cheap! The manager ended up comping it because a local family decided to rent a room and then threw a birthday party for their teen that finally quieted down around 3am. You would think they would have booted them out for having 20+ people in a room but nope!

[philh]

Most don't do this for financial reasons, we do it to enjoy life.

I have a park model at a campground I absolutely love. Cost of annual fee's is approximately the same as a really nice annual vacation... but I can use it for "free" anytime I want 🙂

Our new travel trailer is to add to our life experiences. We give up a LOT of other stuff in our lives just so we can do this, it's a choice we make.

It's never a good idea to do "hobby math". Numbers never look good, because you can't amortize the memories or good times.

[toedtoes]

Wow, I have never experienced any of those things at any hotel. Even at the hotel with the indoor water park.

The worst at campgrounds have never been that bad either.

I guess I'm either lucky or I pick my hotels and campgrounds better than some.

[mich800]

RobWNY wrote:
Here's some examples of what I've experienced in Hotels that have never happened to me in my RV...Kids running and stomping their feet for hours in the room above me while I try to sleep. Constant doors slamming all night long. The group of teenagers that rent the room next to me and have a party only to be broken up by the Police. The smell of Marijuana coming through the air ducts because the people in the room next to me thought they would "relax". I can't put a price on any of those things that I get to avoid with my RV.

100% agree. We have had a few experiences like that. Wait, you said hotels. We have encountered that at campgrounds.