Motorhome Vacation cost for Non-Fulltimers?

[Isaac-1]

For those of you that are not fulltimers, and that use your motor for general travel and vacations, as opposed to going to one location and staying there for a couple of weeks the returning home. What are your average daily expenses / operating cost?

[twogypsies]

That's hard to answer because everyone travels differently.

They stay at different types of overnights (free at WalMart, public parks, RV parks, resorts), destinations - a beach vacation will cost more than a national park vacation), food (eat in, pack lunches, eat out all the time), entertainment (hiking, siteseeing are free; museums, amusement parks are not); big cities are more expensive than small towns. What are you driving? How many miles from home? How many days? How many people?

Tough one to answer. Also, full-timers are no different than vacationers. They just aren't on a schedule. They do the same things.

[Betr2Trvl]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

For those of you that are not fulltimers, and that use your motor for general travel and vacations, as opposed to going to one location and staying there for a couple of weeks the returning home. What are your average daily expenses / operating cost?

We are "destination" RVers at this point, and have been traveling extensively (at least to me) since getting our RV 21 months ago.

We get about 6.5 mpg in the RV.

We are on the younger side for retirees and very active; lots of hiking, exploring our incredible national parks, beach time, etc. Depending on the destinations, we may take in some sort of "adventure" like a rafting, boat trip, etc. so maybe tack on $200 / mo. average for that.

We don't "Walmart", and have not yet stayed in state or national park campgrounds (we have stayed at private campgrounds / RV parks outside the parks).

Over night "children of the corn", or "budget" campgrounds seem to be about $35-$40 a night.

Nice "destination" campgrounds / RV parks are mostly between $50-$80 a night, a week rate usually gets you "one night free" or some similar discount. Look up some places you want to go, and see what the campground fees are.......

Monthly rates seem to be about 1/2 the regular daily rate.

Other than that, our basic expences are not really significantly different when traveling in our RV than when living at home. We don't eat out very often at home, or traveling; we usually pack our lunch when exploring, and never stop for "road food". We don't buy tourist stuff / gifts, other than a t shirt or hat on occasion and anything else we buy along the way we would have bought if we were at home.

Regards

[NC25T]

Really depends on the RV age, condition etc

Yearly oil change engine/generator $100

Caulk roof yearly inspection $100-$200

Insurance was $1k a year

Probably averaged $200 a year for misc stuff that needed fixed,

Camping costs from free to $200 a night

Fuel at 7MPG

Biggest expense was the monthly payment to the bank for the RV

[Isaac-1]

Sorry about being slow to respond to this thread I started, but I have been dealing with motorhome mechano-electrical problems this afternoon. The brake light switch was stuck on and the brake lights drained my battery. I am not sure of the root cause yet, but everything is working now. (I don't know if the engine warming everything up fixed it, or if it was the corner of a bit of carpet caught on the rod bellows.

Anyway I was more wondering about daily operating cost while traveling, how you tend to budget things between camping cost vs food/dining, fuel, attractions, etc. Not so much a cost of ownership with insurance, storage,etc. I also did not intend for this to be a how to see America on $XX per day.

[HavingABlast]

OP, From my 15 months of experience, I think that Betr2Trvl nailed it. There are so many variables. You will burn about $80-100 per travel day in diesel. After that where you stay drives the cost. The rest of the stuff is small in comparison. We eat inneRly every day, so I just call it a wash with when we are at the S&B.

[HavingABlast]

As far as where you stay, we have stayed at truck stops, Walmart, City/County/State/Federal, private campgrounds, and BLM land. We've paid anything from zero dollars to $70 per night. If you are over 62YO, get the national parks senior pass. That could save you $$ at Federal camping facilities.

[jfran304]

Most of the food we eat is prepared by the wife in the RV so we don't consider the cost since it would be the same as at home. Not having to worry about how, who or when the food was prepared is the main savings. I got food poisoning from Burger King one time.

Gas depends on the trip but with our gas coach it usually averages out around $100 a day. We do take our time sleeping in in the mornings and stopping early to set up each night.

Campgrounds average out around $50 a night. We have stayed in City Parks that cost $12 a night and we have stayed in RV resorts that have cost around $80 a night but most cost between $35 and $50 a night. The wife uses Allstays App on the road. Allstays Camp and RV | RV Parks Campgrounds App

Sleeping in our own bed knowing who slept in it the night before and what they did. Not having to unload suitcases every night and reload every morning.

To sum it up I would say we spend an average of around $150 a day more on the road when traveling than we do at home.

[momdoc]

Betr2Trvl you should really try the national parks, forests, state parks, county and city parks. They can be amazing and Cheap.


We are about to start a month wander and spending the first month in Florida staying at various parks. Our nightly camping fees are averaging $17 a night with electric, water and private sites. A great deal and a great way to "see" the country.


momdoc

[biggcrisp]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

For those of you that are not fulltimers, and that use your motor for general travel and vacations, as opposed to going to one location and staying there for a couple of weeks the returning home. What are your average daily expenses / operating cost?

We start off with $100 cash money per each day traveling plus $30 in quarters.

The cash disappeares quickly on tipping and spending situations that are not secure cc transactions.

We have two cc's for two separate gas station chains.

We carry two additional cc's for secure transactions (one to use with points and one for emergency).

Plus roadside assistance and other insurance policies.

[Robmat]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

For those of you that are not fulltimers, and that use your motor for general travel and vacations, as opposed to going to one location and staying there for a couple of weeks the returning home. What are your average daily expenses / operating cost?

Aside from your costs of owning the motorhome which are maintenance, insurance, registration, oil changes, etc. which would be the same no matter how long or short the trip. My experiences is from taking 25-30 days summer trips and 6-10 days Easter trips. This past summer's trip was 29 days - 5200 miles and the gas cost was around $75/day. Stayed at 17 different campgrounds started at $15/day at a Passport America campground, then $20/day on the Ohio Turnpike, with the most averaging in the upper $30's with a few higher at the destinations (Glacier National Park, Cody WY, Custer, SD). The average for campgrounds was just over $40/day. For food we like to try the local cuisine but limit the number of meals away from the RV to control costs. (we mostly ended up with a lunch when sightseeing, an occasional breakfast, and about 1/4 of the nights a dinner) For the two of us the average was $50/day for outside meals (not counting the cost of meals in the RV). This makes costs around $165/day average. The way I look at it is that it is a vacation so I look at the destination (or destinations) first and plan from there. They generally are the most expensive campgrounds and then I try to use discounts and cheaper campgrounds getting to the destination to bring the daily average down.

[MrsChilerick]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

Anyway I was more wondering about daily operating cost while traveling, how you tend to budget things between camping cost vs food/dining, fuel, attractions, etc. Not so much a cost of ownership with insurance, storage,etc. I also did not intend for this to be a how to see America on $XX per day.

Our primary travel is planned for 2-4 months at at time through the summer. For food and dining we budget pretty much the same as we do at home, we have a grocery budget and a dining out budget. We don't really change that when we are out in the RV. We are foodies, so we like to find good places to eat wherever we visit (please do not interpret that to mean expensive, sometimes the best food is in a little place you'd never expect). We tend to stay in most locations 10 days or so, so we are not rushed to do/spend quickly. Camping costs and attractions budget depends on where we are going, who we may take with us (grandkids?) we plan that budget along with the plan for the trip and estimate what we think (research) it will cost and then add 25%. Fuel is budgeted at $4 per gallon assuming 7 miles per gallon. (Next years Alaska trip we will budget based on a higher cost) I know $4 is high now, but it was really close a couple years back, and you never know what you'll find out there, and I'd rather come in under budget than over budget. I'm a planner, I use a spreadsheet that gives me an idea of how much money we'll need for the trip, but I imagine this could be done on a cocktail napkin and you'd get pretty close.

Most importantly, have fun and be safe in your travels.