So....ever add up all your bills to date?

[tmandoug1]

Careful....the "if you can't afford it dont buy it guy" is coming.

[Ray,IN]

The most expensive method of "camping" is in a MH. You gotta pay to play. The single-most expensive thing you can do to a MH is allow it to sit unused.

[TJFogelberg]

I'm gettin by cheap.

[Old Harry]

Several decades ago when I was still flying, a group of us would get together on Saturday and pick a place several hundred miles away. We would fly to it for lunch and then fly back home. We called it the hundred dollar hamburger.

Today it would be called the four hundred dollar hamburger.

So owning an RV is (maybe) less expensive and like my wife says, “The RV has a bathroom and beds, the plane didn’t.”

[BillJinOR]

Just looked. I keep all expenses in a vehicle tracking program. About 40,000 dollars in the seven years we’ve owned the Beaver Marquis. That’s maint only. No fuel or insurance or license. Highlights ? radiator 7 grand ,aquahot rebuild 7500, new slide seals all around and repair a water leak 8 grand. Lots of smaller things like air suspension six pack replacement roof air conditioner replacement, toilet rebuild and on and on plus 5 oil changes at a average 500 ea time It needs new tires before I go anywhere , Toyos that just priced out at 6500$ Michelin were quoted at over 9 grand if I could get them.
Not for the budget buyer to be sure.

[Ridemist]

Just did this recently. 2015 Fleetwood Excursion purchased new October 2015, so will be 6 years next month. In that time spent roughly $32K for maintenance and repair plus $9K paid by extended warranty (does not include anything covered under the chassis or coach warranties). Does include storage and yearly maintenance. Does not cover insurance, registration fees or fuel. As previously mentioned (I keep track of nightly stays) we're at $369 per night based on purchase price. Definitely not an economical hobby.

[Msmoto]

My Tiffin Allegro Bus, sold after 51,000 miles, parked in heated garage when not on road, cost $3.25 per mile, which included depreciation, insurance, taxes, maintenance, fuel, added options post delivery, towed hookups, everything.
This was during the times when fuel was usually around $4.00 to $4.25 per gallon.

So, my total cost was $165,750 over four years ownership. I sold it because I wanted to go smaller, thus purchased another Airstream trailer. And the costs associated with three Airstreams, including the 2008 RAM/Cummins, were about $1.75 per mile over 70,000 miles towing, or another $122,500.

My current Leisure Travel Van, if sold today with 26,000 miles, would cost about $0.67 per mile when calculated as above. Depreciation is practically nonexistent for LTV’s, as the current wait time for a new one is nearly two years.

Is all this worth it? I have had wonderful experiences with RVing, so maybe it is. Probably would have been less expensive to stay in hotels, but as much of my camping was boondocking, hotels would not have been the same.

[Indy Glenn]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

The most expensive method of "camping" is in a MH. You gotta pay to play. The single-most expensive thing you can do to a MH is allow it to sit unused.

Truer words were never spoken.......

g

[Ohio44718]

Sometimes I complain about the cost of owning a MH both in time and $$. If you figure all the man-hours cleaning, maintaining, etc it has to be considered a costly hobby. After spending a couple of days getting ready to leave and loading the RV, I sometimes wonder why I do it. Then, I start down the street and make that first turn and now I remember why it is is all worth it. It's just plain fun! Life is too short. Grateful I can do it health wise and financially.

[Fiesta48]

You can't afford to NOT use your toys. My DP costs 2.65 per mile. A thousand miles is 2650.00
I refuse to fly, many reasons. If I can't drive there we are not going.
We have 2 Motor homes for different reasons.

[Bigd9]

Originally Posted by bpu699

I just went through all the files the prior owner of my 2000 Winnebago ultimate spent, from 2009 to 2020...
This is repairs and maintenance, no huge splurges...

$47,000....

Wow. That’s some open check book spending. Included some huge repairs, including radiator leak ($5000), generator rebuild, etc...

This isn’t a million dollar rv... probably 100k new...

Wow, the bills add up. Annual seasonal “prep” was $800-1200 a year... close to same for “winter prep” to store...

Soooo... anyone else add up their bills?

Yes, I keep a list of all repair, maintenance and improvement parts cost and any labor charges (I do 99% of my onw labor) on a Excel spreadsheet. For that same 11 year time period, my out of pocket cost were roughly 1/2 of what your original owner spent. Those little $11 here and $25 there sure add up!

[petrel]

No - Never.

Receipts for periodic maintenance, repairs, or upgrades are punched and put in a journal for reference only. Receipts for anything else are promptly disposed of.

[Rob_M]

Edit: I do what petrel does. ^

Going on 3 years and I believe I still haven’t spent over $1000 on repairs and maintenance, but I get my parts and oil at dealer cost so it’s not a fair example. I do my own repairs and maintenance. When I bought the 2002 coach with 46k miles, it had already been upgraded, new flooring, window treatments, roof re-caulked, new inverter, new ac units, new thermostat, new residential fridge, new smart tv’s, and new tires. (not looking forward to that expense) and extensive maintenance records.
We feel very blessed that we were able to buy it. I put money in savings every paycheck for future costs.

That being said, I’m on my 4th power boat and have broke even or made money on every one I’ve owned and sold. My current ‘97 Formula is worth more now than what I paid over 5 years ago. It has less than 500 hours on it.

I find great deals on older high-end stuff that’s depreciated already, been well cared for and hardly used. Maintain them well and sell before expensive things happen.

[Mudfrog]

I can't add that high!

Seriously, our costs have been fairly reasonable over the 18 plus years we've owned our rig. Unfortunately, and this may have helped with total expenses, we've only put about 17k miles on it since we bought it new. Ours is gas and we have no storage fees.

Totals below are rounded up.

TT&L new, plus interest paid during the 5 year loan came out to $74k.
RV port built right after we got it, $3k.
Total routine maintenance costs over the years, $4.5k.
Various repairs (parts and my labor), $4.4k.
Fuel total (17k miles / 8mpg x $3 a gallon), $6.4k.
Campsite, annual passport costs come out to about $8.6k.
Annual registration, state inspection, and insurance, $10k


Total comes out to $110.9k.
Divided by 18 years, $6.2k a year.

Yep, tenting is cheaper but nope, don't wanna go back to doing that.