Who Has or Going to Downsize Because of Gas Prices

[k1fisch]

I downsized from a 40 foot diesel pusher to a 29 foot gas. I regret that. The DP went further on fuel, was easier to fill up at truck stops, more power and more comfortable. My Thor is okay, but the bedroom is too tight. The DP was aging and needed 5 gallons plus 2 quarts of oil. Couldn't find a more recent DP at a reasonable price. Keep what you have and take fewer trips.

[RonandSueH]

Throughout historical highs and lows, people have $$ to do exactly what they want to do….we live on a river in a very economically challenged area (‘dirt poor’) I remember during the ‘O’ admin when gas hit $4+ gal, everyone managed to find enough $$ to run their boats that summer….and now with all that economic stimulus available it will continue. We will continue to travel, but stay longer in one place and I’ll be forced to cook all the meals

[gt350ed]

We're getting ready to head out for the summer. We are fulltimers with an RV-oriented winter/spring base. We live in, and normally travel in, our 38' Class A gasser. Typically, we get about 8 mpg. This spring, we bought an 18' Prowler travel trailer. We're leaving the MH at "home", along with our toad. We'll be pulling the trailer behind our Ford Sport Trac. With that set-up, we get about 17 mpg.

[jaysigel]

Before buying another RV, consider all of the current market and financial factors.


Are you planning to sell your current RV first? If not, you will need enough funds to get the one you want. How much will that cost? The amount of fuel savings in a year (if any) will likely be less than the cost of an oil change.


The market is currently crashing. Unless you're not invested or invested in leveraged, short equities, your investments have lost a lot of value. Shouldn't you be saving up your cash to buy into the market near its bottom?


If you plan on using pretax money for that RV, like from an IRA or 401(k), consider that you will pay 30+% in taxes on anything you withdrawal (plus more, depending on your age), you will be placed in a higher income tax bracket and you'll lose any growth potential to boot. Consider the tax consequences of all of that vs. taking out a loan with a quick, 10 yr payoff.


Probably the best advice, all things considered, comes from Stephen Stills: "Love the one you're with." Keep your current RV, pay for any of its repairs, modifications, etc. Travel a little less in it. That will likely be the least expensive for you both and long term.

[Sokcap48]

Just got back from a 5,000 mile trip. Had a blast we are home for a while but will still travel and have more trips planned. We are going to travel while we are still able to. I like others while probably stay a little longer in one spot but that is the only change. As a side note: my actual mpg was 10.5 for the entire trip.

[Streetloaf]

Gas prices ruined my plans for the summer. I am parking my RV in a park, long term, and will fly to where I want to visit.
$300 for a round trip flight, VS $4000 for gas.

[Tilted Kilt]

I'm not going to downsize What I will do is boondock more. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe year.

[mojoman]

2005 KSDP 3910. No intention of changing any plans. The increase in diesel price is really a small cost in the big picture.

[boldknight]

WE put our Class in into covered storage until Gasoline price go down. Maybe the wealthy can keep going, but we retirees just cant afford to pay thousands of dollars on fuel we don't have to feed the oil companies profits.

[RamblingRV]

For one of our trips this summer, we’ll be driving the truck and staying in hotels instead of taking the rig. Even with the cost of eating out, we’ll save nearly $1000 on the trip. That said, for this trip, we had waited too long to book because I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect with a round of radiation, and by the time we knew when it was going to happen and that the side effects weren’t as bad as expected, the campsites we wanted to visit were booked up. So obviously, people are still traveling. And we will get out on at least one trip with it, but it may be a shorter trip.

We don’t plan to give up out 38’ Emblem because of gas prices, but at some point we will either downsize or add another small rig so we can take quick trips to places the Emblem can’t go. We tried downsizing last year, but went too far down with a Winnebago View (I loved it, the missus didn’t like the small size), and had to trade back up during our first trip. If we downsize again, it will be either to a 29-30’ C class, or it may end up being a Class B that can go anywhere, but with the intention to stay in hotels, with me sleeping in the van with the dogs when there are no pet friendly hotels. TBD.

[Terryander]

We downsized from our Country Coach to a new camper and F450. Double the fuel mileage but not the reason to make the change. Back country access in the SW with our horses is a bucket list adventure. Not paying extravagant rv resort fees while boon docking is glorious.

[franklin99]

Most all of our trips have been cancelled due to price of fuel. I hope there will be at least one trip this year.

[Mot W]

Originally Posted by tmandoug1

I'm downsizing to an E-bike and towing a shopping cart. When the food and fuel runs out I'm going to stand under a wind turbine and take the dead birds and cook them on a solar panel. Adapt and overcome ...it is human nature!

Sarcasm....people...sarcasm.

Oh no. We just put the 3 wheeler single speed bike in the 10x40' container because we can't peddle it uphill.
Now the energy & food problems have an appointment with reality & we'll have to re analize our pages of plans.

[orangeminnie]

Fuel prices are a worldwide problem right now, for the most part out of the control of any country's leader (unless we agree to sacrifice several European countries to the P-word). As long as the demand is on the edge of supply, the prices will stay high. We can all do our part to pull prices back from that edge, by voluntarily reducing our consumption when possible, whatever our economic situation might be.