How much do you spend to RV?

[beer family]

I plan to become a part-time RV'er in retirement (less than 3 years). To plan, I need some advice? How much do you spend on average each month? I plan to purchase a Class A diesel pusher. Just operating expenses, not the cost of the RV (financing), food or insurance. I'm assuming operating expenses include: maintenance, gas, storage, site fees, tolls. Thanks in advance.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I don't think current cost will reflect prices 3 years from now!!!

I suggest you set your finances up the best you can, and set your plan in motion when you're ready!

 

[John&Andrea]

You may be a bit early as Kevin mentioned as prices will change. It’s a good idea to look at the annual maintenance costs on a DP. I will step back and let the DP owners step up. I’m a planner so I think you’re good to start looking at this. Good luck.

 

[Rich W.]

I plan to become a part-time RV'er in retirement (less than 3 years). To plan, I need some advice? How much do you spend on average each month? I plan to purchase a Class A diesel pusher. Just operating expenses, not the cost of the RV (financing), food or insurance. I'm assuming operating expenses include: maintenance, gas, storage, site fees, tolls. Thanks in advance.

Don’t forget to include unanticipated repairs. Unless it’s under warranty you should budget for this as well. The amount will vary depending on age, condition, brand, complexity, etc, but it is a factor that may eclipse all the other items you listed.

 

[Rich W.]

And of course if you are a “normal DP owner” you will always be tempted to spend more than necessary to go above and beyond on preventative maintenance, do the best job possible on repairs, and entertain all manner of upgrades and improvements as the DP becomes more than just a recreational vehicle. You might be immune to all this but I wasn’t and my impression of most of the DP owners here is that they suffer from the same afflictions. Personalizing and upgrading often become as much a part of the “recreation” as traveling and camping.

 

[tom depouw]

I use a rough guide of $100.00 a day. Travel days are more expensive because of fuel, but then we spend less on days we are staying in the same spot so it evens out. If we find we are spending much more than that we book COE parks to bring the costs down when available. If your averaging 7-9 miles per gallon it is easy to plan expenses using an app for routes and campgrounds. I use Mudflap for finding stations with truck/RV lanes and saving money at the same time. I use RV Life Pro for planning and it totals your planned expenses so you have an idea for how much your going to spend when you add in your information for your unit.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Manufacturers typically have an annual maintenance program that covers typical expense. Add 20% for unexpected repairs. Should give you a good baseline.
While this may sound expensive, the annual maintenance done at Newmar for instance is very extensive and well worth the investment to make a reliable vehicle.
We average about 10,000 miles a year so timing works out for us.

 

[Rich W.]

Manufacturers typically have an annual maintenance program that covers typical expense. Add 20% for unexpected repairs. Should give you a good baseline.
While this may sound expensive, the annual maintenance done at Newmar for instance is very extensive and well worth the investment to make a reliable vehicle.
We average about 10,000 miles a year so timing works out for us.

I’m pretty sure I spent around $1/mile owning my coach although I was never brave enough to do any accurate accounting so maybe a bit more, but certainly not less. This includes everything coach related including fuel based on 12,000 miles/year , but not campgrounds, insurance, storage, tolls, and other travel related expenses.

 

[Diesel Pusher]

My monthly operating expenses are mostly consumables amortized over the life of the item, not monthly.

Tires - 5 to 7 years
Oil change - prescribed intervals
Chassis/motor maintenance - prescribed intervals
Fuel cost - depends on daily miles driven and driving style
House maintenance - water heater, fridge, slide motors, batteries, 12v electrical, plumbing, awnings etc.
Site costs - too many variables i.e. boondocking, state /federal parks, RV resorts
Storage cost - too many variables, flat rate or by the foot?

Diesel motorhome ownership is far from a one size fits all scenario. Since you're 3 years away, start putting money aside now in a dedicated RV savings account because there's no specific formula for what monthly costs might be and somewhat difficult to predict component failure!

 

[Rich W.]

giving it a bit more thought I came up with a rough estimate of what it cost me to own and operate my 2016 35’ Ventana based on 12,000 miles/year and the OP’s criteria (or close to it):

$6,000 Fuel
$1,500 unexpected repairs (sometimes more, sometimes less but probably fairly accurate
$1,500 maint w/my own oil changes, trans service, filters, but allowing $500 for some FL time
$1,000 registration in Calif - I’m sure it’s cheaper nearly everywhere else
$850 tires based on $6,000 every 7 years

That comes out to $10,850 without insurance (my insurance was $2000), tolls (I don’t go back east much anymore), site fees (hard to calculate and I never kept track), or storage (she lived at home).

So with the $2,000 for insurance, about $1/mile (my guess was pretty close).

Off topic but on warranties, I was “offered” (attempted strong arm robbery but I fended off the thief) an extended warranty for $10,000. Don’t recall the duration but let’s assume 5 years. In the 4.5 years I owned my coach, I had around $6000 in unexpected repairs (1 AC, exhaust manifold, and a few small items) that would have been covered by the warranty, assuming they paid the claims and the deductible wasn’t too high. So a conservative estimate is that I would have wasted at least $4000 and I’m sure collecting on claims would have been a battle.