4 years ago, we wrestled with the decision of whether to buy an RV or not. I’m a nerd. I did a bunch of math to figure out if it would be worth it.
We ultimately decided to buy the RV and hit the road. We took the plunge. We’ve traveled for 4 years and have spent that time visiting all of the Tennessee State Parks. I wanted to visit the entire state I’ve lived in all my life. We also used this time to learn how to RV travel and get decent at it.
We are starting 2024 with a non-RV trip to Fort Worth, Texas. I have a work project in town and we made it a mini vacation. It is the perfect time to compare RV travel to non-RV travel (traditional travel).
We traveled “traditionally” on this trip (air, hotel, rental car). This is the perfect time to determine if RV travel has been Fort “Worth” It!?!? Get it…worth it…Fort Worth it…do you see what I did there? Ha!
Was buying an RV worth it? Or could we have just traveled ‘normally’ for cheaper. If it was more expensive was the added expense worth it?
Caution. The nerd level is gonna be high with this one! I work in spreadsheets the way Picasso worked with oils.
Contender #1 – “Traditional Travel”
Air Travel – The average ticket is $382 ($764 round trip). https://www.moneygeek.com/credit-cards/travel/analysis/average-flight-cost/ This trip’s ticket round trip was $551 so this checks out. It really is a miracle to get in a metal tube and arrive somewhere else on earth. So there’s that! But there are bad things too: Add in a large group or family and this can get expensive quick. You also have to deal with all that goes along with the “miracle” of air travel (getting to/from the airport, arriving hours early, being groped by TSA, delays/cancellations, connecting flights, mobs of people, motion sickness). There might not even be a flight/airport close to where you want to go.
Rental Cars – Once you are there you have to get transportation. I’m assuming a rental car is needed. The average rental car costs per day is $110 (for a standard-sized car). https://time.com/personal-finance/article/how-much-does-it-cost-to-rent-a-car/ This trip’s car rental was $107 per day so this checks out.
Lodging – Also once you are there you’ll need to have a place to stay. I’m assuming a hotel room is needed. The average hotel room per night is $149. https://www.statista.com/statistics/195704/average-hotel-room-rate-in-the-us-since-2005/ This trip’s hotel room was $184 per day so this checks out.
Food – I don’t count food in my calculations because we eat out when we travel so this expense wouldn’t change for us at all. Eating out is part of our travel experience.
Contender #2 – “RV Travel”
Campground – The cost of the campground (we stay in State Park most of the time but have stayed in nicer full hookup campgrounds on some trips too). The average cost per night over the 4 years we’ve traveled has been $39.17 per night.
Rig (Truck) – We use an RV travel trailer and a truck to pull it. This configuration is about as economical as you can run an RV rig for. I’d own a vehicle anyway (and likely the same truck). I tow with a half-ton pick up and it works fine. If I use the “official government mileage rate” to track the cost per mile on the truck. This includes gas but also gives me some indicator for “wear and tear / maintenance / depreciation” on the truck. For the 9,996 miles we drove this makes our costs $6,547. If I calculate the actual depreciation and gas expense for the trips we took it totals $5,731. Gas mileage is about half when towing so this likely understates the true costs. I also put many more miles on the vehicle than if I wasn’t towing so it accounts for the extra mileage and depreciation and maintenance. Both these methods arrive at a pretty similar value.
Rig (Trailer) – The biggest cost was the depreciation on the RV ($13,794 over the 4 years). Our trailer is a relatively middle-tier trailer (it is smaller in length but has nicer options). We purchased it new for around $25k. After 10,000 miles the trade-in on it is around $12,000. So, it is worth about half what we bought it for. It works out to about $294 a month over 4 years or $1.38 per mile driven.
Other Rig Options – Obviously, if you are driving a bigger or different type of rig your costs will be higher. If it has an engine in it it will depreciate faster and costs will be higher.
Which Contender Wins? Traditional Travel or RV Travel?
The cost of the RV (and everything associated with it) for the 28 trips we took over 4 years.
- Driving our truck, with our RV, and staying in campgrounds total cost was $23,664.
- If we’d drove our truck and stayed in a hotel it would have only been $19,402.
- It costs us $4,263 (or 22%) more to travel the way we have.
Even using it 28 times over the 4 years we still lost money. The depreciation will slow down now (since it deprecates the most in the early years) but maintenance costs will also likely go up.
Other costs that need to be considered because they will add to the cost of RV travel:
- Wrecks/damage
- Maintenance/Upgrades
- Storage costs when not using.
DeanoRolls (@deanoroll5) 