My friend and I are planning a road trip for July and August of next year and we’re trying to work out the finances early on. We want to travel through around 44 states (yep it’s a big trip!) and we want to do it on as tight a budget as possible. It looks like it’s cheaper to use an RV or a camper and it’s cheaper to buy and re-sell than it is to rent. Actually it’s cheaper to buy and just abandon that to rent! This is a rough estimate of what we have so far…
Motorhome: ,000 – obv used class C
Camp-sites: ,220 – on the basis that the average site costs a night
Gas: 7 – around a day
Groceries: 0 – we’ll eat out most days
Insurance: 3 for both of us
This obviously isn’t factoring in spending money or flights but if anyone has any advice or comments about our ‘money plan’ please let me know. Thanks!
It is realistic and sounds like a heck of a lot of fun.
No
Those numbers aren’t even in the same galaxy as your real world numbers will eventually
be
W/O re-doing all of your numbers I’ll betcha that they’re 8-10 times too low
Redo them to and write back
Suggestion: Skip the motor home>rent a 4 door sedan w/a V-6 for two months
Why a sedan ?
Because they handle better at 85 mph than a mini-van does
You blow a tire at 85 mph in a mini van ,you roll and die
Do that in a sedan and you just have to clean the brown stains off of your upholstery
If you pick-up and return to the same location you will save a lot of money
If you can find one that will do it for two months an off the airport property location will save you even more money
The difference in mpg alone between the Class C and the full sized sedan will more than justify the cost of the car rental
I’ve been in the RV Business, most of it spent in the Rental side of it, since 1981. Your trip sounds great, but you didn’t mention what your actual goal is…is it to actually visit and enjoy where you’re going, or is it to just drive through 44 states to say you were in 44 states? To me, parts of your trip are not realistic.
Your total listed budget for a 60 day trip comes down to $84 a day to feed 2 persons, pay for the RV, campgrounds, fuel…and that’s before you have any suprises (breakdowns, repairs, etc.) on the road.
First, if you’re going to try and hit 44 states over about 60 days, that means you’re going to cover around 8-10,000 miles…no matter how much you plan ahead. This means you need to drive 134 – 167 miles per day and there’s not a gasoline motorhome made today…or in the last 50 years, that with a $15/day fuel budget, that will get you over 25 mpg (based on $3/gallon gas). A very small Class C gasoline motorhome might get you 12-ish, driving 50-55 mph. Even some of the old small Winniebago diesel models won’t meet your fuel budget & they offer some very scary over-the-road service obstacles.
Second, if you could find a motorhome for $2,000, I can promise you that you’ll spend more than that amount for repairs during your trip. There’s a very big difference buying an old junker to go to the local road track, stadium or hunting camp, than to try a trip of this type. You might, and this is a very big might, be able to find a Travel Trailer owner that is in finanical hard times that will sell you one very cheap, but even in this market, $2,000 won’t buy you a lot at all…and with a Travel Trailer, you’d need a vehicle that can tow it. An older Pop-Up Camper is much more a realistic possibility for your $2,000 budget. Also, if you have the ability to sell whatever vehicle you buy, after your trip, that is not cheaper than just abandoning it. If you have the ability to keep it, why not start “rebuilding/fixing” it up for next summer’s trip?
If your $650 grocery budget is your total food budget, I have no idea how you’ll be able to feed 2 persons, 3 meals a day on a $10.83 daily average (over 60 days)…especially if you’re going to be eating out most days.
The Camp-site amounts are realistic if you’re staying in State and/or National Parks, Army Corp of Engineer Parks, etc. Not if you plan to go into any type of KOA, Good Sam’s or similar campgrounds.
You mentioned flights, but if you can remove the flight cost, then that can be added to any other part of the budget which could be a big help.
Let me give you some realistic ideas:
One, cut down on the amount of states you want to cover. Your trip idea is great, but maybe if you concentrated on one section of the country…Sourthest, Northeast, Southwest or Northwest, you’ll spend less time driving…have more quality time to actually see & experience where you’re at…and you’ll get ideas on how to improve your next trip to the next section you plan to visit. Less driving also means less gasoline expense.
Second, if either of you have a good car that can make the trip, take it, maybe get a deal on a older Pop-Up camper (they can usually be pulled by almost any size car or even mini-van). An older Pop-Up is something that you can probably sell when you return for as much as you paid for it…(would/could your parents front you the money for the Pop-Up if they know you’re going to sell it when you get back)…and thus you’d be able to pay them back pretty quickly. Pop-Ups are also very cheap to insure. Whatever you decide on buying, start looking now. Anything you do buy is going to need repairs. The sooner you start on those, the better off you’ll be and will be cheaper to do locally than having over-the-road service repairs. As we move into the fall and winter months (moving out of the RV selling season…especially in the Northern states), you might find a dealer with an older vehicle that will be glad to dump it…or even a similar type of deal from an individual seller…check out your local “RV Trader” magazine or “RV Trader On-Line” for individual sellers.
Third, even if you car only gets 15 mpg, if you’re paying $3/gallon for gasoline, that’s 75 miles per day or 4,500 miles over 60 days…If you stick to one region of the country, you won’t drive anywhere near this amount. Again less driving means less gasoline & more $$ for other parts of your budget.
Fourth, to me, when my family goes out, even though we eat a number of meals in the RV or cooking on the grill at the campground, part of the fun of a vacation or even just a weekend away, is finding a nice little place for great local food. Again, if your grocery budget of $650 is your only food budget, this really needs to be around $75-80/day.
Go to www.rvworldofgeorgia.com and then click on “Rentals”. Once there, go to “RV Travel Links” in the menu on the left. There you’ll find a great list of fun & helpful links to make any