Are travel trailers the biggest bang for your buck?

[Wayne Hill]

Good afternoon,
Don't take this too seriously but I am interested in the cost factor of travelling with say a 13 - 17 ft trailer vs travelling with a fuel efficient car and staying in motels/hotels.

Has anyone sat down and figured out what the actual costs are for having/using a travel trailer?

For example when you are using a vehicle you can get your average actual costs/km (mile) which includes, depreciation, gas, wear and tear, routine maitenance etc.

How do you put a price on:
- the ability of going where you want
- when you want
- staying as long as you want
- inadvertently finding new locations that you might never gone to
- having your stuff in one spot
- having a spot to disappear to - for whatever reason
- sleeping in your own bed
- eating your own food
- meeting new people

Random thought starters:

Is figuring a loss of fuel efficiency of 20 - 30 % a reasonable amount on the tow vehicle a reasonable amount?
Besides fuel costs - Is travelling in the USA cheaper/on par than Canada?

Average cost of staying ovenight - full hook up $30?
Average cost of a decent hotel/motel room $120
Average cost of restaurant meals for 2 $60 vs
Average cost of buying/preparing your own food $20 ?
Maintenance costs of trailer.
Initial cost of trailer.

I don't know if any of these numbers are close but I'm willing to bet someone knows and will correct me LOL

Wayne

[HikeSticks]

Hi Wayne,
I have a spreadsheet that I use for calculating and comparing costs. I live in New Brunswick, Canada and towed my 13' Trillium to Florida in November. Being retired I am on the road each week during the summer. I have found;
If taking a relatively short trip, the economics are weighed heavily in favor of taking the trailer. Also, if taking a long trip, (4,000 mile round trip) the economics favor taking the trailer if I'm staying more than a week. This past summer, I took my trailer through the northeast states, into Quebec and southern and northern Ontario and return. With this trip, I had no schedule or agenda. I drove until I was tired and pulled off to take a nap. If I found an interesting area I booked a campsite. The flexibility provided by towing your kitchen and bed are hard to put a number on but it certainly reduced the stress related to searching for a reasonably priced hotel/motel room, especially during a peak season. I have regularly stayed overnight in Walmart and Flying J parking lots while driving point to point.
When planning a trip, I collect and compare data related to distance, fuel costs, meals, rooms etc. and then make a judgement call. Especially with all the bad press of late regarding the bed bug problem in hotels I would rather not stay in a hotel room unless the comparative costs of taking the Trillium just makes no sense at all.
My 2 cents worth.
Enjoy,
Barrie

[Donna D.]

Making family memories... PRICELESS!

[Terry R.]

No stale air. If your trailer is dirty, it is your own dirt. Your very own bed. If you are on a special diet, you can prepare it. Your potty is your own and available. No carrying luggage in and out. Always packed and ready. How do you put a price on all that?

[Greg H]

I know you said someone would say something about your figures, well I figure if you are going to spend $120.00 a night to rent a room at a hotel/motel you might as well buy a new camper and make payments. Personally I would never pay that much to sleep in a hotel/motel, that's just me.

[Ken C]

google technomadia they have a cost breakdown of rv'ing fulltime.

[Mike Magee]

I would say more like $75 a night for a decent motel room. But it's really a calculation that each person would have to make based on their own preferences... what type/level of motel, what kind of vehicle (with its own fuel mileage, all are different), how fancy the restaurants you like, etc. Also the trailer cost can be figured in (a depreciation-like figure), and this will vary... a $25K, big heavy stick built trailer will cost way more per year than a little FG trailer purchased used that probably will lose little or no value over the next few years.

[Cyndi B.]

The purpose of the trip and the miles needed to be covered and the time we have to do it determines if we take the camper. We saved Greg's company money by staying in our Scamp most of the summer but sometimes it wasn't practical and besides the motel room was only $8 more then our campsite (no bedbugs included or thin walls).

[HerseyBA]

Biggest advantage of your own travel trailer - no bed bugs. Priceless

[Wayne Hill]

All,
All good valid points.

So, generally do you see a 20 - 30 % decrease in mileage when towing your particular trailer?

Trailer depreciation is something that may or may not happen depending on what you buy and how long you have it.

Up until now we have generally stayed in mid line hotels and looked for deals. We've found US prices cheaper generally, but add in the exchange and you are sort of close in price (depending).
Gas is a lot cheaper in the US.
Heck, We're already $30/day up just because we don't have to board the dogs.
Both dogs love to travel - snooze city.

Wayne

[HikeSticks]

Originally Posted by Wayne Hill

All,
All good valid points.

So, generally do you see a 20 - 30 % decrease in mileage when towing your particular trailer?

Trailer depreciation is something that may or may not happen depending on what you buy and how long you have it.

Up until now we have generally stayed in mid line hotels and looked for deals. We've found US prices cheaper generally, but add in the exchange and you are sort of close in price (depending).
Gas is a lot cheaper in the US.
Heck, We're already $30/day up just because we don't have to board the dogs.
Both dogs love to travel - snooze city.

Wayne

The amount of extra gas you burn will depend on your towing vehicle and driving habits. I found I burned a lot more gas when I maintained normal speed limit speeds so I have slowed my speed when towing; it's safer and saves money.
Also, keep in mind that staying in a camper rather than a motel is as much a lifestyle choice as an economic one. I prefer staying in my camper and it would be worth a premium to me but it saves me money; win, win.
Barrie

[Ray N]

We bought our trailer mainly to just go camping at local state parks for a couple of nights at a time. A cost comparison with motels just won't work. I never even considered the possibility of it actually saving us money. I figure the first year expenses of owning our trailer at about twenty thousand dollars; that includes the trailer, trip to buy it, license and insurance, reduced gas millage, cost of preparing the truck, and various other accessories and incidentals involved in setting up home.

[Wayne Hill]

Ray,
Sort of like buying a boat to go fishing. The first fish costs you thousands, the second 1/2 that, etc. LOL
Wayne

[WtMtJim]

We have used and calculated in recent years the cost of traveling via (1) a 35' motorhome, (2) two years after the MH and prior to the Casita staying at motels and (3) more than a year and 17,000 + miles with the Casita. (1) The MH cost on average $100 or more per day including gas at $2.50 to $3.00 a gallon but NOT counting the cost of the MH payment. ( A MH, like a large fifth wheel, is great and can be economical if you go directly to one spot and stay there for days or weeks at a time. It is not the rig to tour in). (2) The motel thing cost an average of $125 a day or more when counting the cost of gas for the car, the room (avg of at least $85 per night) and eating out all the time. Yuck! Downsides of motels include dragging luggage in and out all the time, sleeping in strange (in more ways than one) beds every night and eating out all the time (Yuck, again!). (3) Ah, the Casita. Has cost us on average $65 to $75 per day including gas, food (cooked by ouselves!), CG fees, souvenirs, etc. We like to move around, see the sights, keep on the move. The Casita is the way to do it. Additional benefits are that both of us can drive the Casita with tow vehicle rig. The Mrs. could not / would not drive the MH. It was very tiring to drive the MH 600 miles a day by myself. With motels we felt the need to always make reservations. With the Casita we rarely do and have had no problems getting into CGs. With the MH we were 51 feet and you can't back up with the dinghy hooked up. With the Casita we are 31 feet and can get in and out of places that we would have to pass up with the MH. I was always uneasy at motels - concerned about someone messing with the car. I've never felt uneasy in a CG, either public or private. Then there are the intangibles benefits of Casitas vs. motels like being able to take your morning or evening walk around a CG, meet new people, be out in the open, etc. At a motel you are pretty much cooped up for the night. What are you going to do, walk around the paved parking lot and listen to the freeway traffic? I never met new friends while staying at a motel. I have met many new friends traveling with a Casita both fellow fiberglass owners and other CG residents and just the ones that walk up to you and tell you how "cute" your egg is. I only regret that it took us 40 + years of RVng to discover all that small, fiberglass TT traveling has to offer. In summary, I definitley think a small TT is cheaper than any other form of traveling, unless you include hitchhiking, but in addition there are many additional positive intangibles that make it all that much more appealing.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Wayne Hill

I am interested in the cost factor of traveling with say a 13 - 17 ft trailer vs traveling with a fuel efficient car and staying in motels/hotels.

How do you put a price on:
- the ability of going where you want
- when you want
- staying as long as you want
- inadvertently finding new locations that you might never gone to
- having your stuff in one spot
- having a spot to disappear to - for whatever reason
- sleeping in your own bed
- eating your own food
- meeting new people

I have lived in San Diego, CA for 35 years but my "hometown" is near Syracuse, NY. Over the years I have made several trips between the two; a couple of times in a 1992 three cylinder two door Geo Metro (42 mpg) and staying in economy motels. (approximately 2-1/2 times campground cost) I averaged between 70 and 75 mph.

I have also made the trip with my 2003 Honda Odyssey (23 mpg alone) hitched to my 1978 Fiber Stream. (16 mpg combined) To achieve this level of economy, the cruise control must stay on 55 mph. 65 mph? = 13 mpg. 75 mph? = 9 mpg!

When I drove the Geo, I was capable of making at least 700 miles per day, spending 14 hours behind the wheel. Get a motel room and crash; 15 minutes from car to bed. Get up to a restaurant breakfast and do it all over again. Made the continent crossing in 4-1/2 days.

Towing the trailer, it's all I can do to achieve 450 miles before I have to get off the road, it's so physically demanding to drive a train... 33 feet of train! It takes 1/2 an hour to set up camp upon arrival and another 1/2 hour to pack up and get on the road in the morning. I only get in maybe 8 or 9 hours on the road a day. It takes a full 7 days to get from San Diego to Syracuse.

[CindyL]

It is not all about the cost of gas and hotel bills. It is also about food. While we usually camp and tour, so we eat out at least one meal a day, we do cook one or two meals at the campground. That has to be factored in, avoiding the cost of restaurant meals.

The difference has allowed us to make decisions about taking a vacation or not. When we paid for hotels, it was easier to decide we could not afford to go. Now, we make a decision about where to go. We are even going to use it for a couple of the professional conventions we go to this year, like we did last summer, take the trailer, stay in a hotel during the convention and tour/camp afterwards.

And, as the hubby said a couple of days ago, in a hotel, you might walk right past others in the hotel, but campgrounds tend to be more friendly. With these little trailers, they attract people who are friendly, sometimes when you would rather they not be. So camaraderie is a factor too.

Ours even served the hubby as a living place while he was in grad class. The week in the campground was a lot cheaper than a week in a hotel.

CindyL

[Alf S.]

Hi: Wayne Hill...With a TT you can replace the "Tug" anytime... which we have. With the old tug our cost ran $75./day all inclusive. We tend to see more, do more and generally relax more when traveling with "Our Escape Hatch".
We don't include the price of groceries as you'd still eat if you stay home!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Wayne Hill]

Frederick,
2 years ago we drove 4 days straight from Winnipeg, Manitoba down to Key West. (We had to meet friends to go sailing)
Did we cover a lot of road? Yes
Did we see a lot? Yes.
Did we stop and enjoy a lot? - No
Did we "wish" we had more time and could stop and explore? Yes

We both said that we won't be doing that again. We zipped right thru some beautiful country. Interstates all the way.

Next time we take the time the time, stop and enjoy the trip.

12 - 14 hours in a Toyota Corolla is pretty tough to take.

I don't remember it being tough to drive with our Surfsider but we were both a lot younger then. Looking back we probably drove for a maximum of 8 hours then stopped for at least a couple of days camping.
Wayne

[Wayne Hill]

Alf,
Interesting cost $ 75/day.

With my Nissan, roughly speaking I routinely get 500 kms/tank (300 miles). Towing a trailer I expect to get roughly 400 kms/tank (240 miles). To fill costs me approx $70.(approx 14.1 L/100 km) Towing the trailer a fill should be around the same just more frequent fill ups.
So depending on how far we drive, I will be spending the same amount on gas. Some days more, some days less - depending on a lot of factors - speed and head wind being the 2 prime ones.

We don't intend on driving long distances but instead will try and break up our trips to smaller more manageable portions and actually enjoy, explore and take it easy while we are travelling.

Wayne

[Wayne Hill]

CindyL:
Agreed that it's not all about cost of gas and hotel bills.
I've stayed in enough motel/hotels and eaten enough meals out that I like to eat at home and sleep somewhere that I know is comfortable.

A treat (eating out) is nice but isn't a treat if you have to do it all the time.

You said:
"The difference has allowed us to make decisions about taking a vacation or not. When we paid for hotels, it was easier to decide we could not afford to go. Now, we make a decision about where to go."

I agree 100%.

Right now even though we live in an area that has beautiful camping spots within a couple of hours driving, we just don't go. Or we go on day trips and wish we could have stayed longer. I'm sure we've all left home (happy) very early in the AM and came home late (grumpy) after going all day.

I've also found that people generally are a lot more inclined to stop and talk, lend a hand, etc, while camping than while staying in hotels/motels.

Now if I could only find a nice camping trailer.

Wayne