To buy or not to buy.....an RV
 

Ok, So my wife expressed an interested in us going RVing. We almost purchased a 5er about a month ago. I've pulled quite a few different types and lengths of tailers over the years, but never a Fifth Wheel.

We decided that a bumper pull TT would make more sense for our limited use scenario. We are very new to the RVing lifestyle and would probably only go a few times a year. I know that an RV is more of an investment in Family time and not in the RV itself, but I would like some opinions on buying vs. renting one.

Our budget for a Fifth Wheel was originally around $65k. Once we realized we didn't need something so big, we started looking at TTs instead.
This unit actually: New & Used Travel Trailers/Fifth 5th Wheels | Top Selling Towable Brands

We would pay cash for the RV, but are concerned about the actual ROI (Return on investment) of buying on vs renting. We figure that it would have to be used about 12 times a year to justify RVing over renting a lodge or hotel room.

I've included a poll to ask some questions about RVing from current owners, regardless of fifth wheel, travel trailer, or motor home.

This boils down to personal preference to me. Renting is by far the less expensive option for my family and I suspect most "casual" campers. We tent camp far more than we RV camp. Yet, we still bought a 5th wheel. I love ours. Renting would have been far less expensive, but it didn't offer the selection that we wanted. We couldn't set it up for exactly what we wanted or how we wanted. We didn't want other peoples germs and lack of respect for the unit either. This is huge to my wife as she is a germ FREAK. Renting is a great way to see if this is for your family and if you will get into it before dropping large dollars. That's my opinion.

Thanks is exactly the type of response I was looking for. How often do you use yours? Do you store it at your home or at a lot? What are your biggest concerns as an owner? Sorry for all the questions. I tend to over analyze before purchasing something big..

We recently upgraded to a Fuzion FZ302 (34') fifth wheel toyhauler from a Tailgator TG-210 toyhauler (21'). We use it for travel and for camping in the middle of nowhere. We all (wife, 8 year old son, and dog) enjoy traveling with it as we can bring all of our stuff along and it feels like home.

I will not suggest that this method will save you any money, trailers are expensive, require maintenance, cost more in fuel to get anywhere, you get the point. For us owning made more sense, it can be packed and ready to go which is convenient and we can just go somewhere at the drop of a hat if we want.

We sold our boat when we bought the first trailer and told ourselves that we would just rent a boat when we wanted to go out, 3-4 years later we still haven't rented a boat. Since we have the trailer, and it is easy and convenient to use, we go at least once a month or more, we wouldn't do that if we were renting one.

We don't regret our decision, but we did it for family fun, not for a wise investment.

JMHO

Leon

Just like all depreciable assests, (virtually anything that has wheels that isn't classic!), you have to look at ROI not in quantitative dollars but need, use, and purpose. I like having my 5th because we can load it with what we want and have the peace of mind knowing that what we want is ready at our disposal. On the financial side, I use mine as another tax break, so I see return in not giving Uncle Sam more than I have to give him!!

Word of advice while shopping for one, start getting quotes from online dealers and the likes. Those dealers like moving lots of units and will drop the price dramatically. I did that, then went to my local dealer who had the exact same model and used it to barter my price. I saved roughly $19k off of list and walked away feeling satisfied without having to drive 3 states away to get what I wanted!

We only drag the beast out about 5-6 times a year because of schedules but I enjoy it everytime!!

When you say RV, well, that is wide open to lots of different things...

We've had Class A Diesel Pusher motorhomes before and the whole experience sucked big time. We will never own another. Names like Freightliner and Caterpillar normally are associated with quality stuff.. Not in my opinion any longer.. Of course the coach builders are mostly a bunch of minimum wage clods that will just slap stuff together with absolutely not a care in the world for quality or safety..

However, we are planning on retiring soon and are currently looking for a quality fifth wheel Toy Hauler (used) and we will start out by just snow-birding it... Later on, we plan on seeing this great country of ours. The toy hauler will be used to carry a side-by-side UTV and possibly a small scooter.

Bottom line is that your buying a lifestyle, there is no real return on investment or break even point along the line.

There is not much if any real saving over staying in a motel and eating out for every meal. But, I do know who was sleeping in my bed that last night and prancing in my shower, not to mention other personal hygiene items as to who last held my remote control or what they had been doing just before laying their hands upon it.

Like I said, it's a life style and peace of mind form of travel.

I am the worst person to ask that question to. I will answer you on how we use it, not on how it ended up. You see my mother steals it from us for months out of the year. She lived in it behind our house. We love it...so we are fine with it.

We use our about 3-5 weekends a year. They are usually 2 long weekends of 3-4 days. That's it. All there is time for. We do a lot of four wheeling and we can't take the fiver and the wheeler's at the same time. Only recently have we discovered a way to haul the 5 four wheelers in a toy hauler safely and then we'd use it more often, but the kids are getting older and I'm not sure we'll do it.

We store ours indoors all winter. We live on a heavily wooded lot and trees fall all winter long. It's just not worth the risk to me. I already had it get bumped once and that was a new roof and a $9k claim. You could store it outdoors for next to nothing at a surface lot. I spend more than I'm willing to admit here on storage, but it works for us.

My biggest concerns as an owner are having fun with it. I paid cash for it so I'm fortunate that I don't have a payment. Other than that, it's what do I do when we are ready to move on with it. I think it would be easy to trade in, but we may or may not be ready for another unit then. I may end up just selling it and buying another one later. I'm not sure of the time tables as there are a lot of factors with my kids heading to college soon (I have a junior in HS to a 8th grader to a 7th grader).

Good luck!

My family had a 1986 34 ft. class A that our family of 5 traveled in. We gave it to my grandparents because it had a fuel delivery issue that took most of my retired grandpas time to track down. Anyways, it was our home away from home. It feels totally different than staying at a hotel. I don't know if you could put a price on taking your home wherever you are.

I haven't voted yet.. not quite an answer fit.

got laid off last year unexpectedly.. decided to retire.. travel around.
can't leave the pets home, can't afford to board them too, so take em with us. gotta have a trailer for that.. we tent, tent trailer and bumper pull (29ft) trailer camped til we moved to texas 15 yrs ago (hot when we have free time, sold the TT cause bunks ain't cool for teenagers!)

decided to buy a FW, swapped my F250 for a dually. then got another job!.
we have taken it out on a couple weekends, but plan to go see family (1200 miles away nearest) and sights.. (the now grown kids (with kids) think we are crazy! but complain we don't visit them enough...)

use it for the tax deduction too.

The pets are an excellent point. I just took that for granted :). No pets on rentals that I have ever found.

the diabetic (on insulin) cat has never been anywhere.. the dog will be at the car as soon as I pick up my keys, every single time.

our daugher & SIL are living with us now as he preps to take the Texas Bar exam (starting tomorrow) after they moved back from Chicago. They tell us that the (wiener) dog will bark and howl whenever we leave, EVEN when he knows they are still home.. (he does bark about every 2 minutes when I am in the shop for long periods of time and mom is not home) so the dog in the trailer idea may take some training. he lost his brother now coming on 2 yrs ago, so was never alone before that

Good point Sam. Dogs (like people) are not all the same. My wife's dog rides with us on the trails. Goes everywhere with us...
http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/s...-58-29_283.jpg

Cute goggles!..

yeh, its the rest of the time.. can't go in restaurants, can't leave in the car, etc, lots more cant's than can's. we don't 4wheel, or do outdoor activities like that. maybe walk trails to GET somewhere, not for 'fun'.

This is a huge thing to remember with pets. Our dog barks like crazy when we are gone. We throw her in her kennel (wire dog cage) and go. She won't do any damage (being in the kennel), but she is obnoxiously annoying when we are gone. So normal campsites can be challenging if we are going to go to dinner. So we often stay at camp with the dog or go places we can take her. Or we stay off the grid and not worry about it :)