The Bright Side of High Fuel Costs or... Why Motorhomes Are Dumb

[CarsOfFortLangley]

A quote from a recent local news article caught my eye. We're looking at a summer with gas over $7USD a gallon ($2.40CAD/L) up here and I have to say, people as a whole never fail to amuse me with their inability understand that the current set of variables they're currently living through are subject to change.

At 211.9, Donald Hui, who owns an RV, told Global News it costs him between $500 and $600 to fill the tank. He bought the RV last year so his family could spend time together during the pandemic, but said he might not have if he had known what was coming.

Plans to take the vehicle across the province are now dashed, he added, and he may not even go as far as Whistler.

I like Whistler because it’s more interesting, there’s more restaurants to go to, but I won’t spend $200 to $300 in gas, I find it’s a little bit too much.

For the record, it's 99 miles from his house to Whistler, which now costs $300 in gas in his RV... a new E350 based model.

Personally, I think it is going to be a very, very quiet summer outside of Metro Vancouver with people keeping their enormous "camping" setups at home. Although, if the RV's and 5th wheels in my parent's neighborhood are any indication, most see 1-2 trips annually anyway.

One wonders what the owners of setups like this are thinking in the face of the highest fuel costs in North America

Anecdotally, I think that people have started offloading Jeeps and such already. I drove past a VW dealer last night that had 6 JL's lined up on the lawn out front. Maybe an indication of what's to come?

[Future Next Gen S2000 Owner]

If you can afford those big shoe boxes on wheels, you can afford the gas. I don't quite get the whole RV thing myself. When spend 70K on a truck, ~100K on a 5th wheel to stay at a campground? Maybe if you are the host, maybe.

[MidEngine]

My brother bought a $250k motor home last year, took it on a 2 week trip around Texas and sold it for $250k. He's got more money than brains, he wouldn't flinch at a $1000 fill up.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@CarsOfFortLangley I wish this were true.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner said in The Bright Side of High Fuel Costs or... Why Motorhomes Are Dumb:

If you can afford those big shoe boxes on wheels, you can afford the gas.

No way. These people bought this shit via home equity loans, or put them on 20-30 year payment plans. The gas is going to shit kick them.

I think you're greatly underestimating the average person's ability to take on debt

[ranwhenparked]

@CarsOfFortLangley I've been pricing out sub-500lb motorcycle campers lately to save money on motel rooms at music festivals and the like, but that's a pretty different ballgame. As I understand it, worst case scenario is pulling one might knock me down to 45-50mpg highway, which I should be able to survive

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@HammerheadFistpunch Agreed, I'd love the back country to be less crowed.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@HammerheadFistpunch I wonder if maybe there's a bit of geographical differences at play? Vancouver already has one of the highest costs of living in the world, people are stretched thin already and, while eager to seem outdoorsy, just can't afford the costs that are piling up.

[MasterMario]

@MidEngine said in The Bright Side of High Fuel Costs or... Why Motorhomes Are Dumb:

He's got more money than brains

I've got a bridge for sale if he's interested

[Future Next Gen S2000 Owner]

@CarsOfFortLangley Even a 20-30 year loan on the big pusher motor homes is like a mortgage payment. Those things run 250K pretty easy. I see them and I think bands, race car drivers...that sort of people.

People are pretty dumb though, I'll give you that.

[MasterMario]

@CarsOfFortLangley fuel economy is one of the reasons I bought a popup instead of a hard sided camper. It has very little impact given the top is below the roofline of the tow vehicle.

[ranwhenparked]

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner cost the same as a house, depreciate like a Mitsubishi.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@CarsOfFortLangley The trouble is never the locals, its the out-of-towners.

[PlaysWellWithNOthers]

@CarsOfFortLangley I cannot believe we lucked out with our motorhome as we did.

Bought in Summer of 2020 when prices were still normal and even for the then-current market, it was a steal.

Was laid off 4 weeks later. No problem since we had bought it outright.
Stayed at a campground my in-laws manage for the rest of that season except for one trip to Oregon in August of 2020 for a potential job opportunity (and because I really wanted t go on a long trip with the family).

Found some minor issues that were easily remedied during that trip.

Took the motorhome on a 5 month trip through the South and Southwest between November 2020 and April 2021.

Fuel mileage was about 8.5mpg Diesel, but Diesel was cheap at that time.

Also, our motorhome was one of the smaller diesel pushers at 34' and 19,820 GVWR, and with a 300HP Cummins it drove mostly like a kind-of-slow car. It had a great power to weight ratio (same as if an 80,000lb semi had a ~1,200HP engine...).

After the 2021 season my in-laws decided to no longer manage that campground (which was the whole reason we bought the motorhome in the fist place) and I had started a new position in July 2021, so we would not use it enough to keep it.

Sold it in October 2021 for ~67% more than we paid for it. We lucked out so hard, I'm just waiting for the bad luck to come around that would balance that out.

[CB]

@CarsOfFortLangley Thank goodness I'll be camping out of my economical Mustang.

[Exage03040]

@CarsOfFortLangley

I dunno about this.

It seems like this would be a consideration for people like the dude they interviewed who bought into the "RV Lyfe" because of the pandemic and have now been caught out. The veterans likely will figure out a way while still complaining about fuel. Lots of people have been "stir crazy" the past 2 years with how governments have played around with tourism local and abroad.

Our boats are already running full these weekends; Hourly sailings are full during the daylight hours to Victoria, full to Nanaimo, and full to the S. Gulf Islands

[ibRAD]

@CarsOfFortLangley

Remember in March/April 2020 when gas was like 65 cents/liter?

Might as well catch the covid and die right away than to slowly starve to death.

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner

If you can afford those big shoe boxes on wheels, you can afford the gas.

I think the problem is they can't. Plenty of people can get financing for trucks or RV's but then the running costs place them outside of their budget for normal use.

It's obviously dumb, but not that surprising....

[Future Next Gen S2000 Owner]

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 I must be the only person that calculates insurance and fuel costs before buying a toy. Hell, I even did that when I went from my Mustang to the Tacoma even though they got roughly the same mileage. Did the same thing when I went from my Tacoma to the Ram.

[amoore100]

@CarsOfFortLangley even if you spend ~$150-250 more on gas, shouldn't the fact that you're bringing your own hotel outweigh that? seems silly to cancel a trip over a couple hundred in gas bills, just smacks of poor decision making in the first place. I say this as someone who drives a car that averages 17 mpg on premium and I am painfully aware of that, but I still need to drive to get around.

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner I think most people do, but given the size of the population getting RVs and campers, especially during Covid, it makes sense that the number of idiots overstretching their means would go up too.

[Future Next Gen S2000 Owner]

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 This happened with boats as well. I'm eagerly awaiting the sell of in a few years to snag a late model boat with low hours from someone who bought for the summer of 2020.

[MasterMario]

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner me too...I'm thinking lightly used boats and campers are going to be real cheap starting around 2025...5 years seems like the point where after the first couple of years of use it's been sitting for the last 3 and they start thinking about selling it.

[bbg2d]

I've often wondered about this lifestyle, and if having a big garage with all the hookups (and a full bath) would be a workable living situation. Mobility on demand...

[ranwhenparked]

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner It seems like boat values might already be heading back down to pre-pandemic levels, saw a 1980s Silverton aft cabin for sale at like 25-26k a few weeks ago, don't think that's far off from where they were in 2019/2020. Anecdotal, granted