I think this comment from CaFlyFisher says it all.
"One only has to ask themselves, can I afford it? Do I want it? The answers are all personal in that each individual has to evaluate and look at it for themselves. It makes not a diddly bit of difference as to what I think in your regard, nor anyone else on here. These are the issues that are handled by the knowledgeable, informed individual as it relates to their own circumstances. "
Each person will have to deal with current costs in the best way they can - some will sell, some will conserve, some will carry on.
When I hear the news media enhancing every little bit of "news" into some sort of a disaster, I always think: What happens the next morning? Well, for me what happens is that I get up and have a cup of coffee, just like I did yesterday.
Things change, they always have, always will. North Americans remain mostly well fed, healthy, and they have many reasons to be thankful for great opportunities in their lives.
2005 Country Coach Inspire DaVinci 40'
2008 Honda CRV Dinghy
We bought a used '95 Bounder 34J in Jan.07. This was a decision made knowing fuel prices would go higher. But like many have said here, it's still cheaper than airfare, hotels, meals etc... plus we can stop where and when we want.
Having our home paid for, both cars and a boat paid for is the only reason we can make this decision to go Class A. I am retired with my wife being able to retire this year also. But I am working part time and this is just for saving for gas for the Motorhome. The wife isn't interested in retiring this year since she is only 57 and enjoys her job. We have both considered workcamping and still may do that. We have camped for 36 years together and fuel prices won't stop that.
No....at this point and time, I would not consider NEW. Im fortunate in knowing the price I paid for my used coach was such, that I could still make money on it today....No intention of selling though.
Obviously we have seen many of these type questions being asked on this forum as of late....my take of this Whole issue is NOT one of affordability of diesel fuel but more an issue with the overriding political/ecomomic situation as a Whole. Here again, I live in an area that I can drive 15 miles down the road and choose between a number of Beach front Campgrounds.....so driving fewer miles will not be a problem.
On the other hand...when we were tent camping, I always had a ball, so if worst comes to worst, Ill load up the economy car with the tent and such and still enjoy the great outdoors. Happy RV'ing all
96 Vogue Prima Vista 37' 350/10.3 litre CAT 3176B, Webasto heat, Howard Steering, 10KW Power Tech.
Mollie (our Baby)
FMCA Member
Rally's- 11 and 1 GNARV Rally
I was considering a new Winne ~33-34' but decided not to go there. Not because of fuel, but because we need to pay off more debt before we take on a large purchase like that.
With fuel prices going so high, I seriously question that China and India can continue to drive prices up much more. They have less money to spend than we do.
We bought new because we expect to keep the rig for 10 years and the depreciation drop will be spread out over those 10 years. Buying new allows you to get what you want and to know the history of the thing. I tend to buy new and keep for many years. I find the real cost of owning is not much different than buying used as long as you keep it for more than 5 years or so.
Fuel prices are without a doubt obscene. We will still travel but will stay longer and drive slower to save a few gallons. We usually take 3+ major trips per year with the longest being 6000 miles round trip. There is no way to financially justify the use of an RV. The math just won't work to show an RV as the best option from a cost savings perspective for travel. We don't try to justify the costs...but we do try to keep from throwing more into the black hole of RV ownership than we have to.
We are downsizing our house and moving further south to have milder winter and have a place to store the RV at the house. This will save us $2400 per year is storage and transport costs. That will buy about 4 tanks of fuel which should take us over 4500 miles. If we slow down we should also save about 1 mile per gallon so that will add another 580 miles to our fuel budget for the same amount of money.
We also plan to stay at less expensive campgrounds or stay overnight in truckstops or Walmarts to save some more $$ for fuel. We will not be bullied into not living the life we wish to live. We will cut back in other areas to do so but that is what you do if you are not rolling in dough.
2008 42' Tiffin Allegro Bus, Xantrex RS3000 Pure Sine inverter, Garmin 2730 GPS, Cobra CB, Toad-2001 Acura MDX, Blue Ox base, Blue Ox Alexus LX towbar, SMI Silent Partner.
We're awaiting our new Daybreak 3575. We ordered new to get what we wanted - less compromises than buying off-the-lot or used. Our intent is to go fulltiming or at least 3/4 timing. We're keeping the stick built more for the children and grandkids, also as a safety valve. Even though fuel prices are high, we plan to hop-scotch across the country, snowbirding in the winter months. After reviewing the costs of having a second home or renting in the winter, the portablility of the domicile was more appealing. There just isn't one place we want to be, at least for now. Been camping/RVing since the early 70's and aren't going to stop now. Fuel prices were an issue then and we survived and kept increasing or RV lifestyle - gone from tents to TT to a '78 Brave to an '84 Cruise Aire to a '91 Catalina now to the Daybreak. In the immortal words of Alfred E. Neuman, "What, me worry?"
Certainly I would, in fact I just did. I'm headed out this morning for the walk through on our new Kountry Star. There are a lot of good deals to be had out there in the new market. As previously posted, it is completely an analysis one needs to make based on their own unique situation, but if one wants one and can afford one, there has never been a better time! There are especially good deals out there in the used market, you can practically steal them thanks to the doom and gloom mass hysteria! Sure there are a couple real problems in the economy, the junk loan dropout and the declining world value of the dollar, but by and large, today's situation is the result of mass psychology. The media drills it into us every night, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!" People start pulling back their pocket books preparing for the sky to fall, and what do you know, the sky falls! What did people think would happen if everyone quit spending?
But back to whether or not to buy and what that has to do with the price of fuel. Seems everyone, at least on this thread is basing their NO WAY decision on the price of fuel. Let's look at that, how much is fuel? Well, it's no more expensive today than it was in 1980. Take a look at thisgraph. We are giving up about the same amount of value per gallon of fuel today as we did in 1980. Then I've heard it compared to wages; that back in the day a grocery bag boy made $2.75/hour and could buy a gallon of gas for $0.25, extrapolating that out the bag boy would have to make around $40/hour if all things were equal. Well, maybe grocery bagging wages haven't kept up with inflation, but let's look at the national average wage. According to the Social Security Administration, the national average yearly salary in 1951 was $2,799.16, based on 2080 hour per year, that's $1.35/hour. In 1951, as best my research yields, the price of gas was somewhere between $0.27 and $0.50 per gallon. So, the average American worker had to work around 12 to 22 minutes to earn each gallon of gas. In 2006, the average yearly wage was $38,651.41, or $18.58/hour. So, even if wages did not increase or inflate from 2006 to present, which we all know they have, the average American worker today, at $3.50 to $4.50 per gallon, works around 11 to 14 minutes to earn each gallon of gas, doesn't sound much different to me, and also keep in mind that wages are in reality higher today in 2008 than they were in 2006 (SSA doesn't have data published for 2007 or 2008 yet).
Now, whether or not the value or real cost of fuel has increased, again, what does that have to do with whether or not to buy a motor home? Is it a legitimate, rational part of that decision process? For some, yes, not matter what I say, it is. But what are the dollars and cents? The average yearly motor home mileage seems to be around 4,000 miles. But let's even consider we're talking about a full timer, let's go with 12,000 miles per year. And let's take a conservative 8 mile per gallon. At $4.50/gallon for diesel, that's $6,750 per year, a big chunk of change. But wait, even when everyone thought it was a good time to buy, they didn't give diesel away, so you can't figure that whole amount in the decision. Even when fuel was affordable, at say $3.00/gallon, you would have spent $4,500/year, so you can only figure the difference in your decision, $2,250 per year. Where this really gets crazy is when you compare that $2,250 per year to the annual depreciation on the rig, if there were a place to base a buy / don't buy decision, that is where the decision should be made. A $200k coach today will sell for $15k or so in 10 years, if you're lucky. You're spending $18,500 per year to have that coach, which makes the $2,250 more in fuel prices seem rather insignificant.
Just my ramblings, I'm sure I'll catch hell for a lot of it. But you can't take any of it with you when you die, so enjoy life while you can. Have fun!
Alan
2007 Winnebago Journey 34H, 350 CAT
2007 Carson 28' Race Trailer Toad for desert
1993 Jeep Wrangler Toad for trips
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