Isaac-1
Well-known member
I know that there is a general attitude that people should buy travel trailers instead of motorhomes because they are cheaper, however in a world where a new 1/2 ton pickup truck costs over $50,0000 and even a used 8-10 year old 3/4 or 1 ton can cost in this same range, is it still true. Sure I know some base models half tons are still under $50,000 these are also not the trucks most people will want to buy as a tow vehicle, particularly if they have kids, and need a back seat area.
Sure I know there are pop up, tear drops and other small trailers that don't require a pick up truck to tow, but for the purposes of this conversation, lets assume that someone is looking for a self contained RV with indoor kitchen and a dry bathroom, which would likely be in a 25+ ft motorhome or a 23+ ft travel trailer or any 5th wheel, lets also assume buying used all around is ok, but say we have to stick to something reasonably modern, likely with some years of service life left in it, lets say up to about 20 years old.
Here is my thoughts on the matter: Often people use the one less drive train to maintain when making the argument for a travel trailer, and this can be true, if they want to drive a large pickup truck as a daily driver, but for a lot of people a large pickup truck does not work well as their daily driver, for any number of reasons ranging from fuel economy, to parking limitations, at which point the argument toward trailers starts to break down. Though even if we go to the middle ground on this one and assume a person will accept a pickup truck as their daily driver, though it otherwise might not be their first choice, you should still look at the economics, as pickup trucks tend to cost more to operate all around than more fuel economic SUV's and other cars, they cost more to buy, often cost more to insure, cost more to buy and cost more to maintain. Statistics say they average person in the US drives about 15,000 miles per year (varies depending on the state, etc.), also it is fairly well known in RV circles that the average motorhome sees about 5,000 miles of use per year on long term average, which is backed up if you look at average used motorhomes listed for sale and calculate out the age vs mileage. So we can safely say that a pickup truck used as a daily driver as well as an RV tow vehicle will see about 20,000 miles per year, or 4 times the annual mileage on the vehicle compared to buying a motorhome and towing a daily driver car, or even a dedicated cheap light weight TOAD car.
Lets assume a useful reliable service life of 150,000 miles for either the towing truck or the motorhome, as they both tend to have a very similar drive train. At 20,000 miles per year the $50,000 new pickup truck would hit 150,000 miles in 7.5 years, at 5,000 miles per year it would take our theoretical motorhome 30 years to reach 150,000 miles, what this means without calculating in all the fine details of insurance, added fuel cost to drive around in a large pickup truck, etc. is that if one can find a circa $50,000 10 year old 50,000 mile motorhome, it will still have a theoretical 20 years of service life left in it before hitting the 150,000 mile mark. Sure that is optimistic, but even if we cut that in half to 10 years, it is still ahead on money very buying that $50,000 pickup truck, and we have not even talked about the cost of buying the trailer to tow behind that truck yet. If we assume a $22,000 trailer in the 23-27 ft range, which seems to be the going asking price for a mid level 3-4 year old trailer, the math gets even worse. For $72,000 one can find a fairly nice 15 or so year old 40 ft diesel pusher motorhome with 2 or 3 slides.
What are your thoughts? I know there are lots of complexities in the math, insurance, fuel economy, need of a daily driver, etc.
Sure I know there are pop up, tear drops and other small trailers that don't require a pick up truck to tow, but for the purposes of this conversation, lets assume that someone is looking for a self contained RV with indoor kitchen and a dry bathroom, which would likely be in a 25+ ft motorhome or a 23+ ft travel trailer or any 5th wheel, lets also assume buying used all around is ok, but say we have to stick to something reasonably modern, likely with some years of service life left in it, lets say up to about 20 years old.
Here is my thoughts on the matter: Often people use the one less drive train to maintain when making the argument for a travel trailer, and this can be true, if they want to drive a large pickup truck as a daily driver, but for a lot of people a large pickup truck does not work well as their daily driver, for any number of reasons ranging from fuel economy, to parking limitations, at which point the argument toward trailers starts to break down. Though even if we go to the middle ground on this one and assume a person will accept a pickup truck as their daily driver, though it otherwise might not be their first choice, you should still look at the economics, as pickup trucks tend to cost more to operate all around than more fuel economic SUV's and other cars, they cost more to buy, often cost more to insure, cost more to buy and cost more to maintain. Statistics say they average person in the US drives about 15,000 miles per year (varies depending on the state, etc.), also it is fairly well known in RV circles that the average motorhome sees about 5,000 miles of use per year on long term average, which is backed up if you look at average used motorhomes listed for sale and calculate out the age vs mileage. So we can safely say that a pickup truck used as a daily driver as well as an RV tow vehicle will see about 20,000 miles per year, or 4 times the annual mileage on the vehicle compared to buying a motorhome and towing a daily driver car, or even a dedicated cheap light weight TOAD car.
Lets assume a useful reliable service life of 150,000 miles for either the towing truck or the motorhome, as they both tend to have a very similar drive train. At 20,000 miles per year the $50,000 new pickup truck would hit 150,000 miles in 7.5 years, at 5,000 miles per year it would take our theoretical motorhome 30 years to reach 150,000 miles, what this means without calculating in all the fine details of insurance, added fuel cost to drive around in a large pickup truck, etc. is that if one can find a circa $50,000 10 year old 50,000 mile motorhome, it will still have a theoretical 20 years of service life left in it before hitting the 150,000 mile mark. Sure that is optimistic, but even if we cut that in half to 10 years, it is still ahead on money very buying that $50,000 pickup truck, and we have not even talked about the cost of buying the trailer to tow behind that truck yet. If we assume a $22,000 trailer in the 23-27 ft range, which seems to be the going asking price for a mid level 3-4 year old trailer, the math gets even worse. For $72,000 one can find a fairly nice 15 or so year old 40 ft diesel pusher motorhome with 2 or 3 slides.
What are your thoughts? I know there are lots of complexities in the math, insurance, fuel economy, need of a daily driver, etc.
