In this blog, I’ll shed light on the real possibility of buying the wrong RV. It’s easy to do, and many of us, including myself, have done it. It isn’t the end of the world if you buy the wrong RV, but it can cause significant stress and ruin your idea of traveling by RV. This is especially important to follow along if you are contemplating buying your first RV, but it will help any current owner evaluate their situation.
Question 1 – In what season of life are you?
So how do you know if you bought the wrong RV? It isn’t easy to answer, but it can become evident over time. For example, maybe you purchased a small travel trailer for the two of you plus two small kids to camp out a few times when school is out. After a couple of trips, you found that the camper works well when the weather is nice, and you are spending most time outside, but it is almost unbearable if everyone has to be inside. You likely need a bigger trailer if you want to keep your sanity during rainy days.
The opposite may be true. Your kids may be heading away from home, and you own a large fifth wheel or travel trailer with a bunkhouse from when they were younger. Since you are only using the trailer a few times a season, you could easily downsize and be fine with just the two of you traveling.
All this is to say that your season of life will play into whether you have the right RV. If you have young kids, older kids, grandkids, etc., it makes a difference in what would be your optimal RV. Also, traveling with someone or solo plays into it. If you want to take the next season and travel extensively by RV on your own, maybe a larger trailer or fifth wheel is way too much to manage. Possibly a camper van may work best.
In light of this, we’ll look at a few more questions to help define your situation and goals going forward to help determine if you are fine with what you own or should think about trading.
Question 2 – How do you plan to use your RV?
This is a fundamental question that you should be able to answer easily. I like to work remotely in nice places and stick to warmer weather, and I like to go out for more extended periods. This plays into the decision on what RV would best facilitate this lifestyle. Do you want to camp away from people and go off-grid, or do you enjoy the amenities of an RV resort, or is it something in-between like a state park?
You need to fully understand how you want to camp to know what to buy. I use the words “want to” because it needs to be forward-looking. Understanding how you plan to or want to camp going forward is essential. Someone who wants an RV to go off-grid will need solar, likely more pricey batteries, maybe a generator, and something rugged to handle the terrain. If you never plan to go off-grid, you won’t want to spend extra on items you won’t use.
Question 3 – How often do you plan to use your RV?
Do you plan to camp a few weekends every year with maybe a week-long trip here and there? If so, you likely can go smaller, lighter, and less expensive, depending on how many people are with you. Do you want to travel the country for six months and live and work remotely? Again, depending on how many people are with you, you may want something with more indoor space for the many days that exclude outdoor living. If you plan to go full-time with your wife and kids, you likely need something larger.
So, beyond the type of camping you’d like to do, you’ll need to project how often you plan to travel. Generally, the longer you plan to use your RV, the better quality and more expensive the RV will cost.
Question 4 – Are you an indoor or outdoor camper?
A great question to ponder is if you are an indoor person. I don’t consider myself an indoor person by nature and prefer the outdoors, yet I find myself inside my RV most of the time due to work. So, even though I may love a small RV made for outdoor living, it may not do what I need for my travel and work lifestyle.
Also tied to this are cooking and bathrooms. Maybe you plan to travel around the great national parks of the U.S. for the summer camping season and imagine cooking out most of the time. Since you plan to cook out a lot, you likely don’t need a huge indoor kitchen but may want a nicer full outdoor kitchen. On the other hand, you may like cooking inside and need a more robust kitchen inside the RV.
Bathroom use is another area to mention. I know some people who never use their RV bathroom and only use the campground facilities. I suppose they don’t want to hit the dump station after camping or have other reasons not to use their toilet and shower. A small camper with a wet bath that they can turn into a closet works for these folks. Most of us use our bathrooms in the RV, even more so since the early 2020s pandemic. If you want your own full bathroom, make sure this is a non-negotiable when buying your next RV.
Question 5 – How do you plan to tow your RV?
If you plan to buy a Class A, B, or C motorhome, this doesn’t apply, but most people start with some sort of travel trailer. If this is the case, you’ll need a tow vehicle. It quickly becomes a question of the shoe fitting the foot or buying a larger shoe. Should the tow vehicle dictate what RV you purchase, or should the RV dictate what tow vehicle you buy?
So, this can get expensive very fast. Let’s say you’ve worked through the above questions and see a sizeable fifth-wheel travel trailer as the solution. Two of you recently retired, and you plan to snowbird every year and travel in-season for several weeks. You’ve both worked hard and want to see the country. You need space to cook and live full time for part of the year. It is essentially your second home.
Once you research the fifth wheel options, it becomes apparent that your half-ton truck won’t have the payload or towing capacity to pull the 13,500 lb. fifth wheel. You’ll need a bigger truck! It likely will be a ¾-ton or full-ton heavy-duty truck. Now the price to do this is becoming more significant as the truck upgrade may not have been in the picture.
Many people just starting let the tow vehicle determine the size of the trailer to keep costs down. You may have a Honda Pilot that can tow 5,000 lbs., so it would have to be a smaller trailer. Yet that will undoubtedly determine what you can do in terms of RVing. Maybe after answering the above questionnaire, a small trailer won’t work, so you are at an impasse. You want a safe towing experience and the right RV, but costs do play into the equation.
It is good to remember rental costs and residual value. That is to say that a new heavy-duty truck doesn’t really cost $65,000. That may be the capital required to secure the new truck, but if you are replacing your current vehicle, that vehicle’s residual value will lower the capital required. Rental costs also play into the picture. If you take the $65,000 cost and only use the truck for five years and then sell it for $35,000, your rental cost is $30,000 or $500/month. This is your rental cost. If you need a better tow vehicle, plan to have the capital to pay for it, but the rental cost economically is not nearly as much as the capital required to acquire the vehicle.
We’re going to have to end it here with these five questions. You can download a document to work through called Buying the Right RV Questionnaire, on the Resources/Docs and Downloads page.
All the best in your camping endeavors!
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