By Gail Marsh
Our campfire group is getting smaller each night. That’s because several “snowbirds” are on their way back north after enjoying Florida sunshine for the last couple of months. Even though our campfire group has dwindled, we still enjoyed our conversation about the worst RV advice folks have ever received.
An RV will save you money
“The worst RV advice given to me,” Ron began, “was this: An RV will save you money when traveling.” He explained that after only being on the road for a month, his costs quickly added up. “I think you might save money if you can get into state parks or mostly boondock and have no expensive RV repairs. But otherwise? RVing hasn’t saved me any money yet.”
Biggest is best
“Here’s one,” J.D. piped up. “Buy the biggest RV you can afford. That only works out if your pickup truck can tow it. Not to mention that it can be harder to reserve a spot in smaller campgrounds or National Parks. Biggest isn’t always best.”
Finance an RV
John said, “The worst RV advice I ever got was: It’s OK to finance an RV. The salesman’s pitch of just $75 a month sounds good, except depreciation quickly overtakes an RV’s worth. Never buy an RV unless you can pay for it outright!”
Packing
“I’ve got a good one,” Marci joined in. “Always pack more than you think you’ll need. Rather than stuffing drawers, cupboards, and drawers as full as possible, stop! Remember that you won’t be RVing on Mars. Even if you boondock in an isolated place, you can probably ‘make do’ or go to a local Walmart for items you need.”
Not practicing
“I was overly confident,” Ron added. “I was advised that you don’t need to practice driving your RV. If you can drive a car, you can handle an RV. I embarrassed myself and my wife more than once on our first trip. After that, I took time to practice RV cornering, parking, etc. These are not things taught in a Driver’s Ed course.”
Shakedown trip
“That reminds me,” J.D. spoke up once more. “A friend told me that a shakedown trip isn’t necessary. That was bad advice, especially for someone like me—brand-new to RVing at the time. I needed tools and equipment that I left back at my stix-n-brix home.” Oops! Perhaps this packing list, along with a shakedown trip will help.
##RVT1150
We have only financed 1 RV. The last one we still own. Putting extra principal on it every month so loan length will be 1/2 what it was supposed to be.
And after 1 hotel room experience of finding a hypodermic needle on the floor under the bed we went 100% RV or would have stopped what we do-Dog Trials. Everything is outside in all weather-rain or shine-whatever temps-sub freezing to 100 + degrees so we have to come prepared for anything- hence a 40′ DP.
We do dog trials with a 20 foot B van! And have everything we need, plus we don’t need hook ups, so we can park on site! 😉
I’m sorry our sometimes-overzealous spam filter put your comment into the spam folder, ccg, and that it took me so long to notice it sitting in there. Have a great Easter. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Or walking into a supposedly “cleaned ” motel room to find the shower has been used with dirty towels laying around. NOT.
Isn’t every trip a shakedown trip?
“…it’s always something — if it ain’t one thing, it’s another.” Roseanne Roseannadanna
ALWAYS bring tools and spare parts – and patience.
Well said.
Re: Finance an RV, there is nothing wrong with financing an RV. What RV can you buy for $75/month (dumb example)? Even if you pay cash outright, that $50K is now $40K once out the lot. Depending on what MH/TT/Fiver, it can be more (50K @ 20%=10K, 50K @ 25%=12.5K). Just because you get or receive advice on whatever, the ultimate decision is yours. Don’t lay blame, “Let your conscience be your guide”.
Correct, Gil. Each individual has to look at what their cash assets are earning as well as tax implications of withdrawing large sums from 401K or IRA accounts (retirees).
While not borrowing to buy an RV is a good starting thought, it’s not that one should “never” do it.
We listened to as many people as possible and took from each what applies to us. Don’t be impulsive unless you can afford it. Take time to do your research and enjoy the hunt, you will enjoy your purchase that much more.
We asked all our long-time RV friends all the questions we could think of, and for us, the worse advise we got, was to join Colorado River Adventures and Resort Parks International. We were going full-time, and were “told” by the CRA and RPI folks that it would be almost impossible to get reservations during the summer months (this was back in 2013) and we would need this club! So, we bought in, only to find out, we not only didn’t need them, most of the time they were either in awful locations, awful parks, not always available and in short, a waste of money. As for CRA, we ended up living not far from them and never using them! A real “time-share boondoggle”.
and costly to get out of…
We did that with Passport America our first year with the new rig. Much cheaper than what you paid of course, but we still only ended up using it one time…ever. We keep getting emails to renew at ever steeper discounts, but our RV’ing has taken a different direction and we’ve found boondocking to be our favorite. Fee-free camping is liberating!
Leased a new 4-Runner a few years ago and was told by a fibber car salesman it would pull a good sized trailer. At the time we had a small Jayco Hummingbird that any half ton pickup would pull…not that 4-Runner…the 4-Runner went back and we now have a F-150 3.5 Eco Boost…BTW the Jayco went down the trail also and we now have an Outdoors RV…10 times the trailer. Live and learn.
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 The worst was not especially horrible. It was, “you can leave your gray tank valve open until a couple of days before you plan to dump.” Almost without exception my RVing advice has been gleaned from Motorhome magazine (while Bob Livingston edited it), RV Travel, and the FMCA magazine. Thanks again! Safe and sunny travels, and happy Easter! 🙂
Blessings for your Easter, too!
Thank you, Gail! It was. 🙂 We spent time with my Momma and DW’s parents, too! 🙂
I was given the advice to buy a large DP because it would be more comfortable and I would enjoy the space, I have to say it was definitely comfortable, but I found that it is too large for the amount of space that you gain and diesel prices are so unpredictable, also going to places that aren’t RV parks in a class A DP isn’t happening. I actually didn’t lose any money buying and then selling, I actually made a large profit selling it at the “right” time. Class C is I think is the best bang for your buck especially if you go rving in state parks and boondocking. We made several short trips to the local KOA and trips a couple hours away as test trips before we made our 1500 mile trip.
Jack, we stay at state parks all the time in our Class A DP. I’m not sure why you say that can’t be done. We just left Elephant Butte Lake State Park and after visiting a friend in ABQ we are heading to Bottomless Lake State Park in Roswell. We prefer COE and state park campgrounds to any other places to camp.
To us, there’s more to RV’ing than saving money, though that does definitely enter into it. At today’s prices for motels and restaurant meals, having your own bed to sleep in, and having home cooked meals, is priceless. We’re fortunate to live in the sparsely populated west/southwest USA, where boondocking opportunities are everywhere. We took a 7-10 day trip last year and ended up out for one day shy of 8 weeks…and spent a grand total of $8 on campground fees. And the views! And the campfires! And the dog being able to roam! No motel or restaurant can compare.
When my MIL was looking for an RV her brother found the “perfect” one. Too long for her, we decided we’d buy it, unseen, based on uncle’s assurances it was in good shape. Doctorate level school of hard knocks – front cap was coming loose from roof, raise/lower bed over the captain’s seats was held up with an iron pipe, the windshield gasket had rotted & we almost lost the windshield in rural Montana and NO BLACK TANK. We learned so much from that RV. Especially LOOK at it YOURSELF before buying.
PS – it was $1500, we were in CO, RV in CA. small $ risk.
Trust very few people.
“Worst advice” — Go ahead and sell your 4 bedroom, 3 bath house and retire into a RV and have a “Happy Retirement.” — NOT.
While it has worked fine for us for over 18 years, we can’t begin to count (from our 1st RVPark) the couples we met that said, “we are selling this RV when we get back home. We are da*n near ready to kill each other. This is not for us.” Ha. And it’s true. Especially couples that actually never spent 24/7 with each other (except for a 2 week vacation) and find out quickly how incompatible they are.
Yah, wel ours was too small so I left the biggest problem at a truck stop when fueling up and now I have extra room and listen to ” Silence Is Golden” by the Four Seasons. We’ll, at least one of us is happy 😊 😃
I never got any bad RV advice because I don’t listen to anyone 😉
LOL Dan. Wise.
When we purchased our 2022 Forest River 2204S (our first RV), the “tech” doing the walk around told us not to worry about using the black tank flush since the gray water flows thru the black tank. B***s***.
The tech is truly an idiot Cindy.
I don’t think I ever got advice before trips. If I did, it was people bragging about all their must-have stuff. I don’t need their must haves. Common sense told me what I needed, which isn’t much. I didn’t need a shakedown trip, but my trailer is simple.
The worst advice I received was ” buy the extended warranty”. They are expensive and not honored by the insurance companies.
Our (first) extended warranty has paid for itself through the company itself, insurance isn’t really for “mechanical” breakdowns but for liability and collisions. Our second is for peace of mind as I can’t swap out a diesel engine or DP transmission. I guess you can call it “powertrain insurance.”
Tankless water heaters are great we were told when we bought our tt! Not if you want to travel and stay in state parks, they’re not.
I’m not following……what is the correlation with State Parks and a tankless water heater?
I learned long ago opinions on RVs are like anuses, everyone has one and they’re generally stinky!
“That half ton can certainly pull that trailer”
I was educated enough to ignore that advice
my worst advice was something i never did and never will. while my TT has been sitting in my driveway between trips, ive had a number of people drive by and come up to the door and ask if its for sale.so i put a little post in facebook group with pictures of the person caught on camera as a warning to everyone to look out and lock down the trailers cuz they have been stolen. i always ask them, “does it have a for sale sign on it?” and of course, no it does not have a sign. but to my amazement, there are a few id10t$ out there that actually tell me to put a “NOT FOR SALE” sign on it. can you even fathom that response. please no one tell me thats a good idea. good for a laugh!
I firmly believe in using “the right tool for the job.” Doesn’t matter if its for repairs or cooking, so I tend to bring everything! When camping with a group, I’m usually the one to lend others a tool set, pots/pans, utensils, or even extra chairs. When you want/need something, it really sucks having to leave camp to get it. This is especially true for those of us who boondock almost exclusively. You resort folks may have a different idea of packing.