Want To Save Some Cash? An Rv May Be The Way To Go Study For Rv Group Says Traveling Their Way Is By Far The Cheapest

Camping in a recreational vehicle is one of the county’s great outdoor bargains.

A family can get 30 to 80 percent more vacation for its money when traveling and camping in an RV, according to a study by the National Association of RV Parks and campgrounds and the National Recreational Vehicle Industry Association.

RV camping, according to the study by PKF Consulting, costs half as much as driving a car and staying in hotels, 40 percent less than traveling by bus or train and staying in a hotel and 30 percent less than flying to a vacation destination and staying in a hotel.

The study also found that even the most expensive RV camping vacation costs about 60 percent less than flying and renting a house or condo at a destination. The study analyzed the costs of a hypothetical family of four, with one child under age 12 and the other a teen-ager. It studied a dozen different types of vacations including round-trip transportation between each of 30 selected pairs of cities in the United States.

It also analyzed a variety of RVs, ranging from a pop-top camper towed behind the family car to traveling in a personal motorhome and preparing the majority of meals in the motorhome at campsites.

It did not include the cost of buying the motorhome or trailer, but did include the operating costs.

“The findings of this study show that RV vacation savings are so significant that it wouldn’t take many trips to recover the initial cost of the RV,” says Gary LaBella of the Go Camping America Committee, which sponsored the study.

“RV travel and camping is a natural choice for the growing number of cost-conscious young families and retirees looking for vacations of maximum value,” he says. “And, since RVs provide transportation, lodging and meals in one package that’s ready to go when you are, RV camping vacations provide more travel freedom, prevent cost overruns and help avoid vacation foul-ups.”

According to the PKF study, the most expensive one-week RV camping trip cost $590. That included fuel, campground fees, groceries to cook 75 percent of the meals in the RV or at the campsite and the cost of remaining meals in restaurants.

The same trip by car, staying in one motel room cost $1,169, even assuming that the family brought groceries for a quarter of its meals, the study found.

Traveling by train or bus, renting a car at the destination, hotel and food costs would be $1,588 while the costs of flying to the destination, renting a car and staying at a rented destination location would be $1,543, the study found.

The cost of the trip by air was $2,918.

On the basis of those savings, it wouldn’t take long to recover the cost of a $4,352 pop-up camper, LaBella said. It would take longer to recover the typical $11,965 cost of a travel trailer.

The study did not analyze the quality of the vacation and personal preferences of vacationers as to whether they preferred large hotels of more rustic settings when traveling.

Nor did it include comparisons for those who camp in tents.

ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cost benefits of RV camping