dragonmist1 wrote:

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Hi all,

Am new to this. Asking your advice:

What are the particular Start Up Costs associated with the van/motorhome lifestyle please? And Ongoing costs?

Assuming I buy a van/motorhome and/ or fit it out to my personal feature requirements( cost involved I know ), what are the other costs/ hidden costs( expensive Insurances? RWC? Taxes? etc) I need to know about?

Grateful for any information you could give.

Thanks all,

xx

 

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I list our costs or most

Fuel 

Services and running costs

Food and alcoholic beverages

Going out mainly cafes pub meals or cake shops

 Tours or costs for sightseeing 

Site costs but mainly free camp

Maintenance on vehicle or van

Bunnings or bcf visits

Flights back to home if to far to drive

House bills if not covered by rent

After all that I lucky I still work

Cheers

dragonmist1 wrote:

---

Hi all,

Am new to this. Asking your advice:

What are the particular Start Up Costs associated with the van/motorhome lifestyle please? And Ongoing costs?

Assuming I buy a van/motorhome and/ or fit it out to my personal feature requirements( cost involved I know ), what are the other costs/ hidden costs( expensive Insurances? RWC? Taxes? etc) I need to know about?

Grateful for any information you could give.

Thanks all,

xx

 

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Hi dragonmist1 (Rob)

Welcome to the forum

I shall try my best to give some idea of start up and running cost, but be aware that as everyone is different, then we all have different needs/aspirations

Also be aware that monetary cost is a sliding scale, as some things get more expensive/cheaper, depending on where we go

2013/14 done the lap in a 1993 Ford Falcon 6 cylinder, towing a 1984? Pop top caravan

Both tug and caravan combined, would have had a value of less than $10,000

Travelled close enough to 20,000 kilometres, and only used free/donation camps, cost approximately (kept no receipts), $6,000 over about seven months

Purchased second hand (2006 build) motorhome in my Avatar, in 2014 for $60,000

Cost of it sitting on my footpath is
Insurance is just over $1,000 per year
Rego is (I think) just under $600 a year

Since purchase I have travelled 89,549 kilometres
Fuel cost is unknown as I only record amount used, and not price paid

Up to date I have used 11,053 litres of diesel, over 6 years, giving an average of just over 8 kilometres for each litre used.
When I plan a road trip, I calculate diesel @ $2 litre, getting 7.5 KPL
For example on a 10,000 road trip, I will budget for 750 litres of diesel @ $2 = $1,500 and I have never been caught short

I keep a good maintenance record, but do not write the cost down

I am fortunate that I can still maintain my motorhome on the cheap, as I have some tools at home
I maintain the motorhome before each and every trip, as maintenance cost by others while on the road, could be expensive
I will not be able to self maintain my motorhome when I get older, or if I was on the road full time

I use mainly free/donation/low cost camp sites, as I am fully self contained

Hope that these numbers are useful to you

Welcome to the gang dragonmist1, enjoy here and out in the playground.

I won't bother with lists as others have done that for you however, I am a full time grey nomad living in my aluminium teepee and have been now for just over 6 years and was part time for 3 years prior to that so have been out here in the playground for 9.

I thought when I sold up base camp and bought a new car and a new caravan that would be it. WROOOOONG! There are on-going costs to keep things going and as we speak have the Collie booked in this Monday 8/2 to get a running hot problem hopefully sorted since I had timing belt and some other things replaced just over 12 moths ago. After all that I am waiting on parts to arrive and a date to get the fridge in the teepee fixed and a new awning, both ware and tare. I honesty believe caravans/tow cars these days, even though they cost upward of $40,000.00 each new, are not built to live in full time. Appliances etc are not of the highest quality so ware out quicker than say home appliances etc.

Am I disappointed? You bet ya. I thought with the money I paid out at the beginning would see me through until I ride on ahead, but obviously not to be.

Would I have done things differently knowing all this? Who knows? I don't think so though as I love the life style and have met some great people and formed many friendships, some life long that would never had happened had I not done what I did.