# Exchanging for a Recreational Vehicle



## BocaBum99 (Apr 8, 2006)

Anyone ever try to do it?

My family wants to take about 6-8 weeks in the summer of 2007 to see the whole country and visit national parks.  I thought about booking 3-5 day stays in Bluegreen and WorldMark resorts.  But I was concerned about what we would do if we decided to make any change in plans.  It seemed too inflexible.

So, I am considering either exchanging for or renting a recreational vehicle.  

Your input would be terrific.


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## geekette (Apr 8, 2006)

For that period of time, I think it would be a logistical nightmare as pickups and drop offs would interrupt your time together.  UNLESS, you have ways of getting all that time in ONE vehicle.

Renting from a dealership would be ridiculously expensive, again, UNLESS you have ways of making great deals.

My suggestion would be to seek out a used RV from a dealer that can't move it and work a deal.  Try short-term lease or buy it - something that doesn't make you responsible for mileage!  And be sure you know how to drive the thing on those mountain roads that are so skinny and curvy.  You also would need to be rather astute in minor repairs of the vehicle out there - lots can go wrong with an RV and repair shops are not as common as your car repairs. 

If you aren't dragging a car, just keep in mind you'll have to "break camp" every time you want to go somewhere.  

Get a Woodall's for campgrounds and ratings.  We swore by them in the 70s and they still can't be beat today.

You may opt to keep it thru football season and pull a John Madden.  Never know how many friends would love to chip in on gas, etc., for a ride in luxury to the games.  

Far easier, get a popup camper.  WAY EASIER, WAY CHEAPER, WAY LIGHTER, and the kids can help put it up.


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## eal (Apr 8, 2006)

*purchase, use, sell*

Friends of mine did this last summer.  They bought a camperized van, drove it all over everywhere, kept it for awhile when they got back but cancelled the insurance in the late fall, then sold it a couple of weeks ago for only a few hundred dollars less than what they paid originally.  They had a great time and are considering doing it again in a year or so.


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## cluemeister (Apr 8, 2006)

*I agree*

I agree with purchase, use, and sell.  The only caveats would be:

Buy used, about 3-5 years minimum.  Older if you don't mind a functional, but dated camper. This way you'll minimize your loss.  We purchased a mh in June of '00 and sold it in Aug. of '01 for a $1500 loss.  We got two summers out of it.  Probably could have gotten more for it, but I sold it quickly.

When you say "my family" is going on this trip, then I think you'll be fine if it's immediate family. If you mean an additional set of grown ups with kids, I would not go in one motorhome, unless you want to get into a fist fight in Montana.  

Buy one with a slideout if you can afford it.

If you've never used an rv, do a few weekend practice runs at the local campground so you can get the hang of hooking up electric, water, sewer, etc. A motorhome is a house on wheels, and it takes a few trips with it to figure out how to operate/maintain this vehicle.

Go to www.rv.net, where they have similar forums to this one.  Any and all questions and answers about using an rv, towing a vehicle, etc. are listed there.  It's very much like the TUG of rv's.

Feel free to pm any questions.


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## Giselherr (Apr 8, 2006)

BocaBum99 said:
			
		

> Anyone ever try to do it?
> 
> My family wants to take about 6-8 weeks in the summer of 2007 to see the whole country and visit national parks.  I thought about booking 3-5 day stays in Bluegreen and WorldMark resorts.  But I was concerned about what we would do if we decided to make any change in plans.  It seemed too inflexible.
> 
> ...



It sort of depends on how many are in the family and the ages.  Hauling a large trailer can be a real pain, plus with gasoline prices as they are.... The problem with a class A RV (that's the ones that look like buses), is that you're stuck at the campground (although you could rent a car at the various locations, or, if you have a reasonably sized vehicle, you could tow the "excursion vehicle").  Pop-ups are great & if you're willing to spend 12K+ ,  they can include an internal hard side bathroom/shower (a la Fleetwood Elite series). Hard side, regular trailers require an appropriately sized and equipped tow vehicle (sway bars, load leveling hitch or fifth wheel hitch on a pickup) and I have seen some going down the highway that got hit by the wind, and I was glad I wasn't doing the driving.   Now let me admit that I actually enjoyed being out in the field when I was in the army, so if I had my druthers, I'd just have a nice sized dome tent.  However, my wife thinks (for some reason) that a pop-up is more protection against the elements (and I guess in some respects they are).  A very good alternative is a pop-up built by Trail Manor, that is a hard side trailer that does pop-up; going from a towing length of 20 feet to a set up length of twenty-six - and some even larger.  The advantage is that they are no higher while being towed than the tow vehicle and thus, the fuel economy is better.  You don't see many of them on the resale market, and new ones start up of 20K .  Also consider how experienced you are at backing up a trailer (I'm so bad at it that I've threatened to take truck driver lessons, just to learn how to back up!)  and definitely it's a job for a vehicle with automatic transmission.

At any rate, before you go investing a lot of money in camping, you may want to consider renting a pop-up and taking off to one of the local state parks and try it out first.


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## Icarus (Apr 9, 2006)

and don't forget this very obscure reference:

Don't loose the nest egg in Las Vegas.

-David


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## pcgirl54 (Apr 9, 2006)

My husband's family of 13 did this crosscountry trip when he was 16. 13 people in a motorhome that slept 8. 2 adults and 11 kids from age 18 to 3 for 3 or 4 weeks. They still talk about this trip many years later. They did a second  roadtrip to Florida a few years later with the grandparents and a few less kids. The Calypso motorhome they rented from a friend broke down so many times on the trip so they nicknamed it "the collapso".

 We camped for ten years with our family of five from tents to a travel trailer.  Our dream before timeshares was to take a similar trip in a motorhome. I have since gotten used to larger spaces,hot water,a comfy bed and real showers with timeshares. IMHO timeshares wouldn't work with such frequent destination changes.

We just talked about this trip last week and want to do this in the next 2-3 years. Gas prices,RV rentals and overnight hookup costs are much higher today so my opinion has changed.  We want to see a couple of National Parks and drive from central to Northern California. Adults sons are grown so with just the two of us I now opt for a hotel. DH wants to travel in an RV. 

I recall former Tug threads following your train of thought to buy then sell the RV since rentals plus gas mileage is costly. Seems like a better idea than renting. We also thought about flying to a major starting point and then renting to save time and reduce overall expenses. 

With a large group you need something big enough to reduce potential vacation stressors. Other factors are the number and ages of the group traveling. Teens,tots or elders have varying needs. 

Good luck on your decision and keep posting.

The RV/Vegas road trip movie  was Lost in America with Al Brooks . It was all about protecting "the nest egg". It was pretty funny!


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## jancurious (Apr 10, 2006)

*Fractional ownership of RVs*

Has anyone tried this approach?  Seems like a no hassle way to become an RVer.

http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/2004/dec/1210-03t.htm

Jan


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## cclendinen (Apr 10, 2006)

We have rented Motor homes over the years and own two weeks with Fantasy Holiday Club (FHC), which is a Motor home vacation club.  There is no better way to travel the National Parks with or without kids than a fully self-contained motor home.   

Very few of the National Parks have electric and water hookups and staying outside the parks is not the same as camping in them.  The National Parks (without hookups) cost-per-night was usually from $6.00 to $16.00 a night.   When traveling you have everything with you, kitchen, bathroom, beds, TV and your entire luggage.  So when in route somewhere, we could pull over at a rest stop to sleep or a Wal-Mart without paying to stay at a park for the night.  When sightseeing we always had the meals with us and for large families eating out can be very expensive.

When renting an RV we have rented locally for a week or two and we have also flown to a location and rented and flown back home.  When you have to fly somewhere and pickup the RV it is more economical to carry the gear with you than renting it from the RV rental, however the airlines are not allowing as much luggage as before.  We use to be able to carry two or three large duffle bags, but with the current 50-pound limit you cannot fill the large bags to capacity.  It is much more convenient to be able to load and unload your gear at home.

Exchanging is certainly cheaper than rental but, both the additional costs for RV rental and exchanging can get expensive.   Most allow anywhere from 75 to 100 miles a day and after that you pay a mileage fee.  There is also insurance, cleaning and a generator fee, that is usually a charge per hour of use, and of course the gas (LP and fuel).  A 30+-foot RV will get around 6 or 7 miles a gallon. 

There are currently not any RV timeshares with RCI.  Fantasy Holiday Club has been suspended with RCI.  The Orlando/Clermont location is closed and the RVs will be moved to either Calgary or Toronto locations.  I don’t think that FCH RVs will ever exchange through RCI again but the new FHC timeshare at Niagara Falls might.  The other RCI RV exchange is Fleetwood which was going to be available in the spring of 2005, (and when that did not happen) January of 2006 (did not happen either) and now nobody seems to know anything about it.  Even the information on the Fleetwood web site has disappeared and nobody at Fleetwood has ever returned my phone calls.

I agree with the advice that if you want to travel six or eight weeks, purchasing a RV may be the way to go.  I have a friend that would buy a used motor home at the beginning of the summer and sell it at the end of summer.  He usually was able to sell it for the same price he bought it.  Don’t buy new because the depreciation in the first three years is unbelievable.

I do think you might want to reconsider traveling six to eight weeks at one time with kids.  The longest trip we took was 3 weeks in our FHC RV timeshare from Orlando, Florida to Calgary, via the Colorado, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies.  We dropped the RV off at the Calgary office and flew back to Florida from Calgary.  After two weeks in an RV the kids 13 and 19 had enough of scenic views and camping and got really bored.   I think that six to eight weeks with kids may be too much but that may depend on your children.  The wife and I were OK with the three weeks, but we were glad to get home.


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## JudyH (Apr 10, 2006)

Friends of my went cross country and stayed in Kamping Kabins in KOA's each night, got the camping flavor, without the motorhome expense.

I have been cross country twice with the kids in our motorhome.  Its like timesharing, you have to ignore what you are spending because what you are getting is very special.


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## Giselherr (Apr 16, 2006)

Did you trailer along an "excursion vehicle" for side trips? 






			
				cclendinen said:
			
		

> We have rented Motor homes over the years and own two weeks with Fantasy Holiday Club (FHC), which is a Motor home vacation club.  There is no better way to travel the National Parks with or without kids than a fully self-contained motor home.
> 
> Very few of the National Parks have electric and water hookups and staying outside the parks is not the same as camping in them.  The National Parks (without hookups) cost-per-night was usually from $6.00 to $16.00 a night.   When traveling you have everything with you, kitchen, bathroom, beds, TV and your entire luggage.  So when in route somewhere, we could pull over at a rest stop to sleep or a Wal-Mart without paying to stay at a park for the night.  When sightseeing we always had the meals with us and for large families eating out can be very expensive.
> 
> ...


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## G. B. Wayne (Apr 16, 2006)

We home schooled and long vacations in our 25 foot Class C motorhome occurred regularly.  The longest trip was for five weeks.  The kids were 9, 11, and 13 (boy, girl, boy).  
They were very experienced RVers but 5 weeks was really pushing it.  We stayed a couple of days with relatives and one night in a motel.  The rest of the time was entirely in the motorhome.  You really need to divide the nature/scenic experiences with theme parks, water parks, 
museums, and arcades.  Try to vary the experiences or everyone will get bored.  Our trip was truly wonderful, but on the final days I found myself yelling at my usually delightful 13-year-old son.  I took him by the shoulders and asked, "What is wrong with you?"  He tearfully replied, "I don't know!"  I then realized that puberty had hit with a bang.  Our trip was nearly over but I still hadn't seen Graceland.  The kids were polled about whether to continue on to Memphis before heading home or just head west.  Home won the vote and I think we broke some records making it back to San Diego.  

Unless your kids are REALLY MELLOW, 6-8 weeks might be too much togetherness.  However, two 3 week trips might work fine.  Have a wonderful time. 

Mrs. Gypsy Wayne 
Tug Member


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 16, 2006)

These have been wonderful tips.  Thanks for sharing your experiences.  I think we will nix the idea of 6-8 weeks.  I like the idea of buying to use and then selling to cover all the expenses.  By the way, that's a great timesharing strategy, too.

Since I first posted, I looked up various rental sites for RVs.  I am thinking timeshares to start and end the vacation and then maybe a 2-3 week one-way trip in an RV across country.


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