Pleasure-Way Eulogy: Selling a Small RV

Our shortest excursion was an overnight in mid-winter, leaving home in the evening and rising pre-dawn to see the migrating birds at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near us in New Mexico. Our longest continuous trip was about six weeks on the road touring the Pacific Northwest. 

Eventually we visited all four corners of the country in our Pleasure-Way: Maine, Key West, southern California, and Washington state.

We’ll never forget our countless adventures exploring the west in our home on wheels: breakfasting with friends on a rainy morning in Glacier National Park; driving California Route 1 across cliff faces a thousand feet above the sparkling Pacific Ocean, punctuated by whale spouts far out to sea; huddling around campfires watching the Milky Way spread across the night sky from properties in Colorado and Arizona; climbing westward out of Death Valley with the iconic 10,000-foot eastern Sierra escarpment emerging into view.

Our van handled well for an RV, but it was no sports car. High winds and twisty mountain roads demanded prudence. My two hairiest drives in it were the descent into Kings Canyon National Park and the 6,000 feet of switchbacks up Horseshoe Meadows Road to the Cottonwood Pass trailhead above Lone Pine, California. Neither is advised for the faint-of-heart RV driver!

Making Memories

Some of our most memorable experiences were camping with friends who had their own rigs or were just tent camping. There is something magical about seeing familiar faces in remote places and sharing a few adventures, meals, and campfires together.

RVs can promote family ties. One summer when my father was failing but still able to travel, I picked him up in Waynesboro, Virginia. We drove south on the Blue Ridge Parkway to its end in Cherokee, North Carolina over several memorable days. The spacious van with bathroom and kitchen was more comfortable for him on the road. It was our last big adventure together.

In the early years, we did many laps across the country between Tennessee and Arizona to visit our son in college. Living out of our comfortable rig in a local RV park, we could enjoy a leisurely visit to his college town with most of the comforts of home. 

The Price of an RV Lifestyle 

At first glance, RVing might seem very frugal because there are no hotel bills and you fix your own food. But RVing is more about the lifestyle than saving money.

Do it so you can be flexible while traveling, sleep in your own bed, and eat your own food, not because you’ll save loads of money over the long haul. You probably won’t. For starters there are the costs of depreciation, maintenance, fuel, and campgrounds.

Optimizing RV Travel

In my first article about our van, I wrote that “To really save with an RV, you must drive a relatively small one, use it for lengthy trips, and minimize camping costs where possible. A small RV really shines for long-duration, low-mileage trips.

For short, high-mileage trips, you are probably better off staying in hotels and eating out. The breakeven point is around 250 miles. So, if we average less than that per day, we do, in fact, save money by traveling in our van.”

I found that our small van was optimal for trips of about one to three weeks in length.

Challenges of RV Ownership and Travel

Shorter trips were overshadowed by the effort to pack and outfit the van. I typically planned on an eight-hour day to get the van ready—filling tanks, checking fluids, testing systems, packing. And half a day to unpack and clean up afterwards.

And that doesn’t include the seasonal effort for winterizing. It’s a lot of work.

Very long trips would get uncomfortable after a while. The interior of a small RV, efficient though it might be, is about the size of a large walk-in closet. We would eventually find ourselves getting a motel room just to spread out. 

Some days reality would set in. As wonderful as it was to take a hot shower after a hard day in some remote spot in the mountains, I would question whether the cost in dollars and time to maintain a vehicle with such creature comforts was really worth it? Answer: probably “yes” in the early and middle years when we were taking many long trips. But  probably “no” in later years when we used the van less.

At least in our case, the capital cost was impressively low. Small RVs are in high demand and really hold their value. We paid $47.9K for ours in 2009 and sold it 15 years later for $34.5K. Even given that today’s dollars are worth less, that isn’t much depreciation: less than $1,000 per year.

Three Questions to Ask Before Buying an RV

Would a small RV be right for you? I’ll offer three questions to help you hone in on the right answer:

Are you psyched for a hundred nights of camping?

I would not consider one of these vehicles unless you plan to use it extensively. The cost in time and money is too high otherwise. Instead, you could rent an RV for a few trips, to see if this mode of travel suits you.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Renting a Campervan or Small RV

Are you up for maintaining a house on wheels?

The effort to maintain an RV is substantial. Just think about how much attention your house needs: weatherproofing, electrical, plumbing, gas, and so on. Then factor in that all those same systems exist in a modern RV but are lighter weight and thus less durable. They’re also more compact and thus often harder to get to. Unless you’re handy at repairs, you may find yourself constantly running to your local RV mechanic or else driving a vehicle that isn’t fully functional much of the time.

Are the people who hang out in campgrounds your crowd?

RV camping has a certain vibe that may or may not suit you. Although there are high end, and expensive, RV parks, they are not the norm. In general, this is an unpretentious, budget crowd seeking to maximize fun and freedom and minimize expense and overhead. If fine dining, luxury accommodations, and glittery entertainment are your goals on vacation, then head for a big city instead.

Why We Sold 

Why did we sell a vehicle that we loved so much and had provided so much joy over the years? Mostly because things change, and the equation that had worked so well for us was no longer holding true. We were using our camper van less and it was costing us more.

The Van Was Aging….

For example, after yet another repair this spring I went through and added up our receipts for this year and last. We’d spent a shocking $8,500 to keep the van running over this period. New tires, a differential leak, timing belt, rodent damage, and a couple of engine codes relating to pollution control and fuel systems headlined the repair list.

But when I then reviewed our usage over the same period it came to only five trips. And only two of those were of substantial length. The other trips we could have just as easily stayed in motels. It would have cost us less and been more relaxing. 

You might think, when not using a camper van, you can just store it parked with little risk or expense. But that is not the case. Engines degrade when not used. Metal parts rust. Rubber parts harden and crack over time. Then there is wear and tear from mother nature. At various times we had damage from birds, wasps, and rodents. The latter incurring a repair bill of nearly $1,000 due to stripped wiring.

Even if a small RV is in good repair, there is the question of reliability. A nearly 20-year-old vehicle is statistically not going to be as reliable as a new one because so many of its systems are approaching their mean time between failure. The threat of spending a portion of our next meticulously-planned vacation getting our van repaired, or cancelling the vacation altogether, began to weigh heavily on my mind.

We Are Aging

Then there is the question of our own state of repair. Camping is an adventurous and strenuous activity compared to staying at home. That’s part of the appeal. But with our bodies getting stiffer and less resilient, the realities of keeping the van running while on the road—performing repairs and maintenance on the go—get more sobering. Last spring, I hurt my back crawling under the van to perform an inspection and had to postpone a much-anticipated trip. 

As mentioned, a small RV is optimal for week-long trips or longer. But our interest in such long road trips is waning. As the list of memorable trips above shows, we’ve done a lot of them. But Caroline finds it harder to sit for extended periods, and I find driving the van long distances, especially in heavy traffic or urban areas, to be more and more stressful, and dangerous.

All of these factors added up to make owning a camper van less attractive to us now.

How to Sell a Used RV

Selling a small RV can be surprisingly quick and profitable if you invest the right effort. Well-maintained rigs are in very high demand because of the cost differential to new units, which are generally priced over six-digits and beyond.

Get the Vehicle in Good Shape

For starters, if you want the best price, make sure all systems are in good working order. Nothing deflates a buyer’s enthusiasm like knowing they will be facing a large repair bill immediately after taking possession.

I noticed a crack in the windshield right after I listed our van. But I was able to get the windshield replaced, fully covered under insurance, before the buyer took delivery.

Know Your Vehicle’s Value

Next, do your homework. You can get low and average retail prices for almost all RV makes, models, and years at J.D. Power. You can also look for comparable prices on various RV for sale websites.

I’ve never been one to fish for higher prices when selling my things. I price to the market and look forward to a quick, smooth transaction. In this case I listed our van for the average retail price, plus a couple $1,000 to account for the excellent condition and all the accessories I had thrown in with the deal.

Market Your RV

I used RV Trader to advertise our van as it had the highest traffic when I checked those statistics. I chose their premium package, which cost about $300. That gave me featured photo ads throughout the site, one video, fifty photos, and one year online if needed to sell our rig.

Good images are absolutely essential to sell such an expensive item online. Buyers need full confidence that they are seeing the entire vehicle inside and out with nothing hidden from them. Make sure your vehicle is clean. Stage it on a bright day in an attractive location and turn on all the interior lights for the inside shots. Use a wide angle lens inside to capture the most detail and lend a feeling of spaciousness.

Next write a compelling ad to communicate the many benefits of owning your RV. Then close with an exhaustive list of specifications and features.

Close the Deal

When you start getting inquiries, be friendly, responsive, and transparent. Treat people how you’d like to be treated during a major financial transaction. Nobody is going to buy an expensive RV without complete confidence in it and you.

Following the steps above, our rig took less than one week to sell. After I’d received a half-dozen inquiries, a couple in a neighboring city who knew what they wanted, and had been looking for just what we had, came to inspect our rig. They returned the next day with cashier’s check in hand to drive it home.

Stages of Retirement

Michael Stein first described the three phases of retirement in his book The Prosperous Retirement. He called these the “Go-Go Years,” the “Slow-Go Years,” and the “No-Go Years.”

My picture of these phases is something like this: in the Go-Go Years, you have free reign, the energy and money, to pursue all the activities you missed in your youth and career.

In the Slow-Go years, you still have those goals, but you are more limited in what you can accomplish due to energy and health issues.

Then in the No-Go Years, health issues and the aging process leave you mostly restricted to your home and short outings in the nearby environs.

Our Next Stage: From Go-Go to Slow-Go

Though I hope the stages are long for us, I view the sale of our camper van as the beginning of the end of our Go-Go Years that started with my early retirement at age 50. During this phase we pursued all our travel dreams with minimal need to compensate for our health or energy while on the road. There was no question in our minds that we could deal with whatever arose and enjoy most of it.

It’s different now. Every travel opportunity is balanced with questions such as: “We were there five years ago. How much do we want to go back?” or “Do I really have the energy to pack up my life and get on the road for an extended spell once again?” or “Why don’t we just grab a motel for a few nights instead of dealing with the camper?”

I’m hoping this change doesn’t mean a complete end to our road trip adventures. But future ones are likely to be shorter and rely on rentals such as RVshare and airbnb. We will no longer shoulder the cost or overhead for living on the road in our own mobile home. 

And we are likely to take a few “big-ticket” vacations now that involve airlines, car rentals, and hotels. Hawaii tops our list for that kind of conventional trip.

Final Thoughts 

I don’t regret a single minute of our years owning and traveling in a small RV. Our Pleasure-Way enabled a degree of freedom and self-sufficiency in our early retirement that I’d always dreamed about.

I’ll never forget that feeling of launching out our driveway fully stocked for a long trip knowing that we had everything we needed to live comfortably on the road for weeks, and able to set our own itinerary while underway.

Driving the backroads in a small RV can be the most scenic, flexible, and comfortable way to travel. These magical vehicles evoke a wonderful sense of togetherness with your partner. Many were the smiles we traded at the fun of “playing house” together again. And the joy of waking up in our own warm and cozy space, looking out at the stars or mountains or trees or sunshine, will never leave us.

But just because you love something, doesn’t mean hanging on to it is the right course of action. Doing so could even spoil some of the positive memories if you’re not careful. I am deeply grateful for all our good times in the Pleasure-Way. But hanging on tightly to something that no longer suits us will not make more good memories. 

We could have kept our van, watching it go downhill and cost us time and money each year. But we don’t need a museum piece. How much better instead to pass it on to somebody else who can enjoy it and love it as much as we did. 

Bon Voyage, Pleasure-Way!

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OUTDOOR ADVENTURE: My new web site explores the books, authors, and trails of the long-distance hiking movement and has more about my forthcoming memoir Rain and Fire In The Sky: Beyond Doubt On The Colorado Trail. Click over to TrailMemoir.com.

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[The founder of CanIRetireYet.com, Darrow Kirkpatrick relied on a modest lifestyle, high savings rate, and simple passive index investing to retire at age 50 from a career as a civil and software engineer. He has been quoted or published in The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Kiplinger, The Huffington Post, Consumer Reports, and Money Magazine among others. His books include Retiring Sooner: How to Accelerate Your Financial Independence and Can I Retire Yet? How to Make the Biggest Financial Decision of the Rest of Your Life.]

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