RVCalc 1.0.0.2
f you are thinking about buying a recreational vehicle like a travel trailer or motor home and are worried about the poor gas mileage and other costs, then you should use this program.
RVCalc will allow you to test many different conditions like gas mileage of the family car versus the towing vehicle, motel cost versus RV campsite cost, and more. It will then calculate the number of years until the cost of purchasing and maintaining your RV would be paid for completely. Maybe you would only typically spend a week or two at a resort as opposed to many short weekends in you RV or maybe you would only take the RV out once or twice a year. With RVCalc you can test all those scenarios to see if you could expect to own the RV long enough to justify all the costs.
I wrote this program when we bought a travel trailer and were curious if it was a cost effective way to vacation. There were so many variables like motel cost versus RV camp site cost, gas mileage of a travel vehicle (Subaru in our case) versus the RV towing vehicle (truck), etc that I thought it would be nice to write something that could do a little more specialized calculating beyond a standard spreadsheet. There are some interesting features like searching for minimum or maximum values for various conditions. The program essentially is intended to tell the user the number of years it would take to completely pay off the cost of the RV if you vacation with it as opposed to vacationing at motels or resorts. Try it, you will be surprised; I was.
There are two things to remember though:
Firstly: If the RV is paid off.... it is paid off. In a way, it is like it is free. This is assuming you were going to vacation anyway and that money would be spent regardless. So after that, you own an RV. It is rather like renting versus owning a home. You are always paying a mortgage, the question is: Are you paying yours or somebody else's mortgage?
Secondly: You sleep in your own bed!!!
