Motorhome away from home?

[Kevin McRoberts]

I'm considering getting a used RV. Something in the Class C, 22-28' range.

While my wife and I originally floated the idea to start taking more family vacations, visit distant family without spare bedrooms or hotels, bug out for the mountains when western civilization collapses, and other such niceties, I also considered how the RV could help pay for itself.

Who here uses an RV as a business vehicle?

I'm thinking,
- working w/ another, on location race event w/ onsite edit or SDE
- work as a local in cities too far for a single day drive, for jobs too uneconomical for a flight and/or hotel
- just travel around to great locations for B-Roll
- homeschool the kids, sell the house, go full-on videogypsy (ok, not seriously considering that. Yet.)

What are some other thoughts and considerations I need to... well... consider?

[Chris Medico]

I have a 5th wheel camper that in the past when fuel was much cheaper I used a lot more than I do now. With fuel $4/gal and the truck consuming $4 every 12 miles it becomes much cheaper to drive the VW at $4 every 50 miles for most things. There are times where the 5th wheel is the right tool for the job.

Here is when I use the RV for business.

If I'm working a project where there are no reasonable accommodations nearby.

A project where I need to be on site for a week or more.

When I'm providing a lot of gear rental for a shoot.

Any time I can get the client to pay for it. The selling points to the client can be - hair and makeup space, shelter if we are shooing in a remote area, or office area for supervisory crew.

[Bill Davis]

I've used them half a dozen times over the years.

On the up side, all the things already mentioned.

On the downside, they're expensive to own and operate.
They depreciate like mad. They can be expensive to store if you can't do it at home due to zoning or space.

Out here in AZ we have so many retirees who bought into them 10-15 years ago and don't quite know what to do with them now two there's a glut since a LOT of folks are looking to unload them.

The big issue for me, is that on the shoots I've used them on - the idea was to have a comfortable place where the talent could hang between scenes and hair and makeup could be touched up. In reality, I quickly learned that all my actors and crew all wanted to hang on set where the action was happening. It's much more social and they can interact with everyone. So the motor home was nearly always totally empty except for going and coming.

So I just call Cruise America for one when the situation arises and let THEM handle the upkeep and depreciation.

My 2 cents anyway. If you're actually just looking for an excuse to own one - knock yourself out. We combined a couple of shoots up in the mountain with renting RV's and had a great time. But I just pass houses nearly every day around here where Big Class A's sit under awnings month after month after month and virtually NEVER leave their pads.