This past weekend, Bill and I were discussing whether or not we should sell my CRV when we hit the road later this year. For the benefit of those who do not know our rig set-up, we have a 2011 Ford F350 Diesel Dually 4x4, which will tow our 2014 Landmark.
I was not even going to question this at all, except I have been reading on some blogs lately that a lot of people with 5er's do have a second vehicle, which is used for local exploring instead of the truck. It seems that the main reason for having this second vehicle is to save on gas mileage while exploring locally. We have only put about 1,000 miles on the truck so far, and we have not towed with it yet (haven't picked up the Landmark from the dealer yet, they are storing it until I find a suitable storage place closer to home) and with mixed highway/local driving have averaged about 17 or 18 MPG, not too bad. My CRV gets about 25 highway, and 22/23 locally.
I never thought I would even consider keeping my car and driving separately b/c I always thought being together was "part of it", but after reading how so many do this, I thought I should at least give it more thought and maybe get some opinions while we still have time before we are actually leaving.
Another option would be selling the CRV and putting that cash toward something smaller that would get better mileage, like a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. I wouldn't get new, instead would look for a 2 or 3 year old lease return that has low miles and has been well maintained. My daughter just bought herself a brand new Toyota Corolla and she gets 35/36 locally and I assume highway would be 5 or so MPG more. Doing this would at least make it more "worth it", maybe?
So, I guess my question is this: what has your experience been with this situation? Who does have the second vehicle and why? Who does not and why?
I might also add that we would be debt free with whichever option we go with. Just a bit less $$ in the reserve account if we don't bank all monies from selling the CRV.
Thanks for any opinions offered!
Kelly
DebbieM said
10:16 PM Dec 30, 2013
We won't actually have our 5er until May-ish, but we were thinking of getting a type of vespa/scooter/moped that we could putz around on, scope out the campground, run errands and even sightseeing if we could take secondary type roads and it wasn't too far away. We'd just use the truck if the weather was bad, had more people with us or needed to use the freeway. I think that if the motor size is under 150cc (?) a motorcycle license is not needed (need to check that out more). We used one in the Bahamas and had a blast on it. Turned out to be a cheap and convenient (and FUN) way to get around!
--Debbie
jrzygrl64 said
10:32 PM Dec 30, 2013
That is actually an option Bill would love, except where would it go? He said we might be able to put some type of hitch thing on the front of the truck, as long as whatever we got didn't weigh too much.
One of the HUGE problems with that is, I am a big scaredy cat when it comes to motorcyles. Bill has had one for years and I don't get on it. I might be willing to try and overcome that, but it would be not so easy for me.
DebbieM said
10:36 PM Dec 30, 2013
We were hoping we could put it on the back of the 5er, but would have to double check the weight. While I grew up with a dirt bike, I would not be comfortable on a street bike. But somehow riding on a moped on secondary roads didn't bother me. I guess we'll see.
--Debbie
2riker2go said
07:03 AM Dec 31, 2013
We went through the same consideration, and for the same reason - reading from bloggers that they liked having a second vehicle for local travel. After waffling back and forth for a year or so, we decided not to keep our car and travel separately, because like you said, for us, traveling together has been part of the experience. Harry does most of the driving and I am the navigator, although I have driven a few times when we were having a longer travel day to give him a break. Another positive for me of being in the same vehicle is that I like to take lots of pictures as we are going along. So for us, just having the truck has been the way to go. We don't regret selling our Honda.
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
07:07 AM Dec 31, 2013
I would say keep the CRV, If its paid for or close to it. Many folks have the 2 vehicle setup. Most move less than 200 miles at a time, and one follows the other. H&L do this, and they religiously do this for checking out parks and sites they can fit into.
If your comfortable with the CRV I'd keep it. The payback for swapping vehicles would take a long time.
el Rojo and Pam said
07:53 AM Dec 31, 2013
We are in the same situation with 3 vehicles instead of just two. We know we will sell one for sure, but can't decide whether to keep the second. I personally don't think you ever come out ahead trading a vehicle for just fuel mileage, but that's not our dilemma. Our question is if we travel for 2 years together in the F-350 and just let our 2008 Jeep sit (we have a place to park it), keeping insurance on it, would we come out better financially to sell and buy another vehicle(used) at that time or just lose the depreciation and insurance on the one we have? Side note: the Jeep is in good shape and is paid for.
We are like Bill and Kelly and want to travel together even though our plan is to only travel 200 miles a day. We are shooting for the 2,2,2 plan which is set in JELLO!
Red
Kelly, I'm sorry if this is hijacking but were kinda in the same situation, just looking at it differently.
French Bikers said
08:46 AM Dec 31, 2013
To me the answer is simple sale the car, one of the good reason to buy 5er instead of of motorhome is to have a vehicle when you arrive at destination, therefore why keep a second vehicle. That is why we have decided to go for a cllass A with a trailer for the motorcycles and sell the pick-up truck and the camaro.
Jean
manycats said
09:03 AM Dec 31, 2013
We always had a second vehicle with us, my DH would tow the 5th wh and I would follow (or sometimes lead) while traveling between parks. Several advantages: I could change lanes and give him enough room to change lanes himself, we could scout sites without having to jockey the unit through a whole park, if one vehicle broke down the other was available to go for help, parts, etc., if anything happened with the 5th (a hose sneaking out, steps coming down, whatever) I could see it and warn him. The time spent driving two vehicles was minimal and worth it. The money spent on insurance and fuel didn't make that much difference.
dianneandsteve said
09:08 AM Dec 31, 2013
We also had the same dilemma because of the size of our tow vehicle. For us the negatives of keeping a car outwayed the positives. There's the added expense of maintenance, fuel, insurance, plus some campgrounds will charge for an extra vehicle. I also prefer traveling together and having a second set of eyes on the road signs and traffic. If any changes are made on the fly Dianne is free to grab the GPS and or IPad to do her thing.
There has been the odd time when we were unable to use our truck to explore. For instance on our recent trip to Death Valley there were a few roads that had length restrictions of 25' (we are 27') or were too narrow or rough. They did have jeep rentals if we wanted to do them bad enough. So rentals are another option for those rare times. As far as shopping goes there is usually lots of parking available at Walmarts, Safeways etc.
With that being said...if we weren't carrying two ATV's on board we would probably be carrying a Smart Car instead.
Good luck on your decision!
WendysPhotos said
09:15 AM Dec 31, 2013
Jersey Girl you are in the same dilemma as us!
All our vehicles are paid off and we keep vacillating
between keep and extra vehicle to go locally and give up on the 'together time' or just use the truck. Since we have yet to buy the RV anyways we have even thought about buying a MH instead so we could tow the car. I am not blown away by a MH though they are all set up the same and none seem to have the a good floorplan for us. So we will be at the Indy RV show on the 11th trying to see what we want.
We have even thought of the moped thing too, but like you I have a phobia about them. I know 15 people personally that have been seriously injured or killed on motorcycles and heard about numerous more.
Wendy
2riker2go said
10:14 AM Dec 31, 2013
manycats wrote:
I could change lanes and give him enough room to change lanes himself
I have often heard people who like having a second vehicle for this reason...but on the other hand, we have found that, given our size, as long as we signal our intentions to switch lanes, people usually back off and give you room. (Harry read that tip in a book I think called Driving a 5th Wheel Like a Professional, written by a truck driver - the tip was put your signal light on and just move the vehicle over to the left showing that you are changing lanes. It sounds super simple, but we were so happy to find out that it worked.)
bjoyce said
10:25 AM Dec 31, 2013
2riker2go: You need to drive in more states, especially California, New York and Florida. They are not that courteous and will pass when they see the blinker rather than follow you.
2riker2go said
10:32 AM Dec 31, 2013
lol We are from NY, and have driven up and down I-95, which is my least favorite highway ever. But we have found it works the majority of the time. Not because people are being courteous though- it's more because we look like we're going whether they like it or not, and they don't want to get squashed. ;)
NWescapee said
10:58 AM Dec 31, 2013
We thought we would have 2 vehicles, figured we would be trading my Saturn in on a van or SUV that would carry all the art show booth set up "stuff". Well, that decision lasted about 3 weeks from the time we left the house. Why? We hated driving separately and crossing Montana on our way to SD to set up our domicile, there was very little connectivity. We were driving a couple of long days just to get there, I could not use Gas Buddy or any other app to help with fuel, food, navigation, weather ahead, campground options etc. while I was also driving.
Will you always limit yourself to 200 miles a day? We've found that if we need to move 400 miles or less we'd rather have one long driving day vs. 2 shorter days, so we can get somewhere and have an extra day to explore the area. We knew due to our art show schedule and our 3 or 4 times per year long relocations that will take 2-4 days 200 miles a day just won't cut it if I'm trying to continue to work my full time job and not use all my vacation time for just driving, so we drive long days on the weekends when necessary and didn't want to drive separate. We do have occasions, although we're trying to limit them, when I need to work on a driving day, so we plug in the antenna, MiFi, I get my laptop work table out and we cruise down the road while I'm "herding cats" (Dale's name for my day job).
I would suggest that if you're unsure you take the CRV, try it for a few weeks or months and then decide. We did find that we had to purge yet more stuff to get to the point where we could use one vehicle, we added tool boxes in the truck, one between the cab and hitch, one behind the hitch (shorter than the other one), plus a Thule cargo rack on top so we could get all the art show stuff fit into the truck. It took a lot of manuevuering, rearranging, but we so much prefer to drive together. I've learned to drive and park the truck for the weekly shopping errands, that took a little patience on Dale's part, parking a truck with DRW takes a bit of practice and he usually prefers that we back into a spot. LOL, we've had our moments with my driving the truck, but I am improving.
How much will you use the second vehicle? Since we're both working, we tend to explore on holidays, weekends when we don't have an art show and aren't relocating, etc. We try to choose campgrounds where we know that after we finish working for the day we can find something to do in the campground, bike ride, hike, even just a stroll. That way we still get some time to enjoy the area even when we're working.
We also didn't like the extra fees charged in a lot of state parks, in CO we paid $7/day just to have my car there, here in AZ it wouldn't have been $15/day, we're going to be in 3 different AZ state parks for the next 4 weeks, that extra fee adds up quick. So now we've cut our expenses by not maintaining, insuring, licensing a second vehicle.
WestWardHo said
11:53 AM Dec 31, 2013
Kelly,
Lots of good suggestions here. I especially like Ruth's suggestion of trying taking a car for a few weeks at least to see what works for you.
We've done both but right now we have a second vehicle that we bought a new Subaru Outbackin July and it has over 8,000 miles on it. I like it because I can move over and black traffic to allow a lane change, especially important here in LA as Bill pointed out. Although signaling and moving our behemoth over seemed to work as well when we traveled without a car. So far, in 7 months on the road in state and private parks we haven't had to pay a 2nd vehicle charge anyplace we've been, I just call it our tow car. It's helped greatly twice when we've broken down. Once, out of cell range and I had to drive 10 miles to get to a landline. The second time was a breakdown on a CA back road (wrong turn) on a HOT Sunday afternoon with no shade. Had to wait almost 2 hours for CoachNet so the car AC was very helpful for us and our pets. It's also not unlike us to jump in the car and drive two hours to meet up with family or friends although we could do that in the truck as well. The truck is quite comfortable. If we're traveling long days, I'll pull over and grab some takeout and meet him at the next rest stop to eat. We have found adding good walkie talkies works better than cell phones. An advantage to him is I'm not "helping" him drive (as much 😳). Also we had a Thule roof rack in storage so now our golf clubs and gear are in there but that could go on the truck. I have limited vision in one eye which causes depth perception issues. I can drive the Dually but neither of us are comfortable with that so I was stuck if I just wanted to go off alone.
The disadvantages are not sharing the drive although we do point out features on the radios, not being able to keep up with map overviews, park research on the fly. However, I always travel with my ipad and MiFi in the car so if we do need to look up something (where to stay when broken down or we decide to go further than originally planned and need to find a new park for examples) I can do that while stopped. I'm guessing it's not the most practical solution but it works for us now.
You'll find what works best for YOU.
Sherry
Camper Chronicles said
12:19 PM Dec 31, 2013
2riker2go wrote:
We went through the same consideration, and for the same reason - reading from bloggers that they liked having a second vehicle for local travel. After waffling back and forth for a year or so, we decided not to keep our car and travel separately, because like you said, for us, traveling together has been part of the experience. Harry does most of the driving and I am the navigator, although I have driven a few times when we were having a longer travel day to give him a break. Another positive for me of being in the same vehicle is that I like to take lots of pictures as we are going along. So for us, just having the truck has been the way to go. We don't regret selling our Honda.
I agree with Jessica. We discussed quite a bit...financially what you gain in gas you lose in insurance and registration so I think it might even be a bit more expensive especially if you add additional daily campground fees. But for me...especially in the beginning I want to see things together. If we are in an area where I am working for a bit of money I may rent a car, or we may use our bikes. It's a tough one for sure...since we didn't have a solid paid off vehicle we absolutely loved traded them all in to get more money off the truck. If we had something "ready to go" that was paid off it would definitely be a tougher decision,
The Bear II said
02:43 PM Dec 31, 2013
Right now we are semi-full time. Here's what we do.
For July through September we park the 5th wheel in an RV Resort about 150 miles from our home. My DW will follow in her car as we head to the RV Resort to setup.
Otherwise she rides in the truck with me. We use the truck for errands, shopping and sight seeing.
There have been times when it made more sense and saved money to rent a car while we were camping in the 5th wheel. For example I had to go to a business meeting that was a 400 mile round trip from where we were staying for 2 weeks. The car rental and gas for the rented car was cheaper than what the fuel would have been for the truck (30MPG vs 10MPG in the truck).
On another trip we were visiting a cousin in Idaho and they wanted to take a two day trip to tour us around Idaho. We rented a midsize car so we all would be comfortable and save gas. Their car was having transmission trouble so the rental was a better solution.
Cost wise and to save wear and tear on you and your CRV you may find the rental car as a viable option. Some rental companies will deliver a car to the campground. Lots of daily and weekly specials with no mileage charges.
-- Edited by The Bear II on Tuesday 31st of December 2013 02:45:33 PM
Terry and Jo said
10:38 PM Dec 31, 2013
Most things have been addressed here, but I'll add another thought. We plan on keeping a second vehicle because we are full-timers and to some degree, may still be working some. However, when we travel, Jo will drive the Ford F150 so that she can follow and keep an eye on things on the trailer from behind. Then, if needed, she can "scout" ahead of me and the trailer to find a good place for pulling over with the F450 and fifth wheel. That will also work for her being able to find fuel stops where it is easier to get a long rig into without having to deal with too many obstructions.
Also, our plans are to spend longer periods of time in areas where we want to explore. For instance, we will eventually park somewhere in southern Utah for any time from 3 months to 6 months. Doing that, we would use the F150 for our exploring, and then when we are ready to move on, we just do that and stay in another area for a similar length of time.
Terry
RVKevi said
05:44 PM Jan 1, 2014
We do like Terry and Jo, except our second vehicle is a camry. We've had it for years, it is paid off, and we like having it to drive around. We only move about 4 or 5 times a year, so I don't mind driving the camry while Kev drives the truck.
Neil and Connie said
07:24 PM Jan 1, 2014
Lots of good suggestions here…but what it comes down to is whether you think the advantages of having the car outweigh the disadvantages.
No Car:
Pros: save on registration/insurance and can drive together.
Cons: The dually is harder to maneuver and park in towns and parking lots than the car is and gets worse mileage so this counters part of the registration/insurance advantage.
Yes Car:
Pros and cons are essentially the opposite of those above.
One additional pro of having the car is you have somebody to block traffic and make you a space to switch lanes…this becomes important when you are driving through big cities or in rush hour in smaller ones. Connie generally stays behind me on freeways and in front on 2 lane roads and can easily move over and make it easier for me to get the rig into the other lane when necessary.
We wouldn't consider having just the truck…but then we're well enough off with our pensions and Connie's part time virtual job where the cost savings aren't as important to us and in addition have found that our 450 dually is very hard to park…in almost any parking lot it ends up way out in the back 40 where I can occupy 2 or 4 spaces without interfering with other patrons in the lot. There is no way it (or a 350 dually) will fit in a single space either width or length.
All that being said, if you're unsure take the "keep it for awhile" approach and see if the dual drivers is an issue. For us, Connie likes to have her me time while driving the car and we have a couple of walkie talkies from Amazon (little yellow GE ones) that serve nicely for talking to each other on travel days. We do all the GasBuddy, lunch, rest stop and other planning before we get on the road in the morning.
LibertyLinda said
02:42 PM Jan 2, 2014
We are in the same dilemma and decided - why decide now? If you can pay off your CRV all the better. I have considerations with transporting 2 cats and the dog - never all in the back of the dully So I'm thinking I'll take the two cats with me in my Jeep Wrangler and follow. We have walkie-talkies and have fun being together with that. I also don't know if I take a travel nurse job close by where we land, I will need a car to go to it. So, I guess until we get into our groove full-timing, we will have two vehicles. We can always sell the Jeep Wrangler (my love) later on.
Jack Mayer said
03:06 PM Jan 2, 2014
I would strongly suggest that you do what some others have said - try it for at least a couple of months and see how it goes. There are pros and cons of any approach - but you will not know what works for you unless you try it.
You can try to evaluate it based on "facts". But the fact is - it will probably come down to subtle "feelings" of what is going to work for you. Not everything is cut and dried.
jrzygrl64 said
03:23 PM Jan 2, 2014
Thanks all for the different perspectives!
Just to clarify, the CRV is completely paid for and I do really love driving it! It is a 2006 with about 125,000 miles on it - I've had it since 2009.
Another point that Bill brought up to me in a later (after I initially posted) conversation is when we have traveled in the past, we have put quite a few miles on our "towed" car, as we have had a Class C, the truck and 5er are new to us. He figured it to be between 200 and 300 miles per week average, depending where we were. His thoughts are that is a lot of extra miles to put on the truck, when considering things like extra wear and tear on the truck. So, it isn't just the extra MPG on exploring trips, it is also extra oil changes, extra miles on the (very expensive) tires, etc. He feels the cheaper maintainance and better MPG will (at least mostly) offset the insurance cost of keeping it. He believes that keeping those extra miles off the truck is a good idea long term.
So, there is still another angle/consideration to think about.
At this moment, and I can't believe I am saying this, but I am leaning toward keeping it and seeing how it goes. I read Howards blog post from when they bought their jeep and how they had Linda's car and it was already paid for and they had sold it, and how he ended up wishing they hadn't. I think that has happened to more than a few 5er couples out there. I guess there is no law saying if we end up hating driving separate, I have to keep it longer right? It can always be sold at any time. But, if we start killing the truck with some many miles right away and we decide after the CRV is sold and gone that we want a second car, it would be expensive to replace. He has maintained that car so well, we might as well get the benefit of that, right? That's where my head is at right now (subject to change, depending which way the wind is blowing - ha!)
Thanks again for your experienced (or not) insights!
Kelly
Hdrider said
03:25 PM Jan 2, 2014
Even though we are not doing the truck and 5th wheel thing we did go through figuring out just what we could or wanted to deal with while on the road. It's tough but what ever you decide on you will find a way to make it work. And if it doesn't you can make changes.
We had a sandrail and of course I wanted to bring it so we could experience all the great dunes in the country. We had a jeep so of course we wanted to bring it because we love off roading and getting off the beaten path, I had a Harley to die for and a Goldwing trike and had not been without a bike in over 30 years and motorcycle riding has been part of our lives for as long as we have been together so of course we wanted to bring it as well, and Diane had a brand new Toyota Prius so we wanted to bring it because of the great fuel mileage LOL!!
We considered hauling a stacker trailer to bring what we could but we finally decided to sell the sandrail and the Harley and put the Prius and trike in store and just bring the jeep to keep our first year on the road as simple as it could be. And I think we made the right choice for us on our first year. Simple was good.
But now when we roll back through our hometown in April or May after 18 months on the road we will be back on the decision making process about maybe getting a pickup and bringing the trike with us on our next outing.
I guess the short version of what I'm saying is just because you make one choice now does not mean you can't make changes just because you are fulltime.
Terry and Jo said
07:37 PM Jan 2, 2014
To add a couple of additional points:
Neil mentioned the difficulty with parking a dually in parking lots. We have a Ford F450 and I don't have a problem. If I do get into a spot where things might be tight, I park the truck and then pull in both of the mirrors so that if anyone else needs to access their vehicle, our mirrors aren't in their way. Maybe parking spots are bigger in Oklahoma, but I can usually get in with no problems.
Another point is with having a second vehicle. Our situation is different than most, so the options for others may be different. Our F150 is a crew cab with a bed topper over the bed. All that extra space allows us to haul some additional items in the second vehicle as well as in the F450 and in the trailer. Now, with those having a second vehicle that is a car, your extra hauling capacity would be more limited.
Terry
Camper Chronicles said
08:52 PM Jan 2, 2014
jrzygrl64 wrote:
At this moment, and I can't believe I am saying this, but I am leaning toward keeping it and seeing how it goes. I read Howards blog post from when they bought their jeep and how they had Linda's car and it was already paid for and they had sold it, and how he ended up wishing they hadn't. I think that has happened to more than a few 5er couples out there. I guess there is no law saying if we end up hating driving separate, I have to keep it longer right? It can always be sold at any time. But, if we start killing the truck with some many miles right away and we decide after the CRV is sold and gone that we want a second car, it would be expensive to replace. He has maintained that car so well, we might as well get the benefit of that, right? That's where my head is at right now (subject to change, depending which way the wind is blowing - ha!)
I think that's a great idea especially if you like the vehicle. We had a convertible with low miles I really wanted to keep and I am hoping down the road not to regret the decision. The trade in was minimal and you really can sell a car anywhere so why not :)
suse1023 said
10:36 AM Jan 4, 2014
my dh and I have been discussing this issue as well.
we have a fiver and a one ton ford dually and he also has a jeep rubicon he loves.
he has the jeep up for sale though, as it's beginning to look like we're going to be happy enough being a one vehicle family.
that said we're also thinking mopeds might be handy and fun some day.
I've been driving a big truck as my primary vehicle for years so have no issues with parking or driving it.
though better mileage would be nice!
otterlakeram said
06:58 AM Jan 5, 2014
Well, I can only tell you our recent experience with having two vehicles with us. We sold our home and had to drive separately to FL.. Long story, anyways, we have a 97 Honda Accord, not worth alot retail, but very dependable and a great get around. We absolutely love having it with us. We will leave it at our sons (FL) when we venture back north for the summer. It's nice to have because it's sooo much easier getting around in all the traffic on US41, if you've experienced it, than the 3500 DRW. It uses alot less fuel too, another +.
This past weekend, Bill and I were discussing whether or not we should sell my CRV when we hit the road later this year. For the benefit of those who do not know our rig set-up, we have a 2011 Ford F350 Diesel Dually 4x4, which will tow our 2014 Landmark.
I was not even going to question this at all, except I have been reading on some blogs lately that a lot of people with 5er's do have a second vehicle, which is used for local exploring instead of the truck. It seems that the main reason for having this second vehicle is to save on gas mileage while exploring locally. We have only put about 1,000 miles on the truck so far, and we have not towed with it yet (haven't picked up the Landmark from the dealer yet, they are storing it until I find a suitable storage place closer to home) and with mixed highway/local driving have averaged about 17 or 18 MPG, not too bad. My CRV gets about 25 highway, and 22/23 locally.
I never thought I would even consider keeping my car and driving separately b/c I always thought being together was "part of it", but after reading how so many do this, I thought I should at least give it more thought and maybe get some opinions while we still have time before we are actually leaving.
Another option would be selling the CRV and putting that cash toward something smaller that would get better mileage, like a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. I wouldn't get new, instead would look for a 2 or 3 year old lease return that has low miles and has been well maintained. My daughter just bought herself a brand new Toyota Corolla and she gets 35/36 locally and I assume highway would be 5 or so MPG more. Doing this would at least make it more "worth it", maybe?
So, I guess my question is this: what has your experience been with this situation? Who does have the second vehicle and why? Who does not and why?
I might also add that we would be debt free with whichever option we go with. Just a bit less $$ in the reserve account if we don't bank all monies from selling the CRV.
Thanks for any opinions offered!
Kelly
--Debbie
That is actually an option Bill would love, except where would it go? He said we might be able to put some type of hitch thing on the front of the truck, as long as whatever we got didn't weigh too much.
One of the HUGE problems with that is, I am a big scaredy cat when it comes to motorcyles. Bill has had one for years and I don't get on it. I might be willing to try and overcome that, but it would be not so easy for me.
We were hoping we could put it on the back of the 5er, but would have to double check the weight. While I grew up with a dirt bike, I would not be comfortable on a street bike. But somehow riding on a moped on secondary roads didn't bother me. I guess we'll see.
--Debbie
If your comfortable with the CRV I'd keep it. The payback for swapping vehicles would take a long time.
We are like Bill and Kelly and want to travel together even though our plan is to only travel 200 miles a day. We are shooting for the 2,2,2 plan which is set in JELLO!
Red
Kelly, I'm sorry if this is hijacking but were kinda in the same situation, just looking at it differently.
Jean
We also had the same dilemma because of the size of our tow vehicle. For us the negatives of keeping a car outwayed the positives. There's the added expense of maintenance, fuel, insurance, plus some campgrounds will charge for an extra vehicle. I also prefer traveling together and having a second set of eyes on the road signs and traffic. If any changes are made on the fly Dianne is free to grab the GPS and or IPad to do her thing.
There has been the odd time when we were unable to use our truck to explore. For instance on our recent trip to Death Valley there were a few roads that had length restrictions of 25' (we are 27') or were too narrow or rough. They did have jeep rentals if we wanted to do them bad enough. So rentals are another option for those rare times. As far as shopping goes there is usually lots of parking available at Walmarts, Safeways etc.
With that being said...if we weren't carrying two ATV's on board we would probably be carrying a Smart Car instead.
Good luck on your decision!
All our vehicles are paid off and we keep vacillating
between keep and extra vehicle to go locally and give up on the 'together time' or just use the truck. Since we have yet to buy the RV anyways we have even thought about buying a MH instead so we could tow the car. I am not blown away by a MH though they are all set up the same and none seem to have the a good floorplan for us. So we will be at the Indy RV show on the 11th trying to see what we want.
We have even thought of the moped thing too, but like you I have a phobia about them. I know 15 people personally that have been seriously injured or killed on motorcycles and heard about numerous more.
Wendy
I have often heard people who like having a second vehicle for this reason...but on the other hand, we have found that, given our size, as long as we signal our intentions to switch lanes, people usually back off and give you room. (Harry read that tip in a book I think called Driving a 5th Wheel Like a Professional, written by a truck driver - the tip was put your signal light on and just move the vehicle over to the left showing that you are changing lanes. It sounds super simple, but we were so happy to find out that it worked.)
Will you always limit yourself to 200 miles a day? We've found that if we need to move 400 miles or less we'd rather have one long driving day vs. 2 shorter days, so we can get somewhere and have an extra day to explore the area. We knew due to our art show schedule and our 3 or 4 times per year long relocations that will take 2-4 days 200 miles a day just won't cut it if I'm trying to continue to work my full time job and not use all my vacation time for just driving, so we drive long days on the weekends when necessary and didn't want to drive separate. We do have occasions, although we're trying to limit them, when I need to work on a driving day, so we plug in the antenna, MiFi, I get my laptop work table out and we cruise down the road while I'm "herding cats" (Dale's name for my day job).
I would suggest that if you're unsure you take the CRV, try it for a few weeks or months and then decide. We did find that we had to purge yet more stuff to get to the point where we could use one vehicle, we added tool boxes in the truck, one between the cab and hitch, one behind the hitch (shorter than the other one), plus a Thule cargo rack on top so we could get all the art show stuff fit into the truck. It took a lot of manuevuering, rearranging, but we so much prefer to drive together. I've learned to drive and park the truck for the weekly shopping errands, that took a little patience on Dale's part, parking a truck with DRW takes a bit of practice and he usually prefers that we back into a spot. LOL, we've had our moments with my driving the truck, but I am improving.
How much will you use the second vehicle? Since we're both working, we tend to explore on holidays, weekends when we don't have an art show and aren't relocating, etc. We try to choose campgrounds where we know that after we finish working for the day we can find something to do in the campground, bike ride, hike, even just a stroll. That way we still get some time to enjoy the area even when we're working.
We also didn't like the extra fees charged in a lot of state parks, in CO we paid $7/day just to have my car there, here in AZ it wouldn't have been $15/day, we're going to be in 3 different AZ state parks for the next 4 weeks, that extra fee adds up quick. So now we've cut our expenses by not maintaining, insuring, licensing a second vehicle.
Lots of good suggestions here. I especially like Ruth's suggestion of trying taking a car for a few weeks at least to see what works for you.
We've done both but right now we have a second vehicle that we bought a new Subaru Outbackin July and it has over 8,000 miles on it. I like it because I can move over and black traffic to allow a lane change, especially important here in LA as Bill pointed out. Although signaling and moving our behemoth over seemed to work as well when we traveled without a car. So far, in 7 months on the road in state and private parks we haven't had to pay a 2nd vehicle charge anyplace we've been, I just call it our tow car. It's helped greatly twice when we've broken down. Once, out of cell range and I had to drive 10 miles to get to a landline. The second time was a breakdown on a CA back road (wrong turn) on a HOT Sunday afternoon with no shade. Had to wait almost 2 hours for CoachNet so the car AC was very helpful for us and our pets. It's also not unlike us to jump in the car and drive two hours to meet up with family or friends although we could do that in the truck as well. The truck is quite comfortable. If we're traveling long days, I'll pull over and grab some takeout and meet him at the next rest stop to eat. We have found adding good walkie talkies works better than cell phones. An advantage to him is I'm not "helping" him drive (as much 😳). Also we had a Thule roof rack in storage so now our golf clubs and gear are in there but that could go on the truck. I have limited vision in one eye which causes depth perception issues. I can drive the Dually but neither of us are comfortable with that so I was stuck if I just wanted to go off alone.
The disadvantages are not sharing the drive although we do point out features on the radios, not being able to keep up with map overviews, park research on the fly. However, I always travel with my ipad and MiFi in the car so if we do need to look up something (where to stay when broken down or we decide to go further than originally planned and need to find a new park for examples) I can do that while stopped. I'm guessing it's not the most practical solution but it works for us now.
You'll find what works best for YOU.
Sherry
I agree with Jessica. We discussed quite a bit...financially what you gain in gas you lose in insurance and registration so I think it might even be a bit more expensive especially if you add additional daily campground fees. But for me...especially in the beginning I want to see things together. If we are in an area where I am working for a bit of money I may rent a car, or we may use our bikes. It's a tough one for sure...since we didn't have a solid paid off vehicle we absolutely loved traded them all in to get more money off the truck. If we had something "ready to go" that was paid off it would definitely be a tougher decision,
Right now we are semi-full time. Here's what we do.
For July through September we park the 5th wheel in an RV Resort about 150 miles from our home. My DW will follow in her car as we head to the RV Resort to setup.
Otherwise she rides in the truck with me. We use the truck for errands, shopping and sight seeing.
There have been times when it made more sense and saved money to rent a car while we were camping in the 5th wheel. For example I had to go to a business meeting that was a 400 mile round trip from where we were staying for 2 weeks. The car rental and gas for the rented car was cheaper than what the fuel would have been for the truck (30MPG vs 10MPG in the truck).
On another trip we were visiting a cousin in Idaho and they wanted to take a two day trip to tour us around Idaho. We rented a midsize car so we all would be comfortable and save gas. Their car was having transmission trouble so the rental was a better solution.
Cost wise and to save wear and tear on you and your CRV you may find the rental car as a viable option. Some rental companies will deliver a car to the campground. Lots of daily and weekly specials with no mileage charges.
-- Edited by The Bear II on Tuesday 31st of December 2013 02:45:33 PM
Most things have been addressed here, but I'll add another thought. We plan on keeping a second vehicle because we are full-timers and to some degree, may still be working some. However, when we travel, Jo will drive the Ford F150 so that she can follow and keep an eye on things on the trailer from behind. Then, if needed, she can "scout" ahead of me and the trailer to find a good place for pulling over with the F450 and fifth wheel. That will also work for her being able to find fuel stops where it is easier to get a long rig into without having to deal with too many obstructions.
Also, our plans are to spend longer periods of time in areas where we want to explore. For instance, we will eventually park somewhere in southern Utah for any time from 3 months to 6 months. Doing that, we would use the F150 for our exploring, and then when we are ready to move on, we just do that and stay in another area for a similar length of time.
Terry
Lots of good suggestions here…but what it comes down to is whether you think the advantages of having the car outweigh the disadvantages.
No Car:
Pros: save on registration/insurance and can drive together.
Cons: The dually is harder to maneuver and park in towns and parking lots than the car is and gets worse mileage so this counters part of the registration/insurance advantage.
Yes Car:
Pros and cons are essentially the opposite of those above.
One additional pro of having the car is you have somebody to block traffic and make you a space to switch lanes…this becomes important when you are driving through big cities or in rush hour in smaller ones. Connie generally stays behind me on freeways and in front on 2 lane roads and can easily move over and make it easier for me to get the rig into the other lane when necessary.
We wouldn't consider having just the truck…but then we're well enough off with our pensions and Connie's part time virtual job where the cost savings aren't as important to us and in addition have found that our 450 dually is very hard to park…in almost any parking lot it ends up way out in the back 40 where I can occupy 2 or 4 spaces without interfering with other patrons in the lot. There is no way it (or a 350 dually) will fit in a single space either width or length.
All that being said, if you're unsure take the "keep it for awhile" approach and see if the dual drivers is an issue. For us, Connie likes to have her me time while driving the car and we have a couple of walkie talkies from Amazon (little yellow GE ones) that serve nicely for talking to each other on travel days. We do all the GasBuddy, lunch, rest stop and other planning before we get on the road in the morning.
We are in the same dilemma and decided - why decide now? If you can pay off your CRV all the better. I have considerations with transporting 2 cats and the dog - never all in the back of the dully
So I'm thinking I'll take the two cats with me in my Jeep Wrangler and follow. We have walkie-talkies and have fun being together with that. I also don't know if I take a travel nurse job close by where we land, I will need a car to go to it. So, I guess until we get into our groove full-timing, we will have two vehicles. We can always sell the Jeep Wrangler (my love) later on. 
You can try to evaluate it based on "facts". But the fact is - it will probably come down to subtle "feelings" of what is going to work for you. Not everything is cut and dried.
Thanks all for the different perspectives!
Just to clarify, the CRV is completely paid for and I do really love driving it! It is a 2006 with about 125,000 miles on it - I've had it since 2009.
Another point that Bill brought up to me in a later (after I initially posted) conversation is when we have traveled in the past, we have put quite a few miles on our "towed" car, as we have had a Class C, the truck and 5er are new to us. He figured it to be between 200 and 300 miles per week average, depending where we were. His thoughts are that is a lot of extra miles to put on the truck, when considering things like extra wear and tear on the truck. So, it isn't just the extra MPG on exploring trips, it is also extra oil changes, extra miles on the (very expensive) tires, etc. He feels the cheaper maintainance and better MPG will (at least mostly) offset the insurance cost of keeping it. He believes that keeping those extra miles off the truck is a good idea long term.
So, there is still another angle/consideration to think about.
At this moment, and I can't believe I am saying this, but I am leaning toward keeping it and seeing how it goes. I read Howards blog post from when they bought their jeep and how they had Linda's car and it was already paid for and they had sold it, and how he ended up wishing they hadn't. I think that has happened to more than a few 5er couples out there. I guess there is no law saying if we end up hating driving separate, I have to keep it longer right? It can always be sold at any time. But, if we start killing the truck with some many miles right away and we decide after the CRV is sold and gone that we want a second car, it would be expensive to replace. He has maintained that car so well, we might as well get the benefit of that, right? That's where my head is at right now (subject to change, depending which way the wind is blowing - ha!)
Thanks again for your experienced (or not) insights!
Kelly
We had a sandrail and of course I wanted to bring it so we could experience all the great dunes in the country. We had a jeep so of course we wanted to bring it because we love off roading and getting off the beaten path, I had a Harley to die for and a Goldwing trike and had not been without a bike in over 30 years and motorcycle riding has been part of our lives for as long as we have been together so of course we wanted to bring it as well, and Diane had a brand new Toyota Prius so we wanted to bring it because of the great fuel mileage LOL!!
We considered hauling a stacker trailer to bring what we could but we finally decided to sell the sandrail and the Harley and put the Prius and trike in store and just bring the jeep to keep our first year on the road as simple as it could be. And I think we made the right choice for us on our first year. Simple was good.
But now when we roll back through our hometown in April or May after 18 months on the road we will be back on the decision making process about maybe getting a pickup and bringing the trike with us on our next outing.
I guess the short version of what I'm saying is just because you make one choice now does not mean you can't make changes just because you are fulltime.
To add a couple of additional points:
Neil mentioned the difficulty with parking a dually in parking lots. We have a Ford F450 and I don't have a problem. If I do get into a spot where things might be tight, I park the truck and then pull in both of the mirrors so that if anyone else needs to access their vehicle, our mirrors aren't in their way. Maybe parking spots are bigger in Oklahoma, but I can usually get in with no problems.
Another point is with having a second vehicle. Our situation is different than most, so the options for others may be different. Our F150 is a crew cab with a bed topper over the bed. All that extra space allows us to haul some additional items in the second vehicle as well as in the F450 and in the trailer. Now, with those having a second vehicle that is a car, your extra hauling capacity would be more limited.
Terry
I think that's a great idea especially if you like the vehicle. We had a convertible with low miles I really wanted to keep and I am hoping down the road not to regret the decision. The trade in was minimal and you really can sell a car anywhere so why not :)
we have a fiver and a one ton ford dually and he also has a jeep rubicon he loves.
he has the jeep up for sale though, as it's beginning to look like we're going to be happy enough being a one vehicle family.
that said we're also thinking mopeds might be handy and fun some day.
I've been driving a big truck as my primary vehicle for years so have no issues with parking or driving it.
though better mileage would be nice!
Well, I can only tell you our recent experience with having two vehicles with us. We sold our home and had to drive separately to FL.. Long story, anyways, we have a 97 Honda Accord, not worth alot retail, but very dependable and a great get around. We absolutely love having it with us. We will leave it at our sons (FL) when we venture back north for the summer. It's nice to have because it's sooo much easier getting around in all the traffic on US41, if you've experienced it, than the 3500 DRW. It uses alot less fuel too, another +.