Full time questions

[gdemorest]

Would like to hear from some fulltime folks about any issues with going fulltime (like insurance issues with tow vehicle , banking on the road) I saw some where someone wrote that auto ins. Co will drop you or raise rates a lot if they know you are a fulltime rv traveling. We have talked about fulltime , but maybe first start out by just spending our winters south while still keeping our home until we see if this is for us. We have a 2013 eagle 5th wheel 33rets would that rig work for us to fulltime or would we have to up grade maybe to a pinnicle, fulltime life sounds like a awesome lifestyle , just wondering if any of you have any regrets,would love to talk to some people already living the fulltime life!!!

[BigJohnD]

We were very fortunate to be able to give it a shot. I work offshore on a 21 / 21 day rotation, so I can live anywhere. We homeschool our kids, and my wife is a stay at home mom. Everybody thought we won the lottery to be living the full time life in our 30's, but that was hardly the case with us.

We got out of it, but for totally different reasons. We never had any trouble with insurance, and they knew what we were doing. We carried insurance on the truck and camper, but also carried renters insurance to cover anything else. Our bank is in San Antonio, TX, and we're in west Louisiana, so online banking is no big deal. Still ATM anywhere, deposit any misc checks via iPhone / bank app. It's all real easy. We did establish a PO box in the same town as my parents, where certain things could be received if necessary. We also had our shop and property in west LA (no house there), and used this as an address to register all of our vehicles, camper and toys.

My biggest thing to warn anybody is this. If you are considering doing this, get the rig first if you can, and gradually ease into it. Try it a month at a time. Get the bugs worked out of your rig FIRST. We went into it full steam. Sold house, moved into a temp house, then into rig. Then, problems began. We all know RVs don't have problems right? Yeah right. We ended up without our home 3 different times due to major issues, 1 month each time. This just about broke me of the lifestyle, but we made it through and got things fixed. One thing nobody plans on is being homeless if your rig needs to undergo major repairs. We stayed in a kin folks small camper one time, inlaws another time etc.

It is a different lifestyle, and it has its perks. For us, it didn't meet what we expected. What did I miss? The excitement of coming home from offshore, planning a trip, going on the trip, and reterning home to my stick and bricks home and huge shop to play in. On the road, I had no wood shop, welding shop etc for my hobbies. We did have a nice cargo trailer outfitted with a few things, but it wasn't my shop at home. After our last long stay, we parked the rig in our big shop, sat down for some R and R, and I told my wife, stick a fork in me I'm done.

Maintenance on a rig while full timing can be a bit more as well. Before, we made trips, washed it, stored it in the shop and it was out of the elements till the next trip. Full timing, it tends to be a little more demanding checking seals, sealants, the roof, waxing etc. That is, if you want them to stay looking like a new vette like I do.

I could go on and on, but these are just a few points. The Jayco in our signature replaced the 40' 4 slide fifth wheel that we lived in. We are very happy to be back to the traditional RVing. We can at least say, been there done that.

[ALJO]

They say; there is no place like home. In a way it is a true saying. We have done FT for 8 months without having a home. Missed my hobbies and surrounded family and friends.
Now we just make trips during the warmer season and still have an option to travel south for the winter.
BigJohnD explained the requirements pretty good. John & Rebecca You have my respect doing that with the whole family. Because of my job I have moved around a few times and know how hard it can be on kids to make new friends.


If being retired I would recommend to any one go on the road but keep your home base. On the road you meet lots of friends but they are just like you........on the road.

[OnTheGo]

If you haven't already, browse the "Full Timing" section of this forum. There have been several threads pertaining to the pros-and-cons of full timing in the past. I think I made this statement in one of them: You don't know how much gypsy you have in you until you experience the lifestyle. I think you would be wise to ease into it.

[Brownie]

I sold my home and went full time in July, and I LOVE IT! I use a mail forwarding service for mail, and I do all my banking on line (w/direct deposit of SS checks). I purchased Full Timer's Insurance through Progressive for the trailer. Unfortunately, I've recently run into problems with both my driver's license and my auto insurance. It seems both want a place of domicile, not just a mail forwarding business address. As soon as I get to my winter home, I plan to contact "Escapees.com". I've been told by folks here, and by the fellow camping across from me at my current location, that for a minimal fee (in addition to your Escapees membership fee) they can establish you with a legal domicile as well as residency. Then you can purchase insurance, get a drivers license, and vote in that state (typically Texas). They also offer mail forwarding, and have contacts for insurance. You might want to check them out, as well.

[5thwheelgypsy]

We're also getting ready to full time it....1 month to go! I used Dakotaaddresses.com for my mail forwarding so South Dakota will be my 'home'. We'll see if we run into the same problems Brownie is running into. Eek!I went with Liberty Mutual for auto and trailer insurance. I do online banking. Our SS checks are direct deposited.
We went with a Jayco Pinnacle 36 KPTS. King size bed, tons of storage and I had a combo washer/dryer installed. We had our 'walk thru' today. We are so excited!! We have to be out of our house the end of March. We decided to have the trailer moved to a local RV park in a month because we custom ordered our tow vehicle. During that month, we'll work out the kinks, install solar panels and get her up to our specs.
We are finally over the daily 'What are we doing?' Episodes!! Now we're on the down hill and just excited!
Good luck!

[Bookemdanno]

That's awesome...Enjoy!

[Rob_Fla]

We fulltimed in a 2011 Jayco Pinnacle 35LKTS (our 2nd Jayco) for 3 1/2 years, great 5er as we traveled cross country in it with no major problems.
We love the fulltime lifestyle, it gives us much more freedom and time to enjoy life every day.
We traded our 2011 Pinnacle for a SOB 5th Wheel not because of any problems or issue with our Pinnacle, we only traded because we ran across a deal we could not pass up on a year end model that had a floorplan that worked better for our fulltime lifestyle.

[Hattie]

This was a posting by someone else in my company's retirement forum; it is a great learning recap for me and I thought their points were worth sharing with you:

• Full-time RVing is a great lifestyle. We've been doing it since we retired in 2007.
• The first thing we did was to sign up with a MFS (mail forwarding service) in South Dakota even though we were Escapee members at the time. Escapees have probably the largest and best MFS there is, but we chose MyDakotaAddress in Madison, SD because one option they offered most others do not have. And, we had lived in Texas previously and just didn't want TX to be our domicile... personal preference, no other reason. We are still very happy with MyDakotaAddress.
• Don't get in a hurry to pick a "Domicile" state. You can pick a MFS and have the USPO forward your mail to your MFS for two 6 month periods (do it on-line). And as long as you don't change your current mailing address with all of your correspondents, you can later change your MFS to one in another state, once you have picked a domicile state. Texas, Florida and South Dakota are the most popular domicile states for full-timers. Primarily because they have no state income tax. SD and TX are full-timer RVers friendly. SD's Motor Vehicle Division website spells out what info is needed for full-timers to get their driver license, vehicle registration etc. Livingston TX (Escapees headquarters) is very full-timer friendly. Escapees are a big business in that town. You will have to travel to the state you choose the first time you get your DL. If you are already an Escapee member go to their website....click knowledge, then domicile and you can read about the 3 states I've mentioned. Escapees also have an excellent on-line forum set up by subjects.
• For the first 2 years after retirement I kept my UHC medical and my wife kept her Blue Cross. We never had a problem using either/or outside of CA. Then we went on Medicare and kept her Blue Cross as our secondary (Medicare supplemental), because it was free from her employer (we're lucky).
• On-line Bill Pay and e-Statements are your best friends.
• There are challenges with full-time RVing life. Everyone's situation is different, but there are services and organizations out there that can help make life easier.

[vcbice]

Besides the above a couple of points we have learned.

1. You don't have to move around a lot. We found that we like to have a 'base' RV park near the wife's family. We then go on trips from there, like to visit the kids in different states.

2. Look at what you do at home now. Hobbies, TV, etc. Figure out how you will do that on the road. If you leave something out, you will miss it.

3. Retiring and going full time all at once has been a problem for many. Retirement is a HUGE change. Go from working full time to having all that time to yourself sounds great, but, for many it is big problem. You have to find a reason to get out of bed and do something. It is not as easy as it sounds. Add to that a lack of chores around the house, or a shop, or boat, or etc and it can be a disaster. I was retire for almost a year and we are still figuring it out two years later.

4. Expectations. Many will expect you to be "on the road" all the time. While that is a romantic version, it is more difficult to do and not as much fun as you might think. Be prepared for the reactions from friends and family when you decide to take off. Also consider that some will be 'afraid' you will want to park in their driveway for a month or two

5. RV parks. In many parts of the country it is very difficult to find an RV park that I would stay in more than a few hours (overnight). So the idea of sightseeing becomes a test of your researching abilities.

6. Roads. We have become interstate people. Maneuvering a large vehicle in small towns and gas stations can be extremely difficult, especially when you are on back roads. Be prepared to not find a place to even pull off the road for an hour or two of travel. And you can't stop at just any gas station.

What this means is you might be driving along and see something you'd like to explore. But...no place to park the rig. So, you look for a nearby RV park. Yep, there it is, weeds everywhere, bare wires on the electrical boxes, rusty water. So, you keep going and end up another hundred miles down the road before you find a place to stay (if you are lucky).

Sorry if this sound pessimistic. It's been a year of trying the sightseeing thing and not being able to see the neat little spots along the way.

Last, sightseeing can be VERY boring. Museums, parks, mountains, streams, etc all start to look the same after a while. It doesn't help that we've seen the 'big' places already.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by gdemorest

I saw some where someone wrote that auto ins. Co will drop you or raise rates a lot if they know you are a fulltime rv traveling.

Progressive actually sells a "full timing" policy. As was mentioned, banking, mail is easy. Medical could be a challenge with a PPO policy, there are non network policies available, just more costly.

[vcbice]

Not vehicle insurance. Mine stayed the same.

RV insurance can be handled one of two ways. Insure a trailer as a trailer, or, insure it as an RV. Difference is how the contents are insured. The companies really did not care how long we stay in it.

Some companies will make allowances for storage when an RV is not being used, especially motorhomes. You can have full coverage when using it, and a reduced rate when stored. So, if you go full time then yes, your rate would be higher since you'd never get the storage rate.

[FarQuackFarms]

My husband, myself, and our 3 kids (and a very large cat) all live in a 28ft tt full time. The older kids (7 and 8) get cabin fever often and I sometimes wish we had gotten the slightly bigger TT with the more bedroom bunk house feel.
I'm thankful that the rv park we have been in all winter is very kid friendly.

But living like this has saved us almost 2000 a month (rent in reno nv just went up to 1500 for a small 2 bed apt)

Counter space, I would sell a kidney for more counter space lol.

But I love it. Its mine. My HOME that no one can ever take away from me again. I will never have to put everything I own in boxes and bags and move again. All I have to do is put stuff where it wont fall of wiggle while we are on the road.