The East Coast Trip In Numbers
How much does it cost to roadtrip the Maritimes?
On July 24th I left on my East Coast roadtrip. I visited six provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador), and four states (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York. During this trip I drove nearly 16,000km over 65 days.
It cost me $14,400 in total which works out to 222 $/day. This includes the captial cost to buy the Element ($4,030) as well as maintenance, insurance, and building a camper in the back. The captial for the car and all the maintenance, insurance, and camper project comes out to $8,000 which is 55% of the trip’s cost.
Excluding the car’s capital cost and making the camper, I spent 140 $/day of which 26% (37 $/day) went to gas, 29% went to insurance and maintenance (40 $/day), and 18% (25 $/day) went to food. It’s worth noting though that when I first got the Element I locked the keys in the car and that cost me 640$ to retreive. Highway robbery right there. Overall, I think I did pretty well. The capital cost was right on estimate. For comparison, while in Europe for the two months prior, I spent 132 $/day with flights and 93 $/day excluding.
Interestingly, I stayed in airBnBs for Montreal and Quebec (8 nights total) and only paid for camp sites six other times at provincial and national parks. The remaining 51 nights were free. This “saved me” atleast $1,500 but probably more like $2,500.
Another way to look at the cost would be per kilometer. For gas, insurance and maintenance, it cost 32 cents/km. This is interesting because it’s pretty close to the modo car sharing rate of 40 cents/km, that presumably includes depreciation of the vehicle principle. If I include the capital cost of the vehicle, accessories, and camper in the back then the trip cost 50 cents/km. Since I plan on keeping the Element as long as possible, this isn’t really a realistic value but it does go to show the cost effectiveness of strategic planning.
There’s no way to do this trip other than owning a car. Rental cars are too expensive and can’t be rented more than 30 days; the east coast is so remote that you can’t bus or fly anywhere so a car is essential. Although the trip cost a pretty penny, I’m happy with the results and more than happy with the experience. I’m already thinking of future road-trips and I’m excited at the prospects that are still out there.
