Are you planning and saving money for the Pan-American Highway? In this post, I will cover the complete cost of my own three year adventure. All costs are grouped and detailed in a few categories: vehicle costs, travel and living expenses, human and pet health costs as well as recurring costs (bills). Just as our rigs and travel styles vary, so will cost.
My Trips Stats
Parameters for this cost breakdown: one person, gasoline truck with an average of 12 miles per gallon, 25 months of travel, 10 months of vehicle storage, and 10 countries (including shipping the gap & flying to Colombia) with my dog, Porter, who sadly he passed away in Colombia from liver cancer. More on that in the vet section.
Vehicle Costs
| ⛽️ Gasoline | $12,637.44 |
| 🚚 Temporary Import Permits | $211.97 |
| 📄 Auto Insurance | $2,672.75 |
| 🛠️ Truck Maintenance | $822.33 |
| 🚢 Shipping | $8,370.53 |
| 🚔 Fines | $0 |
| 👮♂️ Demands for Bribes | $0 |
| 🚛 Truck breakdowns | $0 |
| 🚗 Auto Storage | $410.00 |
| Total Vehicle Cost | $25,125.02 |
Auto Storage cost was four months in Colombia ($60) and six months in Argentina ($300) plus $50 for airport transfer from the host on departure and return.
Travel and Living Costs
| 🍎 Groceries | $8,446.37 |
| 🍽️ Restaurants | $2,612.22 |
| 🧺 Laundry | $215.88 |
| 🏠 Rentals | $9,578.40 |
| 🏞️ Parks & Tours | $1,907.86 |
| 🤿 Galapagos | $5,566.95 (scuba diving liveaboard) |
| ✈️ Flights | $1,020.37 |
| ⛴️ Transport (ferry, uber, taxi, small planes) | $682.38 |
| 🛍️ Shopping | $14,825.71 |
| Total Cost | $44,856.24 |
That shopping price tag hits real hard. You can easily save 7k if you don’t lose a drone in a volcano and then proceed to buy two additional new drones. In addition to three brand new DJI drones, I also purchased a new underwater housing, Insta 360, Osmo action, four new tires, some new clothes, a 25L Dometic cooler, a few souvenirs here and there and other small things but the heavy hitters revolved around drones and other photography gear.
Recurring Costs
| 🌐 Starlink | $2,618.17 |
| 📱Cell Phone | $2,352.44 (~90/month x 25 months) |
| 📩 Mail Service | $590.00 (America’s Mailbox in SD) |
| 🧳 WI Storage | $2,160.00 ($720/year) |
| 🔁 Subscriptions | $4,749.62 |
| Total Recurring Costs | $12,470.23 |
Subscriptions would be monthly expenses such as Adobe Lightroom, premium Spotify, yearly photography insurance, email hosting, website hosting and charitable donations.
Starlink Expenses
In a few sentences I would like to elaborate on my cost for Starlink. Day one in Ecuador my Starlink broke, I contacted support, they immediately sent a new dish to my apartment in Bogota. Since I was not in Colombia, I requested a phone call and they explained how to proceed. I needed to purchase a new dish from an authorized starlink dealer and then contact starlink to activate the kit. The money spent was credited to my bill and ended up being one full year of free service with an upgraded dish.
Human Health and Vet Costs
| 🏥 Seriously Sick Two ER visits in Panama | $0 |
| 🚑 One 45 minute Ambulance ride in Panama | $0 |
| 🩻 Private ER and Medications in Panama | $737.41 |
| 🩺 Private MD and Special Testing in Colombia | $825.95 |
| 🦷 Dentist in Mexico and Colombia | $421.91 |
| 🐶 Vet x31, 9 health certificates, 3 daily medications including a narcotic and lots of medications at the end plus and a cremation and funeral. This also includes vet purchases I made for street dogs, flea treatments, heartworm, food, etc | $3,166.51 |
| Total Health and Vet Costs | $5,151.84 |
Total Cost
| Total Cost | $87,603.33 (ouch) |
| Cost per day | $84.07 |
| Cost per year | $30,686.39 |
For fun, let’s eliminate my scuba diving trip to Galapagos, the near ten grand in Airbnb and apartment rentals, three drones, all my shopping, pet and health care costs. $87,603.33 – 14,825.71 -5,566.95 – 5,151.84 – 9,578.40 = 52,480.43 divided by 1042 days
| Example Total Cost | $52,480.43 (better) |
| Example Cost per day | $50.37 |
| Example Cost per year | $18,383.26 |
Free Expense Template
Free in the overlanding world? Yes, haha I created a customizable overland expense template to track expenses. There is one main log sheet that allows you to easily enter expenses in order or not, it’s easy, simple and it works. You can also see expenses month by month and for the entire year. As well as expense by country and spend type. If you would like a copy of this template emailed to you, fill out the form below.
Major Factor to Consider – Fuel
Will you travel in a diesel vehicle? This is a hot topic, I plan to make a dedicated post on this, will link here when it’s complete. South of Mexico all the way to Argentina the cost of diesel is roughly half the cost of gasoline and yes there are tens of millions of diesel vehicles in South America. Including brand new Ford trucks with EGR and DEF.
In 25 months of driving the pan-am, I spent $12,637.44 in gasoline. The traditional pan-am route is about 19,000 mies. And, I purchased my truck with 5 miles and completed the trip with just under 42,000 miles. Needless to say I went thousands of miles out of my way, many times. So if you’re sticking closer to the route in a diesel vehicle, your fuel cost would be dramatically lower. A conservative estimate of 8,000. That’s a huge savings.
Cost of diesel vs gasoline. When I say the cost of diesel is roughly half the cost of gasoline, I’m talking $1.50 – $2 per gallon for diesel! The cheapest gasoline, for me was in Guatemala and Colombia at about $3.80 per gallon. Every other country I paid roughly $4 – 4.80 per gallon and in Mexico 4.50+ per gallon.
Major Factor to Consider – Shipping
From Panama to Colombia, sharing a standard 40 foot container was 2,400 USD per vehicle. If you do not fit inside a container, RORO (roll on, roll off) is the only option. That cost can be anywhere from 6,7,8,000 to 20,000 depending on size and tonnage.
** INTERIOR measurements for a standard 40 foot shipping container **
Length 39 feet 5 inches
Width 7 feet 8 inches
Height 7 feet 10 inches
Vet Cost Further Explained
When Porter got sick we spent a lot of time at the vet, 18 vet visits in eight weeks to be exact. This included invasive procedures, biopsies, his cremation and funeral. For years before this trip and during the trip Porter suffered from seizures, low thyroid and anxiety. All of which required daily medication. I share all of this to help explain why my vet costs are dramatically higher than what the normal cost to traveling with a dog would be. I am working on a post that breaks down every dollar I spent for Porter and will be sure to separate his last days from the regular cost of health certificates. If you’re going to be traveling with a pet and keen to learn more about those numbers, stay tuned.
Human Cost Further Explained
During this three year period I was getting invisalign so I went to the dentist more than your normal yearly cleaning. In Panama I got very sick and ended up making 3 trips to emergency care as well as a 45 minute ambulance ride. A year later, in Colombia, I was feeling dehydrated all the time and received specialized testing. Results were less than stellar, but I’m happy to be here and share the information. Just as the vet cost, I will share an in depth post about my health care costs as well as the quality of healthcare received overall.