Buying a rental unit...El Monte RV

I will offer my perspective – as it’s the only one I have. I know nothing of El Monte, but I do own an RV rental business. If someone were to buy one of our rentals they would find that it’s likely been taken better care of than most personally owned units. A full wash wax every week, full synthetic oil changes in the engine and gen every 5k miles or 50 hours, completely detailed inside and out every single rental with organic and hypo allergenic cleaners, no pets - ever, all inspections etc up to date and everything in working order. Anything wrong gets fixed or replaced with new. It has to be. My customers expect top notch units for their money and they get it. Every person that picks up comments that it looks, smells and operates like it’s brand new. We take pride in that. Now – all that said I am probably an island in the RV rental biz. It’s not the most cost effective business model. I have seen commercial rentals and they can be ratty. Some aren’t. What you want is a thorough PDi and drive. You want all service records and every I dotted and T crossed. But if you find a place that takes pride in their rental units you can get a good deal. A lot you probably want to stay away from. I will end with this thought; with all the units for sale, unless you get a screaming deal, you’d probably be better looking at a non rental. Unless any of what I stated above is true. They can take a lot of abuse from apathetic customers. You may find a gem. 90% of the time you won’t.

I have owned a former Cruise America rental for about a year and a half now. No major issues. I take my rig out at least one weekend a month and then for longer periods once a year. And the cost is a lot less than if I had bought new or even used. For someone just getting into RVing that does not have a lot to spend, this is the way to go. I plan on upgrading to a new unit one of these days.

I bought a Class C rental unit from All-Drive Canada in Vancouver, BC. It was the unit that I was looking for, and it was in very good shape and was very well maintained. They even provided me the un-used matching bedspreads, pillows, and covers that were not used while rented. They provided new tires, batteries, changed the odometer/speedometer from kilometers to miles, and replaced the propane regulator and certified the system. It was very good purchase for me on a 2 year old unit (Triple E Senator 28XL) that was mostly rented to German and Swiss tourists for big $$$.

This was not a reconstructed unit like one of the major rental companies will create for sale after its useful life.

Okay, good info so far. The unit I am looking at is a 2006 on a ford chassis, 77,000 miles. Has complete service records and any fabric, flooring and all that has been replaced if needed. Will be given a 12,000 mile/1year warranty on the powertrain and 1 month on the appliances (which seems useless because I might not even use it in the first month). It is about $8,000 under low retail NADA. There are some things I would like to add, for instance they buy their RVs without awnings (I understand why) so I would have to add that and probably an inverter, maybe satellite.....I might be talking myself out of it as I type.

Anyway please keep the feedback coming.

Blackdiamond wrote:
Okay, good info so far. The unit I am looking at is a 2006 on a ford chassis, 77,000 miles. Has complete service records and any fabric, flooring and all that has been replaced if needed. Will be given a 12,000 mile/1year warranty on the powertrain and 1 month on the appliances (which seems useless because I might not even use it in the first month). It is about $8,000 under low retail NADA. There are some things I would like to add, for instance they buy their RVs without awnings (I understand why) so I would have to add that and probably an inverter, maybe satellite.....I might be talking myself out of it as I type.

Anyway please keep the feedback coming.

Sounds like a good deal and taken care of. That's the ticket. That warranty is almost as good as you would get on a new coach sans appliances.

You can probably go buy an aftermarket warranty from somebody if you want a longer warranty. I think they are rip offs myself, but they are out there if you want one.

You can add an awning for a few hundred bucks. I wouldn't let that be a deal killer

Blackdiamond wrote:
Will be given a 12,000 mile/1year warranty on the powertrain and 1 month on the appliances (which seems useless because I might not even use it in the first month).

Use the appliances in that month even if its in your driveway.

As you can see in my signature I own a Ex Rental from El Monte RV.

That thread has a lot of info on rentals and there is one person that bought a Class A from them and is very happy with it as I am.

There are a few things that a rental doesn't come with like the awning, They will install one there for less than Camping World.

They have a full shop at the Santa Fe Springs location.

When I bought mine they told me that if there was anything that I wanted to add just ask and they would be more than happy to accommodate me. They also will do all your services there such as oil changes and what ever else that is needed.

I had a small problem a few days after I bought it, and went back to have it looked at and they not only helped me out with it but while I was there the manager checked the battery connections and all the systems just to make sure everything was alright.

He also said that if I needed anything after that just call him or bring it in.

If there are any more Questions that I can help you with just PM me.

I would do a complete undercarriage inspection. On several of our Western trips we have see Cruise America units in places where RV's should not be taken that far off road. On one trip we saw two going through the unpaved Valley of the Gods road in Utah. Parts of this rocky road are fairy rough for a four wheel drive vehicle, let alone a Class C. One unit was stuck in the rocks and a few miles down the road we saw a second Class C heading the same direction. Some people do treat rentals like they are garbage. Just look for any off road abuse.