Anyone rent out their camper?

Lantley wrote:

wapiticountry wrote:

Lantley wrote:

wapiticountry wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Grossing $2000.00 a month is not an unreasonable figure. A RV will rent for at least a conservative $100.00 a day. Rent it for An entire month or 30 days produces $3000.00. rent it for 3 out of 4 weeks give you $2K.
The question is $2K gross enough to turn a profit after expenses?

Only in a perfect world would you get 30 days of rental income in a month, 12 months a year, and the world is far from perfect. In most places there would only be demand for the rental a few months a year. Then you have to account for down days when the rig is returned and you do a turn around on cleaning, setup etc. Seldom will you have the luxury of the next renter wanting it exactly on the day you will have it ready from the previous renter. You will have to account for the fact sometimes people will not return on time, and if you don't have the trailer available you will have a VERY big problem when the next renter shows up at your door.

In the supposed example the people are using a rental company to obtain the renters. They will take a fee for the service, probably around 33 to 50% of the rent. So you get 50 to 70% of the income along with 100% of the depreciation and risk. Like others have posted, if it was so lucrative why haven't savvy business people already saturated the market?

While I would not consider doing it. I think it could be viable.
You first have to see the RV as just an object vs. your personnel living space.
I used $100/day just to keep the numbers simple. I trust most RV's rent for more than $100.00/day.
There are people renting RV's using a "Air B&B" style business plan.
As well as El Monte and others that rent motor homes.
There are plenty of existing RV rental businesses.

Those Class C rigs are the closest thing to a common Car or SUV as far as operation. That makes them a possibility for the average person. A trailer or a Fifth Wheel would require a compatible tow vehicle with a compatible hitch. They are also de-optioned to make things as simple as possible. They have no Televisions or other electronics that complicate operating the rig. They are very utilitarian and bare boned, not what most people would want as a personal rig.
And those national rental companies have numerous rigs to account for scheduling, break downs, etc. They get special pricing when buying from the manufacturers since they are all exactly the same configuration and they are buying hundreds, not one. They are located in high population centers and areas of high tourist demand. And they also move them around the country to take advantage of the fact different areas have different peak rental seasons, so they get a lot more rental nights. Very different than someone with one rig to rent at a static location (their home) that might not be a short UBER or taxi ride from the airport.

AS mention most people that rent their own RV do not do it personally.
They enroll their RV in some sort of Air B N B style plan. Or they join some sort of rental network that finds the actual renters.

Just because someone enrolls in a rental agreement with the likes of a "Air-B-N-B" doesn't always mean that they will come out on top with a profit.

Rentals of any type are going to require some sort of BUSINESS insurance and if you have never dealt with running a business you won't understand that business insurance is considerably and incredibly more expensive..

You normal insurance company on a PERSONAL USE vehicle or RV will drop you like a hot potato and refuse to cover your losses if you have been "renting" it out (business use). This IS clearly stated in your auto policies declaration pages.

It is a "risk or reward" thing, but in reality most times you will lose money if you bought it new, paid depreciation losses and then turn around a add considerable extra wear damage from rental users who don't care or don't know and use it like they stole it..

Personally, if I was so desperate for money and could not afford the payments, insurance and registration costs, I would rather SELL the RV than to see total strangers do damage to my property.

I bought it for my own personal use, not for others to use, I bought what I could afford and avoided what I could not afford. Good business "practice".

If you "must" rent it out when you are not using it, you bought something you cannot afford to own.