RV Rental Services

Thanks to all. Will be talking to some people today who have been doing this for a few years. Want to see what the "real life" experiences have been, although I would imagine I won’t hear the worst as those people are no longer likely renting theirs out:)

darsbenformer VA employee as well. Congrats on making it to retirement for you as well. We should talk some time and trade WAR stories :) :) although personally I am still just getting over the nightmares that came with being a manager in the VA ;)

good gravy. my MIL has like 11 rental units and all are a frigging nightmare to no end...and the no rent, have to evict is just horrible....and that is a HOME they are destroying.

a 'usually not really rv person' having fun time in your rv...omg are ya nuts here? No experience but there would be no way I would do a rental of my personal unit. I buy them to be 'just for us' so to rent it out beats that purpose to death. Can ya tell we would never even consider it :) :)

2 months is nothing for your rv to sit :)

I looked into RV Share but the entertainment and financial committees table the proposal.

DownTheAvenue wrote:

Bioman61 wrote:
Darsben1; while I appreciate your comments have you actually done this? No I don’t need to rent my RV to afford it, but as we won’t be using it more than two months out of any given year, it seems a waste to let it sit.

I am an attorney, I can tell you that you should have the agreement with the rental agency thoroughly vetted through your attorney so you fully understand what you are getting into. Make a list of every question and scenario you can think of, and get the answer from your attorney before you agree to anything. Not only do you have to be sure your investment is protected, even more so you have to be sure you are protected from liabilities.

Good advice above, and I'm also an attorney. I suspect if you read your insurance policy on your RV or trailer it will not cover this sort of arrangement, ie, renting the rig out.

Having said that, the concept makes perfect sense logically if you think about it; taking a depreciating asset and make it basically pay for itself.

The problem when it comes to RVs is some folks see the RV as an extension of their home and personal space and would never consider lending or renting it out.

Another problem I see, distinguished from say, renting a car, is just about everybody knows how to basically drive a car and hopefully not hit anything or injure anyone.

Not so with an RV or trailer. There are so many clueless people out there when it comes to the topics covered by this forum that it makes the rental arrangement very risky IMO.

Bioman61 wrote:
Darsben1; while I appreciate your comments have you actually done this? No I don’t need to rent my RV to afford it, but as we won’t be using it more than two months out of any given year, it seems a waste to let it sit.

I had a cousin where everything had to make money. I like my toys to much to let someone screw them up.
The cost benefit ratio is not good for me.
KNowing your professional background remember how an end user can really screw things up even with some training. On the plus side you can probably repair things yourself. But clearing one plugged black tank will make you think hard.

Good luck in your retirement.
Ben VA retiree

Good solid advise from all. Go into anything with an awareness of legal and practical issues and then weight the risk/benefits. Going to talk to some of the people currently renting their units on Outdoorsy and see if they have any tales of caution to share.

I, too, would like to see the answers of people who rented their RV's. Just looking at the rental fleet at one major company before we bought was a major eye-opener. A brand new rental with 3,000 miles on the odometer had a major rips in the sofa from a renters dog. The coach was available for rental, sofa not repaired.

The rental company that we rented from 3 times ('04,'05 and '06) traded their coaches every year and bought all new ones. They had a contract with Fleetwood for about 30-40 coaches a year.

Personally, I would never rent as people just don't take care of stuff. Will that renter know all the workings of your motorhome and know what to do if a water connection comes loose?

Would you know if they ran over an 8 inch curb knocking you coach out of alignment? Do they cut every corner close rolling your rear dually's over the curb? Do they let the engine idle before turn off (if diesel) for the turbo to cool down? Do they start off in the morning in full throttle not allowing the engine to warm up?
Did they buy the cheapest fuel at an off the wall fuel station that has questionable fresh fuel?

Lots of questions and unknowns.

To each his/her own.

Safe travels,
MM.

Bioman61 wrote:
Darsben1; while I appreciate your comments have you actually done this? No I don’t need to rent my RV to afford it, but as we won’t be using it more than two months out of any given year, it seems a waste to let it sit.

I am an attorney, I can tell you that you should have the agreement with the rental agency thoroughly vetted through your attorney so you fully understand what you are getting into. Make a list of every question and scenario you can think of, and get the answer from your attorney before you agree to anything. Not only do you have to be sure your investment is protected, even more so you have to be sure you are protected from liabilities.

I rented to a friend ONCE. Never again. It put a severe strain on the friendship. Unit was returned not as clean as I would have liked and two weeks later my friend called and said "Oh, I forgot to tell you I didn't have time to empty the tanks." Nice.
I would never consider renting to a complete stranger.

Bioman61 wrote:

I hope to hear from those that have and either love it or hate it and why.

Hopefully some will respond with positive experiences. But, you will probably get more negative responses.
If you chose to rent out your RV, please keep us updated. Maybe we're all missing out on something?