We've been camping in our pop-up for 8 years, and we've always wanted to take a trip out west.We live in Georgia, and are wanting head head to the Grand Canyon, but it is a heck of a haul from here, and my wife and I both could only take a week, or so off at a time, so the drive out and back would take up most of the vacation.We are thinking about flying out, and renting an RV for the week, as we prefer campgounds to hotels. Has anyone done the RV rental thing? The one downfall I see is none of them seem to include a car to tow behind. Then you have to unhook etc, if you want to leave the campground.We always walk around the campgrounds with the kids talking that one day we'll get a class A or C. The kids would think it was awesome to ride around in one for the week.Thanks for any advice.

We have done the fly-in-and-rent thing, several times. Being from Europe, there is little choice... We twice rented Class C campers in the US (Cruise America and Moturis/Camping World) and once a truck camper in Canada (Fraserway). We have actually been to the Grand Canyon on two of the trips, so I feel somewhat qualified to respond ;-)Our experiences were good with all three companies and rentals, but there was a clear ranking. In my opinion, one week is quite short for that sort of trip. Some thoughts:- The pickup/return time and location of the rental may not be very convenient with relation to your flight/airport. Even the major players are pretty far off the airport and you need to take their shuttle out to their location and back. Some rental companies have rather restrictive pickup/return times, too. You can figure that you will lose at least the complete first and last days of your trip in the process.- While you can rent bedsheets, tableware and so on with the camper, you will still need to bring or buy any food items. And, of course, your personal belongings. It can be quite time consuming to set up a rented camper for actual use.- You need to clean the camper upon return, and you probably need to have it in around 10 in the morning. That means you need to spend much of the second-to-last day driving near the return location and getting ready for rental return.- I am not aware of any company that would rent out a camper with a toad.- The nearest stations for the Canyon are probably Las Vegas and Phoenix. If you want to camp at one of the campgrounds in the park (Maher), be sure you have a reservation (unless you are travelling off-season). Reservations can be made online.- If you want to rent at one station and return at a different station, you will need to rent with one of the major companies. And even then there are a lot of restrictions.It is doable, but one week is very short. We travelled three weeks with two rented Class C campers in February/March of 2014, from Las Vegas to Phoenix. That was a very good time of the year to rent (low prices, off season). Pictures from the trip are here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104581754261901190566/albums/5991853658484168417

Not quite the same but wife and I traveled from Chicago to South Carolina last summer. We drove and stopped half way down and rented a travel trailer at a KOA to stay the night. With you flying rent a car and eather rent tt for night or stay in one of the cabins. Cheaper then hotel and you'll be staying in campgrounds.

If you really want to enjoy the Grand Canyon my suggestion is to forget the rented camper and concentrate on a great Grand Canyon trip. Fly to Phoenix, rent a car/van and drive to Williams, AZ. Take the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon Railway has several packages including lodging, food (which is excellent) and the Train ride to the GC. You can also do a package that includes a night or two in the Grand Canyon hotels. Plus, Williams is on old Route 66 with plenty of side trips nearby.

We have done it numerous times in Canada. We land at the airport, pickup the RV, head to the nearest hyper market (the Costco on steroids that was invented in Canada decades ago) and we are on the road with the RV and spend the first night after leaving home in the campground. We take our photo and fishing gear and only the clothes we will need and this is not a problem even with the stupid TSA restrictions. We do make sure to take anything of value on the plane so it will not be stolen by the TSA or airline employees. The quality of service provided does vary and we have found the smaller family run operations to be the best. They have had the same range of RV choices as the chain operations. For getting around we go with either a 1-ton 4WD pickup with a slide in camper or a Class B motorhome. No problems with getting into any campsite and for places like Zion and Canyonlands we can park in the regular parking lots at trail heads which would not be possible if we were towing another vehicle. There are B+ motorhomes with double slide outs and these provide a lot more room inside and we don't need the exterior storage space for a 2 week trip. We are used to chartering boats for a week or two and taking only a duffel bag to the boat for our personal gear so transitioning to doing the same with an RV was no big deal. What is great is that at the end of our trip we arrive before noon at the RV rental place, have it inspected, and our flying home the same day. We do not waste a week driving to an area and back home again but spend all but 2 days actually camping and exploring. There are many places to rent an RV in Arizona and I would also check out Las Vegas as well.

Road Bear RV Rentals in Las Vegas gets the best reviews. We rented from another company a few year ago and it was not a good experience. We rented an RV in Alaska and had a great experience. The benefit of picking up the RV in Las Vegas is that you could also see the Hoover Dam.

RV Rentals??? | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

RDMueller
Explorer
Jan 13, 2015
wbwood wrote:
RDMueller wrote:
We rented a "Standard" motor home from Cruise America in Everett WA last summer and it was a great experience. Their "standard" is a Class C about 24-25' in length. It was big enough to give the 3 of us all the room we needed, yet still small enough to use it for daily transportation. We did miss a lot of the things we normally have with us when camping like the Coleman stove for cooking outside and fire tools for example. The thing we missed the most was not having our bicycles with us.

So yes, there are trade offs, but for us driving across the country was out of the question. And as I said, it was a great experience.

Be forewarned though, as fellow pop-up owners, after renting the MH, you may find yourself in the market for something bigger. We will be trading in the pup for a TT in the next month or so!

From one Charlottean to another, welcome to the bigger workld...hehe... we started off in a PUP 15 years ago...had it a few years and then didn't do anything for another 5 or so. Then bought a 31' TT. Had it a few years and decided to park it at Myrtle Beach and purchase a used PUP for the mountains in 2013. Had it about a month or two (never used it) and traded it and the TT in on our 31' Class C. Nothing wrong with PUP's at all... if we had to give up the motorhome, then I would be back in a PUP.

Yea, we still love the PUP for sure and will miss the light weight, easy towing, easy maneuverability and storing it in our garage. But... Renting the MH made us really appreciate the bathroom, extra storage, extra room, inside kitchen, large fridge, and the ease with which you could arrive, park, and you are camping. TT will be a bit more work to set up than a MH, but still way less than the PUP.
PawPaw_n_Gram
Explorer
Jan 13, 2015
One thing about staying at the Grand Canyon - Maher - there are shuttle busses to get around. And the tour bus to the east end of the park is better than driving because you - the driver - can enjoy the trip. You don't have to drive around CG Village.

I've seen someone renting a class C every week that we camp hosted this year at Big Bend NP and Davis Mountains SP in western Texas. Never heard any complaints though I'm sure there are some.

As mentioned above - the hassle with renting is that you need to arrive one day, spend the next day with local shopping and picking up the rig - and the last day turning in the rig in the early morning. Will probably need at least one night in a hotel at the start and the end of the trip. But that beats driving 4,000 miles round trip - both in expense and time.
wbwood
Explorer
Jan 13, 2015
RDMueller wrote:
We rented a "Standard" motor home from Cruise America in Everett WA last summer and it was a great experience. Their "standard" is a Class C about 24-25' in length. It was big enough to give the 3 of us all the room we needed, yet still small enough to use it for daily transportation. We did miss a lot of the things we normally have with us when camping like the Coleman stove for cooking outside and fire tools for example. The thing we missed the most was not having our bicycles with us.

So yes, there are trade offs, but for us driving across the country was out of the question. And as I said, it was a great experience.

Be forewarned though, as fellow pop-up owners, after renting the MH, you may find yourself in the market for something bigger. We will be trading in the pup for a TT in the next month or so!

From one Charlottean to another, welcome to the bigger workld...hehe... we started off in a PUP 15 years ago...had it a few years and then didn't do anything for another 5 or so. Then bought a 31' TT. Had it a few years and decided to park it at Myrtle Beach and purchase a used PUP for the mountains in 2013. Had it about a month or two (never used it) and traded it and the TT in on our 31' Class C. Nothing wrong with PUP's at all... if we had to give up the motorhome, then I would be back in a PUP.
wbwood
Explorer
Jan 13, 2015
Search for "Road Nomad" on youtube...I just watched some videos of his where he flew out to Colorado and rented a small Class C from ElMonte RV Rentals. The Class C appeared to be a 24' one. Small enough that you could drive around. But you could also rent a cer and let your spouse just follow you between campgrounds.
RDMueller
Explorer
Jan 13, 2015
We rented a "Standard" motor home from Cruise America in Everett WA last summer and it was a great experience. Their "standard" is a Class C about 24-25' in length. It was big enough to give the 3 of us all the room we needed, yet still small enough to use it for daily transportation. We did miss a lot of the things we normally have with us when camping like the Coleman stove for cooking outside and fire tools for example. The thing we missed the most was not having our bicycles with us.

So yes, there are trade offs, but for us driving across the country was out of the question. And as I said, it was a great experience.

Be forewarned though, as fellow pop-up owners, after renting the MH, you may find yourself in the market for something bigger. We will be trading in the pup for a TT in the next month or so!
wowens79
Explorer III
Jan 08, 2015
Thanks for the advise!! We are looking into the different options.

Thanks
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
check out www.RVshare.com for where you want to rent a RV
bumpy
sdianel_-acct_c
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
Road Bear RV Rentals in Las Vegas gets the best reviews. We rented from another company a few year ago and it was not a good experience. We rented an RV in Alaska and had a great experience. The benefit of picking up the RV in Las Vegas is that you could also see the Hoover Dam.
wintersun
Explorer II
Jan 06, 2015
We have done it numerous times in Canada. We land at the airport, pickup the RV, head to the nearest hyper market (the Costco on steroids that was invented in Canada decades ago) and we are on the road with the RV and spend the first night after leaving home in the campground.

We take our photo and fishing gear and only the clothes we will need and this is not a problem even with the stupid TSA restrictions. We do make sure to take anything of value on the plane so it will not be stolen by the TSA or airline employees.

The quality of service provided does vary and we have found the smaller family run operations to be the best. They have had the same range of RV choices as the chain operations.

For getting around we go with either a 1-ton 4WD pickup with a slide in camper or a Class B motorhome. No problems with getting into any campsite and for places like Zion and Canyonlands we can park in the regular parking lots at trail heads which would not be possible if we were towing another vehicle. There are B+ motorhomes with double slide outs and these provide a lot more room inside and we don't need the exterior storage space for a 2 week trip.

We are used to chartering boats for a week or two and taking only a duffel bag to the boat for our personal gear so transitioning to doing the same with an RV was no big deal.

What is great is that at the end of our trip we arrive before noon at the RV rental place, have it inspected, and our flying home the same day. We do not waste a week driving to an area and back home again but spend all but 2 days actually camping and exploring.

There are many places to rent an RV in Arizona and I would also check out Las Vegas as well.
okhmbldr
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
If you really want to enjoy the Grand Canyon my suggestion is to forget the rented camper and concentrate on a great Grand Canyon trip. Fly to Phoenix, rent a car/van and drive to Williams, AZ. Take the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon Railway has several packages including lodging, food (which is excellent) and the Train ride to the GC. You can also do a package that includes a night or two in the Grand Canyon hotels. Plus, Williams is on old Route 66 with plenty of side trips nearby.