Renting out your RV--Help

On another forum, this same question was asked. Similar replies, except for one that had a small business of RV rentals. He mainly rented to fixed functions, and delivered the RVs and picked them up. He said he acquired less the usuable RVs and fixed them up hisself, and did the maintainces hisself. I guess if you approace it as a business and are not too attached to the RVs, it not a problem. But it can be a head ache.

To the OP, I answered the question previously from the perspective of a MH rental business owner. I have no experience renting my personal MH and never would. That said, you should peruse Craigslist ads for MH rentals. That's the primary marketing tool for private MH owners to rent their rigs (outside of companies that try and manage it for you but that gets into a formal business approach) . I am sure they would be happy to talk to you. Most folks on a forum like this are proud owners who would rather chew their own arm off than rent their MH.

When/if you talk to your target sources- be objective. Most folks just getting into it will have rose colored glasses with visions of heavy cash flow and keeping their RV in it's pristine condition. Most who have done it a while will have drank from the fountain of reality and be somewhat grave about the experience and likely if continuing to rent it will be about money and no longer about the RV. I would hazard a guess that statistically, the average Joe renting their RV only does so for about a year and hangs it up. I'd be curious about your findings.

Good luck in your research, but CL is probably a better pond to cast your line than an owner's forum.

Executive wrote:
Rent out my RV??? You must be a comedian....:W.....Dennis

I was thinking along those lines, as well, but more like insanity if on a serious note.
Anyway, the OP is talking about writing a book here and not necessarily advocating what a clear thinking person, would actually do.

classic_rider wrote:
Hi all,I am an RV owner and freelance writer, and I am working on article about the pros and cons of renting out your RV. If you've ever rented your Class A or any previous motorhome you owned, I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience, good or bad. Thanks!

I rented a Class C out for a summer in Alaska 35 years ago. I used an Anchorage rental business to handle the rental end with the agreement that I do all of the maintenance. They did not like that part as they made a lot of cash over-charging owners for maintenance. The renters there were mostly European. Overall it was a good experience; as with any rental there is damage which the renters always claim innocence. A common event was a couple renting it and as soon as they were out of sight they loaded a few more people in. More people = more wear & tear.

I bought the unit at a bank auction, sold it a year later and did very well. The rental outfit ownership transferred to the son who demanded they do the maintenance. I would not do that.

We travel out West most of the time and I have seen the rental Class C's in many places where there are signs warning about driving ANY RV on these roads. I saw one stuck on the dirt roads in the Valley of the Gods in Utah and another one stopped on the Moki Dugway road half way up on the side of the mountain. Apparently people that rent RV's can't read and understand simple warning signs.

What do you want us to do? Lie? Anyone renting out their personal RV when they are not using it put no real value on their personal belonging.

wow, tuff crowd here, give the girl a break!!!

In the Southern Ca area Craig’s list I have seen a big increase in private owners listing their RVs for rent. MHs are $150-$400 per day. I think they only see the easy money but are oblivious to the negatives as many have pointed out.
Several years ago I was camping in Big Sur and a nice family from Europe was next to me in a rental class C. He was hooked up to the water and when I went out later I saw water pouring out of every storage compartment under the coach. Not sure what he did wrong but glad it wasn’t mine.
I was looking at a new C yesterday and the salesman wanted to show me the floor plan of a 2 yr old Winnebago rental with 49k miles. It was like walking into a nasty motel room. Smelled like a smoker had lived in it and even though it had been “cleaned” it felt filthy. The mattress was also missing.
To top it off, he was only asking $10k less than the brand new one I was looking at.
I would never rent my personal RV out.

Ann, I'll chime back in. The reason we get so flippant is it makes very little sense to rent out our RV. Insurance is expensive but I'd bet most private individuals that rent out the RV don't carry the proper insurance anyway and are simply rolling the dice. The only time anyone would rent out their personal RV would be when they are so far upside down on it that they either rent it out or lose it back to the bank. An RV is a major depreciating asset and as such it makes little sense to buy it and rent it out to try and make some money on it. Second is the fact that they are somewhat picky about meeting trees and curbs. Would you feel comfortable taking your RV on say, Highway 50 through Nevada after renting it out? I wouldn't. Think long long highway stretches with no cell service and no cities or garages for miles and miles. Third is the inside of the coach itself. Most of us leave a lot of personal stuff inside the RV even when in storage. What a pain it would be to empty it out simply to rent it for a bit and then put it all back in when we want to use it again. This topic has come up before and the results are the same. It makes no financial sense to rent out a private RV. You might try posting this in the trailer section as they do things differently... Best of luck to you....Dennis

winniman wrote:
As a general rule, big rental fleets have purpose built rental units. Since people renting them don't have a clue, they try to minimize the items that will get broken due to inexperience. Unlike most regular rvs, rentals generally do not have slides, awnings, auto bunks, power stairs, or anything at all automated that will get broken. Even something as simple as a black tank flush can be a recipe for disaster. I saw one rental beside us that got flooded completely when they hooked up the water to the black tank flush, and left. The neighbor shut the water off when he noticed it pouring out the door. For these reasons, and many others, normal people generally don't rent "normal" rvs. Some may take a chance, but Im going to guess most don't have a positive experience.

I know of at least a few small time operations that pick up RVs, they can get used on the cheap...they are regular rigs not specialty items.

Of course, they are getting them cheap enough that they don't have to be perfect and the guys running it do their own repairs, so overhead stays low.

They are constantly on the lookout for someone who just wants out and they are ready with cash, so they get them pretty cheap.