Rental/RoadTrip Question

[jdlowndes]

I want to take my family on a road trip out west (from Alabama) on Route 66,and through Yellowstone, while traveling/staying in an RV. However, we don't own an RV or Travel Trailer and would need to rent one. I don't want to spend a small fortune to Cruise America for mileage (.35 per mile). I am looking for input from others on:

What rental company?
Is this even possible?
Has anyone done this type trip before?

Thanks in advance!!

[2gypsies1]

gspot wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
I just picked a city in Alabama - Tuscaloosa - and Googled for rentals. Here's one you might check on:

***Link Removed***

And what a fine city you picked! Roll Tide!

You betcha. Daughter graduated from Bama. 🙂

[gspot]

2gypsies wrote:
I just picked a city in Alabama - Tuscaloosa - and Googled for rentals. Here's one you might check on:

***Link Removed***

And what a fine city you picked! Roll Tide!

[jplante4]

Same situation. Wanted to make a retirement trip, six months on the road in a motor home, only had experience tent camping, looked at the cost of renting and thought my dream was out. So I did some homework and found an older gasser that I could get for short money, put some sweat equity into, use it for a while and sell it. I actually got more than I paid for it (but not what I into it).

I don't recommend this approach unless you're able to do a lot of the work yourself.

[2gypsies1]

I just picked a city in Alabama - Tuscaloosa - and Googled for rentals. Here's one you might check on:

http://www.rvrentalsofamerica.com/tuscaloosa-al-discount-rv-rentals.aspx

[tragusa3]

I would buy used (smartly) and then sell (smartly). You may decide its worth it to keep it! 🙂

[GoPackGo]

I looked into renting once. I found that I could rent trailers and also pop-ups from a local dealer. Did not follow through as I decided to buy instead. So my advice is to check with local (and smaller) dealers. And since they are towed, a 'local' dealer can be anywhere within 100 miles. Rent it, bring it home to provision, then go.

[JimK-NY]

Years ago I started to plan out an RV rental trip. I quickly decided that it was cheaper to rent a car and stay in motels.

[IAMICHABOD]

Besides the national chains there are many independent owners that rent out their RVs.

One site that lists them in your area is RV Share, just click on that link and see if there is anything that may be of interest to you.

[jdlowndes]

Thanks yall! I'm gonna have to figure this out in the end... This is certainly a trip I want to take. I greatly appreciate your help!! Have a great Memorial Day!

[gspot]

jdlowndes wrote:
I want to take my family on a road trip out west (from Alabama) on Route 66,and through Yellowstone, while traveling/staying in an RV. However, we don't own an RV or Travel Trailer and would need to rent one. I don't want to spend a small fortune to Cruise America for mileage (.35 per mile). I am looking for input from others

I was in the same situation. My wife and I have been planning for about 10 years to do something similar. After looking hard at my options and the costs, I felt it was a better choice to just buy a new TT and become an RVer on a regular basis.

So now I'm a new owner of a 29' "lite" travel trailer, and in addition to driving out to the Grand Canyon in about two weeks from Arkansas, we go camping nearby about once a month.

If camping is something you enjoy, I encourage you to consider that option. You can get a nice TT for less than the cost of new motorcycle. And because they can spread the payments out over 12-15 years since it's considered a 2nd domicile, it ends up being a reasonable alternative to renting once or hoteling it.

[Aron]

jdlowndes wrote:

What rental company?
Is this even possible?

Absolutely its possible. I haven't done it, but I looked into it and--if I remember correctly--the big companies like CA allow you to rent in one area an drop it off in another, allowing you to skip some of the long tedious miles (if you don't care for that), and just fly to and from those points. Very popular in California.

Also, if you have a capable tow vehicle, you can even rent a trailer and skip the mileage cost. I did that last summer for two weeks for about $800 per week, but I had a big one...if you have a smaller family (or one more willing to double up on beds) they have cheaper, smaller models for rent. This was from a local RV dealer, not Cruise America, but you may have other rental options in your area.

[NYCgrrl]

Renting an RV is not inexpensive on my end either and the butt kicker certainly is the cost per mile. I suppose it's an effort(sounds successful to me) to get past the sharp depreciation. Local RV stores this way tend to have 1 of 2 business plans: they only rent within a certain mile radius or will tow the rv to a specific group of campgrounds also w/i their region.

This leaves longer distance rentals to the national companies who have to keep a continent wide network of mechanics and such on retainer. Not to mention their higher insurance costs.

[Jebby14]

for what its worth the setup in my sig AFTER taxes, new tires and serviced bearing and brakes was only 3k Canadian (so like 50 bucks to you) the WJ to tow it could be had for another 3 ish.

[Jebby14]

not cost effective to rent. either hotel it or buy a used setup.