Owners who rent - How do you handle damages / abandonment?
I have 2 RVs listed on Outdoorsy. I bought one 2 years ago and found a great deal on another this past winter and couldnt pass it up. I thought I could sell my older one quickly alas it did not sell very fast. I put them on Outdoorsy to get some of the $ back and WOW is it popular.
The 2008 rented 3x and I had a great experience. Each renter returned it exactly as I gave it to them. I didnt want to put the 2011 up because it was in such perfect condition but since my experience was good I listed it.
The first renter for the 2011 had it for a week. They backed into something, breaking a light and the water inlet valve on the first day. They didnt pay attention to my training, and didnt read the manual I wrote and gave them a week in advance and for some reason thought the propane and fresh water were low on the 2nd day so they turned off the propane and left the food to rot in the fridge. THey also barely used any water in the toilet and they used a lot of tp. They seemed to want to completely avoid having to refill anything or dump the tanks. Later they ran into a branch and broke off the antenna, and finally they broke a nob off the kitchen sink claiming that it was "leaking" and somehow the counter became detached slightly from the body of the RV (which I discovered later).
1 day before they were due to return the RV the renter called and asked if I wanted to pick it up early since they were only 2 hours away. Thinking it was because they didnt want to further damage it I agreed even though it was an hour farther than we originally agreed to do the return. Then the renter decided that they should get a refund for the day since I was getting it early. I refused so they decided to keep it. Later in the day, they asked if I could come get it that evening even though I explained earlier I would not be available to get it after 1pm. They claimed that their flight got changed/canceled to an earlier flight in the morning from their evening flight. Since I was unavailable, they abandoned the RV in airport shuttle parking and I was unable to do the walkthrough with them to assess the damages. When I was able to pick the RV up, I checked the propane and fresh water tanks, both were 3/4 full.....
Due to the damage to the water inlet valve, I cannot put fresh water in the RV. It is a busy season for repairs and I was not able to get it in the shop for 2 weeks. This fiasco has resulted in me having to cancel someone elses trip that they have had planned for a while (lost that income) which was devastating for me to do to them, and I have had to reject a booking request which would have made me another $1600.
Outdoorsy has been awful. They are unavailable, and their support takes more than a day to respond to emails. I wanted to put this on their forum but it looks like since last fall they have disabled any more posts on their forum.
The repair guy says that their deposit should cover the repairs and I wont have to file an insurance claim. But the renter is disputing some of the damages, saying they are pre-existing even though the damages are right next to/associated with the damages they admit to causing.
So, other owners who rent - how much of a deposit do you ask for? If the renter damages the RV to a point where you cant rent it again until it is fixed, do you have any recourse for lost income? Any experiences with outdoorsy or rvshare or other rental places?
The 2008 rented 3x and I had a great experience. Each renter returned it exactly as I gave it to them. I didnt want to put the 2011 up because it was in such perfect condition but since my experience was good I listed it.
The first renter for the 2011 had it for a week. They backed into something, breaking a light and the water inlet valve on the first day. They didnt pay attention to my training, and didnt read the manual I wrote and gave them a week in advance and for some reason thought the propane and fresh water were low on the 2nd day so they turned off the propane and left the food to rot in the fridge. THey also barely used any water in the toilet and they used a lot of tp. They seemed to want to completely avoid having to refill anything or dump the tanks. Later they ran into a branch and broke off the antenna, and finally they broke a nob off the kitchen sink claiming that it was "leaking" and somehow the counter became detached slightly from the body of the RV (which I discovered later).
1 day before they were due to return the RV the renter called and asked if I wanted to pick it up early since they were only 2 hours away. Thinking it was because they didnt want to further damage it I agreed even though it was an hour farther than we originally agreed to do the return. Then the renter decided that they should get a refund for the day since I was getting it early. I refused so they decided to keep it. Later in the day, they asked if I could come get it that evening even though I explained earlier I would not be available to get it after 1pm. They claimed that their flight got changed/canceled to an earlier flight in the morning from their evening flight. Since I was unavailable, they abandoned the RV in airport shuttle parking and I was unable to do the walkthrough with them to assess the damages. When I was able to pick the RV up, I checked the propane and fresh water tanks, both were 3/4 full.....
Due to the damage to the water inlet valve, I cannot put fresh water in the RV. It is a busy season for repairs and I was not able to get it in the shop for 2 weeks. This fiasco has resulted in me having to cancel someone elses trip that they have had planned for a while (lost that income) which was devastating for me to do to them, and I have had to reject a booking request which would have made me another $1600.
Outdoorsy has been awful. They are unavailable, and their support takes more than a day to respond to emails. I wanted to put this on their forum but it looks like since last fall they have disabled any more posts on their forum.
The repair guy says that their deposit should cover the repairs and I wont have to file an insurance claim. But the renter is disputing some of the damages, saying they are pre-existing even though the damages are right next to/associated with the damages they admit to causing.
So, other owners who rent - how much of a deposit do you ask for? If the renter damages the RV to a point where you cant rent it again until it is fixed, do you have any recourse for lost income? Any experiences with outdoorsy or rvshare or other rental places?
