Renting out your Motorhome?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Travaholic

New member
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Posts
4
First of all hello from a new member looking for some help and advise.

This is a long shot but hey if you don't try you'll never know.

My good lady and myself would dearly love to travel the USA in a Motorhome later in the year and I have been researching our options. Originally I had intended to ship over my Camper-van (Converted Fiat Ducato Van) but I have found out that there are no Fiat dealers in the USA and that Diesel is quite a rare thing as well. Renting is an option but the high cost and uncertainty about overshooting the allocated mileage is a real show-stopper. Another option is buying with a company that offers guaranteed buy-back at the end of the trip but any repair costs are down to me including worn tyres.

Hence my question to you folks............Do any of you ever rent out your Motorhomes (2-4 beds) during your off-season?

Basically we would like to tour some of western USA for about 2 months starting mid September and I imagine we would cover about 6k miles. Ideally the starting point would be within easy reach of Los Angeles. We are experienced in Camper-van life and I do have a drivers license that covers Lorries (Big Truck).

So what do you say?
 
Welcome to The RV Forum.

I'm not aware of anyone here who rents, or would rent, their RV to a private party. If they did, insurance costs could be prohibitive. I'm aware of one member who put his RV into a rental pool with a commercial company. He'd need to explain how the insurance and other expenses were handled.

... Diesel is quite a rare thing ..

That's news to many of us who drive diesel powered vehicles.
 
Tom said:
That's news to many of us who drive diesel powered vehicles.

Thanks for you reply Tom,

Its what I've been told and my Van has probably a range of no more than 600 mls. Wouldn't that be a bit on the low side for some of the more isolated areas?
 
Diesel is very common all over the US and you will have no problem finding it for sale. You won't find a 600 mile stretch without it anywhere.
 
Many people do rent out their RV's, here are some links to the websites that handle them:

http://www.123rvrental.com/

http://www.sharemycoach.com/Vehicle-Rentals.aspx

http://privatemotorhomerental.com/

You might have read an old article about RVing in the USA, it seems I stumbled onto it at some point too, where they claim diesel is hard to come by in the USA.  Whoever wrote the article was clueless (it happens!). Diesel is sold at just about every gas and petrol station in the USA. Our big trucks and lorries rely on diesel too, so it's available every where. 

I have seen UK tags in the USA, some import to Canada, then cross over to USA.  Not sure if you are in the UK or what, but my friend was able to do it that way duty free, haven't seen him in awhile to ask him more details. He now just stores his RV half the year in Canada, then flies over, moves aboard and drives down to the USA for a few months of travel each year.

Check out the Fiat dealers in USA
www.fiatusa.com/
 
Many thanks for the replies. Looked at all the suggestions but in the end, not least because of cost and peace of mind, we've opted to rent. Have now booked a type C out of L.A. mid September. Not cheap but worth the expense for the chance of visiting your lovely country.
 
After several attempts to rent out my RV on my own several miserable experiences I  decided to go with a professional RV rental company and have had my 2010 American Eagle with Allstar Coaches for about a year now and am very satisfied with them...I am averaging about $4000 a month in rental income and my monthly checks appear to be slightly increasing with each month.So the coach is covering all its expenses which at least for now is doing better than breaking even 

I think they only accept newer diesel motorhomes but I highly reccomend them Talk to Rob or Von over there if interested can't post their direct # but here is the website www.allstarcoaches.com or http://www.allstarcoaches.com/rvs_wanted.htm
 
I am averaging about $4000 a month in rental income and my monthly checks appear to be slightly increasing with each month.So the coach is covering all its expenses which at least for now is doing better than breaking even

Are you given any kind of guarantee on what condition your 2010 rig will be in, when it is returned to you?  The idea of renting out my stuff makes me quiver, because you never know how the unknown renters are treating it.
 
For $4000 a month you could buy an RV and just rent it, never intending using it yourself.  Is that $4000 net or before expenses?
 
Ned said:
For $4000 a month you could buy an RV and just rent it, never intending using it yourself.

And where would be the enjoyment in that?  :eek:  I mean, as far as living the RV lifestyle goes. ;)
 
I'm sure that $4000/month would leave more than enough to buy an RV of your very own :)  I wish I had that kind of income again :(
 
I do know from my own experience that insurance and loans on an RV can be sketchy. For example, when we purchased our Mirada, the lending bank actually had a clause in the loan contract that prohibited renting out the RV during the loan period.

Frank
 
Back
Top Bottom