Where to rent 5thWheel and truck?

[VallAndMo]

Hello folks,

While we wait and prepare for the right moment to move to the US and start RVing fulltime, we are planning our next RVing trip. It will be 18 days long during next November (exact dates not decided yet), and we want to see a few national parks in CA and NV (here's a map of our planned route and stops so far).

Apart from the recreational value, we want this trip to have some "educational" value for us, mainly on the day-to-day routine of towing and living in a 5thWheel (all our experience so far has been on motorhomes) and also on living for extended periods away from cities and nearer Nature, be it  drycamping, boondocking on full-hookup campsites.

We are planning on the trip to start/end near San Jose/CA, as we have friends living there (and one of them will be possibly accompanying us during part of our trip), so ideally the depot where we will pick up the vehicles would be located somewhere near it; on the other hand, it's not too hard to pick them up somewhere near our proposed route.

We are having great difficulty finding places where we can rent a 5thWheel and suitable truck; so far we found just one, Family RV, and they have only one 5thWheel for rental (a Montana 3400RL, coincidentally one of the maker/models we have been thinking about purchasing for our Fulltime RVing when the time comes).

Does anyone know (and/or can recommend) any companies or internet sites somewhere near our route where we can research and rent a 5thWheel and truck? As we are not in the USA right now, a company where we can do that over the Internet (or at least over the phone) is necessary.

Thanks in advance,
--
   Vall & Mo

[jeffbrown]

The problem is that none of the major RV rental places rent anything but motor homes.  With that in mind if you dont want to rent a motor home you will need to rent from a private owner.  You might want to post to Craigslist or contact a dealer in the area to plan to visit and see if someone was interested in renting their rigs out.  The rental idea has come on on this forum before and has not been well received.  It isn't that we are not interested in the money but in my particular case I view my motor home as my vacation home, so it is very personal and dear to me.  In my home no one sleeps in my bed buy my wife and I the same goes for our vacation home (Even if it is on wheels.)

Maybe others have more insight.  Your idea to attempt to simulate 5th wheel living is a good one, but you might have to simulate it in a class A or Class C motor home.  Mostly because those are what is most readily available to rent.

Jeff Brown

[Tom]

It will be 18 days long during next November (exact dates not decided yet), and we want to see a few national parks in CA and NV (here's a map of our planned route and stops so far).

Be sure to check weather and road conditions. The road over Tioga Pass (Hwy 120 from Hwy 395, between B and C on your map) is at an elevation of 9,943 ft (3,031 m) and is usually closed due to snow during the winter months. This page shows historical closing and opening dates for that road. Passage in November is definitely questionable.

[VallAndMo]

Hi Jeff,

The problem is that none of the major RV rental places rent anything but motor homes.  With that in mind if you dont want to rent a motor home you will need to rent from a private owner.  You might want to post to Craigslist

Excellent idea! I've just entered a "rental wanted" ad at Craigslist, currently I'm stuck at Craigslist's "phone authentication" step as the only phone number I have in the US is from a VoIP provider, and Craigslist apparently refuses VoIP providers for authentication purposes... oh well... :-/

or contact a dealer in the area to plan to visit and see if someone was interested in renting their rigs out. 

What do you mean, "a dealer"? You mean companies that rent RVs? or companies that sell RVs? Or something else? Can you give me some examples? Sorry for my ignorance...

The rental idea has come on on this forum before and has not been well received.  It isn't that we are not interested in the money but in my particular case I view my motor home as my vacation home, so it is very personal and dear to me.  In my home no one sleeps in my bed buy my wife and I the same goes for our vacation home (Even if it is on wheels.)

I understand what you mean about an RV being very personal. I myself, if I had an RV already, would be really hesitant to rent it... so that explains why it's difficult to rent any RV (5thWheel or other kinds, I presume) from a private owner.

What I can't understand is why it's so darned difficult to find an RV Rental company that will rent 5thWheels... I can even find many which will rent TravelTrailers, and one would think 5thWheels would have higher demand as they are much safer and simpler to tow than TravelTrailers... or so I think based on what I've read, as I really have no experience with either TravelTrailers or 5thWheels.

Maybe others have more insight.  Your idea to attempt to simulate 5th wheel living is a good one, but you might have to simulate it in a class A or Class C motor home.  Mostly because those are what is most readily available to rent.

Thanks for all the info and ideas, Jeff, this forum is really a great place to get data and advice on RVing.

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.

[VallAndMo]

Hello Tom,

Be sure to check weather and road conditions. The road over Tioga Pass (Hwy 120 from Hwy 395, between B and C on your map) is at an elevation of 9,943 ft (3,031 m) and is usually closed due to snow during the winter months. This page shows historical closing and opening dates for that road. Passage in November is definitely questionable.

Thanks Tom, that's very needed and welcome advice, as we (living in Brazil) have too little experience with impassable roads due to snow. Too bad the GPS software we have been using for this trip's planning (MS  Streets&Trips 2011) won't warn us about this kind of thing... :-(

It seems we will need an alternate route to get from B to C. We will try to find one in the GPS, passing by roads at a lower altitude... is that a good method of finding a snow-safe route, or is it better to check on-line for each road? Also, is there a "central" place or website where one could check conditions for any road, or do we need to find and check the specific page at each park's web site?

Thanks again,
--
  Vall & Mo.

[VallAndMo]

Hello Folks,

What I can't understand is why it's so darned difficult to find an RV Rental company that will rent 5thWheels... I can even find many which will rent TravelTrailers, and one would think 5thWheels would have higher demand as they are much safer and simpler to tow than TravelTrailers... or so I think based on what I've read, as I really have no experience with either TravelTrailers or 5thWheels.

On second thought, I think that maybe 5thWheels are less popular among RV rental customers because of the 5thwheel hitch, which is larger, more expensive, weights more and requires a tow vehicle with a large bed, when compared to the "normal hitch" (ball hitch?) used to tow TravelTrailers... so "casual"  renters will usually have the TravelTrailer hitch, and the 5thwheel hitch would usually be found only on private vehicles whose owners already own the 5thWheel and so aren't on the market to rent one...

What do you think? Is that a good explanation?

Cheers,
--
   Vall & Mo.

[Tom]

It seems we will need an alternate route to get from B to C.

I'd venture to say that, when snow has set in at the higher elevations, you really have only two choices to get over the Sierras:

• Go way north, via Reno (Hwy 385 intersects with I-80).
• Go way south.

For clarification, you will still be able to visit Yosemite via your route from San Jose, but you won't be able to go over Tioga Pass on the other side of the park.

is there a "central" place or website where one could check conditions for any road

For California road conditions you could use the CA Department of Transportation web site. There's probably an equivalent site for Nevada.

[Marsha/CA]

Just more food for thought.  If you do find a private party to rent an RV and truck from, be aware that you would need a "rider" on their insurance policy for protection from an accident.  In prior discussions on here from others who have wanted to rent an RV from a private party to travel around the US, it was nearly impossible or completely impossible to find insurance companies who would provide extra coverage for you.  If you don't have any coverage, you will find yourself very vulnerable.  The US and it's lawyers are very "sue" happy and it would not be good for you to be in that position.

If you rent from a private person, you would need to make sure of things such as:  what happens if the truck or even the 5 th wheel broke down and needed servicing.  Who pays for that?  What happens if it is completely unusable, and you have paid for the full use of it for a certain length of time and now can't use it.  How do you get your money back?

Even though you are wanting to rent a truck/5thwheel, if you rent a small motorhome from an agency such as "Cruise America" or "El Monte" rents, they will have replacements and more than likely contracts that will protect you and them.  You may not find this with a private person.

BTW, 5th wheels are a bit harder to learn to pull, hook up and back up at first.  The travel trailer is much easier.  I know, I've driven both.

Regarding the weather.  We find that folks from other countries have no idea how diverse our terrain and climates are.  It's a big country.

Marsha~

[Marsha/CA]

I live near the area you want to travel.  So a couple of points:

• You won't be able to get to Kings Canyon National Park from highway 395.  It is reachable from highway 99 on the west side of the Sierras.
• Many of the forest service campgrounds close on Oct 31.  There are private campgrounds open in the Bishop, Mammoth and Bridgeport areas.
• Even if Tioga Pass is open from north of the Mammoth area (Lee Vining) that grade is very steep and is subject to closing quickly due to weather.  It's easier to reach Yosemite from highway 99.

Marsha~

[Gary RV Roamer]

Here is a website that might be able to help...
http://www.1rvrentals.com/default.aspx

I think you will have to consider a travel trailer instead of 5W, though.

[jeffbrown]

A 5th wheel is harder to rent because to install the hitch requires drilling holes in the bed of a truck to install a very specialized hitch.  People how have gone to that expense generally have a 5th wheel to pull already.  Because of this reason I doubt you will find a 5er to rent unless it already comes with the truck. 

By dealers yes I meant small RV dealers.  You could contact new or used RV dealers in the area you plan to land in to see what they might have.

Jeff

[VallAndMo]

Hello Folks,

We have managed to find an RV rental (FamilyRV, in San Jose/CA) that will not only rent us a 5thWheel, but also a 3/4 ton truck to tow it with. Very nice!

The problem is, they require me to have insurance for both the truck and the 5thWheel (they will provide insurance only for motorhomes).

Does anyone know where we can get quotes for this, keeping in mind that we are tourists and not US residents (ie, no SSN, etc)?

Thanks in advance,
--
Vall

[Tom]

MBA Insurance claims to offer rental insurance, but it's not clear from their web site if they offer it to renters or only to rental companies; They do offer individual insurance, but it's not clear if that's only for owned (rather than rented) units. Might be worth a phone call or email. http://www.mbainsurance.net

Lots of non-residents buy insurance for RVs, towing vehicles and cars (i.e. no SSN needed), although that's usually for vehicles they own.

[VallAndMo]

Hello Tom,

MBA Insurance claims to offer rental insurance, but it's not clear from their web site if they offer it to renters or only to rental companies; They do offer individual insurance, but it's not clear if that's only for owned (rather than rented) units. Might be worth a phone call or email. http://www.mbainsurance.net

Lots of non-residents buy insurance for RVs, towing vehicles and cars (i.e. no SSN needed), although that's usually for vehicles they own.

Thanks for the pointer! I've just sent them an email asking for a quote, with the vehicles' and trip details.

I've also been referred to Progressive and Poliseek, and already contacted both by website forms / emails.

I will post a summary here when the deed is done.

Cheers,
--
   Vall & Mo.

[DearMissMermaid]

One a side note, not sure who your VOIP is with, but you can sign up with SKYPE.com for unlimited calling to the USA for $30 US dollars for the whole year. You can also buy a USA phone number (from Skype)  for the dealers and insurance folks to call you back on, I think those are only $6 a month, but cheaper if you prepay several months in advance.

Of course your computer has to be on to receive the calls, however Skype also offers forwarding and voice mail, so your incoming calls on your new USA phone number, can be forwarded to your local number, if you don't have your computer turned on. Since the Slype number travels with you, the USA number is good anywhere worldwide, that's what make Skype so special. I've been using them since they first set up business because I was living overseas where phone rates were ridiculous. Having an incoming USA number made it super easy for me to do business in the USA, even though I wasn't physically in the country. 

[Tom]

I will post a summary here when the deed is done.

Thanks, that would be quite helpful for others in the future.

[VallAndMo]

Hello DearMissMermaid,

One a side note, not sure who your VOIP is with, but you can sign up with SKYPE.com for unlimited calling to the USA for $30 US dollars for the whole year. You can also buy a USA phone number (from Skype)  for the dealers and insurance folks to call you back on, I think those are only $6 a month, but cheaper if you prepay several months in advance.

Of course your computer has to be on to receive the calls, however Skype also offers forwarding and voice mail, so your incoming calls on your new USA phone number, can be forwarded to your local number, if you don't have your computer turned on. Since the Slype number travels with you, the USA number is good anywhere worldwide, that's what make Skype so special. I've been using them since they first set up business because I was living overseas where phone rates were ridiculous. Having an incoming USA number made it super easy for me to do business in the USA, even though I wasn't physically in the country. 

Good idea! I don't like Skype much because it's too proprietary... but I have a Google Voice account that theoretically has a USA number and redirects calls to my smartphone, I will activate it and see how well it works. That would be most convenient...

Cheers,
--
   Vall & Mo.

[DearMissMermaid]

Yes I too am curious how google works.

I've used Skype ever since they set up business, for many years now. I
ve used them  in several countries, traveled with it extensively and still use it now in the USA a great bit. No other phone company can give you unlimited USA and Canada calls for only $30 a YEAR not a month.   

They have numerous plans depending on which countries you want to call the most.   There are no contracts, you can still have the pay as you go system, where they just deduct against a prepaid amount of $5 US.

Basically everyone else has tried to copy cat Skype, but I still think they're the best.   I also use mine to chat with old sailing  friends in the Caribbean, UK, New Zealand, France and Australia. Since they all have Skype too, we talk for FREE. This is why I don't understand why it hasn't caught on much in the USA.  When I lived in the Caribbean, everyone had Skype so we could call each other for free, no phone charges, no cell charges.

[Alfa38User]

Yes I too am curious how google works.

I've used Skype ever since they set up business, for many years now. I've used them  in several countries, travelled with it extensively and still use it now in the USA a great bit. No other phone company can give you unlimited USA and Canada calls for only $30 a YEAR not a month.   

Snipped.....

Have you checked out Magic Jack??? 1 year is 20$, 5 years 60$... Can be used to make and receive calls but requires an internet high speed connection, (WiFi connection will work with both) and includes a call answer service. Can be used from ANY computer and be connected  to a regular telephone to talk and to receive calls....   

That said, I use the free version of Skype from my computer with video  and find the quality better than Magic Jack (with no video available). Would I use Magic Jack as my only phone as some wish to do......  No way!!!! But it does come in handy for my use, especially while in Florida and having to call back to Canada.

The only hangup for me has been the availability of local numbers back here. (I bought mine before some numbers were available here and thus cannot get a local number without additional cost. As a result, we use it for calling out only as my assigned Telephone number is out of a  small town USA and would result in long distance charges to anyone wanting to call it anyway.) If I had a local number I could call forward my regular phone to Magic Jack and get full service that way as well.....

[happycampersrus2]

Hello folks,

While we wait and prepare for the right moment to move to the US and start RVing fulltime, we are planning our next RVing trip. It will be 18 days long during next November (exact dates not decided yet), and we want to see a few national parks in CA and NV (here's a map of our planned route and stops so far).

Apart from the recreational value, we want this trip to have some "educational" value for us, mainly on the day-to-day routine of towing and living in a 5thWheel (all our experience so far has been on motorhomes) and also on living for extended periods away from cities and nearer Nature, be it  drycamping, boondocking on full-hookup campsites.

We are planning on the trip to start/end near San Jose/CA, as we have friends living there (and one of them will be possibly accompanying us during part of our trip), so ideally the depot where we will pick up the vehicles would be located somewhere near it; on the other hand, it's not too hard to pick them up somewhere near our proposed route.

We are having great difficulty finding places where we can rent a 5thWheel and suitable truck; so far we found just one, Family RV, and they have only one 5thWheel for rental (a Montana 3400RL, coincidentally one of the maker/models we have been thinking about purchasing for our Fulltime RVing when the time comes).

Does anyone know (and/or can recommend) any companies or internet sites somewhere near our route where we can research and rent a 5thWheel and truck? As we are not in the USA right now, a company where we can do that over the Internet (or at least over the phone) is necessary.

Thanks in advance,
--
   Vall & Mo

Also gotta watch them RV Rentals, many have no jacks or awnings, at least the ones they rent here in Florida.