Hello from New Zealand - your thoughts on private rv rental.

[DeanG]

Hello everybody,

My family and I had a wonderful RV experience doing a round trip from LA, across California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and through to SFO and back down the coast to LA.  We are New Zealanders and are hooked on RV travel. 

I am interested in finding out if any RV owners would consider renting out your RV's privately and to hear your thoughts on private rental. Are you open to earning some income from the private rental of your motorhome? What are the issues you see with this?

Cheers
Dean

 

[SeilerBird]

There are very few people if any people here that would rent out their RV. Too many chances something could go wrong. My RV is filled with my personal possessions. I would not want to remove them all and store them some place just to make a few bucks. Insurance is also an issue.

 

[DeanG]

Yes I can understand that for fulltimers. Where would you live?

What about those RVers who use their RV periodically?

Our New Zealand motorhome association says that members use their motorhome on average 72 days per year. Seems like there are alot of units sitting idle and depreciating when they could be providing an income (or paying for themselves) for their owners.

Love to hear your thoughts folks.

 

[SeilerBird]

The RVers who don't full time still have their RV full of their own personal possessions. And they still have insurance to worry about.

 

[ArdraF]

We are not fulltimers and would not even consider it.  Too many liability issues and too much chance of things breaking.  Repairs are too costly.  If we break something that's our problem but if you break something it's a whole different ballgame.  Then there are the issues of smokers and pets, neither of which we want in our RV because of allergies.  Finally our insurer probably wouldn't go for it. 

ArdraF

 

[Jeff]

Many owner do leaseback  their RVs through leasing agents. It is done in such a way that the renters are probably not aware that the RV is privately owned.

It is one of the few ways to avoid the issues mentioned above.

 

[Ned]

I bigger issue is if a person rents out there RV, then it becomes a business with a lot of additional expense.  Insurance will be more expensive and there are tax considerations as well.  Generally, it's not worth it for a private owner.

 

[DeanG]

Thank you all for your reply's. It's great to get your feedback to my question.  I would be keen to rent an RV privately as I find that the big companies are pretty impersonal (not to mention hellishly expensive) and I like the idea of meeting new people who give a damn about their unit and can share some of their RVing experiences with me. Would anyone consider renting (assuming insurance etc could be sorted out) to a friendly reputable family? 

 

[airtrafficone]

GDay from Australia.  I bought an RV (used) and travelled the USA and Canada for 18 months a while back.  My insurance was going to be very, very expensive - that was until I got a CA Drivers Licence.  Sat the theory test, drove around with a nice DMV person for 45 minutes and there ya go.  75% cheaper...  before I did that tho' I did find a person who rented us their RV for a month so we could test the whole thing out.  The big issue was insurance so I paid his insurer an extra $200.00 for the month and was covered before I got the CA drivers licence.  They left all their pots n pans etc (except for clothes and towels and personal stuff) in their motorhome and we treated it extremely well (as an air force officer and registered nurse would!). We checked with the IRS and State Tax authorities and they said it was just a private "Hobby" type arrangement and no declaration of the income received would be necessary...would obviously pay to re-check that one today!  Cheers - Gordon

 

[donn]

Met two couples this past summer one from Germany and a flellow countryman of yours.  Both bought their RV in the US.  The Germans were traveling for a year and having a ball.  The New Zelanders had bought a highly used MH, actually their son who lives in Canada bought it for them, we're traveling for 6 weeks around the Pacific Northwest.  When they got done they were going to return the motor home to Vancouver and have their son sell it for them.  Tis might be your best solution.  As long as you buy in a state with no sales tax like Oregon your investment should be far cheaper than renting.  There are lots of thrift stores where you can buy almost everything you need to equip it, and before you leave donate everything back to the thrift store.  You could also make arrangements with a fellow RVer who might be willing to make most purchases for you so when you arrive all you need to do is load your personal possessions and gas up and go.  Just another thought?

 

[DeanG]

Thanks Gordon and Don, really useful information. We are not really in the position to buy an RV outright and are looking at a shorter term trip but your ideas are pointing us in new exciting directions!