How to get camper back home

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yman97

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Jul 25, 2021
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Location
Omaha
I am hoping someone here can help offer some advice. My father-in-law died in a tragic accident while camping with his toy hauler camper near Durango a couple weeks ago. We are trying to get the camper and his truck back home to Omaha which is about 900 miles away. Neither my wife or I have experience hauling it and aren't comfortable doing so particularly thru the mountains. How do you recommend we get it back? Are there places that will haul them both to us?

Thanks.
 
Very sorry about your father-in-law.

To be hauled 900 miles would require a flatbread trailer. One big enough to fit both the camper and the tow vehicle. There are service companies that will do this. You would need to call some of the vehicle transport companies to see if and how much it will cost.

Another possibility is to pay someone to drive the vehicles to your location. This would be contigent on the vehicles condition, registration etc.

900 miles is at least a 2 day trip one way. Maybe a friend or another family member could assist.
 
As someone said FMCA has a service
MASA does as well (Medical Air Services Association I think)
And there are professional "Porters" who can drive it back. Contact a local RV dealer. they may be willing to port it back and sell it for you if you do not want it and it's in decent condition.
 
Good Sam has an optional service for that as well.

Here are a few RV transport services. None will be inexpensive for a 900 mile journey.


Ideally you should get a RV hauler from either Durango or Omaha, to cut down on extra travel time for the hauler to get there.
 
Everybody that own an RV has had a first time they drove or pulled it. The first RV we purchased was a 37’ triple axle 5th wheel. I pulled it from the dealership home which was about 30 miles. Fly out to where the truck and trailer are. If everything is in good shape get someone to help you hook up and find a big empty parking lot and drive around until you feel pretty comfortable. Make sure everything stops when the brakes are applied. Practice backing up and don’t get too upset if you find you can’t. Most folks that have 5th wheels and TT have a hard time backing them. The other thing you can do is take the truck and trailer to an RV sales lot and see if they will sell them on consignment.
 
Pay for my transportation from Eugene to Durango and from Omaha back to Eugene plus expenses and insurance coverage I might be able to do it for you. I have lots of towing experience towinga 36 foot fifth wheel with a diesel dually.
 
This issue here is a legal one, anyone that receives pay for driving such an RV must have a CDL (commercial drivers license) of the same type needed to drive 18 wheelers then of course there is liability insurance, etc . Which means it will not be cheap. There are companies that will relocate 5th wheels for a fee, though again not cheap, their customers seem to primarily be people that own 5th wheels used for seasonal camping who have reached an age where they can no longer tow the 5th wheel themselves.
 
You definitely have some mountain driving to get as far as Denver, but I would certainly think that you could drive it the trip from Denver to Omaha. That would save a major part of the expense. As mentioned, if you do hire someone, be sure that they are properly licensed and insured just in case they have an accident.
 
Get legally appointed as the executor or something that says you can legally move the asset or dispose of it. No one should try to move the unit without the legal owner, be that the estate, or if no will, a court appointed executors written approval. You may wind up needing to pay the lot rent for quite a while if it has to go through probate.
 
Thats a tough situation. You might consider having the trailer hauled by a reputable outfit while you drive the truck back. Not sure how economical that would be, but it should be easier to find someone licensed and insured to just pull the trailer, rather than someone to pull your trailer with your truck.
 
Have you tired calling any RV dealers in your area or the area where the trailer is located. The drivers that deliver the new trailers are mostly independents. There may be one looking to make some extra money.
 
Find out what his insurance is. I have CoachNet for this exact reason, my wife does not pull the 5W and the insurance will get everything home if I can not. I would check that first. I would also do it free you pay fuel and I was a commercial driver in the rig pictured (mine) not a company's.
 
Have you tired calling any RV dealers in your area or the area where the trailer is located. The drivers that deliver the new trailers are mostly independents. There may be one looking to make some extra money.
That was my thinking too. Hopefully a dealership has a driver looking for a back-haul trip.
 
My wife is the executor and neither of us have driven it and aren't comfortable driving it back ourselves. We have looked into having a friend of my FIL drive it back but running into issues with the insurance. I think our next option is to port it back to Omaha if possible and if that doesn't work, fly out there and sell the thing. We plan to sell it any way. I appreciate the suggestions.
 

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