Joined Nov 2005
L10: Grand Master
Forum Thread
Anyone have experience renting an RV?
August 3, 2021 at
09:17 AM
in
Travel & Vacations
Title basically says it all.... looking for people to give first-hand input on experience in renting an RV, e.g. things you'd do differently, stuff you didn't anticipate, etc.
I've been thinking of doing a road trip with the family in an RV for a few years, the kids are getting old enough they'll tolerate it better. One of the issues is that renting an RV is relatively expensive, certainly more than you'd anticipate, so splitting between a couple families would make sense. Also, if it were just our family, I'd be the one that would not only be driving it 95% of the time but also logistics (setup/pumping/etc).
I'm looking at involving the IL's (insert IL joke here) since they are now both retired, but that would give me someone else to drive (FIL, loves to drive) and also someone to split the bill with. The largest RV I can find to rent is "7 people" (we'd be 8 but 2 of those are toddlers) and for 5k miles it's around $5k total for 2 weeks. Not too bad considering the RV is transportation and hotel.
I've been thinking of doing a road trip with the family in an RV for a few years, the kids are getting old enough they'll tolerate it better. One of the issues is that renting an RV is relatively expensive, certainly more than you'd anticipate, so splitting between a couple families would make sense. Also, if it were just our family, I'd be the one that would not only be driving it 95% of the time but also logistics (setup/pumping/etc).
I'm looking at involving the IL's (insert IL joke here) since they are now both retired, but that would give me someone else to drive (FIL, loves to drive) and also someone to split the bill with. The largest RV I can find to rent is "7 people" (we'd be 8 but 2 of those are toddlers) and for 5k miles it's around $5k total for 2 weeks. Not too bad considering the RV is transportation and hotel.
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I enjoyed it, but it was expensive. We used either RVShare or Outdoorsy (don't remember which, as I looked on both extensively). Private owners often aren't keen on long distance travel. Since the trip in 2019, I've looked into a rental for a cross-country trip, and most didn't want us putting that many miles on the vehicle (even though we'd be paying for the excess mileage). That would leave us with Cruise America, and they have a very limited selection of types of motorhomes.
We picked the specific model to rent because it's what I would expect us to buy if/when we buy a motorhome. The most valuable thing I learned is that I don't want a model with a corner bed, where you person sleeping against the wall has to climb over the other person to get out of bed. Bathroom breaks, etc.
We considered buying early 2020, but missed out before the market got crazy. I still look pretty much every week, watch YouTube videos, etc.
I did love the campground we stated at in Western NC...you could hear the stream flowing past our site. That's one thing that appealed to me about RVing.
So beware of the age of the RV you are renting.
I've watched enough videos on YouTube about RVing to conclude that RVing is a terrible idea unless you are extremely wealthy, or something.
I've not experienced it first hand yet, but it helps if you keep your RV looking good and in good repair. I'm sure if it looked like Walter's RV from Breaking Bad (even before the explosion) that the check in person will ask you the age of your rig.
I've watched enough videos on YouTube about RVing to conclude that RVing is a terrible idea unless you are extremely wealthy, or something.
I've not experienced it first hand yet, but it helps if you keep your RV looking good and in good repair. I'm sure if it looked like Walter's RV from Breaking Bad (even before the explosion) that the check in person will ask you the age of your rig.
The one we stayed at required the RV be 10 years old or newer, OR you had to provide photos of the RV if it was older