With the restrictions on international travel, traveling by RV has never been more popular. One of the best ways to see America is from an RV and a great way for people to decide whether or not RV life is for them is to rent an RV to give the lifestyle a try. So if you don’t own an RV, maybe an RV rental is an option for your next vacation.
We LOVE being able to see the view and landscape change as we explore the United States in our RV. It’s a great way to be able to enjoy the amazing sites that our great nation has to offer. We know if you give the RV life a try, you just might be ready to take the plunge!
How To Rent an RV
There are several options for RV rental. Many RV dealerships have rental programs. There are also several wider known RV rentals companies like Cruise America or El Monte RV.
These companies purchase fleets of RVs with the purpose of having them available as rentals. Usually, these are class C RVs (RVs that feel more like driving a truck or van).
RV Sharing – RV Rental By RV Owners
Rv Sharing is becoming a popular and preferred way to rent an RV. So what’s “RV sharing?” Think of it like Airbnb for RVs where private owners will rent out their RVs. This is a great way to be able to rent all sorts of RVs from travel trailers, 5th wheels, class A, B, and C RVs as well as camper vans – basically any type of RV out there.
There are several websites available to check out RV rentals through these sharing programs in YOUR local area. Rvshare.com, Outdoorsy.com, and rvezy.com, and we will link to these below. The RV owners set the rates, the rules, etc. Items like deposit costs to use the generator are things to consider when renting. However, if you think you might want to buy an RV – we HIGHLY recommend renting an RV first to check it out.
Before You Rent an RV…..
Before you secure that RV rental, there are some things to consider.
- How many people will be going with you? This will dictate how large of an RV you might want to rent.
- Do you want to stay in campgrounds or boondock (off-grid camping)? If you want to stay more off-grid, maybe consider a camper van or something that will be easier to get into some of those back road areas.
- Renting is also a GREAT option if you have friends or family who might want to join you in RV’ing for the weekend but maybe you don’t have space in your rig for everyone. Having that friend or family member rent one for their group is a great way to have them come along!
We Rented Out Our First RV!
We have PERSONALLY rented our Rv – not the one we have currently but when we had our first RV. Our very first rig was a gas engine Class A and we decided to rent it out. We were going to put it in storage for the year so we thought, why not rent it? Why not make a little money while we were not using it?
We rented it out 3 times in total before we sold it to purchase our current RV. Our very first rental did not go so well. The RV ended up needing a repair while the renter had it. We did NOT make any money on this rental because of the cost of the repair – we only broke even.
For the next two rentals, we did make some money (we’re not talking about getting rich kind of money here, but the small amount of income at least helped offset some of our costs of ownership for the year).
When listing your RV with a rental service, you do have to have the rig inspected for safety and to stay compliant with guidelines set forth by the 3rd party (we used Outdoorsy).
We will not be renting out our current RV due to the size and complexity of the systems, etc. Plus, we will be doing some reno on it this year which means it really won’t be in usable condition for a few months this winter. (Stay tuned – and make sure you are subscribed to our channel for RV reno videos coming this winter).
One thing that we think might be fun is to rent a smaller air stream that we could tow with the Jeep for a weekend, etc.
After you watch our video, let us know in the comments if you’ve ever rented an RV or rented out your RV and what your experience was. OR if you want to rent an RV – where would you go and what kind of RV would you want to give a try?
See you on the road – until next time, stay safe.
