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beginning full time rving? buying or renting


Vicsze

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I am a novice to living on RVs. I want to test out different kinds of RVs before I begin my nomadic lifestyle.
A few questions are where is the best places to rent different types of RVs both class A and class B. I am also looking at a class B Sprinter RV(preferably one with leveling jacks). I would like some place to rent including for longer periods without breaking the bank.
Also If I decide to spend a while on an RV like half a year to an year to try out the lifestyle I am wondering is it cheaper to rent or cheaper to buy and finance an RV using a 40% downpay.

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I am a novice to living on RVs. I want to test out different kinds of RVs before I begin my nomadic lifestyle.

A few questions are where is the best places to rent different types of RVs both class A and class B. I am also looking at a class B Sprinter RV(preferably one with leveling jacks). I would like some place to rent including for longer periods without breaking the bank.

Also If I decide to spend a while on an RV like half a year to an year to try out the lifestyle I am wondering is it cheaper to rent or cheaper to buy and finance an RV using a 40% downpay.

"rent including for longer periods without breaking the bank. " that is going to be the problem, as it will not be cheap. I would try to find a used on at a good price. And if you do not like it, at least you could sell it for not much of a loss if you bought it right. Not sure if the Sprinter class B have leveling jacks as they are small and not wide like a class A or C. Maybe you should look into a 5th wheel? All living space and you can detach and drive the truck as your transportation.

2015 Ram 3500 RC DRW CTD AISIN 410 rear

2016 Mobile Suites 38RSB3

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Any of your local RV dealers should be able to point you in the right direction. Renting isn't a bad idea to try before you buy.... providing it's not an extended trip. They can get spendy pretty darn fast, and financing a new rig then flipping it back in just 6 months to a year will probably cost you dearly. Personally, in that situation I would just try a few different rigs for 3-4 day jaunts then take it from there.

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When you rent an RV which cost the company renting it anywhere from $80,000 to $150,000 to buy has to be expensive. Rental RVs have a lower resale price when replaced because they were used as rentals and the company must recover that depreciation as well as operating costs and some profit margin. At the same time it would be a good idea for you to rent an RV for at least one trip of a week or two since you have no previous experience. A two week rental of a typical class C motorhome of 25 - 30' in length will probably cost you about $1200 to $1600. While it won't be cheap, you can learn some very valuable lessons and experience what the lifestyle is really like.

 

If you have not done so, I also suggest that you visit your local library or Amazon and get one or two books on the subject of living in an RV.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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I am in a similar situation, I just retired and have been reading & researching different forums. From reading and imagining about the different RVs, I have even zeroed to two smaller couple Travel Trailers, Casita 17 Deluxe & Escape 17.

 

I do not see any rental place of Travel Trailers around in Central Florida to rent one. The above two are sold only at their respective factories, which are across the country from me in Florida. Not many RV dealers carry any Used ones either.

 

I am still looking, but it is easy to get apprehensive about buying a TT, which you have not been in to see.

 

I do not want to deviate from the OP, but just pointing out it is not easy to decide till until you buy one and try, if you like the RV lifestyle & the RV great, otherwise start the selling process.

 

Best

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I've been looking to get into fulltime RVing too was fortunate to find a pretty nice 1992 class c motorhome at a good price. It's not perfect nor is it permanent...but it will allow me to get started, to learn and to really live the RV life before investing a huge amount of money.

 

Good Luck!

Dan

 

http://www.taketimeforlife.com

"The Best Gift We Can Give Our Children is Our Time"

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Here's my take on renting.

If you buy an RV without trying it out and don't like it you are out the cost of the unit when you replace it, as RV's are extraordinarily expensive when you buy and sell.

The saying we heard at "Boot Camp" was that "you buy 3 RV's before you get the one you want".

If that's true and you are paying say $50,000 a piece for them, you could be losing $5,000 a piece on the ones you don't like.

If it costs you $1000 each to rent the 3 types of RV to find which one you really like you'd be $7000 ahead of the game.

Of course if you're paying $100,000 a piece and losing $20,000 a piece (which is quite possible), you'd be WAY ahead of the game.

If you aren't in a hurry to buy (which is GOOD) you should go to every RV show you can find and spend time sitting in RV's and thinking about what you like and dislike about each one. Make a list of make/model/price and the like/dislikes. (Take pictures because you'll forget otherwise).

 

Then go to RV Boot Camp offered by Escapees and talk to fellow beginners.

 

When you narrow it down to a few of the HUNDREDS of different makes/models/lengths/finishes/engine choices, DRIVE some of them to see what they are like on the road.

Then make an educated choice and hope you got it right.

 

If you buy it and finance it then decide you don't like it you will likely be faced with the fact that the RV is worth WAY less than you paid for it and you can't afford to get rid of it because of how much you owe on it.

Finance terms over 10 years might be offered but you'll be upside down on the loan forever.

 

Looking out of my window right now I can see a C Class that hasn't moved in 2 years I bet it doesn't have 10K miles on it. The owner doesn't want it but he owes too much on it to sell it!

I don't know where he thinks it will end. Maybe he'll pay it down enough to sell before it rusts away.

It's a big investment, take your time.

Hope this helps,

BnB

2009 Monaco Cayman DP 38'

bnbrv.blogspot.com/

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I am in a similar situation, I just retired and have been reading & researching different forums. From reading and imagining about the different RVs, I have even zeroed to two smaller couple Travel Trailers, Casita 17 Deluxe & Escape 17.

Welcome to the Escapee forums!

 

Renting an RV is expensive, but as pointed out it costs much less than it would to buy one that doesn't work and then trade several times, or not use the one you buy. In addition, it can be difficult to find places to rent each type of RV that is available for sale. Renting first to see if you like the style of travel is probably a good idea as most of what you will experience in terms of lifestyle and living conditions will be pretty much the same in any RV you choose. But it is usually not practicle to try and rent one of each type so that you can experience each as the availability of most types of RV is very limited. I have seen very few places that rent travel trailers or fifth wheels, probably due to the issue of having a proper tow vehicle. By far the most available type of RV for rental is the class C and those are usually in the medium to smaller sizes. There are some places who rent class A rigs but they are less common. When you throw in the cost of renting that makes it impractical for most prospective buyers to test many different types of to rent for longer than a few weeks. It can quickly become a budget issue to get very extensive experience but it is a good way to lower the risk involved in your first purchase.

 

A friend once told me that buying your first RV is very much like a marriage proposal! A wonderful experience when well chosen but very expensive to correct if you make a mistake. :P

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Here's my take on renting.

If you buy an RV without trying it out and don't like it you are out the cost of the unit when you replace it, as RV's are extraordinarily expensive when you buy and sell.

The saying we heard at "Boot Camp" was that "you buy 3 RV's before you get the one you want".

If that's true and you are paying say $50,000 a piece for them, you could be losing $5,000 a piece on the ones you don't like.

If it costs you $1000 each to rent the 3 types of RV to find which one you really like you'd be $7000 ahead of the game.

Of course if you're paying $100,000 a piece and losing $20,000 a piece (which is quite possible), you'd be WAY ahead of the game.

If you aren't in a hurry to buy (which is GOOD) you should go to every RV show you can find and spend time sitting in RV's and thinking about what you like and dislike about each one. Make a list of make/model/price and the like/dislikes. (Take pictures because you'll forget otherwise).

 

 

 

 

Thanks For the information on rent or buy.

I know that rental fleets are pretty limited in kinds of RVs I can try. Though I wonder where is the break point when renting costs more than buy or sell as rent costs are usually priced for a weekly vacation and get pretty expensive if one rents monthly which often costs $4000 if not more. Especially if its a class A RV. not knowing depreciation rates I wonder how long before rental rates outpace depreciation in different types of RVs. Also how much down is best to stay rightside up.

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Huge amount of variables to calculate to find an answer. And even if you did living in one for a month is like being on holidays. Long term has way different requirements. Things that you never even thought of become important in a long term situation.

I think almost everyone here, on these forums, is on there second, third, fourth or more RV. So don't think any of us got it right the first time. My suggestion is to do as much homework as you can and buy what you 'think' you want. Then calculate into your figures a trade in a year or two. Yeah it 'may' cost more. But then again you do the homework right and it 'may' not.

Good luck.

 

regards

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Renting a Class A, C or even B MH for a two week trip to try it out can run you $2000.00 to $4000.00

depending on if you want the mileage included or not.

 

If you want to try a RV for 6 months you will need to buy it.

 

Try renting a couple sizes for a long weekend each, you will know pretty fast if the size works for you.

Phil & Alberta Saran

2019 Keystone Cougar 30RLS

2012 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 diesel

Colorado

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Renting a Class A, C or even B MH for a two week trip to try it out can run you $2000.00 to $4000.00

depending on if you want the mileage included or not.

It really isn't that difficult to determine what it will cost you. Just visit a few of the rental internet sites and plug in the numbers for the trip you are considering. As an example, I chose an independent RV rental company located in Dallas, TX. I took the lowest priced RV available which was 25' class C with one slide and I chose no options at all, with them supplying nothing but the RV. Here was what I got for a three month rental from Sept. 1, trough Dec. 1 of 2015.

 

3 Months @ $4,374.00 Per Month:

$13,122.00

1 Day @ $180.00 Per Day:

$180.00

Other Charges:

$0.00

Sub Total:

$13,302.00

+ Tax:

$831.37

Total:

$14,133.37

+ Damage Deposit:

$500.00

Amount Needed at Pickup:

$14,633.37

So for a 3 month period you would pay a total of $14,000+ assuming the return of the $500 extra for deposit and you must pay all of it up front. Not very practicle.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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I'm purchasing a 1992 Fleetwood Tioga 24' Class C with 48,000 miles for $4,500.00.

Admittedly it's not perfect and not the one I plan to stay in indefinitely, but will allow my son and I to experience the full-time lifestyle without a huge outlay of money.

Dan

 

http://www.taketimeforlife.com

"The Best Gift We Can Give Our Children is Our Time"

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We rented a Class "A" (Winnebago Vista 32) for a week this past fall ... specifically to give motor homing a try. A one week rental (10 am Monday ... thru 10 am the following Monday was $1,695). There was another $15 per day charge for liability insurance ($105 total) plus a $19.95 per day charge ($139.65 total) for the collision damage waiver. On top of that ... there was a fee of $75 to cover windshield damage. When all was said and done - $1939.65 in rental charges ... which included a mileage allowance of 700 miles (100 miles per day) and a generator allowance of 7 hours (1 hour per day).

 

Had we not been renting specifically so that we could get a little experience with a motor home - there's a whole lot cheaper ways to get 700 miles of driving and 7 nights of lodging!!!!! Fortunately for us - we had such a good time on our "test trip" that we decided to more forward and buy a coach of our own. Here's what we're driving now! :rolleyes:

 

210_zpsvlq2zxut.jpg

The Spacenorman

2012 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 43' DFT

2012 Jeep Liberty

Our Travel Website: www.penquinhead.com​

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