UK couple travelling America in rv top tips

[G.Rey92]

Me and my girlfriend are planning on coming stateside to buy an rv and travel around America one thing were struggling wit at the moment is where's the best state to buy rvs / best selection and also how can we get insurance without a fixed address .

[Twotoes]

What will you do with th RV at the end of the year. Have you considered renting one. If you rent you can buy insurance thru the rental company. 

[G.Rey92]

Thanks! We've been looking at Class C motorhomes for under $5000 which we would sell at the end of the year, renting is far too expensive for the trip we have planned.

[Kirk W]

Let me first welcome you to the Escapee forums! I suggest that you start by reading this page written by friends of ours from UK who have done what you plan for many years. Check out this link. 

[Sculptor]

In my opinion try warm states with high populations of retirees for used RVs. Be aware of possible insect damage further south.  My 2 cents. 

[Phil Saran]

$5K will get you some kind of Class C MH, but you better plan on having enough $$$ to handle the repairs on it as you

go around the country.  As to where to shop to buy one, Arizona is always good.

[stripit]

As Phil stated your price point is pretty low, and for those dollars you will probably have to spend some more money to repair a few items, and that could end up a lot of $.

Here in Arizona I see some class C's for sale that are in decent shape and would probably work for you but more in the 10-15 thousand dollar range. 

[JimK]

Forget the idea.  $5K, or even several times that amount, will not buy you anything reliable enough to use.  Nor can you easily find anything in that price range, especially starting from overseas.

[noteven]

Sort by type and price etc

[The Quiet Assassin]

I am from the UK and did this a few years back.

First step is join Escapees and register in their mail program. This gets you a mailing address you use for registering your vehicle and getting insurance. 

Getting insurance will be a PITA as you are unlikely to get a US drivers licence. I found that Progressive and Foremost were the only ones who would cover me. I used  Champ Carter Insurance Agency LLC at (936) 327-3804  in Livingston Texas who are familiar with the problem of insuring overseas visitors. Read the small print carefully. You may want to go with the state minimum cover. basic insurance  Things may have changed. 

At $5000 you are going to be looking at Craigslist Rvtraderonline as most dealers will not handle stuff at that sort of price. You can definitely find something that will get you round the USA PROVIDING you can fix stuff yourself. Make sure it is built on a popular chassis. Avoid European imports.A Chevy Tioga would be a good choice. Spares available everywhere. Buy a petrolengined RV. Petrol is $2.18 in Utah diesel is $2.85 getting a diesel worked on will be difficult and expensive. Anybody can fix a Chevy 350.

Look at the tires carefully if they are older than 7 years budget for a new ones. tire age

The 1 year National Parks pass is an amazing bargain at $80 Some campsites are free with the pass.

I hope you get it together. We did it and had a great couple of years.

 

[bipeflier]

With that kind of budget, I would be buying a good tent and camping equipment, then renting or buying a SUV.  Even $5000 won't buy much in the way of a reliable SUV.

[NDBirdman]

With your budget, going to be almost impossible unless you are willing to work on it as you go.  Something like this: Slide in camper

That's just an example, I have seen them go for much more, and some much less.  Something like that you could drop off at a scrap yard when finished, or sell quick/cheap and not be out much.  What you could do is rent a truck capable of carrying a slide in camper.  Return truck to dealer after dropping off camper somewhere and done, no vehicle to try to sell on the market.

[MadeItToFT]

Just a thought but "if" you have a camper/rv in the UK, and be willing, have you considered doing an exchange?    Several of my Canadian friends have done this with Spain, UK, other European destinations and in turn they've reciprocated with the same over here in Canada and the USA.

Just another idea.    One couple off the top of my head I can think of are TravelwithKevinandRuth.com who did the exchange.   I also believe there's a website I found where folks privately rent out their RVs = can't think of the name but I recall checking into it for ourselves when looking to do Aus' and NZ.

[Rahim]

Travelling is an adventure and I love it. I have spent a lot of time in UK, Thailand, Turkey and Pakistan. Have not visited any country after COVID, and now will be visiting some other Asian countries in 2022. 

[Rahim]

Suggest the countries that you people visit and what are the famous things?

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, Rahim said:

Suggest the countries that you people visit and what are the famous things?

I have been going through the photos I took during our travels and have discovered most of them have no meaning to me now. How much better would it have been to truly appreciate what I was seeing while I was seeing it instead of always looking at everything through a viewfinder?

Linda

[bruce t]

No more responses from the OP. You guys have frightened them away!!! To much negativity and to many assumptions. The OP never gave enough details but that's no excuse to be negative. 

To the OP. Every problem has a solution. You just have to figure out if finding that solution is worth it.

Good luck.