Renting a Class B

[elad]

I am interested in renting a Class B before I purchase one. I live in Northern California and although I can find plenty of Class C rentals, Class B's seem impossible to find. Anyone know of someplace that rents them? I can rent a RT down in San Diego. I suppose I could drive down there and rent one. I'd prefer N. Calif. or Oregon though.
I also have a small dog which might make it even harder to find.
Thanks!

[Mike]

I'll assume you've googled this, but just in case, here's one I came up with.

http://www.khulsey.com/rv_info/rv_rentals.html

It's got links to most of the major rental places in the US, and although most
rent C's, there might be one that does class B rentals.
There's an RV place near me that sells RVs of all shapes and sizes, and then
rents them on behalf of the registered owners, to generate revenue to help pay
for them. They have class B models on their lot.

[elad]

I went through all those. I did find a class B in New Zealand. I'd love to go there and try one out!

I found one place while searching online that listed them around Sacramento. It was an old listing though and when I called he said that they don't rent Class B's anymore because "no one wants to rent a Class B".
I'll keep looking.
Thanks for the link though Mike. It was worth checking out.

Dale

[Mike]

No worries. Just thought there might be someplace that might rent B's out your way. I guess more
people rent larger models, like the ones you see crowding the parking lots at all the places I love
to visit. Cruise America and El Monte are the most common ones we see out on the road.
Maybe the best you can hope for is to find a local class B dealer, and see what they can do by way of a
"test drive" over a day or two, maybe?

Good luck,
Mike.

[g1g]

I just did a search and found some at www.getrv.com I know I saw others too in the past. I just googled "class b camper rental" You mentioned northern Californis (i think) so I searched san francisco

[elad]

Thanks! Don't know how I missed that one, maybe because I googled "class B RV rentals". They do have 2 B's at a decent price I think. No pets allowed but can't have everything I guess.
I did find a Rialta for rent the other day but they wanted over $300.00 a day and I don't really like the Rialta anyway.

[Dieps]

This isn't very close to California but they do rent Road Treks. http://www.americanrv.com/ Maybe they know of a company who rents then near you. You might also call Road Trek, Pleasure Way and other manufacturers to see if they know of rentals close to you.

[Mike]

Interesting that they have the 170V models listed as "11-15 feet long".
I always thought the 170 was around 17 feet long?

[Dieps]

Yes that is interesting. They also list 190's as 16 to 20 feet. The next time I'm in there, I'll have to ask why they do that.

[Mike]

When we first decided to travel by RV early in 2008, I started looking into the various sizes
and types. We even looked at a class C from a Canadian location affiliated with CruiseAmerica.
It was nice, and fairly well equipped, and the price seemed reasonable at the time.
Then the price of oil went nuts, as summer approached.
Very quickly, gas mileage became the issue.
So we started looking at Bs, and some small B+ and Cs, and thought about renting before we bought.
If you look at the rental prices, and what's included, and the overage charges on the sites in this
thread, and from our research back then, we figured we could buy a nicer class B with the money
we'd wind up spending on renting. And maybe fix any issues a used vehicle might have.
So, we jumped in when we found ours, never driving one until we drove away in it, and it's been fun
(and sometimes challenging) ever since.
(I did own a full sized van in the late 1970s, so I had some knowledge of how they handled)

[elad]

Thats interesting Mike. I have just been coming to that same conclusion as I price rental prices verses used class B's on Craigs List and E-Bay. I am thinking more towards buying an older used for now. I can upgrade later as I learn more about what I want in a van.

Dale

[Mike]

Hi Dale,
There are many more stories on here about buying your first B, and I don't think anyone
says it's easy. The trick seems to be patience, and don't necessarily let your heart rule your
head. Having said that, the temptation to just jump in was overwhelming when we finally
found ours, on the RV Trader. We saw it, the people we bought it from were the 2nd owners,
and they gave us a good feeling about it. We chatted for quite a while, and they gave us a
tour of some of the features (we later found out that there was a lot more to these things
than they could ever demonstrate in 20 minutes). So, we left and went home, and talked
about it for a bit, pros/cons, price seemed about right, and I called them back and said
we'd like to buy it.
Glad we bought a low mileage used B ('02 purchased in '0. As has been mentioned by others,
someone else took the depreciation hit, and we got a nice used vehicle. It has needed a few
odds and ends, but much of what I've spent on it has been discretionary. Upgrades I thought
would be of benefit for any number of reasons. So the saved money on used has been spent
on it anyway.
That's our story. No rentals involved.

Good luck in your search.
Mike.

[elad]

Just found an add for this on Craigslist http://www.rvsanfrancisco.com/ROADTREK_RENTAL.html

Not a bad deal for a rental I think.

Dale

[Mike]

Doesn't sound too bad, are they listed anywhere else online? Reputable? BBB accredited? Private owner/renters?

So let's say you drive 500 miles per day. At $0.20/mile it'll cost $100,
(I can easily put that per day on ours - is the 100 miles included per day? that'll save $20/day),
on top of your gas costs per 500 miles (average at @20mpg, 500 miles = 25 gal. so @$3.00+/gallon as diesel
is more expensive than regular, approximately = $75/day/500 miles for fuel),
and then your daily rental fee of $160/day.
so your per day rental cost, assuming you were to drive 500 miles per day,
will be around $335. Or $315, if you get 100 miles per day free.
That doesn't include insurance, security deposit, and anything else you might incur
like generator overages, or bedding, cleanup, or dumping when you get back.

Food for thought?