Rent or Buy for 10 month trip?

[MickiJeana]

I have a window of opportunity to be without a home, and travel while I work, from August to May 2018. Want to live in something like a 25' Winnebago Spirit and travel around the US. I would work out of my 'home'. After August would want to sell my RV, if I chose to buy one. Question is: should I buy a used RV or try to find a long term rental? I am a total newbie.

[Grit_dog]

^ you could get a decent class C for the $35k and keep it, although based on your last post, I'd want something fairly new, less potential issues, so maybe you're looking at $50k. Either way, you'd be hard pressed to lose $35k on a used rv in 1 year unless you bought it totally wrong or trashed it.

Don't freak out about the "constant" repairs. It's not like these things are rolling remodeling projects. Yes you could need repairs. No it's not likely huge or serious issues. Drivetrain and chassis, no more than the average car with similar miles (if you're talking newer models). Camper portion, appliances and the like are pretty darn relaible. Not worth blowing $35-40k into the wind on a rental. If you have that much money, save some of it by buying and then selling.

[wa8yxm]

You can get a decent TT or 5ER for the cost of the rental so why not, and when you are done you own it.

Now. there is a danger in this... You might decide to KEEP IT AND USE IT :>)

[jplante4]

I wouldn't buy new to hold it for 10 months and sell. Buy a later model used and get most of you money back.

If you're buying new thinking you'll have fewer problems, research some more. You will have problems, they're just covered by the warranty. You'll need to find some place to have these things fixed under warranty, whereas if you buy a used rig, any RV repair place can fix issues.

You don't need to be mechanically inclined. You just need access to YouTube.

[MickiJeana]

Looking at a new Jayco Redhawk 29XL. Two year warranty. They seem to hold their value pretty well once they are used. Thoughts?

[bfast54]

Buy a used El Monte RV possibly Cruise America but El monte would be the best (Every year they get a whole bunch of new units and they're sitting at the KOA in Middlebury waiting to be picked up )....by the rental places....They get together in Elkhart Middlebury etcetera like that --and have a spring meeting --and then they all go off to their separate ways in the Class C (just saw about 50 of them a couple weeks ago).. anyways you should be able to buy a good used one...and itshould have all maintenance records have been kept on it.

use it and then with the maintenance records that you have and everything ---you should return around and sell it for pretty close as much as you paid for it actually ---and be just fine.

[Effy]

MickiJeana wrote:
Thank you all for the input. General consensus is correct - renting for 10 months is about $35K. Hopefully I would be able to buy a 2015, 2016 or even 2017 Class C and sell it after 10 months of use for something less than a $35K loss?

Just to add some background....I am single female, not mechanically inclined. Will be moving into a new house at the end of the 10 months, so unless I hit the lottery, won't be able to keep my RV toy.

You found someone to give you a long term rental at $125/day? Despite being expensive, that's a steal and knowing what I know about rental companies, suspiciously low.

[timmac]

MickiJeana wrote:
Thank you all for the input. General consensus is correct - renting for 10 months is about $35K. Hopefully I would be able to buy a 2015, 2016 or even 2017 Class C and sell it after 10 months of use for something less than a $35K loss?

Just to add some background....I am single female, not mechanically inclined. Will be moving into a new house at the end of the 10 months, so unless I hit the lottery, won't be able to keep my RV toy.

You still could lose over $10,000 just from the use over 10 months and the more miles you put on a new or newer RV, a 2017 will lose $15,000 the day you buy it.

Oh and by the way they all need consent upkeep and repairs..

Good Luck.

[Mr_Mark1]

Hello MickiJeana, after re-reading this thread seeing the responses, four things pop out to me.

1) you are a newbie
2) you are not mechanically inclined
3) you will be traveling alone
4) you will be working from your RV

If you were my sister, I would say maybe buying a class B might be easier for you to maneuver around and might have less things to go wrong. Also, might be easier to sell at the end of 10 months.

I think you could certainly get out with less than a $35,000 loss if you buy it correctly from the start. It would depend on the unit and how many repairs it might need along the way.

The website 'www.pplmotorhomes.com' has a good selection of class B' and class C's.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Safe travels,
MM.

[MickiJeana]

Thank you all for the input. General consensus is correct - renting for 10 months is about $35K. Hopefully I would be able to buy a 2015, 2016 or even 2017 Class C and sell it after 10 months of use for something less than a $35K loss?

Just to add some background....I am single female, not mechanically inclined. Will be moving into a new house at the end of the 10 months, so unless I hit the lottery, won't be able to keep my RV toy.

[timmac]

MickiJeana wrote:
I have a window of opportunity to be without a home, and travel while I work, from August to May 2018. Want to live in something like a 25' Winnebago Spirit and travel around the US. I would work out of my 'home'. After August would want to sell my RV, if I chose to buy one. Question is: should I buy a used RV or try to find a long term rental? I am a total newbie.

Rental over 10 months will cost a lot of $$ but buying used and if it needs tires, repairs, insurance, etc, etc over 10 months could also cost a lot of $$, than hoping someone will buy it at what you paid might also fail.

10 months goes by fast why not go cheap with a small popup or motel, that's unless you have many funds to throw away.

[Effy]

Just did some back of the napkin calculations on what we would quote for a 10 month rental. At the discounted price of $200/day, and cutting a break on a long term to $1200/week, the quote would be $48k. We are no longer in business however, but our RV is for sale and I could get darn close to that on selling it outright. I doubt you would find any rental company to give you a quote that low. Matter of fact I would probably put most of the majors for a class c at about $75k as they don't discount for long term. Their daily rate is what it is. PM me if you want more info or have questions on a rental or sale. (the MH we currently have was never in our rental fleet - it's personal. )

[time2roll]

Buy (used)

[Effy]

I see the OP is a new member, posted almost 20 days ago and hasn't returned, so this could all be a waste of time responding. But..

To clarify, I think the OP is pondering whether a long term rental is better than simply buying a used RV. I don't think he was suggesting buying a rental.

As someone who used to own an RV rental business I can tell you most assuredly that you are far better off buying than renting. I saw a previous post quoting $100-150/day and that is really low. If you can find that price for a rental, good luck. Our rental prices were for $250-350/day and we were in the low end of the spectrum. By the time you ad gen usage, mileage and any insurance you're exceeding that. Even if you could find someone that would rent their RV for that long, and cut you a break of $1,000/week, at 10 months you are looking at $40k - minimum. You could most certainly buy a very nice used Class C or A for that. Sure you'd be saddled with selling it when you are done, but then you have the opportunity to recoup some of that.

Unless you can expense it, or have very deep pockets and don't care, you'd be throwing away a LOT of money.

[jpbuch9309]

Buy it you might like the open road