The Most Misconceived Notion about allowing your RV to be a Motorhome Rental

[Note from RV52.com: This is a guest article by Stephen Dross from S&J RV Rental Consulting. RV52 was so fascinated by the idea that you could actually do something better with your RV than let it set in the storage lot that I asked Stephen to write an article for RV52.com. I’m hoping he’ll write more, but this is the first, and I think this might get your wheels turning. Take it from here Stephen…]

Have you ever considered your RV as a Motorhome Rental?

The first look I get from people when I ask them “allowing use of their RV as a motorhome rental” is the look of death and dismay that I could even ask that question. But have they ever stopped and really gave it some thought? Not just a knee jerk reaction of “NO”. What are the positive things that they would get out of renting out their motor home? It’s the negative things that most RV owners think will happen, but rarely ever do. I will explain the positives and disprove the negatives to show that most motor homes in a rental fleet, or just rented out are safe and usually brought back in the same condition that it left in (less wear and tear).

Will Renters tear up my Motorhome?

Most owners think that the renter doesn’t care about their RV and will ruin it. This is about as far from the truth as you can get. Most people take care of the things they rent. Yes there are exceptions to the rule, but for the most part families, college students, and corporations take care of your motor home. In my 15 years of being in the RV rental business, I have only seen 2 accidents and 1 cigarette burn in the carpet. The accidents were minor fender benders and the cigarette burn was paid for by the renter. As a rental business I take a large enough deposit to pay for these things in case they ever happen. The RV is then repaired to “Good as new.”

RV Owners cause more damage than Renters

I also ran an RV body repair business and found that more damage was done by the RV owners than the renters. Owners tended to do more damage because they felt more comfortable driving the RV. Just like a Chef in the kitchen usually gets cut when he doesn’t respect the knife, an RV owner usually has an accident when they are tired, and just want to put a 40 foot RV in a 35 foot space.  Also, I have seen RV owners blow transmissions because they knew that their diesel pusher could pull that trailer up the mountain. It is more difficult to tell an owner what they can and can’t do with their RV.

A renter is different.  Renters like to have fun in a RV, but they are made to understand that if they break something or damage the RV they will be paying for it. This fear gives me the upper hand in making sure the customer has a good time, but still respects the RV. Owners on the other hand tend to break things more often or blame it on cheaply made parts.

The most common usage and “problem” caused by recreational vehicle renters

Customers love to rent RV’s to go to sporting events. They party and have a great time every year. This includes people and corporations. Most of the time the biggest concern is a dirty carpet. Cleaning a carpet is easy and cheap. The renter pays to have the carpets cleaned and usually doesn’t gripe if they had a great time. Prior to the customer leaving my lot they would be told the consequences if they returned the RV in a different condition than they received it. To show them I meant business, I videotaped them in the RV when they left and when they came back. Any discrepancies were noted and showed to the customer prior to them leaving, after we checked in the RV.

What about an accident with my Motorhome?

The biggest concern I get from owners is what if the customer gets into an accident with my RV? First of all we have commercial rental RV insurance on all our RVs. This takes care of the other party and your RV. Once again your RV gets fixed “good as new.” We take a deposit from the customer that takes care of the deductible for the rental motorhome insurance. This also puts the rental customer on notice, because we are holding his money in case of any damage. This protects your RV in that it makes the customer more aware of what they are doing and how to handle you motor home. If we feel that there is even a slight question of their driving abilities we take them on a test ride to see if they can drive it. If you educate the customer prior to them leaving your lot you eliminate 95% of all your problems.

Who am I and Why do I care and Why should you?

A well educated rental customer is someone who will take care of your motorhome. That is my goal, to teach you how to make money and to protect your investment.  I have complete “turnkey” rental-businesses-in-a-box with getting started training to match. I’ll teach YOU to teach the rental customer what you want, and how you want it done, and it will create less friction when the RV comes back from rental. Then the guest will rent from you every year like clockwork and you just sit back and collect the rental money.