This post is sponsored by Good Sam RV Rentals
While we’ve rented our home out on Airbnb for years, we just recently started considering renting out our RV when we’re not using it. We discussed some of the pros and cons, and finally decided we’d like to try it out!
Good Sam RV Rentals made it super simple to set up a profile and get our RV ready to rent. The whole process was very simple and took about 20 minutes to fill in all the info. We can’t wait to officially make dates available!
As we researched, here were some of the biggest advantages of renting out a personal RV that we found. I hope it’s helpful to you as you decide on the benefits of renting out your RV!
ADDITIONAL INCOME STREAM
The biggest advantage is clearly having an additional income stream! I love that renting out your RV allows us to fund some of our personal RV and other travel adventures when it’s not in use. The rates will vary significantly by type of RV and by the area in which you live, but ours runs about $200-250/night. That can be a significant amount of money!
We’ve decided to always have our RV professionally cleaned and sanitized after each use, especially during these times. Our cleaner charges $100 to clean the RV, and I love that Good Sam RV Rentals allows you to add this as a mandatory additional cost. In order for that to make sense, we also have a 3-night minimum rental period.
This means we will earn a good chunk of money when we rent out our rig. It will be so great to have that as an income stream for our RV that would otherwise just be sitting in our driveway!
CONSISTENT USE
Vehicles are different from homes in that they really do benefit from consistent use. Since we own a drivable RV, it’s important that it get driven fairly regularly so that the battery doesn’t weaken and so other things don’t break down. Having it be used consistently allows us to stay on top of maintenance and keep it in top working condition for when our family uses it.
EXTRA SPACE IN OUR DRIVEWAY
We’ve decided to store our RV in our driveway so that it’s easily accessible when we want to use it. Also, RV storage is expensive!! Parking it at home means we don’t have to pay those high monthly fees. (Did you know you can actually rent out a driveway for an RV in some areas of the US?)
But it does get a bit annoying at times to have it in the driveway. It’s not a huge deal, but it means there’s not as much space to back our car out of the garage, for the kids to play basketball, or to take out the trash bins to the curb. Definitely not an enormous deal, but enough of a hassle to be mildly irritating. So we thought, what if we could rent out my RV?
Renting out our RV means we get to avoid those high storage fees, still have it accessible when we want to use it, but not have it taking up room in our driveway all the time. It’s a win win win!
MAKE RVING MORE INCLUSIVE
If you’ve been here for a while, you know it’s extremely important to me to help open up the RV world to those who’ve historically been excluded from it, either due to exclusion from the outdoors or lack of generational knowledge. I want RVing to feel accessible and not intimidating to as many people as possible!
RVing was something that felt really overwhelming to me in the beginning, especially since I didn’t know a single person who looked like me who had done it before. I really love encouraging other families of color to connect with the outdoors and each other by giving it a shot.
Renting out our RV feels like a wonderful way to help broaden that community. I’m excited to be able to share the opportunities with others and hopefully provide a welcoming space, along with feedback, support, and insight, to those who may feel uncertain about trying RVing out for the first time.
DISADVANTAGES WHEN RENTING OUT YOUR RV OR RENTING OUT YOUR CAMPERVAN
Renting out your RV definitely isn’t a perfect solution for everyone. The biggest hesitation for us is dealing with damages. Vehicles tend to have things go wrong much more than a stationary home. Not only are there the regular “house” items (like refrigerator, beds, sinks, bathroom, shower, etc.), but there are also vehicle things like brakes, tires, oil, etc. Plus, some of these things are more finicky in an RV than in a house, and fewer people are familiar with how to use them. For instance, an RV really should be relatively flat for the refrigerator to be turned on, or it can really damage it.
There are also considerations like vehicle insurance, providing linens/moving out personal items, taxes, etc. It’s definitely not an insignificant amount of work! In choosing to rent out our RV, we definitely appreciate rental platforms like Good Sam RV Rentals that include insurance for the owner as well as the renter.
Some of this is different if you rent out your camper, of course. There aren’t the same vehicle considerations, but a lot of these questions still apply.
Still, the benefits of renting out your RV are clear so we’re excited to give it a shot and see if the advantages outweigh the downsides for our family. We’ll keep you posted!
Have you either rented out your own RV or rented one from a private party? How did it go? What were the biggest upsides and downsides? I’d love to hear!
