Renting an RV?

We have rented before we bought. We bought a tent trailer. Traded up to a travel trailer. Traded up to a motorhome. Then traded down to a travel trailer. We've done it all LOL
I love traveling and camping. It's so much.
Renting is a great option if you don't want to buy.

One thought: If you have a tow vehicle and you can rent a trailer instead, go that route instead of an RV. Or, if you have a vehicle that you can tow behind the RV, do that. This is why: With an RV, when you get to your destination and get all setup, you're kinda stuck there, unless you pack everything back up and that's a real pain. With a trailer or a tow vehicle, you can setup and still have a vehicle to go exploring and make day trips. If you've never camped with either, you just don't realize the pain it is. You have to level it when you park and usually put in some sort of stabilizers. You may want to put out an awning, a tarp and camp chairs - maybe even an outside camp stove or grill. Add in pop outs or slide outs and you've got a lot of stuff to put back to go anywhere. This is why we went from the RV back to the trailer. We usually setup camp once with the trailer and then use our truck to make day trips to see the sights.

Go for it. And have fun!!!!!

My neighbors used to rent a nice RV every summer when their kids were still at home. They would show up with a big fancy 5th wheel or motorhome in thier driveway and all the neighbors would go running out to check it out. Man did they get nice ones! Slide outs and tvs, all the fancy stuff you dream of. They were gorgeous inside and comfortable couches and beds.They would grab some clothes, stock it with blankets and food and off the went for a few weeks. I discussed price with them a few times and it was high, but it was thier hotel, restaurant, and sometimes transportation all rolled into one, and they had a much better time traveling than if they'd all been stuck in a car together.... Now my husband and I decided to buy our own used motorhome one year and I fixed it up nice and bought all the things we needed for it. We went on a few trips and enjoyed it. We also had to pay for repairs, and tires. It sat in the driveway month after month when we didnt have time to go places but we still had to make the payment every month. And there was insurance. And the neighbors hated seeing it everyday. The tires rotted out from under it, and small critters got in and ruined some things. We lost money on it when we sold it. Maybe when we are older and can travel a bit more we can buy another RV. Or maybe we learned a lesson and we will RENT IT!

We have rented twice and absolutely LOVED it. We live in NM. Because of how they charge mileage packages, we realized we couldn't go to northern AND southern CA like we originally planned, but we could go to southern CA. If you want to go somewhere far from home, you'd need to plan to spend way more on the RV or fly there and rent from there. But if you are thinking TX or NM, you will be fine. It always worked out to about $100 per night for us, but that was up to 7 people traveling and we could pack our own food, saving on meals.

The first time we rented from Cruise America. It worked out great. The second time we went with a local company and they were fine, too. The cost was about the same. But they were so hyper nervous we'd ruin something, they made us do a 2 hour walk through and I was worried the whole time one of my kids would spill something. They expected it to be returned "ready to put back on the lot to rent out again." I thought that was unreasonable. No one rents anything and expects it to be returned ready to go out again. Car companies, rental homes, etc. always get cleaned out and prepped again.

But we loved it both times. The family could easily travel together, play games, doze, snack. We could pull over and eat lunch. The one not-so-great was that we couldn't just easily go anywhere once at our destination. So we parked in San Diego and would have to pack up to go to the zoo. We didn't pull a car behind us and wouldn't have all fit anyway.

But overall, we loved it and look forward to our next excursion.

We rented an RV from American Dream Vacations in Austin for a NASCAR race. The RV itself was fun and we had a great trip; however, DO NOT rent from this company.
They have horrible customer service and tried to screw us out of money and time. We had to take them to arbitration because they charged us a late fee for returning the RV EARLY. What a horrible experience. My advice to you would be to get everything in writing when you rent and be very sure that everything on the RV works before you drive out of that lot. Also, you might want to take along someone who knows something about RVs - they didn't tell us anything about how to get the water tank refilled or the sewage pumped out.
Good luck and have a fun vacation!

We rented a 15 passenger van from Capps in SA about 10 yrs ago. Good company and all went well. I believe they also have Rv's now. I was going to start checking into that for the summer so if you find anything out, post it on here please.
Have fun and glad you are doing family time! I was glad to read about having to pack up once you are there-good advice.