A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

Hi all,

My son needs a tax-shelter so he's going to buy an RV & offer it for rentals - while also using it for themselves.

So I told him I'd ask for the wisdom of this group - which would be better? >> A class A by Forest River or a class B toy hauler by Thor.

Here are links to the Forest River FR3s they looked at - both the DS30 (their favorite) & DS32 (which has bunk beds).
https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/class-a-motorhomes/fr3

And here's the Thor https://www.thormotorcoach.com/outlaw-class-c/ This is the one they started looking at but once they saw the class A's they seem to like the Forest Rivers better. By the way, they don't have any 'toys' to haul, they just liked the porch off the back.

So are there any gotchas they need to be aware of on either of these brands?

Are class A's as easy to drive as C's? The salesmen thought they are actually easier because of where the driver sits & wheel turning radius.

They will most likely be buying new - should they include the extended warranty?
Not sure how long term they'll keep it but it will be fun while they have it.

Thanks for any words of wisdom you can give us.
Catherine

I know nothing about coaches so not putting in anything on that... the one thought I had is when choosing the coach either for a family or as a rental... I would think you need to consider what is most important the use of it as a family or the use of it as a rental??? if the use of it as a family is most important than choose accordingly... I would think with young kids having the bunk beds would be best but that is me thinking .... if as a rental than who are you hoping to rent to??? family?? or couples???
questions to consider
sheila

Also, they should check to make sure a purchased warranty will cover if it's being rented out, as that might be termed commercial use. I'm thinking bunk unit would rent to more families. Myself, I'd never rent my personal unit out, but if that is what they intend, they should look at rental market, more than personal use.
Velda

Have him check into insurance first. In Illinois just to let my brother drive it for a repair I had to add his name, along with a lot of other information, to my insurance policy. Also I could not rent it to anyone. I had it insured with Progressive. Think about which model might receive the least wear and tear. A toy hauler might mean several children while the class A might attract older couples who would be traveling with other adults or older children/ grandchildren. Another consideration would be which model seems easier to set up etc. There are so many things to learn about operating an RV it could be a big hassle if he had to be on the phone a lot walking them through the dumping, hooking up to electrical etc. To me the idea of using a camper after people I didn't know had been sleeping etc in it would be something I couldn't do.

Another thing to consider would be, does the insurance coverage apply to any accidents or mishaps while being used by a renter? Would they have to pay extra for coverage? A bigger unit doesn't always fit into State Park sites, National forest sites etc. Maintenance could be expensive as you would not know how the renters are driving or treating the RV.

I'm gonna put in my two cents worth, although I don't know squat about either vehicles. LOL, that never let it stop me making comments on here, though!

I like the bunk bed idea. My little Jayco has bunk beds, I removed the table (that converts into a queen-size bed) and put the table permanently in my garage. The now-vacant table area gives me a kind of "sitting area" (which I love) without the bother of a table (or a bed) taking up space. JudyJB suggested doing it this way, back when I was deciding on which TT to consider - this was (and is) an excellent suggestion, that has served me very well.

As for buying it for a rental. . . for me, ew. Just ew. The wrong kind of renter could easily do hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars in damage to the unit in a single rental trip.

And. . . there is the Covid thing on top of it. Covid ain't over yet, probably won't be anytime soon. The thought of the multiple hours needed to detail and disinfect my unit after each individual rental return is something that I would not want to have to do.

And. . . there is always someone out there looking for a free lunch. If a previous renter sued your brother, claiming they got sick with covid after using the unit, what would be the defense? Attorney fees could be astronomical just defending against such a suit, whether an infection really happened or was just made up.

No. I, myself, would not purchase any kind of RV with the thought of using it as a rental.

That's just me. But you asked!

Anne

Thanks for your replies. All great things to think about.

He said it would require special insurance to rent it out. Not sure he's priced out those policies yet.

I'll remind him to check out some of the campgrounds they frequent along with other popular ones to see what lengths are allowed.

I doubt they thought about who the toy hauler would appeal to for rental - excellent thing to consider.

I think they are leaning toward the 30 foot class A much for the reasons you all have stated - ease of setting up & driving & which one they would get the most use out of. The bunk beds were great! but that might mean a larger family would rent it.

I'm with everyone on I would never rent out my RV or even my travelin' van since there are so many systems you must know how to operate, but this is more of an investment/business project for him so I guess that's just part of what he needs to consider.

I'll pass on all the info & mention to be sure & check out the cost of insurance as a rental unit.
Thanks again....
I may get to post from the road again once he makes the purchase.

If I were buying with renting a possibility I'd prefer to have sleeping for only two, no families, no children. Sorry but the children will put most anything down the RV toilet. A friend rented a 5th wheel he owned to the children and grandchildren of some full-time RVing friends. They plugged the toilet so bad (just one of many things) that the toilet and black tank had to be replaced. Normally if he rented the 5th wheel I cleaned it after for him for $50. This time he paid me $250! (Food stains on carpet and furniture, crayons on walls, disgusting sheets and comforters, etc). I don't want to know what he paid for the work that needed to be done for plumbing, etc. And these people had been visiting their grandparents in their rig for years. And were friends. He never rented again. Only his parents were allowed to use it and he parked it and it didn't move while they were visiting.

Look at what rental places charge daily and you'll understand why. Just my humble opinion. Lol and expect high insurance rates.

About 30 years ago, my parents had sold their house on land contract, but the buyers had backed out after a couple of years. The mother passed away and the father moved out, and left their druggie kids to live there. They painted all the windows in one sun porch black and burned leaves in the fireplace, which smoked and caused all the previously white walls and drapes to become grey-yellow. They also had ruined the carpeting by leaving several dogs and cats alone during the day. We got it back because they stopped paying.

So, after getting it back, we spent a lot of time and money replacing carpeting, painting walls, replacing drapes, fixing broken windows, removing black paint from wood windows and the panes of glass, cleaning out trash they had left, etc. I had to rent it out for three months while it was being sold because insurance would have been cancelled. These renters were not supposed to have pets, but immediately went out and bought two huge puppies who ate some of the carpeting and peed on the rest.

Based on that, I would never rent anything, even to my best friends, and people can cause a lot of damage to a motorhome, as others have expressed, so my advice is to get a really, really BIG damage deposit!!!

One thing that they need to consider is that RV's lose 20% of their value as soon as the papers are signed. Then with the extra wear and tear of renting it, the value will drop considerably more. If they later decide it is too much of a hassle, they will lose their shirt on selling it. RV costs are really high right now, not a good time to buy and in a year or two after the "Covid campers" decided to sell their RV's, there will be a real drop in value due to being a buyer's market, which won't help any either.

The other point of having strangers using their RV, like Anne said, eww, just eww! Just my opinion of course...

Just had to add my two cents. Years ago my nonRVing sister came along with me to a state park with no hookups. She brought my 3 year old niece and 2 year old nephew. As nightfall came, we put my niece on the bunk with the ladder hooked along the edge so she wouldn't fall out. She was so nosy to see what was going on below that she leaned completely over the ladder breaking both clamp supports! Nephew was sleeping on the dinette made into a bed. He wet the bed - a lot - and it sank into the cushions. Next morning, I discovered my sister (and kids) had totally emptied my fresh water tank and almost filled the black sewer tank, and my battery was dead. And this was the first day! No matter how many times I had told her not to keep the water running while doing dishes, or how to efficiently flush a marine toilet, we were two women alone in the woods with 2 little kids and no electric, no water, and everyone having to go to the pit toilets at the park! I never knew how she got word to her husband, but he showed up the next day and picked up his family. Both my poor trailer and I had frazzled nerves but delicious solitude, after I made my brother-in-law take my battery to be charged and filled my fresh water tank with numerous trips to the campground's faucet with my 5 gal. can.

To this day, my sister has never gone camping again! I don't think her grown kids have either. Would I rent my rig out? Not in this life! No matter how much money you think you will make, it isn't worth it.

Evie

Most all of us seem to agree that we would not want to rent our rigs but.....

I think Catherine's son is researching a idea for far different reasons than why we made our purchases. Most of us have traveled enough to know that there are companies out there that do rent out RVs. I remember Birdie commenting, while up in Alaska getting her class A worked on at a Winnebago dealership, how fascinating it was watching the rental rigs methodically come in, lining up and get cleaned up inside and out and turned around for the next customer all within 30-60 minutes.

There are now even companies that will handle the mechanics of renting out personal vehicles. I would bet that they have figured out the insurance and cleaning and management of rental issues. There are workable frameworks out there. We have personal attachments to our vehicles but if one didn't......and it was a business/tax issue? I am sure that if one does an in depth research of all the issues and/or angles, there is information out there that will help figure out if the venture would work for them.

On another response to the original question, from my memory, I think several of us have purchased Thor products which, workmanship wise, have not stood up as well as one would have liked.

Maybe a used unit would be better than new??

I totally agree on not renting out my own vehicle, but Tina is correct. My son is looking at it as business venture.

I relayed all of your thoughts to him. So they are paying more attention to who they want to attract as renters. Thus they've ruled out the bunk beds & even the toy hauler. Actually the fewer beds the better. And adults-only would be ideal but not sure they can stipulate that. And while I like class B's, he wants more room so they can use it once in a while.

He's talked with a local company that handles all the rental aspects for them. They take 50% of the amount received on the rental, but they handle all the cleaning, repairs, extra insurance & storage.

Those are some real horror stories about your own & related experiences.
Evie, I can't even imagine! I was so relieved when you got to the part of "delicious solitude".
Judy, we, (my ex & I) had a terrible experience renting out a house once years ago - never, ever again. I'll just pray they don't have a similar experience.
They're looking at both used & new but for expediency & a lower interest rate, they'll probably go for new. Of course, they will take the devaluation hit as Barbie mentioned, but that's probably just a part of the business itself.

I knew you all would give great things to think about & you didn't let me down.
I'll let you know what they end up with.

I have heard over the summer ads about renting out your personal rv and it does sound like e is going into with business on the mind... hope all goes well with his adventure... looking forward to hearing about what he decides to do
sheila