Anyone have experience with RV America? We are on the fence about renting a drivable RV and driving a few thousand miles to see if it’s better that our current Lance2445 and F250 6.7L setup.

 

Roughly 12 years ago. I had my 5th wheel setup in Milwaukee. I took 2 weeks vacation, drove the pickup to Rapid City, SD. Parked the truck in a storage facility for 10 days and rented a class C for that period of time to ram SD, MT, WY, ID racked up over 3,000 miles in that period.

The C was perfect for that vaction. I would do it again if I wanted the mobility. No complaints.

After that vacation and seeing the west we moved from the east and decided to go fulltime rving and looking for property in the west. Still haven't found the "perfect" spot to settle down...yet.

 

No personal experience but that sounds like a great idea. My only concern would be working condition but since it's a rental I would think/hope they do a thorough checkout before they send them out. Good luck!

 

As a reality check against my current rig? Sure, I would do that. It would give you a chance to decide if the bigger rig is your style.

 

We have talked about doing that just to give a motorhome a try. We are pretty set that we prefer to own a truck and trailer separate rather than a motorhome, but would love to spend a week just trying a motorhome out. One day we may...

 

Instead of RV America Check out a large RV dealer near you, there are quite a few that rent motorhomes from the small class B to the large class A. I believe that RV America only rents class C.

 

I started reading some reviews and mechanical issues seem be a a common occurrence, I’d hate to be stuck 1400 miles from home broke down. At least I have a little piece of mind knowing my current setup in maintained very well.

I think we’d have to tow no matter what choice we make. Either my vehicle is towing my house or my house is towing my vehicle.

Thats a great idea, we have several large rv places around here I’ll have to call and see. Rv America’s reviews are either really good or REALLY bad. They also have a ton of BBB complaints.

 

No experience with RV America, but we rented motorhomes twice in AK and would do it again. The only issue we had was the mattress was horrible. A quick trip to walmart for a good air mattress solved that and the rental company reimbursed us when we turned it in.

 

My parents rented a Cruise America Class C when we went to Yellowstone about 5 years ago and it was a great experience for them. It allowed us to camp together as we used our 29' travel trailer. The rig was pretty clean and reliable for them.

 

The class c we rented years ago was clean and ran great. It was a good vehicle for the vacation. Even allowed us to get out early one morning at a grizzly kill and watch 3 grizzlies for hours with all the conveniences. 😉

 

We rented a class C, crackerbox on wheels, in Alaska a couple of years ago. Never again...
Our F350/5th wheel combo is way more comfortable than that rig was. The fridge and freezer doors would pop open when going over certain parts of the highway and the driving comfort was a zero.
I think a super C would be the way to go...

 

As for cleanliness and comfort, I can only imagine this is hit and miss by a large degree. Some people absolutely are harder than others on rented equipment, and even with our own camper, a lot of time and work went into it even when new before it became as comfortable as it is now. In 2020 we rented 2 trucks to pull our camper longer distances. The first was a 2020 Super Duty with 52 miles on it, of which we put another 4000+ miles on it, and the second was a 2020 Ram with just over 20k miles on it, of which we put an additional 2000+ miles on. At only 52 miles, the Ford was still new. I imagine it only had 1 renter before us... we were gentle to it, and I returned it super clean. The Ram OTOH had been rode hard and put up wet! You could even smell a faint cigarette smell in it, which I made sure to inform the company that I do not smoke. I also found French fries and other bits of trash all inside it when cleaning it out before we returned it. You could tell that even at 20k miles, the truck seemed to be a little run down too... it was pretty bad. The company (Enterprise truck company) told me that these trucks are largely rented out by construction companies and that their guys typically run them hard... But when things like this are rented out, people can really wear them out quickly. Then of course the company is wanting to put minimal time and money into them for upkeep to maintain a higher ROI... I would expect the same to happen with campers... But, it would be the only way we would get experience win a motorhome... so one day we may. I Ould be interested to see how the dogs would do in a motorhome...

 

I agree, hit or miss. Many on a RV forum I frequent speak highly of RV America, and also buying their used inventory. For me, I know how I drive a rental, but I also don't abuse it. You might check your local FB as well, some private people might be renting.

 

I kinda figured you'd land out in the Black Hills Scrap. Although I know you like to migrate south for the winter.... I love it here and the winters aren't as bad as they are on the eastern part of the state.