Outdoorsy: Anyone Renting Out Their Rig?

[marret]

Yes, agree, good question.

Negative for me. Far too much time, effort, and money for me to rent it out to people these days. Just overhauled the transfer case and rear axle amongst much else over the last 2 years.

[Grampswrx]

I was up to 4 rental vans at one point. I am down to 1 now. Mostly got busy with other stuff. The simpler the van, the better. Otherwise, you are teaching a new person how all the various systems work every time they pick up.

Outdoorsy insurance has always been very easy for me. Had one claim, they covered it without question. One guy disputed the credit card charge, I emailed the signed agreement to the CC company and they kept me paid. I never charged anyone for a lost or broken pan, I just bought cheap stuff and called it a cost of doing business.

The key is that you can't be emotionally connected to the vehicle. If you are, you are in for a world of pain. Some people deliberately mistreat the vehicle, but most do not. The problem is that the van is being used. When owners use it, stuff happens. No older van is in brand new shape. There are bumps and bruises, but most tell a story. When you rent your van, it comes back with a new story every time.

The renting out of the vans has allowed me to own a variety of vans for free. I would say it was worth it. But then again, I am not emotionally connected to them...

[jrobe]

There are a lot of Class B rentals around my area on RV Share. There is no chance mine will be one of them. I won't even let my family use it because there is too high of a learning curve with all the systems. There is also a learning curve just driving it with limited visibility. My son in law rented an RV and knocked the AC unit off it when he tried to get through a fast food drive through.

In my opinion, if you can't afford it without making rental income off it, you can't afford it. I would say the same thing for a VRBO or Airbnb house or condo.

[Vanzila]

Originally Posted by Nathandeuel

We love our van but it's hard to ignore the fact that it's sitting there a lot of the time. Anyone have a good experience renting theirs on Outdoorsy? We've rented out our house for years whenever we leave town and have had great experiences. Everyone seems to win: A nice family gets to enjoy our cool pad and we make some dough. Seems similar with a van?

My main concerns are, I suppose:
1. The wear and tear on the engine, but I think you can limit the miles they drive and make it punitive if they go over
2. Abusing the systems, like poptop, etc. But I'm imagining meeting with the renter first, showing them the ropes
3. Reckless driving/crashes: My plan is similar to the way I rent the house. Only families, older couples. And Outdoorsy touts its required insurance policy...

Love to hear other people's thoughts on this!

Never Ever since 1996. And i never ever would. you will not be happy if you do. Take it from me one of the few OG 4x4 van Owners.. If you want to keep it in good shape dont rent it out. Enjoy it.. They are an investment. Hopefully you have yours Garaged, And you also have GPS tracking installed. Keep it as long as you can. They are almost as rare today as they were in 1996 when I had to convince Ford to Build mine..

Enjoy it

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by Grampswrx

I was up to 4 rental vans at one point. I am down to 1 now. Mostly got busy with other stuff. The simpler the van, the better. Otherwise, you are teaching a new person how all the various systems work every time they pick up.

Outdoorsy insurance has always been very easy for me. Had one claim, they covered it without question. One guy disputed the credit card charge, I emailed the signed agreement to the CC company and they kept me paid. I never charged anyone for a lost or broken pan, I just bought cheap stuff and called it a cost of doing business.

The key is that you can't be emotionally connected to the vehicle. If you are, you are in for a world of pain. Some people deliberately mistreat the vehicle, but most do not. The problem is that the van is being used. When owners use it, stuff happens. No older van is in brand new shape. There are bumps and bruises, but most tell a story. When you rent your van, it comes back with a new story every time.

The renting out of the vans has allowed me to own a variety of vans for free. I would say it was worth it. But then again, I am not emotionally connected to them...

Great post Gramps. This should be under the heading on every Outdoorsy type website. I wouldn't rent my van mostly because a van for me is a big backpack, full of all the things that fuel my outdoor adventures, but lots of people in this world need to consider emotional connection to vehicles. We live in a volatile world full of drivers who truly don't care about anyone but themselves. Leaving the driveway, even yourself in your own vehicle, is a huge risk.

I stopped being emotionally connected to vehicles about 100 vehicles ago and have honestly been happier ever since.

[JWA]

As this thread goes along I'm a bit surprised there isn't or wasn't an immediate and resounding "hell no" from just about everyone here. Perhaps I've been here long enough to have seen the effort and money put into essentially customizing a vehicle so many have put out turning it over to another set of hands would seem unthinkable.

Even though my cargo/work only van isn't luxurious or comfortable by SMB standards the money invested to make it a near-perfect fit for my needs along with the 3,000# of tools, storage units and parts/materials makes it just too valuable to loan or rent out. Since 2017 there's been one person other than me to drive this and that was before it underwent upfitting.

I get the emotional attachment and how it might be advantageous to some if it weren't so much a part of ownership and yet none of us here built our rigs to be trashed even unintentionally by some off-the-street yahoo.

Hell my girlfriend who lets me seek her naked is strictly prohibited from driving my truck. That's one helluva privilege and maybe should come with benefits but yet it doesn't...........!

[ableami]

I have rented out my as-new Sprinters many times on Outdoorsy, RVShare and Rvezy. I have only had one problem and I should have known better. The renter was a problem in my driveway. The vans came back in exactly the condition that they went out. Of the few things that were broken, the renters always told me.
It is true that your owner's insurance does not allow you to rent the van. but the mandatory insurance that those companys sell to the renter does cover all of that. I had one problem witha renter and RVShare completely protected me. The insurance is for up to a $1M.
I charge a $500 deposit and $.50/mile. I charge heavily if the toilet does not come back empty and clean.

[porschedpm]

I once rented travel trailer from Outdoorsy. Ended up catching a low hanging branch resulting in two, 2 inch holes in the awning. I brought it to owners attention when I dropped off thinking it was no big deal because I paid for the insurance. I even patched the holes enough so that the owner could still operate the awning and it didn’t require immediate replacement. Then found out between the owner and Outdoorsy, I was getting charged about $3400 ($2500 after their $900 insurance reimbursement) for the complete replacement of both awning arms, mechanisms and the awning canvas. It took several discussions with Outdoorsy to convince them the awning arms were never damaged and that the owner was taking advantage of the situation by padding the bill.

After that experience I avoid Outdoorsy and started using RVShare. I also opt for one or two levels above the minimum insurance offerings. Whenever possible I also pay a little extra to have the travel trailer delivered, setup and picked up. If I don’t have to drive tow the trailer myself, it greatly reduces the risk of damage.

[Steve Hunt]

Originally Posted by JWA

Personally if I had a ton of money invested in an SMB-like vehicle I'd be damned to let someone else drive or use it, pretty much regardless how short-term profitable it might seem to be. I would guess potential renters would have zero to small experience with that type experience which would not fare well on a specialty vehicle like these I see described here.

If you didn't require a deposit equal to full replacement cost of the existing SMB in cash beforehand you'd expose yourself to a huge liability and loss that should scare the hell out of an owner. I just can't see the upside to this, wouldn't even load it out to close friends or family either.

Just IMHO mind you, YMMV.

Originally Posted by soloalpinist

Had a friend rent out her RV (non-SMB) on Outdoorsy. Came back everytime with something broken or missing. Eventhough they had user credit card on file, 90%+ users refused to pay for damage (torn off awning) saying it deployed while driving. No clue what happened to pan, pillow, etc...With SMB, thinking you would need iron clad agreement and minimum $5K deposit for any damages already in your bank account.

I have to agree whole heartedly with both. I spent 10 years or so in the equipment rental business and renters can and will destroy a steel box made of 1/2" steel plate much less a sportsmobile they see as renting a "toy". Then after the fact they only know to lie about everything. I think it only works for car rental companies because they never keep any one vehicle long enough for all the cumulative abuse to surface. Of course my "hell no" take comes after years in the rental business and 100's of transactions, I suppose if you only rent it 2-3 times a year, have enough strict rules and charge enough to weed out the riff-raff, willing to cave to..."that's normal wear and tear" argument then you might get lucky.

If you do decide to rent it out, I don't know if it is even possible with a motor vehicle but when I owned and rented out a commercial property one of the terms in the lease required the renter to provide me with a insurance policy listing me as "additional insured". If they cancelled or let insurance lapse, then among other things, I was notified by the insurance company.