Anyone have experience purchasing used RVs from a rental company? From what I can gather... seems like they're well-maintained, and they claim to have records of all maintenance. I'd imagine they keep up on that stuff better than your average private owner. Selection is great - If I buy from a private party I'd have to sit and wait for potentially quite some time before a good clean unit becomes available. Cons? They have lots of miles on them. Who knows what kind of abuse they've seen as rentals. Any other issues?
Go rent one for the weekend and see. Go back and negotiate with them. see if they will take the rental fee off the price of the RV.
Got this 24' from them in '05. Everything worked, just as promised. They gave us blankets, plates and silverware too. Miles were up there (80K) and the genny had several hundred hrs. on it but it worked well overall. Pulled a 6x10 enclosed trailer and never noticed it. Think they had a 1 yr. warranty as well. Still kicking myself for selling it.
Cons? NEVER BUY A RENTAL. Plus cruise america typically has bottom of the barrel base models. Never bothered to shop them but I guarantee you there is no shortage of clean used 1 owner private party units available.
My buddy rented an RV from CruiseAmerica a while back, said it was a POS and practically falling apart. I wouldn't count on their maintenance. Just be very picky if you decide to buy.
Total crap Had my brother fly out from England and rent one for a week for a trip from Los Angeles up to Yosemite and back. Thing was a total pile of crap. Had his full rental cost refunded to him after complaining. I would not go anywhere near them.
Agree with others who say "no way." The old axiom of "everybody's driven it but nobody's owned it" is a perfect fit here Like a rental car, you have no qualms about beating the crap out of it within the limits of putting your deposit at risk. A motorhome is a pretty complex piece of equipment. The driveline -- particularly on a Class C -- is pretty bulletproof. But it's the rest of the coach that can become a money pit. As someone else pointed out, it's a huge buyer's market for RVs. There are for more sellers than buyers, so why take a risk on a rental until when there are so many private coaches out there? Once you weed through the old and neglected, the salvage units and the rough repos, you'll find most RVs lead pretty sheltered lives. The majority are owned by older couples who don't put a lot of miles on them (5k year is average), and keep up on maintenance. Do a little shopping and you'll find plenty of well-maintained coaches with service records, etc. Try eBay, RVT.com, RV Online, RV Trader, as well as Craig's List.
