By Mike Gast
So, you’d like to take a one-way RV trip to L.A., San Francisco or Las Vegas, but you don’t currently own an RV? No problem. The big news is you can make the trip for $1 a day! How’s that for cheap RV rental?
I know. This all sounds like it should be tossed in the “too good to be true” pile. But the sudden growth of RV rental companies and peer-to-peer rental outfits comes along with a new problem for them, and an opportunity for you. A lot of those regular renters from the RV rental firms only want a one-way trip. That leaves a lot of rigs stranded in the wrong spots.
Check out imoova.com for cheap RV rental
When you check out imoova, you’ll see $1 a night rental deals between selected cities. In the U.S., those cities are primarily Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and sometimes Seattle. Closing the loop on one-way rentals isn’t just an issue in the U.S. imoova also has $1 a night transport deals in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several European countries.
The opportunity comes when the big RV rental companies rent to folks who only want that one-way trip. In order to avoid paying big bucks to drivers and trucking companies to return the rigs, they will let you rent it for $1 and bring it back home. Demand for the prompt return of rental RVs is so high in Australia that imoova offers up to $250 in free fuel for the trip. Some of the U.S. routes offer up to $150.
imoova’s website states: “From as little as $1 per day imoova.com will match your holiday trip and dates with vehicles needing relocation. You can book online here from a list of available trips in Australia, NZ, USA, Canada and Europe or phone our 7-day call center. If you cannot find what you are looking for you can join our waitlist and you will be notified by SMS and email when a match for your trip comes up.”
But there are restrictions and other charges for cheap RV rental
The company does add mileage restrictions, along with a set number of days allowed for each trip. I guess they don’t want you going all “National Lampoon’s Vacation” with the RV and taking your sweet time. Most of the U.S. trips between Vegas and the West Coast cities allow for 3 days of travel.
Insurance on your $1-a-night cheap RV rental will vary depending on the company that you are relocating the rig for, but most RV will have an insurance deductible of $1,000. Typically, the insurance amount would be billed to your card at the time of pickup as a “bond,” and returned when you return the vehicle on time and with no damage.
There is a $50 booking fee and a refundable deposit of $50 payable at the time of the booking. I know, a “hidden” fee on this cheap RV rental. But it still makes the overall deal darn cheap.
imoova isn’t the only game in town. Jucy RV Rentals (those obnoxiously colored green and purple Class Bs) also have a Relocation Special. They’ll let you rent a rig for relocation for $1 a night for travel to Los Angeles, Las Vegas or the Bay Area. Their deal also gives you 3 days for the trip, a limit of 500 miles (25 cents a mile after that), and even bedding kits for a small additional fee.
Happy $1 camping!
Related:
Airports and RVs: Strange bedfellows unite for RV rental idea
##RVT999
Part 3 Front windshield curtain only has Velcro to hold it on one side. This is a very minor thing, but is an example of the absolutely shoddy workmanship in this vehicle.
Floorboard very hot. Feels like the air vent is open. BTW it’s 50 outside.
Hot water heater stopped working 4th day out. We called, again. As with the furnace, we’re living with it since there’s no place nearby to get it repaired. We know the pilot light went out which would be no problem to relight, but why it went out is the question. We’re heating water on the stove to wash with.
Backup camera May 6 went out. It’s back on, now, but fuzzy and lacks the contrast it had.
our story is long, but you need to know this before you rent from any company. In spite of all these inconveniences, we’re enjoying our trip and will do it, again.
part 2 Ugh, no linens or kitchen equipment! A quick call and we found out the rental company didn’t have any available so we’d have to buy our own! I wish we had known. That’s close to a deal breaker. So we spent the rest of the afternoon doing our usual errands and equipping the RV.
Here, in the order they occurred, are the problems we’ve incurred so far this week:
May 1 called about furnace – they told us to see about thermostat repair or buy a space heater and be reimbursed. We bought a radiant space heater at Walmart. Except for the one we bought, space heaters in Illinois had already been replaced by fans.
We made a second call to El Monte was about stability tracking control – they said to ignore it because of wind. Apparently, it’s a common problem. You can’t use cruise control because of this problem.
The water pump light won’t turn off. Wouldn’t be a problem except water pump won’t go off, even when plugged in at campground.
Part I Before y’all get too excited about the imoova experience, I’d like to comment on our current May 1 – May 16 rental. First, let me tell you we’ve done relocations for the past 10 years. All were more expensive, but gave us an appreciably less expensive vacation than other ways to rent. Any problems we had were minor.
We signed up at $1/ night with $150 gas to take a new RV from Chicago to Salt Lake City. The application asked if we wanted linens and kitchen supplies included for an extra fee. Yes, we definitely did. Unlike the other companies we dealt with, imoova does not allow you to choose the size camper.
So, here we are, in Chicago and excited for our trip. After the orientation, we were on our way.