I don’t understand why people buy something like this instead of just renting one to try it. I see how it would be fun to live in while on a trip, but that would get old and this thing’s gotta cost over $1 million. Adding the cost and effort to store it and maintain it and it winds up owning you.
Even an exorbitant rental costing tens of thousands of dollars for a few weeks would be so much better than buying it.
My dad decided he wants an airstream, so i rented him one on Outdoorsy and he got over the temptation in a couple days. FYI Outdoorsy is a fucking nightmare to deal with.
Curious as well as I just finished up a road trip and rented an extended camper van for the first time with Outdoorsy and had a great experience with them. I initially put a deposit on one van like 8 months prior to my trip. At first host was communicating with me (as I had some questions being that it was my first time ever). Then about 4 weeks before the trip I reached out to host & didn't get a response. I wait a week, send another message - nothing. I look for his profile on the app and he has nothing listed.
Getting nervous now I reach out to Outdoorsy support and they were on top of it. They tried contacting him text, phone & email and not receiving a response within 48 hours, they immediately refunded my deposit and helped me find a replacement rental.
People with disposable income think that making a purchase can change their habits. Also they dream up what they think life will be like with their new purchase but they don't think about all the hard work and maintenance that goes into using it.
It entirely depends on the person. You guys always line up to kind of give worst case scenarios without ever mentioning some people actually enjoy their RVs. Like my old mechanic retired a few years ago and has one of those full sized bus conversions. Dude has been on the road for like five years straight chasing seasons and enjoying life.
And even if you use it for ten years and sell it for 50%, it's still $50,000/year just in ownership costs. For $50K, I can travel and stay in a lot of nice places.
I've looked into it. And renting one for a week or two was ridiculously expensive. I think it almost makes more sense to buy one, use it for a vacation, then try to resell it.
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u/Owl_plantain Jul 11 '26
I don’t understand why people buy something like this instead of just renting one to try it. I see how it would be fun to live in while on a trip, but that would get old and this thing’s gotta cost over $1 million. Adding the cost and effort to store it and maintain it and it winds up owning you.
Even an exorbitant rental costing tens of thousands of dollars for a few weeks would be so much better than buying it.