Need advice for getting a good RV!

[zeroth]

We're considering an RV this year as a place of refuge / shower / VIP room.

I have heard stories (and have an experience to back it up) that some of the RV rental places will give you their *worst* model if they know you're on the way to the playa.

We plan to pretend to be taking the kids to Yosemite or something (anyone wanna let us borrow your kids for an afternoon?? ;)

What tips are out there on getting a good RV? Are there any rental places (in or around SFBay) who have good boats and prices?

What are people's thoughts on RVs in general?

thanks much!

[Dustdevil]

El Monte RV in Oakland has a picture on the wall in their office taken at the Playa. They are Burner friendly. It does not make sense to give you a "substandard" RV. They no more wish to have a service truck come out and fix it than you wish to have a break-down. You may not get their cleanest, newest model, however. Most of the RV rentals are already booked. They will be expensive for that holiday and most will require a week minimum rental. It is my opinion that you will be better off being honest with them. I have heard rumors that some RV and some truck rental companies are using GPS to track their vehicles. Also, if it breaks in Gerlach and you are supposed to be in Yosemite, well.......Since 96' I have camped three times, rented three RV's and finally bought one. My wife insists on an RV and I must agree that the comforts are nice. I am there for nine days as I do fire art inspection for the Performance Safety Team. I inspect art during the day and watch the fire art at night. It really is nice to have something comforable to come home to. As a side note, I have always gotten my cleaning deposit back. However, it takes a full day to clean the coach with four of us working. Yeah, it is still worth the trouble.

[HughMungus]

First, here's a long reply I wrote to someone else regarding renting RV's:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Note the parts about cleaning and that you won't be able to return the RV until the Tuesday following Labor Day (probably; check with the RV rental place).

I think getting an RV is great -- especially since you can share your RV's resources with others; last year we made coffee for our neighbors and let people make meals on our burners. The only thing to watch out for there is your water supply -- you probably don't want to give away TOO many showers.

One thing you might consider if you can afford it is buying a used RV from ebay or rvtraderonline.com or your local newspaper. I wish I'd done this earlier. Then you can either keep it and let your friends use it or consign it out, or, sell it until next year to save the storage and insurance costs...

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

Oops. p.s.: I know that Cruise America will also rent to people going to Burning Man. I've rented from them twice. I can't remember if we mentioned that we were going to Burning Man or not, but, I don't think we kept it a secret, either. Like someone else said, I wouldn't lie to them if I were you. You don't want to get blacklisted.

Also, since I'm editing anyway, anyone ever able to rent a consignment RV (that is, an RV that a private person owns that they rent out when they're not using it)?

We're considering an RV this year as a place of refuge / shower / VIP room.

I have heard stories (and have an experience to back it up) that some of the RV rental places will give you their *worst* model if they know you're on the way to the playa.

We plan to pretend to be taking the kids to Yosemite or something (anyone wanna let us borrow your kids for an afternoon?? ;)

What tips are out there on getting a good RV? Are there any rental places (in or around SFBay) who have good boats and prices?

What are people's thoughts on RVs in general?

thanks much!

[Dustdevil]

One year I rented a privately owned unit. It was a good experience. They wanted me to provide my own insurance. I took out a 2 week policy and it was approx $60.00. I told the person I was going to the be staying at a dry lake bed north of Reno. He had never heard of BM and I saw no reason to educate him. I did feel a greater sense of obligation when it came time to clean the coach. He was a real good guy and I had no desire to leave the unit dirty. I think I gave it back to him cleaner than when I ;picked it up.

[Bob A]

I think they are great, just don't fall into the trap that people talk about on other threads. Don't isolate yourself in one. I took a 14 foot camper last year. I had it set up with solar and batteries and did share my power with my camp and neighbors. Only used the camper for sleeping space. We set up an outside kitchen, had no toilet and setup an out side shower. By keeping everything outside and setting up the living space outside we had no interest in going into the camper except to sleep.

This year I upgraded to a full RV. But am doing the same thing locking up the bathroom and using outside shower and cooking area. It’s a nice fall back if we get any real bad weather too.

Look into buying something, between ebay and car magazines there are tons out there and a used one could cost you only a little more than renting and then you sell it when you get home or use it next year and its paid for.