Renting my Scamp

[pageleigh]

Has anyone rented out their trailer for a short period of time with success? I have a 2010 13 ft, very clean , never used water or porta potty and never cooked in, other than water for coffee and grits. I have someone that wants it for 3 days. I know the gentleman, but not sure if this is a good idea or not. Can anyone give me some feedback?

Thanks,
Emily

[Cathy P.]

Unless I desperately needed the cash, I would not do it. It appears you take very good care of your trailer and you should know that most people do not. Also, you risk others wanting to rent it also and their becoming offended when you don't want to rent to them. To me, our trailers have been like our "bedrooms" so I prefer not to have others use them. Honestly, being older and having seen how some people live and don't know the difference between clean and not clean, save yourself the heartache.

[mary and bob]

Uhaul gave up renting campers! Twenty years ago a friend bought a new motor home, and it was going to pay for itself by him renting it out when he wasn't using it. After experiencing how renters crash & bash things, that was the end of the renting. I loaned that same person a flatbed trailer for a couple days, it came back with the tongue bent. No way would I loan or rent any of my campers, or any other of my equipment for that matter.

[Thomas G.]

Most problems happen when people are using something for the first time. When you rent them a trailer, they are learning on your camper. How to back up without jack knifing or without hitting an obstacle. Securing the door so the wind doesn't smash it, remembering to close all the windows and the vent when it is left for the day, leveling the camper so the fridge is not damaged, remembering to take up the stabilizers before they pull away.......you get the drift.

I worked in a tool and trailer rental in college and I've seen it all.

[Glenn Baglo]

And, most important, you better talk to your insurance company. I think you will find that if you rent it, your insurance will suddenly cost more than the rent you are getting, or that you don't have any insurance.

[kootenaigirl]

I always ponder it as a way to get a few trailers that I like as selling them is always hard and I know I can't keep them all! However due to the reasons people above have mentioned I never have.
I think a better situation is if you live somewhere popular and could deliver it to a site and therefore they are not towing it. However I know I wouldn't want to clean a porta potti someone else had used and then I decided I didn't really want children or animals as I don't want the upholstery getting messed up etc etc so I think my rules would be too strict and I wouldn't get any renters!

[pageleigh]

Thanks to all for your input. Not renting after these considerations. Thanks so much!

Emy

[Hazel in Sk]

It sounds like my opinion is superfluous. I agree with the other posters on this topic. Not interesteed in renting out my 'bed and fridge on wheels'. Only possible way I'd consider it is if they gave me more than market value as a non-returnable deposit!

[Mary Ann in MN]

I don't even let my adult kids and their family's take mine. I figure if they want toys then they have to work like we do to get these things. My little Scamp is in beautiful shape, and I plan on keeping it that way. I would never even think about renting it to anyone.

[Mike Magee]

If you were to pick up some decent used eggs, preferably basic ones with icebox, no toilet, etc I think you could have a good rental business. They are tough little trailers. But the one you like to camp in yourself? No way.

[Glenn Baglo]

Great plan if you don't mind getting phone calls in the middle of the night from customers who are broken down six hours from you and IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

If you were to pick up some decent used eggs, preferably basic ones with icebox, no toilet, etc I think you could have a good rental business. They are tough little trailers. But the one you like to camp in yourself? No way.

Where have I heard about this before? I found this during a search:

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

Individual owners tend not to rent; it is too much hassle.

There have been small Rental Businesses devoted to renting Fiberglass Trailers in different locals in the past. The biggest outfit since UHaul got out of the camper rental business was Kidee Kamper Rentals of Johnson City, Tennessee. But they're gone now as well. The only remnant of them ever having existed is

of their entire inventory being pulled in one train for publicity.

There used to be members here who owned a small rental business in Canada. They used to rent out a few refurbished Trilliums, but they too have closed their business.

The Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton used to have their "Moral, Welfare, and Recreation" rent out Scamps to servicemembers... But they auctioned off a large group of trailers last year that were too damaged. I don't know if the military still does rentals for servicemembers.

Too many people have lost too much money trying to rent...

However this guy seems to still be in business.

[Donna D.]

There's also this out of LA and Ontario: happiercamper trailer rentals in Los Angles California.

and in Winnipeg: Bee2Gether Excursions

and in Calgary: Boler Trailers for Rent - Calgary Travel Trailers, Campers For Sale - Kijiji Calgary Canada.

But these are businesses... not people who rent their personal trailers. I would't

[Jim Bennett]

I think it depends completely on your trust of the person, as without a good contract in place, you could get stuck with costs should something disastrous happen, which I know is not very likely at all, but still a reality.

Myself, I would never rent my trailer. I have gladly lent it to family a couple times, and to a friend once, knowing full well they were responsible, and could be fully trusted to care for it, and fix anything they broke. Nothing happened, and I was up a couple bottles of wine, and a bottle of rum. There are lots of people I would not lend it to though.

I have borrowed RV's from family before, once for a fairly long trip.

If you lend it, just as in letting someone borrow a vehicle, the insurance still covers it. If renting it out, I would definitely check first to see what the coverage would be like.

[Robin G]

I would never rent for many of the reasons given. BUT, I have lent my trailer to a friend for almost 2 week family trip that she didn't want to have to bunk in her families campers. So I offered mine. I drove it to the location and picked it up. It went fine! No horror story, other than I missed my trailer!

There were a couple of lil issues, but not of her doing! The place I bought a new battery at put my battery in backasswards and screwed some stuff up. But thankfully her sons are all pretty good with Rv's so they handled the issues. There are people I would say flat NO to......... But others I would consider! It's just a trailer and replaceable! It's not the crown jewels and I believe in helping people. My trailer is in very nice shape. I take good care of it. I am a clean freak, so yes I worry about a lot. But figure, I can clean and fix most stuff. I will lend it out again.............

[Brian B-P]

The comments from Jim and Robin make a lot of sense to me. It will be a sad day if a trailer is ever more important to me than my family; a stranger is another matter entirely.

We have discussed this before, at great length. Just search in the forum for "renting".

[RockyBob]

I understand the majority position, BUT...
I had a 30 ft power boat with everything in it. Two big fuel injected v-8s, electric anchor winch, full electronics, heat pump, multiple tanks, and on and on. Slept 6, weighed 13,000 pounds. Handling and docking took lots of skill and in short I never considered loaning or renting. So I appreciate others concerns. BUT, I sure wish I could rent a really small travel trailer like the scamp. I dont have room to store one and can hardly justify spending that much for two, maybe three weeks a year usage. It's a safe guess that most all trailers are seriously under utilized and if an owner could find the right person to help defray costs that seems like win-win. Some of us have a lot of skill fixing anything that might happen (retired engineer) and take pride in making sure that a private party is fully happy with the transaction. Decades ago I rented a Winnebago Indian for a week and the other husband and I spent a rainy afternoon fixing two problems that had baffled the owner. He was really, really happy. Tried to rent the next year, but his insurance co. said no. Seems a shame.

[christopherm]

Awesome Vintage Trailers!

have seen these two on craigslist in bellingham.

[RockyBob]

Wow! I'll check it out!! Thanks!

[Donna D.]

I have no clue where you want to go or how much your're willing to spend, but there's this in Washington state: Old School Trailer Works » Tow Rentals