Yes, you can make money by renting out your RV. The pandemic has increased demand for RV travel and made it more profitable for owners to rent their RVs on online marketplaces.
Yes, you can make money by renting out your RV. The pandemic has increased demand for RV travel and made it more profitable for owners to rent their RVs on online marketplaces.
The growth of the RV rental market has been fueled by renewed interest in traveling by motorhome or camper van. Reports also state renting out your RV can be a lucrative side hustle.
If you want to rent out your RV, you can list it on online RV rental marketplaces such as Outdoorsy, which is essentially Airbnb for motorhomes and campervans. For example, Outdoorsy handles the booking requests, transactions, and RV insurance.
However, if you have more than one RV and want to do RV rentals full-time, you can use Reservety, as it equips your business with a rental website that includes the following features:
The amount of money you can make by renting out your RV depends on several factors, such as the type of RV, its condition, location, and demand.
Also, the more RVs you have, the more you will make with RVs.
Scheduling is another factor that impacts your revenues. If you do not schedule your RVs using an accurate system, gaps between rentals will chip away your chances for more profit.
Let me demonstrate this with real-life scenarios. Suppose it is a holiday season, with excellent demand for RVs. First, Mr. Smith contacted you to book your RV for the upcoming week. In that case, you must secure their request and schedule it on your calendar to note their pickup and return dates. That way, you will know exactly when an RV will be available for the next customer, so you can let others rent it to keep up the momentum.
Even hours count in rentals. For example, suppose Mr. Smith brings your RV back at 10 a.m. on Saturday. You can let another customer book it for 1 p.m. or so (depending on when you need to prepare the RV for the next customer. Consider things like inspections, cleaning, minor maintenance, fueling, etc.).
However, if you have more than one RV, it would be hard to schedule their booking manually. So, it would help if you used Reservety as it handles the following functions related to scheduling:
You must require payments upfront with security deposits or at least charge partial payments to validate their booking. Even if a customer cancels the booking in the last hours, you will have the money to compensate for your lost business. However, you must outline the cancelation policies in your rental agreements and have your customers sign them during the booking to avoid disputes.
Security deposits should be required on top of the rental fees and refunded to the customer if they return the RVs in the same condition as they took them. Therefore, it is essential to do inspections before and after the rentals to detect the damages caused by renters. If there is new damage to an RV, you can use the security deposit to get that fixed in case a customer is unwilling to address that issue themselves.
We collected some interesting facts about the RV rental industry so you can get some insights into the industry's current state.
1. The first RVs did not have bathrooms. So, travelers used the closest tree or brush instead. Times have changed, and people nowadays like RVs with more comfort. That means your rental RVs should have everything, including a sewer system, so that renters won't have to look for the bush.
2. In the 1930s, RVs came equipped with beds, electricity, water, and dinettes. The Covered Wagon Company and Airstream are the two companies that pioneered the creation of solid-body trailers that are similar to the trailers we use today. Your rental trailers should have decent beds and should be able to be attached to water, electricity, and sewer to make them convenient for travelers.
3. On average, RV owners use their RVs about 28 to 35 days per year. That means you have close to 11 months to rent them to others to make money off them.
4. RV owners, on average, put about 4,500 miles on their RV each year. Considering that RVs voyage long miles, you should pay attention to the tires of your rental RVs to make them safe for the renters.
5. There are over 42,000 people employed by recreational vehicle dealers in the United States. The data indicate that the RV industry is big enough to establish a profitable business. Also, this means there is great demand for them.
6. RV ownership has increased by almost 60% since 1980. No worries. The increase in RV ownership does not mean you will have fewer renters. The younger generation prefers a sharing economy over ownership. So, you will have enough RV renters to sustain your business growth.
7. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the growth of the RV rental market. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, customers have been willing to spend more time in nature through sports, camping, and traveling, boosting the market demand for recreational vehicles.
8. RVshare saw increased RV bookings to avoid crowds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Air travel and public transportation have become highly unpopular due to the COVID-19 outbreak, while recreational vehicles are considered a more secure choice. Although the COVID fear subsided, the real uptrend in RV rentals did not slow down.
9. The work-from-home scenario due to the pandemic is driving consumers' demand for RV rental. Around 65 million US leisure travelers plan to take RV vacations in 2022. The demand will be even higher in the upcoming years, both in the US and worldwide.
10. RV owners are increasingly making their vehicles accessible for peer-to-peer rentals to profit financially from their RV purchases. This trend is anticipated to make many recreational vehicles available for renting, boosting the market.
11. The RV rental market is segmented by product, end-user, booking mode, and region. If you plan to start an RV rental business, you can use Reservety's Rental Software to address the segmentation.
12. The most popular RV rental products are motorhomes, conventional travel trailers, campervans, and fifth-wheel trailers. If you plan to rent them all in your rental business, you can create pricing variations and add-on products and services using rental software.
13. The size of the global RV rental market size was valued at USD 820.3 million in 2021, and it is expected to reach over 1 billion by 2031. This means there is an excellent potential for growth in the RV rental industry.
14. The RV rental market is expected to grow for the following reasons:
15. Reservety is considered one of the best Rental Software for the RV rental industry. It offers an all-in-one solution that includes websites, booking software, inventory & order management systems, marketing tools, and other automation and integration options to make your business more accessible for customers and super convenient for business owners.
Reservety handles your website, bookings, inventory, and payments — so you can focus on growing your business.