RV Rental in Illinois? Recommendations?

[luvavacation]

I searched, but only found something from a few years ago, and since companies can change, thought I would ask anew!

We are considering a family road trip next summer, and thought an RV would be a nice way to go. I have seen CruiseAmerica advertised, but wondered if anyone else had other recommendations. I would like to rent an RV from a place that won't just post pretty pictures of what they offer and then give us an old beat-up RV with no air conditioning and worn out seats (happened to a friend years ago in Alaska).

I have plenty of time to research RV rentals, and I know I am starting early, but Disney planning has taught me that research is fun! And can be productive!

I appreciate any recommendations! Thanks!

 

[golfgal]

Have you researched the cost? We looked into renting an RV to go to the Black Hills about 10 years ago and a week was over $2500 just for the rental-not including any gas.

 

[luvavacation]

Yes, it is definitely expensive! But, we don't vacation often, because we save our money for the vacation first and until we have the money set aside, we don't go anywhere. We live frugally at home, so when we do vacation, we enjoy ourselves fully. Vacations are for enjoying and doing everything we want to in a new destination, and not going out to eat or to a movie at home is fine with us, so long as vacation time, we can do whatever we wish.

However, I am frugal, so if I am going to spend a lot of money on the RV rental, I would like it best if we could rent from a place that others have been happy with. I wish there were places like VRBO, where you can rent from individuals, but I have been to RV.net, and don't see anything like that. Maybe someone else on the DIS knows of a place like that?

 

[monkeybug]

Yes, it is definitely expensive! But, we don't vacation often, because we save our money for the vacation first and until we have the money set aside, we don't go anywhere. We live frugally at home, so when we do vacation, we enjoy ourselves fully. Vacations are for enjoying and doing everything we want to in a new destination, and not going out to eat or to a movie at home is fine with us, so long as vacation time, we can do whatever we wish.

However, I am frugal, so if I am going to spend a lot of money on the RV rental, I would like it best if we could rent from a place that others have been happy with. I wish there were places like VRBO, where you can rent from individuals, but I have been to RV.net, and don't see anything like that. Maybe someone else on the DIS knows of a place like that?

I don't know if there are places like VRBO for RV rentals, but I know I do see posts on Craigslist sometimes that say "Wanted, RV to rent" under the RV section. You could try something like that maybe?
We are renting an RV next year for our vacation. We are using a local company though, so I can't help with a recommendation on any of the national ones. The company we are renting from is charging about 1,400 for the week, and that includes 500 miles a day. They just replaced their entire fleet (they do it every two years) and we were able to go see the RV's in person before reserving. Our insurance also covers RV rentals, so we don't have the added insurance expense.

 

[golfgal]

Yes, it is definitely expensive! But, we don't vacation often, because we save our money for the vacation first and until we have the money set aside, we don't go anywhere. We live frugally at home, so when we do vacation, we enjoy ourselves fully. Vacations are for enjoying and doing everything we want to in a new destination, and not going out to eat or to a movie at home is fine with us, so long as vacation time, we can do whatever we wish.

However, I am frugal, so if I am going to spend a lot of money on the RV rental, I would like it best if we could rent from a place that others have been happy with. I wish there were places like VRBO, where you can rent from individuals, but I have been to RV.net, and don't see anything like that. Maybe someone else on the DIS knows of a place like that?

I have seen signs for this. The problem with renting from an individual is the insurance. With the rentals, they have most of the coverage. Another thing to consider is adding a temporary rider to your own insurance policy to cover the RV if you do rent one. Your standard policy will only cover $35,000 for a totaled rental vehicle--and obviously and RV is much more than that. Check out how much it will cost through your own insurance company and compare that to what the rental company will charge.

Also, have you looked at the RV dealers in your area? I know there are some in our area that do have rentals and you can go and look at them there and pick out the one you want. Check your local yellow pages and see if you have a local place that rents RV's.

 

[golfgal]

http://www.getrv.com/search.php

Here is a site I found looking for one in our area. You can search by city and state and they tell you what exact city the rental is in so you could go check it out before renting.

 

[luvavacation]

Thanks for the great information! I hadn't even thought about checking with our insurance company, or the RV dealers in our area, just figured it was like renting a car, and everything is listed online. And I will give Craigslist a peek, never know what I may find there.

This is fun!