If you’re looking for an easy entrance into entrepreneurship (or your next big business venture), an RV rental business may be just the ticket.
Not only is an RV business easy to start up– provided you have the capital for at least one (preferably a few) pre-owned RVs– but it’s a relatively easy business to scale.
And, not to mention, an RV rental business is a relatively passive source of income, with most of the business consisting of marketing and coordinating the renting itself.
Once your RV rental business is fully established, the business structure allows you to sit back and collect rental payments every time a customer rents one of your RVs.
Learn more about the benefits of RV renting here: Is Renting out Your RV Worth It? What You Should Know | Neighbor Blog.
So, if starting an RV rental business sounds like it could be your next investment, read on to find out everything you need to know to start and run an RV rental business.
How to Start an RV Rental Business
If you’ve started businesses before, you’ll recognize some of the steps below.
However, there are several things you’ll need to do that are unique to launching an RV rental business.
Make sure to pay special attention to these points (like our tips in #3) to make the most of your initial investment and get started off right.
Here’s how to start an RV rental business:
Step #1: Create Your RV Rental Business Plan
First, let’s start with your business plan.
The major milestones in starting an RV rental business include the following:
- Acquiring your RVs
- RV maintenance
- Marketing
- Communications
If you know how to acquire RVs in a cost-effective way, maintain them long-term, market your listings, and communicate with customers– you’re good to go.
Within your business plan, make sure to include:
- How you’re going to acquire your RVs (more on that next)
- Your process for preparing those RVs for rent
- Your process for maintaining those RVs, specifically a checklist of items to review before and after each rental, as well as annual inspections and key service dates
- Marketing channels, as well as any specific notes regarding strategy
- Brand positioning, including your target market and ideal customer persona
- And capital requirements, both initial startup capital needed as well as estimated recurring expenses and where that capital is coming from
You likely don’t have all of that information now, and that’s alright. That’s where this guide comes in.
Jot each of the above sections down and fill in what you can as you read through this guide. Once you’re done reading, complete any necessary market research you still have to do to fill in the areas only you can complete.
Step #2: Form Your RV Rental Business and Set Up Accounts
Next, let’s officially form your RV rental business and set up all your necessary accounts so that you can operate your business.
This part can be fun, but it can also be a bit of a drag (especially if you’ve started other businesses before). So, let’s roll through it quickly.
Here’s a rundown of all the important to-dos you’ll need to take care of before your business is officially up and running.
- Register your business to get your tax ID
- Obtain any necessary state and local business licenses and permits (every state is a little different, so check with your state and local municipality to find out what is required)
- Purchase liability insurance for your business as well as insurance for each vehicle
- Open a business bank account (you’ll use this later to purchase your RVs)
- Set up your account software
- Design and launch your website
Feel free to lump your website in with other marketing tasks, as you’ll likely take care of it at the same time. However, I’ve included it here because it’s more of a setup task.
Your website won’t attract any customers on its own, and it’s important to understand that.
Many start a new business thinking that once they launch their website, they’re in business, but that’s just the beginning.
With that said, once you have all of this completed, you’re now an RV rental business owner.
However, an RV rental business isn’t officially up and running until you get your first customer– and you do that by marketing (which we’ll talk about in #5).
Step #3: Acquire Your RVs
Now for the most fun order of business: purchasing your RV(s).
How many you purchase is completely up to you. You can technically start an RV rental business with a single RV rental, but if you’re serious about launching a full-scale RV rental business, then you should purchase at least three to five to start.
That includes the main RV sizes, also known as “motorhome classes” (Which appear below in order of size– yes, it is A, then C, then B):
- Class A: The RV behemoths
- Class C: Standard-sized RVs, what you’ve seen in most family road trip-themed movies
- Class B: Smaller van-life-esque RVs
In addition to those, it would be smart to invest in at least one travel trailer and pop-up camper as well.
Travel trailers are smaller and include a trailer hitch (as the name implies) so that they can be hooked up to any vehicle and taken long-distance.
A pop-up camper is similar in that it’s a small camper addition, but think of it more as a travel trailer that expands (“pops”) out to include much more space than it initially seemed.
Pop-up campers have become popular in recent years, so you may be missing out by not including one in your inventory.
No matter what you can start with for now is fine. Just keep in mind that the sooner you can offer a greater variety of RVs and trailers, the fewer customers you’ll have to turn away (Note: Some RV renters will be looking for a specific size, while others will be more flexible).
With that said, a few quick notes on purchasing your first RVs:
Should You Purchase Pre-Owned?
If you’re familiar with property investing, think of purchasing RV rentals in the same way: purchase used and at the biggest discount you can get.
Consumers often purchase RVs, only to find that they don’t use their recreational vehicle often enough to justify the ownership costs, so they sell at a discount just to recoup their cost. Because of this, you can find incredible deals on practically unused RVs.
In many cases, an avid RV user will typically only take their RV on one trip per year for a few weeks during summer, meaning a one or two-year-old RV often won’t have many miles or wear-and-tear on it.
With this in mind, it’s easy to score great deals on pre-owned RVs, slashing your initial investment cost.
Learn more about what to look for when buying a used RV: What to Look For When Buying a Used RV.
Is It Better to Buy or Finance an RV?
To pair with the advice to purchase pre-owned above, paying in cash is generally advised when purchasing an RV.
Financing is an option, but you’ll be spending far more money over the life of the RV due to interest, which will really eat into your profits.
As much as you can keep those costs down– by purchasing cash– the better. If you can pair that with purchasing pre-owned, you’ll cut an enormous amount of your initial investment down, allowing you to reach profitability faster.
Step #4: Prepare Your RVs for Renting
Now that you have your RVs, it’s time to prepare them for business.
This includes two main tasks:
- Preventative maintenance and a full inspection
- And cleaning + furnishing
Let’s break each down individually:
Maintenance + Inspection
The very first thing you’ll want to do is enlist a quality mechanic to complete a comprehensive vehicle inspection of each RV you plan to purchase.
Depending on where you purchased your RV(s), you’ll want to have the inspection conducted pre-purchase.
This is ideal as it ensures you don’t purchase a pre-owned RV with unlisted damages. As a best practice, always request a CarFax report before purchasing, and make sure to take the RV(s) for a test drive.
When you hire a professional to conduct an inspection and perform necessary repairs, you should receive a full list of all items that need to be taken care of later. That way, you stay on top of ongoing maintenance.
One last note: Getting handy with certain basic maintenance tasks can really help reduce your vehicle maintenance costs over time. Changing out lights, doing an oil change, and replacing tires are all things you may opt to do on your own to further cut costs.
Cleaning + Furnishing
Once inspection and maintenance are complete, it’s time to fix up your RV so that you can offer the best experience possible for your renters.
This involves cleaning the entire vehicle inside and out as well as replacing any minor parts with wear-and-tear throughout the vehicle, such as faucet heads, cushion covers, and curtains.
Tip: Don’t purchase RV-specific furnishings, as they’re often sold as specialty items and overpriced. Standard home furnishings used in traditional homes (that aren’t on wheels) are typically compatible with RVs and typically come with a much lower price tag.
Once that is complete, you’ll want to supply your RVs with necessary items such as travel-sized soaps, paper towels, and shampoo. Make sure to keep these items stocked in a centralized location. Pro tip: Only stock up on these toiletries when the RV has officially been rented. Temperature changes may cause some of the items to spoil or burst from heat if left in the RV for long periods of time.
Step #5: List and Market Your RVs for Rent
Now that your business and RVs are all ready to go, the only thing left to do is list them on major rental sites and start marketing.
How you market will mostly depend on your budget. But first things first, you’ll need to get your website up and running.
If you have a low budget, social media and SEO are good low-cost investments to generate rentals. If you have a slightly higher budget, you could hire a contractor to create content for you or post paid ads.
If you have a higher budget, the fastest way to generate rentals is definitely ads. If you’re looking for a quick return on your investment and have the capital for it, investing in Facebook and Google Ads is a good place to start.
Tips for Jumpstart Your RV Rental Advertising
The best way to figure out how to advertise your brand on social is to create a new Facebook account.
Once your account is live, you’ll want to follow a few big RV rental communities (try to keep it at 3 max, you don’t want FB to flag you for spam and temporarily suspend your account)
By following RV rental communities, you’ll send the right signals to Facebook and ensure your business is filed in the “RV rental” bucket. That way, when RV rental companies create ads, you’ll be targeted. But why would I want to see competitor ads?
Imitation isn’t only the sincerest form of flattery. It’s a great marketing tool to leverage. After studying successful ads, you can work to replicate that success.
Another option is to use Facebook Ads Library, which allows you to search for a particular type of ad and view the ads themselves. Just make sure the ads you’re viewing are currently running so that you know they’re more likely to be profitable.
It will then be up to you to iterate and find what works best from there, but that will serve as a great starting point.
Start Your RV Rental Business Right
Ready to start your own RV rental business?
An RV rental business can be highly profitable–especially when compared to many other inventory-based businesses. With an RV rental business, you can money from that one piece of inventory for years (and even sell it once it’s time to replace the RV with something newer, recouping even more of your original cost).
Just make sure to create a detailed business plan and clarify your target market before investing, as we spoke about earlier.
One final thing you’ll need to figure out (especially if you plan to operate from home) is: where you plan to store your RVs. There are several options, from commercial storage to large-sized self-storage units (typically 10’ x 30’ or 10’ x 40’). You can even find outdoor RV storage for large fleets of rental vehicles.
Which you choose is up to you. Just make sure you pick something that offers convenient access so you can grab whichever RV you need fast and at a decent price.
Want to make finding RV storage simple and easy?
Check out Neighbor’s self-storage marketplace, where you can find all of the above storage options from one convenient place, compare choices, and get the storage you need quickly.
