Financial Investment Concerns: If purchasing a campervan new to rent

[Ssmith006]

I am looking to purchase a campervan to use + rent and was curious if anyone has experience with purchasing a new van+ build and if making that type of invest (approx $80k) if I will be able to still be profitable or if purchasing a new van / build doesn’t make sense with how much (or how little) I will make from renting it. How many days a month should I realistically expect a professionally built CamperVan/Class B RV to be rented out?

I haven’t been able to find a beautiful build and layout that I want and the used market, a lot seem very “DIY” looking. I feel like a beautiful interior will also help to set me apart in the Portland market to help me get more rentals. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? Thanks in advance! 

[Dave-n-Kitty]

We have NO experience with that TYPE of rental, but I'm pretty sure you can use the same maths we did figuring out our nightly rate...

• Overall carrying costs: (monthly payment x12) + insurance + registration =$XXXXX/yr
• Maintenance: 10-20% of above (depending on age & your experience) = $XXXX/yr
• Add that together and then divide by 200 (available days to rent - ymmv) = that is your "base day" to break even
• For daily rate, add between $100-$150 for the time you're going to spend cleaning and maintaining (or paying for it done) to the base day.
• Take that number and look at similarly equipped rentals on ALL platforms and you'll know if what you need is going to be marketable.

Basically, we rent ours so it doesn't sit and isn't a liability. We generally break even (we don't really pay to own the camper - rent does, as does our time and effort to get it out and back) and all our camping is then "free".

Hope that helps.

[mobandi]

I agree with your last statement especially. In 3 seasons (N. Michigan rental season only has about 3-4 months) I’ve “paid off” my used camper of $21,000. My time and maintenance not included. It beats paying on it to only use it for 4-5 weeks myself though.

[bonafyde]

I just purchased the Winnebago Solis camper van 2 months ago and so far it’s booked every weekend since. Sept will be my best month. I am booked 25 days this month and will have paid my monthly payment for the year. Here in the Bay Area, CA I have renters taking it to Yosemite and all the way up to Portland. I’m not sure how the market is in Portland. We will see how it will do during the winter but so far it has exceeded my expectations. Solis is really popular here because it has a pop up so it can sleep 4 people. You just have to price it right and a lot of people are looking for pet friendly van. 

[crixlet]

We have a new build van that we're about to list, so I'll let you know how it goes.  We had our van converted by a company in Colorado for $110k total.  We actually were living in Portland but could not find an affordable van upfitter there, so we went to CO where we were able to find better upfitters.  Like you, we also tried the used market but everything was DIY and largely subpar quality.