What's the best way in?

[mersdream]

I've been considering a bunkhouse for my family of five.

We are thinking to drive down to North Carolina to spend Christmas Break by the beach (I know it won't be that warm) and possibly at some state parks in the region. I'd love to get a week in together as a family in an Airstream to try it out.

What's the best way to do that? I've seen a few outfits online that rent, but they are pretty pricey. Would love any insight on the best places to find a rental, if anyone here in the community rents their trailer and better yet if anyone in NC or the vicinity would be willing to rent for a week sometime between Christmas and New Years.

Thanks a lot!

[mbubbaca]

I don't know of anyone that rents AS. I was looking to rent before we purchased. I would suggest you get a move on reservations wherever you can as the Christmas break is pretty busy at the NC beaches. I do think that there might be some AS for rent in the big RV parks around Myrtle Beach.
Good Luck.

[FCStreamer]

http://airstream2go.com/

[AWCHIEF]

Unfortunetly it seems most if not all the Airstream rental companies are in the western part of the country.

[xrvr]

Does the dealer in Columbus, Ohio rent.?

[chicagoair]

Haydocy in Columbus rents both trailers and tow vehicles via https://www.roadadventures.com

I believe at this time they have a Sport 16 and 3 Flying Clouds (23FB, 25FB, and 26U).

[mersdream]

I saw http://airstream2go.com/. Pretty pricey, but looks legit. Thanks for the tip!

[mersdream]

Thanks so much for all the responses. I checked out the rates on Airstream2Go. It's $5,600 for 7 days! That's a lot of dough.

I called Road Adventures (the rental arm of the Ohio dealer) and the woman who handles bookings is out for the next few days. I'll have to see what that looks like in terms of cost. And I'm not so sure I want my trip to begin in Ohio.

Given that I live in NYC, seems like there's an opportunity for rentals in the area or some model of fractional ownership. I'll have to do some searching on the forums to see if anyone has had success with a fractional ownership model.

I'm guessing I would regularly use the trailer 4 times a year totaling about 4 weeks. Not sure what's typical for those who own, but I'm sure there are 3 other families that would have similar needs/wants. There are 3 seasons here where it would be worth it. I've got a real Millenial mindset when it comes to ownership .

Would love any insights you might have.

[ghaynes755]

$800 per day for a tow vehicle and trailer is pretty reasonable given the value of the various bits. You could check out doing a motorhome rental, someone like gossrv.com just to get prices but hold onto your seat...they have a Prevost for only $23,500 per week just for the coach...

[chicagoair]

Road Adventures has a published price list: https://www.roadadventures.com/plann...ntures/pricing

I loved my previous Airstream2go experience, but due to cost will most likely use Road Adventures for my rental next summer.

I too wish there were more options around fractional ownership.

[DavidsonOverlander]

Did you check on AirBnb? They sometimes list Airstreams, but probably not mobile. You might find someone in the area where you want to stay who would set the trailer up for you on a site then pick it up when you're finished with it.

[tatone]

You could check out some KOA s, some of their parks have Airstreams on site to rent.

[traileritus]

I don't know anything about the East Coast but lived in Southern California for too many years. So if the holiday season there is anything like out here, you might want to see if you can get a space in a park for the dates you want before you worry about finding an Airstream. It's only 5 weeks 'til Christmas and most RV parks on the California coast were totally booked 5 months ago.

I know I've seen Airstreams on Air B&B and since they are already 'parked' if you could find one of those it would be fewer headaches. Good luck!

[Climber]

Originally Posted by mersdream

Not sure what's typical for those who own, but I'm sure there are 3 other families that would have similar needs/wants. There are 3 seasons here where it would be worth it. I've got a real Millenial mindset when it comes to ownership .

An Airstream is only half of what you'd need if you're thinking of fractionally owning a trailer. You'll need a tow vehicle, too. Would you be mutually owning that as well, or renting?

The "time share" model might seem appealing at first, but I suspect it would become much more of a headache than going in on a vacation home with 3 other families, for instance - mainly because a trailer travels, and does so differently with each user. I'd imagine estimating fixed costs would be much harder, because each part-owner might have vastly different expectations of use. Some might want to boondock on remote BLM land in the West, where miles of washboard road would be sure to loosen hinges and shower doors. Others might be lax about checking tire pressures, maintaining lug nut torque, or emptying waste tanks. Would you want to trust someone else to winterize your trailer properly after coming back from Florida in February? Or to monitor voltage on a July day in Utah so the AC doesn't kill itself? Who would pay for repairs if someone's personal negligence resulted in road damage, blown tires, busted pipes or a dead AC? How would you split insurance (if you could even get any) among owners / drivers with differing records and credit scores?

I'm not trying to throw cold water on your idea, just suggesting you think it through a bit. Who knows, you might find the right people and right usage formula to make it work.

Best wishes and happy travels!

Climber

[mersdream]

Originally Posted by chicagoair

Road Adventures has a published price list: https://www.roadadventures.com/plann...ntures/pricing

I loved my previous Airstream2go experience, but due to cost will most likely use Road Adventures for my rental next summer.

I too wish there were more options around fractional ownership.

There's some great insights below from @Climber on the challenges of fractional ownership. Thanks for the pricing!

[mersdream]

Originally Posted by Climber

An Airstream is only half of what you'd need if you're thinking of fractionally owning a trailer. You'll need a tow vehicle, too. Would you be mutually owning that as well, or renting?

That's a good question with respect to the tow vehicle. Just spitballin' here but maybe it's all owned under a company umbrella. The company owns the tow vehicle and trailer. The tow vehicle is a company car but used primarily by one family as a second vehicle, That's reflected fairly in the shares of ownership in the company.

Otherwise, there would be a co-op model. Each family pays a yearly maintenance fee to cover costs of repair.

If you turned this into a thing - not just a one-off i think the economics could work much better and you could have a 10-person share model per trailer and a selection of trailers. In that case, it is more like a time share model where people don't actually own a fraction of a given trailer, they own the time / usage of the trailer/tow vehicle which they can give away or resell.

Anyway, something I'm kicking around. I love these Airstreams but for me to shell out $80k for a depreciating asset that I will use at most 4 weeks a year is a tough pill to swallow and I would love to be able to share that experience (and the cost) with others.

Thanks for your insights @climber!

[Shiny16]

Fractional type setups work great with airplanes and vacation properties. Co op homes as well. The biggest problem I see with the same model for a travel trailer would be the lack of professional management available. Owning a travel trailer depends largely on doing ones own maintenance. This is a bit hard to divide up evenly. Even if you wanted to pay for 100 percent of the maintenance professionally so it could be split among owners getting someone to do the work would be difficult. It's not uncommon in the NYC area to waits months for a service appointment.
I'm not saying it can't be done. I just think that would be the largest obstacle.

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by mersdream

I've seen a few outfits online that rent, but they are pretty pricey. Would love any insight on the best places to find a rental, if anyone here in the community rents their trailer and better yet if anyone in NC or the vicinity would be willing to rent for a week sometime between Christmas and New Years.
Thanks a lot!

Realistically, there is a fair amount of risk involved in renting an expensive rig to a family of not only strangers, but strangers without RV experience.

I don't believe this is something the average Airstream owner would even consider, and there is thread here somewhere on that very subject.

We once rented a small Class C for a week in Oregon and Northern California. Not only was it expensive, but it was a very basic, stripped down rig.

However, if you're wanting to know what it is like, and if you would enjoy it, that is a good way to go.

Rentals I am aware of are done by businesses, with plenty of insurance and all the kinks worked out in renting to strangers.

You never know what response you might get, so it doesn't hurt to ask, but if you seriously want to rent an Airstream you should perhaps put an ad in Classifieds, which I believe would get your query more and better attention.

And, as others have said, a problem likely greater than finding an Airstream to rent is getting a Site on the NC beach next month.

It's a nice dream, but I suspect turning it into reality will be extremely difficult.

Maggie

[Shiny16]

Why not just rent an RV. You can find a rental within minutes of NYC. It might not have the wow factor of an airstream but it will have all the amenities.

[MissingLink5]

You may contact the NC Airstream Unit and see if anyone in the unit would setup and rent their airstream for that period of time. Just a thought.