Photo: EB Adventure Photography (Shutterstock)
The idea of hopping in an RV with some friends or family and exploring off the beaten path completely on your own schedule might be pretty compelling—at least until you look up the price of the rental. If this sounds like something you want to do, though, don’t be scared away by the high rental prices you may come across. There are ways to get RV rentals for as low as $1 per day—better yet, it’s even possible to find deals that include a gas stipend if you have some patience.
As a general rule, these too-good-to-be-true RV rentals are relocation rentals. This means that the RV needs to get from point A to point B, often because of seasonality in destinations. That means you’ll have to be a little bit flexible about when and where you rent if you want to take advantage of the best prices.
There are a few websites that have $1 RV rentals available—Imoova, Transfercar and Coseats are three of the most popular, and you can even sometimes find deals outside of the U.S. The exact details of renting through each agency are different (e.g., some may charge a booking fee, while others don’t), but most rental agencies require the renter to be 21 years of age or older and have had a driver’s license for at least two years.
If you’re interested in taking advantage of one of these rentals, keep in mind that RV relocations tend to be more popular in the summer when more people are renting RVs and that relocations are often posted relatively last minute, so this option may not be great if you need to plan your trip far in advance. RV relocation rentals are also typically limited to a specific number of days because the whole goal is to get the RV to a destination because someone wants to pay full price for the rental—so you won’t have as much flexibility in the length of your trip, though it is sometimes possible to pay an extra fee for extra days (usually higher than $1 per day, but not as high as the full rental price).
You should also be fully aware of all of the terms and conditions of your rental: How many miles are included? What’s the milage cost if you go over? Are you allowed to drive the rental at night? What’s your insurance coverage?
Don’t forget to factor in the cost of getting to your starting location and back from your destination before you lock in a rental, but if you find a relocation rental that works for you, you can enjoy the open road.
