Hiring a motorhome in New England/Canada

[Fionafew]

Just exploring the option to tour New England and Eastern Canada - from Boston and back. Anyone got any hire company recommends? Might resort to car hire and hotels, but it's just an idea at the moment. (We cannot afford to take our van over for 2 months!).
Thanks.

 

[Bleau’s]

We used el-monte when we went over a few years ago

 

[VXman]

There are loads of motorhome hire companies in Canada. Just Google it and you will see. It's a very popular place to motorhome. Certainly a very good way to explore and would be far more flexible than hotels/car hire.

 

[Fionafew]

Thank

There are loads of motorhome hire companies in Canada. Just Google it and you will see. It's a very popular place to motorhome. Certainly a very good way to explore and would be far more flexible than hotels/car hire.

Thanks, but we've already booked flights to Boston... so need to go fro there, or thereabouts.

 

[VXman]

Thank

Thanks, but we've already booked flights to Boston... so need to go fro there, or thereabouts.

Sorry - misread that but comment still stands. Loads on motohomes to hire in US too.

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[Bailey58]

We too used El-Monte out of New York. This was an organised tour where 17 vans met up at the next campsite each night. Getting out of New York in a 30' van for the first time was fun and we spent the first couple of days just keeping another one of the group in sight. We did manage a stop in Salem and witch country once we were through Boston and things settled down after that. Everywhere was a highlight but in particular Bar Harbour and Martha's Vineyard. Down the St Lawrence, Ottowa, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and Niagara Falls then onto Gettysburg, Washington and New York. (Maybe not in that order but . . .). I never want to see another donut for breakfast!

 

[makems]

We have used Cruise America a couple of times and been pleased with their vans and service. They have a couple of depots close to Boston.

 

[Jez1966]

I think you'll get a shocked when you look at RV Rental costs.
We have an 8.1m Swift Kon-Tiki and shipping both ways is €10,000 or £8,500.
Renting was only a paper exercise as we we planning 12 months, but Rental is $250 ish or £210 a day.
As an example using El-Monte, nearest to Boston is New Jersey, 1st June to 31st July, small/medium is $16,000 or £12,500.
Same dates, but only offering 6 birth RV Cruise America $193 per day but $2,300 ($0.39 per mile) so $14,000 or £11,000.
Likely you'll get less than 10 to the gallon on petrol, we're getting 24mph 2.3 diesel, you'll need to bring or buy bedding, towels, and some other items.
Break even for a smaller van is 2 months.
Probably scuppered as flights booked and you need to book shipping 3 months in advance.
Maybe not the desired experience but renting a car/budget hotel/motel/ AirBnb would be cheaper than RV Rental.
or RVSHARE AirBnb for RV's

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Americas

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[Fionafew]

I think you'll get a shocked when you look at RV Rental costs.
We have an 8.1m Swift Kon-Tiki and shipping both ways is €10,000 or £8,500.
Renting was only a paper exercise as we we planning 12 months, but Rental is $250 ish or £210 a day.
As an example using El-Monte, nearest to Boston is New Jersey, 1st June to 31st July, small/medium is $16,000 or £12,500.
Same dates, but only offering 6 birth RV Cruise America $193 per day but $2,300 ($0.39 per mile) so $14,000 or £11,000.
Likely you'll get less than 10 to the gallon on petrol, we're getting 24mph 2.3 diesel, you'll need to bring or buy bedding, towels, and some other items.
Break even for a smaller van is 2 months.
Probably scuppered as flights booked and you need to book shipping 3 months in advance.
Maybe not the desired experience but renting a car/budget hotel/motel/ AirBnb would be cheaper than RV Rental.
or RVSHARE AirBnb for RV's

RV Rental Search Results, Boston, MA | RVshare.com

Compare low RV rental rates from top brands. Book & save big on RV rentals from private owners. No booking fees, trusted community & best rates guaranteed.

rvshare.com

Americas

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Thanks, we've looked at that too, but this time we're only going for 2 months in total, but only need to rent for about 4 weeks, so not too much...

 

[Brains]

Quite a few years back, we flew into Boston and rented an RV for 3 weeks from Cruise America
There were 4 of us and we had rented a small (European size) motorhome.
When we got to the depot our selected van was unavailable to they gave us a monster American RV.
It was 2' longer than a double decker bus.
At the back it had a bedroom with it's own en-suite and it had a TV! (I'd never even heard of a TV in a vehicle before then)
It also linked into the new fangled thing called the internet via modem, which we never tried as we were not really sure what the internet was.

Cost at the time was cheap as it was about $2 =£1, and fuel was cents for the gallon.
Cost will have gone up considerably since then, but it was still a holiday to be remembered.

Notes:
If you are flying into the USA, Cruise America will insist you spend at least one night in a hotel.
You can not get off the plane and drive away ( I guess too many tired foreigners causing accidents)
We made a couple of days of it looking around Boston.

Whilst handing back the RV dont send your mother and wife 200m down the road to Dunkin' Donuts to get breakfast as they are liable to get pulled by the police for soliciting. No American would ever walk 200m down the road!

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[starquake]

Whilst handing back the RV dont send your mother and wife 200m down the road to Dunkin' Donuts to get breakfast as they are liable to get pulled by the police for soliciting. No American would ever walk 200m down the road!

Indeed, working over there, even walking 100m I've had police called on me before for "unusual behaviour". They equate walking to what homeless do, and assume you are homeless so you get police called on you. I was when I got called at a weekend training US team members on something and we just walked across the grass at lunchtime (as the canteen shut) in front of the building in which we worked (and was owned by the company I worked for) to a Jack in the box burger place that literally was on corner of same lot under 100metres from our parking, we got met by police on our return. They assume you are thieves at the worst!

No-one walks -> EVER outside some pedestrianised areas like Strip in Vegas. Since first US trip, we now just get a car/Uber for anything depending on the location as it's less likely to result in an armed police response.

 

[Larrynwin]

We have used Cruise America/Canada and El Monte all basic hire RVs with all you need to explore.
Endless great scenery.

 

[GMLS]

Go for it.Done both East and West Coast on seperate occassions.Best way to see the country, wildlife and the people by far.2nd only to NZ and that's just because of the vast distances.Dont under estimate .It was a while ago so can't remember the rental companies but we got a double upgrade to something with slideouts!

 

[Brains]

Quite a few years back, we flew into Boston and rented an RV for 3 weeks from Cruise America

Important note:
The Boston Cruise America depot at Worcester (pron: War-sesta, not Wooster)
can be got to by using a train from Boston and then a local bus or local taxi.

Deport Access:
Having public transport to get to the depot is critical in America as this saves having to hire a car and return it, and then hire another car to get back at the end
(or several long expensive taxi rides) to get to the depot and back.

Most of the RV depots are well outside the cities and Americans expect everyone to have a car and drive there and leave the car.

 

[starquake]

Worth noting when we were comparing prices on RV'ing to Hotel costs, that in some cases the latter would be cheaper and more useful.

I'd encourage a mix, as there are definitely places in US we'd want a RV, there are others we definitely would not. (Vegas is a typical example, RV parking is down by Circus Circus, and ... thats not the best part of town putting it politely), we'd drop the RV back to Los Angeles and drive back to Vegas in a hire car over having an RV in Vegas. I don't think we'd ever want to take a RV into Vegas (and I know some do), but thats simply down to us preferring nicer areas to stay. If you have an amex there are often good deals available via them on Bellagio and Palazzo and I can reccomend both for a relaxing mid trip stay without an RV.

However up in Moab, Utah and surrounds the roads are amazing, (It's VERY Westworld, given thats where it was filmed), with I think it is 2 national parks and a state park or two all within an hours drive. We didn't have an RV on last trip there, but thats somewhere we are 100% considering it, probably best driving and state parks we've been to within US. If we were doing a route now we'd prioritise that, going down via Monument valley to around Sedona AZ area, then via Grand Canyon onto California, and completely skip Vegas. (Old route 66 type vibe in parts to, jumping on/off that route). Some absolutely stunning driving, outlooks, and places to stop on many of the mountain passes from Salt Lake City to moab too. If you started in California and done a loop with Moab on far right and Sedona, AZ as the far right of the loop, you could find some amazing places (I'd go via the pass from Sacramento CA to Tahoe/Lake Mead area, then onto Salt lake City and down as the top part of the loop personally. You can't tell we've already planned the loop outselves based on previous (non RV) trips and driving before (some 4000 miles of it!).

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[starquake]

For New England and Canada, I agree though, look at Boston for a pickup, it's near enough to be "good" and has > 1 flight provider, making it one of the more reasonable entry points to US price wise. If goign West Coast we always use Los Angeles for same reason, as with the competition on the route, flights are often £2-300 per person less than San Fransisco.

 

[Nanniemate]

When my parents did NY in the fall a week before departure hire company rang them to say vehicle booked had been in a rta. Nj longer available really sorry we will give e you full size winnebago. Father chatted it over and I explained how cheap hotels were go for a car.
That's what they did and the holiday was a great success they got to places even a standard MH would not fit.
Yes they do have narrow roads in the states.
The kept the hotel bookings either end .but other than than that booked hotels as they went along.
Never failed to get good hotels at reasonable prices.

 

[Jez1966]

When my parents did NY in the fall a week before departure hire company rang them to say vehicle booked had been in a rta. Nj longer available really sorry we will give e you full size winnebago. Father chatted it over and I explained how cheap hotels were go for a car.
That's what they did and the holiday was a great success they got to places even a standard MH would not fit.
Yes they do have narrow roads in the states.
The kept the hotel bookings either end .but other than than that booked hotels as they went along.
Never failed to get good hotels at reasonable prices.

The only true single lane roads we have experienced, in 12 months and 60,000 miles driving in USA have been forestry roads/tracks, accessing undeveloped "camping areas", basically any clearing in National Forests and in sections driving up/down mount Evans (30" max length).
Only national park route we could not drive was Going-to-the-Sun-Road in Glacier National Park, MT as it has
6.4m (21") limit. We've driven through 35 other National Parks, all the popular ones + others.
We've driven through the centre of 49 State Capitols and parked to visit capitol building and through the centre of most
major cities without issue.
We has Swift Kon-Tiki 8.1m (26.5") long and 2.38m (7.9") and have had no issues in any State, there are multiple duel axle pick-up trucks wider and only a foot or 2 shorter.
Be it El-Monde, Cruise America, Cruise Canada the largest they rent is 30' on Ford E-xxx chassis, the shorter ones are
the same width, mass rental companies do not rent 41" super C class diesels.
Currently in Texarkana, Texas on route back to Halifax Nova Scotia to put van on ship back to UK, we're then flying to Hawaii to tick of State/State Capitol 50.

 

[ORPP2]

We did a week's rental through Cruise America in Florida a year ago. The van we were given was a disgrace and I would never use them again. I appreciate that each depot is different as CA use local garages and car rental companies as their pick-up/drop-off and these places have nothing to do with CA at all. Do not be taken in by their fancy videos and brochures.

RVing over there is very different to Europe, which is part of the appeal, but we left thinking, as other posts have suggested, that it is cheaper and nicer to rent a car and stay in hotels or Airbnb.

Have a great trip.

 

[meanders]

Indeed, working over there, even walking 100m I've had police called on me before for "unusual behaviour".

Had the same experience twice in Atlanta walking half a mile from hotel to a different restaurant. Next thing is the sheriff was pulling up beside to ask what we were doing.

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[Jez1966]

Had the same experience twice in Atlanta walking half a mile from hotel to a different restaurant. Next thing is the sheriff was pulling up beside to ask what we were doing.

Having worked for 2 American companies for 30 years and visited the US at least twice a year in that time, + holidays.
I've only been approached by law enforcement 3 times and they said it was "for my safety".
Believe me having spent so much time in the US previously and now a year in motorhome the Police have much better
things to do than enquire why your walking.

 

[meanders]

I was spending every third week out there for almost a year. If you are insinuating that I am being untruthful, then you are entitled to your opinion, but those incidents both happened when walking from the Marriatt on the north east outskirts of Atlanta while working with NCR.

 

[Jez1966]

Back the the OP's actual topic.
Having travelled in US, on business/holiday using car hotel/motel, you need to factor in food/drink.
Unless your planning on 2 months of fast food, there are many to chose from, you'll need to factor that cost in.
Cracker Barrel, Denny's and other have £10 per person menu.
Do breakfast Skip/snack for lunch.
Evening £15+ per person or back to Cracker Barrel.
Summed up your looking at £50 a day.
Alternative, when looking at accommodation look for ones with kitchenette, Extended Stay America is a specific chain but other major chains do them, it's an option in Expedia booking.

 

[Jez1966]

I was spending every third week out there for almost a year. If you are insinuating that I am being untruthful, then you are entitled to your opinion, but those incidents both happened when walking from the Marriatt on the north east outskirts of Atlanta while working with NCR.

I'm not insinuating untruthful, your comment + others is compounding a view that in USA today if you walk your
"up to no good", that is not, from my historical and past 11 month experience my experience.
For clarity when did you spend "every third week out there"?

 

[Jez1966]

Indeed, working over there, even walking 100m I've had police called on me before for "unusual behaviour". They equate walking to what homeless do, and assume you are homeless so you get police called on you.

For full clarity Starquake can you advise when you experience this please.
From my historical and past 11 month experience my experience, We'd be interested in knowing the time period.

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[meanders]

I'm not insinuating untruthful, your comment + others is compounding a view that in USA today if you walk your
"up to no good", that is not, from my historical and past 11 month experience my experience.
For clarity when did you spend "every third week out there"?

As you ask, it was 1996/7 missing one over the turn of the year. Flew out Sunday afternoon, arrive back in Gatwick early the next Saturday morning. How does that make any difference though? Note also it was Atlanta area either side of the summer Olympics ( when I didn't travel). On the first occasion I was with two colleagues from my own company (sadly once since died of a brain tumour) and a UK based NCR (branded AT&T at that point) employee. On the second I was alone. Both occasions were in suburban residential streets around Duluth.

I have also remembered being challenged in LA in around 2003 while walking near our hotel with family. Again, not downtown. Neither have I said or implied what their motive was. Just reporting my own experiences that are clearly very different to yours. I was also in Florida 8 years ago and do not recollect anyone walking except on the boardwalks or parks. I was on crutches and mobility scooter on that occasion and drove everywhere.

On both the Atlanta occasions I was specifically asked why I was not driving.

I am not saying it's a States wide issue as I have only ever been to those locations and short 1 day escorted business trips to Chicago and ,Dayton, Ohio. (And for completeness, many hours in Newark airport on one occasion having missed a connection. )

I am delighted your own experience was very different, but it doesn't make mine or starquake first hand experiences any less true or relevant advice to the OP.

 

[jongood]

When my parents did NY in the fall a week before departure hire company rang them to say vehicle booked had been in a rta. Nj longer available really sorry we will give e you full size winnebago. Father chatted it over and I explained how cheap hotels were go for a car.
That's what they did and the holiday was a great success they got to places even a standard MH would not fit.
Yes they do have narrow roads in the states.
The kept the hotel bookings either end .but other than than that booked hotels as they went along.
Never failed to get good hotels at reasonable prices.

We've done this but the issue is we don't get the same holiday out of it. We get fed up of living out of suitcases and you can't just pull up places and just enjoy the scenery while you make yourself a sandwich/rustle up some pasta etc, instead you have to choose a place/look through a menu and wait for someone to take your order etc - 3 times a day. You also have to have a target to get to for the night because you can't just sleep in a convenient carpark etc if the town you arrive at happens to be full.

Having said that renting a Motorhome isnt ideal, Its quite hard to get one one as good as we've got back home and then everything in it is an extra or a package, and the offgrid element is usually missing and to do a long term is ruinously expensive.

We ve looked at shipping and that for us would be an attractive option, but when to go? as unless you want to do the southern states then US climate is very similar to Europe, and we can go there without any of the complication.

 

[Nanniemate]

Browsing a menu being waited upon sounds horrendous, 3 times a day a little excessive

It was one of the experiences they spoke about finding small independent eateries and meeting real people that they enjoyed.

Having only done the ski holidays in canada and of course floridia I cannot speak.from personal experiences.but even in florida we managed to avoid the Major chains. Except the donut one

I'm parked next to the Camel trail presently and would love someone to make and serve my breakfast but its DIY ......again

 

[starquake]

I am delighted your own experience was very different, but it doesn't make mine or starquake first hand experiences any less true or relevant advice to the OP.

Indeed I worked out in Tennessee and Atlanta area for ~ 6 months of the year from 2001-5 ish, then had work in US from 2015-18 (I've now got a UK based role). Both cities are HEAVILY car cities with very little public transport (none in Nashville/Memphis) and little in Atlanta. I wouldnt say none, as I did get a public subway to a Ice hockey game in Atlanta, but that was only because I was staying near the area, and a work colleague as it happens still had to drive us to the nearest subway station. It may not help that my work area in Nashville was near a major airport, so as such had a high police presence with the local area having actual police patrols regularly.

Pedenstrianised cities like San Fran and Vegas, yeah, walking is normal in the city (although slighly less safe in the former from friends who went last month and were shocked at the crime levels - their car got broken into being left only 3 minutes). Ditto New York and parts of Chicago would be walking cities. However, I can say even in Louisville (where I have visited for work too) if you walk outside the city centre area you would be stopped by police, again becuase I was at a conference circa 2016 ish. Los Angeles if you walk in some areas you probably would be more likely to be shot by the local gangs, where in others (beaches) it's normal -> in general we found in LA it's safe in the Disney area, ditto Hollywood (though latter is a dive), good down at the beach, but anywhere else, forget about it. You really need local knowledge in some cities....

Nashville in particular if you don't have a car, you are stuck though. We are planning to visit our friends there again next year (a lot of my work colleagues moved there via the immigration scheme the office offered) , but I do not expect walking to be on the agenda.

 

[starquake]

I was spending every third week out there for almost a year. If you are insinuating that I am being untruthful, then you are entitled to your opinion, but those incidents both happened when walking from the Marriatt on the north east outskirts of Atlanta while working with NCR.

I bet you were also based near Alpharetta given that - anyone in north east atlanta it's usually there My firm was also based up there with facilities in North East Atlanta, but it wasn't NCR, it was one of the large insurance brokers that no-longer exist on their own name (no-one generally knows the company as they are under the radar), and we used facilities at a HP facility for some of our annual IT needs. We had annual visits to Alpharetta for about 12 years of my career for a month, and teams globally all flew in for it, and I usually had to go every other year as a minimum. I understand from some friends still at the firm they still go annually now.

And yeah, that was one of spots I was stopped walking as we only had a pool car between 3 work colleagues and that evening another colleague had took the car somewhere too far to come back for me, and it was only a short walk from where we stayed (A Hyatt) to some of the local bars, given the one in the hotel was awful. So I got stopped walking around 300 metres from a Hyatt to a small strip mall containing the local bar.