Cruise America "Rolling Into Arizona"

[Steve66]

Hey all!
I'm interested in Cruise America's "Rolling Into Arizona" one-way rentals. My girlfriend and I are interested in seeing the West and hopefully saving a few bucks. We are flexible on the dates of travel.
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with their one-way rentals? I'm interested in the dates, such as do they begin on only that day or is their flexibility in the dates? How many of their "limited quantity" RVs do they have in certain cities which need to be transported to Mesa, Arizona? Also, since the RVs are going back to Arizona for refurbishing, what kind of shape are they in?
Any and all advice or stories (horror or otherwise) would be warmly appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

If you check out their website, it lists out what is available for the 1 way specials, including locations and dates. They aren't available on a specific day, rather they are available anytime between a range listed as "available after" and "return by" which looks like it is generally a month. You can use as much or as little of that time as you'd like, although there is a mileage limit. You really should contact CA directly for any more specific details.

I know these one way to Arizona deals have been discussed several times on this forum, although I can't not recall if we have anyone specifically do such a trip and report back.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Cruise America used to be a corporate sponsor of RTA -- We've found them to be a good company to work with. As far as the condition of the RVs -- generally that won't be an issue for you. No service center manager wants the hassle of explaining to the corporate office why they let a vehicle go that wasn't road-worthy.

That being said, be sure to take this handy checklist of items to check out when renting RVs.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

As Michael mentioned you have a date range from the time the RV can leave a depot to the time it has to arrive by, although it often specifies how many nights you qualify for at the discounted nights. I have taken that to mean that you can take longer than the allowable nights while keeping within the dates specified, but you may not get the discount when you go beyond the stated number of nights allowed.

How many are available and what locations they start out from and what condition you get can vary and as Michael also said, you would need to contact CA direct. Once they are booked, that's it they are gone. Some start points can be out of the way and away from major airports etc

As Mark mentioned, they will not send you out in a vehicle that is not in roadworthy condition, however they are going back for refurbishment which means they are nearing the end of their rental life and are most likely going to be sold on. It would still be modern and probably no more than 3 or 4 years old, but you have to accept that the shower might leak or the oven might not work or the upholstery is torn/stained.

I have found them good to deal with but so far I have not taken one of these one way rentals. It's certainly something I have considered.

[travelingman]

My Experience

Several years ago, my wife and I used their "Cruising Out Of Arizona" special to take a 27 foot MH to Seattle from Arizona. The refrigerator died overnight and they gave us the option of getting it repaired or buying a cooler and ice. No discount for your time spent at repair facility! So, we bought a decent cooler and ice. Afterwards we turned in our receipts and were fully reimbursed no problem.

Be aware that your ACTUAL rental is shorter than you think. You can't pick it up until the afternoon and you might have to wait your turn behind other renters. The paperwork, walk through, instructions, inspection, provisioning etc can eat up a couple hours. Your first day is essentially shot. Same goes with your last day. You have to return it, clean inside, in the morning, with full gas and empty waste tanks. Severe penalties apply for each hour late. So, a 8 day 7night rental that seems so long is really 6 full days on the road!

They do give you plenty of free miles, but not enough time to enjoy them in my opinion. If you want to spend two days in one or two locations, you'll have very very long drives the other days. We paid full price for two extra days and still felt rushed.

All in all, we really enjoyed the trip, especially at $25 per day for most of them.

An alternative, that we've also used is Camping World. Their specials are found at rvrental.com though. The bad thing is that they only give you 100 miles per day but they often give the discount rate for several weeks, so you don't dont feel rushed. Their units also come with slides, unlike any of Cruise America's.

You can plan a pleasant and cheap vacation using either company, but make sure to do your homework to ensure that their rental specifics fit your vacation plans.

[Lifemagician]

Further relocations of motor homes, and vehicles can be found at imoova.com. I have been considering these for some time, but not yet got around to it. Last time I studied their schedules I found I could take one vehicle, and then, from that location, some days later another vehicle to another destination. Effectively planning a loop.

Very much like what I did a decade ago with relocating cars.

Lifey