Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Travel

No RV? No Problem: Outdoorsy Will Help You Follow Your Road Trip Dreams

Mike Richard
By
road-trip-series-banner
Planning a road trip? You might find some of these other guides useful. Here’s everything you might need to plot a cross-country journey, a family vacation, or a solo trek.

Thanks to sharing-based sites like Airbnb, Lyft, Hipcamp (the list goes on …), we’re living in something of a golden age of travel. It’s never been easier to own nothing and still travel with world’s cars, campsites, and vacation homes are all at your disposal. Now, one company is throwing its hat in the sharing economy ring as the “Airbnb of RVs.” Maybe 2018 is the year to finally realize your great American road trip dreams?

The concept of Outdoorsy is simple: connect RV owners to RV renters.

outdoorsy rv rental
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For owners, it’s an opportunity to earn extra cash from a vehicle that’s likely just taking up space in their driveway. The site keeps about 10 percent of the total rental price, while owners pocket the rest.

Recommended Videos

For renters, it’s the chance to drive a pricey recreational vehicle for as long as they like without the complications and sky-high cost of ownership. Between upkeep, storage, servicing, maintenance, and lackluster build quality throughout the industry, modern recreational vehicles are notorious money pits.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

According to Outdoorsy’s co-founder, Jeff Cavins, there are fewer than 100,000 RVs available through traditional commercial rental services. However, demand for such vehicles numbers in the millions each year. Most RV owners use their vehicles once or twice a year, then let them collect dust for the remaining fifty weeks. Bottom line: The U.S. is sitting on a massive surplus of unused recreational vehicles begging to be driven.

Related

The idea isn’t entirely new. In fact, a dozen similar companies operate in the U.S. alone. Most notably: Campanda and Mighway. Even Airbnb rents out campers and RVs (though they’re often intended as stationary lodging). Outdoorsy is still in its infancy, but growing fast. They claim more than 250,000 users and more than 20,000 are signing up each month.

What’s most promising is the daily rental rates which (as of the time of this writing) typically range between USD $100-$200. That’s comparable to a mid-range hotel in any medium-sized U.S. city, with the added benefit that renters are getting their lodging and rental car all rolled into one. Plus, Outdoorsy has an agreement with Kampgrounds of America to provide discounted stays to their customers. “They sell the dirt and space and Outdoorsy brings the hotel room,” Cavins told TechCrunch. It’s like an all-in-one road trip solution.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mike Richard
Mike Richard
Contributor
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
The Best Tech to Pack on Your Next Overlanding Trip
overlanding tech

While the purpose of overlanding is often to go off the grid, using the latest technology will make your trip safer and more enjoyable. Here’s a quick list of the best technologies to master before going on a long trip in remote areas.

 

Read more
A Beginner’s Guide to Planning Your First Cross-Country Overland Trip
overlanding

Living a once-in-a-lifetime overland experience on the Continental Divide, the mountainous region that separates the eastern and western watersheds of the Americas, might seem impossible with a normal job and short vacations. However, thanks to today’s technology, it’s perfectly doable even with a somewhat limited budget, limited time, and minimum preparation.

First, Select Your Adventure
The first thing everybody needs before even thinking of going on a long trip is a dream. Not a destination, but a feeling that the route you’ll follow will bring you on the tracks of famous explorers, or will satisfy another personally desired goal, thus providing you with the sense of great achievement. That’s the reason my family and I chose one of the most famous routes: the mythic Continental Divide. This route, initiated by cyclists almost 20 years ago, crosses the whole United States border to border, from Mexico to Canada. However, it’s far from being a straight drive south to north. Passing across the four states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, it follows the geological line along which the rain goes either toward the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean.
Find the Right Way
 

Read more
On the Road with Mikah Meyer, the First Person to Visit Every National Park Site in One Trip
Mikah Meyer flag

White Sands National Monument Mikah Meyer

On April 29, 2016, Mikah Meyer embarked on what would become a three-year road trip that, when completed in 2019, would make him the first person to visit every single National Park Service site in one continuous journey (there were 419 at the moment he completed his quest). And while he obviously enjoyed his multi-year road trip, it was really about self-discovery, inspiring others to chase their dreams, and honoring his father’s memory. What began in Washington, D.C. at the Washington Monument would also conclude in the same city, but involve climbing the steps to The Lincoln Memorial to cross the proverbial finish line. 

Read more