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Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:14 pm

I am a massage therapist living in Portland, OR and am wanting to take
a couple of months to drive around the country. My dates are
flexible...just looking to go sometime this year. I am posting this to see
if anybody might be open to renting a vanagon, westfalia or some sort of similar camper van for a few months. I'm not
interested in buying because I don't anticipate having the opportunity
to use it after the trip. I would, of course fully insure the vehicle
do anything else necessary. I have an excellent driving record and
could provide a lot of great personal references.
I looking for something very clean, well cared for with an excellent driving record.
Let me know if you have a vehicle and are interested.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:59 pm

That's a fairly big risk that you're asking someone to take. You could maybe find someone crazy enough to take you up on this, but it would come at a serious price. When I rented a camper for work in Europe that price was $200 USD per day.

You could rent mine, but I would seriously expect at least $3000 per month at a bare goodness-of-my-heart minimum. If I'm expected to cover the cost of repairs while you use it, to rescue it from wherever you leave it, to help you repair it on the road should the need arise, you'd pretty much have to double that figure for me to even be remotely interested.

I'd say buy, fix, enjoy, sell is your only reasonable course of action for a long term drive around the country kind of trip in one of these. Sorry if it's not the answer you want to hear, but it's an honest assessment. These are old, expensive, and dear to our hearts. And they break.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:23 pm

What kind of vehicle do you have now? I ask because now that I'm temporarily Van-less I built a rooftop camping setup for road trip camping and it's great. For about $500 (see Vanagon rental prices for reference - heh) you could build an identical one that will fit most cars. Sleeps two comfortably, room for a heater, reading lights, or dog if you're traveling alone.

I don't know if they offer any long term rentals as you describe, but contact Dragonfly Vans in Missoula, MT. www.dragonflyvans.com. Scott has a beautiful, clean and well maintained fleet of Vanagon Westies he rents for vacationers.

DougM

Fri Mar 29, 2013 5:55 am

Pre-vanagon, we did this:

Compact (19-foot, as pictured) runs about $800/week, including some miles.
Pickup/return in Portland, with lots of other options...

http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rent/our_vehicles/compact_rv.aspx

Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:49 am

Some ideas sound much better on paper than they perform in reality -- and the reality of Vanagon travel (or travel in any 25-30 year old vehicle) is that problems and breakdowns are par for the course, like bad weather and traffic.

The owner-operator learns to take such things in stride and (more importantly) deal with them as they arise. Very difficult for a non-owner to have the attitude and aptitude that this type of travel requires.

X2 on Cruise America, El Monte, Bear, etc -- they have small RVs as pictured and even some pick-up slide-in units that look like real go-anywhere rigs.

Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:09 am

^^^I tend to agree with the above. I have had even a few relatives ask to rent our WESTY for a few weeks, and I always roll my eyes and try to explain the blood, sweat and tears that I have put into my rigs and what kind of assurrances I would need to feel confident of their care. A cross country trip is hard on a vehicle and for someone to walk up to a vehicle, turn the key and drive there will be a different level of expectations and protection than the bloke who spent countless weekends and money on the pretrip maintenance. I am never inclined to let even my relatives drive it too far (my father inlaw, the original owner of our westy, has driven it while visiting and he has brought it back with some minor bumper damage), because they have a completely different attitude towards vehicles, and they are used to the performance and use of more modern vehicles. I quess I don't trust other drivers unless they are old car enthusiasts. So it comes down to whether or not you can find someone to trust you.

Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:33 am

As mentioned above, Dragonfly Vans is the first call I'd make. Scott has a top notch fleet of vans.
http://www.dragonflyvans.com/home.htm

not to poop on your idea, but I sincerely doubt anyone here is going to rent you their rig for a cross country road trip regardless of your driving habits or history.

Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:32 am

Thought I saw a place in Seattle that rented, don't see it now. Do see the place based from Victoria:
http://www.westfaliarentals.com/flash/locations.html

For that long a period, I'd say buy something decent and then sell it when you're done...

tam

Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:33 am

I'd suggest, buy a mini-van - even if that is probably not what you want to hear. A good used mini-van can be had for 3-5K. Sell it when you return for 1K less and that's a bargain for 2 months travel. With the cash saved vs renting, you could travel for months more. Out 2002 Honda gets 23.5-24+ mpg on the highway (gotten as high as 25mpg), so a savings of at least $200 of fuel over the Westy for a cross country trip.

Take out the back seats (and/or fold into the floor depending on model), put it a platform to sleep on, store gear under. A couple of crazy creek chairs to relax in while you are on the platform, magnetized netting for the windows. Run some LED's lights to the power outlets. Put some velcro on the windows and you can easily add curtains that can be removed come sale time. Enough room to even keep a bicycle inside if you are traveling alone.

And I guarantee that it will have more cup holders than you ever thought possible in a vehicle :lol: (ours goes to 11).

Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:27 pm

^^^ Not a crazy idea - every shop in the US knows how to work on those...

Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:53 pm

Five years ago I bought a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan for $3K. Still with me. My wife and I used it to sleep while camping/windsurfing on a road trip from SF to Vancouver Island along the west coast (pre Westy). If you remove the middle seat and back bench you have a lot of room for sleeping!

Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:21 pm

Still...not as cool... :wink:

Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:26 pm

dhaavers wrote: Still...not as cool... :wink: nope, that is why we bought the Westy!

Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:32 pm

autumnpete wrote: I am a massage therapist living in Portland, OR
I assume that you have no mechanical experience?
autumnpete wrote: I am posting this to see if anybody might be open to renting a vanagon, westfalia or some sort of similar camper van for a few months.
I would think that it would be hard to find someone that will let you borrow their van for months.
Good luck

Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:36 pm

And apart from the sound practical reasons mentioned here I should add I would be as likely to rent out my wife or loan my toothbrush as to hand over the keys to my Westy.

Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:06 pm

dhaavers wrote: Pre-vanagon, we did this:

[RV pic]
Compact (19-foot, as pictured) runs about $800/week, including some miles.
Pickup/return in Portland, with lots of other options...

http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rent/our_vehicles/compact_rv.aspx

Just worked up a mock trip from Portland using the Compact RV (Ford conversion van). For a 30-day rental the total comes to $6221.30 (if it's driven exactly 3000 miles). Dragonfly Vans' cost is $1265 for 7 days of Vanagon fun; if they even rent for 30 days, that'd be $5060. That's just for one month and the OP wants to be on the road for a few months... cha-ching! :shock:

It'd be far cheaper to buy a van, drive it, then sell it at the end of the trip. It'd probably be far easier too, rather than waiting for the impossible to happen: Someone on here giving up a member of their family to go romping around the country with a stranger.

Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:58 pm

I'll rent mine >>> $18,000.00 plus you pay Insurance and Costs for two months. I'll pick it up where you finish your trip. 8)

Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:12 pm

Sometimes, when driving a Vanagon (or any 30+ years vehicle, more so a Volkswagen :) ) , something happens and the car will stop in the middle of the road. However, the driver will jump right of his seat, go with confidence to the back of the car, know exactly what to jiggle/tighten/move/blow/squeeze in order to get the van starting again. No guessing, no head scratching, no calling for help, and no wasting time.

No person other than the van's owner can do this. :)

Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:30 pm

I don't think we're going to hear from autumnpete again...

Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:52 pm

I believe the aviation industry has a 'saying' for this...
"Looked good on paper"