Renting, best strategy?

[SusanV]

My family hired an RV 2 summers ago and fell in love with this way of travelling. We're going to hire again next summer for a 3 week trip out West, but need some suggestions on how best to manage it.

I've been trying to get a rental quote for July-August 2011 but no luck so far (too far out?) so I'm wondering if anyone can give me a very general idea of whether or not it's more cost effective to fly from Michigan to either Denver or Wyoming (looking at about $1500 for 5 people to fly) or to pick up an RV in Michigan and drive the whole way. Will gas be more than that (again, in general) or is it more cost effective to drive? We're assuming a Class A, since there are 5 of us.

I'm not clear on how much milage is allowed, but we'll be driving quite a bit (want to visit Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Arizona). That would add to the cost if we drove from Michigan, but again, I can't seem to find a link to how much milage is generally allowed.

In short, we're not sure if we should be researching using a Michigan departure city or if we should research assuming we'll fly, then drive. I'm struggling to get any idea of rental/milage costs.

 

[JimE]

RE: Renting, best strategy?

Susan there are two types of rental companies, those that charge a flat rate per day and those that charge a flat rate plus mileage, plus cleaning, plus generator hours. The ones that charge the fees can be very expensive if your are traveling a long way. If you ping me on my private contact I can share additional information on my personal experiences with renting both ways.