It can easily be said that Burning Man is the mother load of event driven RV rentals. After all, you’re out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but yourself and 65 thousand other free spirits. No infrastructure, electricity, or running water. An RV is not required but having shelter and a few basics sure make a week in the desert a lot more tolerable, (just my humble opinion).

Apparently a good number of the “burners” agree because from what I’ve read (no I’ve never been) many RV rental companies get around $7,000 for a motorhome rental at Burning Man. Attendees have driven up prices for RV rentals at this event to over-the-top sums; $7,000?! It’s only a week! We need a plan folks. Let’s figure out a way to offset this expense.

Burning Man RV Rental Strategy – 5 Simple Steps

1. Purchase, don’t rent – If you and your pals can afford $7,000 weekly accommodations, you can figure out a way to buy a used RV for your desert trip. I don’t need to tell you how to find a used RV for sale, they are all over and you can always find a deal.
2. Use – There are over 10 million RV’s in North America and on average they sit idle 84% of the time. For the most part, they just don’t get used as the owners had intended when they laid down that $50k for their vacation rental on wheels. Plan for this fact, and don’t feel guilty for not using it. One event per year, no problem. Know it going in.
3. Rental Plan – The average nightly rental rate (outside of Burning Man Event) is $200 -$300 per night. Cruise America gets anywhere from $200 to $400 per night depending on the model and time of year. On RVPlusYou, the average owner gets about $135.00 per night for a delivered RV rental. If you rented yours just 7 days a month, 11 months out of the year, you would earn over $10,000 and this doesn’t include delivery and cleaning fees. Do I have your attention?
4. Storage – Your burner home on wheels is big, it needs a home and it needs maintenance. On average expect to spend around $100 per month on storage. Some locations are less expensive but some offer maintenance, dumping service, and some are even getting into the RV Rental consignment business on RVPlusYou. This means a one-stop shop for storage and RV Rental Management services. They get a % of the rental for handling the rental transaction with the renter. This is how it works on RVPlusYou.
5. It’s a business – There are tax benefits involved with owning a “vacation rental on wheels”. Yes, it’s a business and you can write off much of your expenses going in. If you have it available for rent year round, minus ‘Playa Month’, you are operating a business. The IRS says that if you rent it for less than 14 days in the year you don’t even have to claim the income! Check with your accountant on all of this because I’m certainly no expert. It seems the tax benefits alone can make a lot of sense depending on your personal income situation. Helpful info here.

This year RVPlusYou plans to go heavy into events and Burning Man is on the list. It’s a whole different animal but it might just make sense, especially if we can match up RV Owners with RV Burners. See you on Playa.

Sample pricing for RV Rentals at Burning Man:

• $687.59/night
• $135/night
• $900/night
• $500/night
• $150/night