"This one comes with a man named Gary." Dana said it from the couch on Thursday night with the laptop on her knees, and that's more or less how we picked our first camper. Not one we're buying. One we're borrowing for three nights, for a price, to find out whether we even like the idea.
Why rent first
This summer gave us five sweaty tent nights and one conversation on repeat. Every time we broke the 70 rule, somebody said "if we had a camper with AC," and somebody else said "do you know what those cost?" Used pop-ups around Miami-Dade run from a few thousand dollars for one that needs work to around ten thousand for a newer one. Then last week the Pilot's AC compressor took $1,640 out of our car savings, which made "spend thousands to find out" sound even worse.
Renting answers the real questions for a few hundred dollars. Do we sleep better off the ground? Do the kids like having their own end? Is it worth the space and the fuss? We already had three nights at Myakka River State Park for Veterans Day weekend, a site with water and electric that we'd booked back in the summer for the tent. That became the test.
How we compared the rental sites
We looked at Outdoorsy and RVshare, the two big sites where regular people rent out their own campers. Dana searched both for pop-ups that would deliver to Myakka for November 8 to 11.
The difference was mostly inventory. On Outdoorsy she found nine pop-ups listing delivery near Sarasota. RVshare had fewer delivery listings in that area, and the ones we found were farther away with bigger delivery fees. That could be different next month or in another city. It's just what we saw that week. In each listing, we looked at:
- Delivery and setup. Some owners only drop the camper off. We wanted someone to level it, set it up, show us how everything works and come back to fold it down.
- Experience with the park. We asked each owner whether they'd delivered to Myakka before. Gary had, many times, and already knew which campground loops have tight turns.
- Photos of the canvas. Stains, patches or tape on the bed ends said a lot about how a camper had been cared for.
- Reviews. We read the bad ones first. Gary's worst review complained that he talked too long during the walk-through. Dana counted that in his favor.
- The cancellation policy. Hurricane season runs through November 30, and we've already cancelled one trip this year.
Why delivery, and what it costs
We can't tow. The Pilot has no hitch, I've never pulled anything bigger than a borrowed utility trailer, and learning on I-75 with a stranger's camper didn't appeal to anyone. The Enterprise SUV we drove last week couldn't have helped either, since rental agreements don't allow towing. The Pilot came back from the shop yesterday with cold air blowing again, but it still has nothing to hitch anything to.
The listing we picked is a 2015 Coachmen Clipper pop-up owned by Gary, a retired firefighter from Venice, about half an hour from the park. Here's what we're paying:
- Three nights at $85: $255
- Delivery, setup and takedown at our site: $120
- Service fee and protection plan: $60
- Total: $435
On top of that there's a $500 security deposit, held on our card and released after the trip if the camper comes back the way it left.
Dana also called the park, because we didn't want a surprise at check-in. We were told a delivered camper is fine as long as it fits the site and we're the ones registered on it. She changed the equipment on our reservation from "tent" to "pop-up," which took two minutes.
What the protection plan covers, as we read it
The plan covers physical damage to the camper during our rental, up to a limit, with a deductible we'd owe if something happened. It doesn't cover our own stuff inside it, and it lists things it won't cover, like damage from ignoring the owner's instructions. That's a good reason to listen closely to Gary, even if he talks too long. I asked our insurance agent whether our auto policy would cover anything about a delivered camper we weren't towing. For us the answer was no, which is why we didn't skip the plan. That's a question for your own agent and your own policy.
Maya has read the listing four times and announced that the bed ends are "basically two bedrooms." Nico has one question, which he asks daily: does it have a bathroom? It doesn't. He's not sure it counts as a camper.
