Like a rental car, these rigs will have been driven and used (and probably pretty hard) by non-RV'ers. Just a consideration.

That aside, one interesting idea is to catch these rental companies when they need to move rigs (like from Alaska to anywhere in the west at the end of summer as one example). You have to keep checking their web sites to catch these "deals." They practically give the rental away for these one-way re-locates and give you ample time to go it slow. You have to handle the rest of your to/fro transportation but this might be a way to try out RV'ing for relatively low cost.

And if I bought such a rig I would replace many components. I don't know how I would ever feel comfortable about the fresh water system. DH and I often joke about the time we visited with some renters who were "cleaning up" their rig to return it to the dealer. (We nearly barfed as they stuck the white hose in the slinky to clean it really well.)

Oh and how many times have you seen someone spray water from the spigot into the sewer hose to clean it well -- where do you think the spray is going? -- yeah, on the spigot. And when you show up an hour later and hook up???? Always spray the spigot with bleach before you attach your clean hose.

And people who roll up their hose on the picnic table? -- yeah, I'd always use a table cloth.

I hope I've posted this late enough so that so one is eating!!!

Our very first RV experience was a rental from Cruise America. It only had about 5000 miles on it, but the fridge door latch was broken, one of the cabinet doors was split, and we spent our entire time while on the road trying to identify and correct obnoxious rattles. These rigs are not built to be durable. However, the experience was enough to convince us that RVing was for us, and we bought our first rig a few months later. Point is, check everything very carefully before buying. I'm sure the price is right, but how much will it take to make it whole?