What do you do when your old RV dies on the road? What are your options? Can you donate an old RV? Will your Road Side assistance be of any use to you? It has served you well all of a sudden it blows up or dies on the road or where you are camped terminally. Are there any RV junkyards that will accept it or come get it? If repairable but you cannot afford it can you donate it? If towed to a garage or left where it is what happens? Lots of old cheap Class A and Class C motorhomes chugging down the road on their last legs, where do they end up?
Dead RV disposal
- Thread starter bullfrog
- Start date
Help Support Van Living Forum:
Donate it to HOWA through the CARS charity! https://careasy.org/home
Freelander
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2020
- Messages
- 1,136
- Reaction score
- 217
I hadn't thought about that, but I not sure there are going some parts that would still work.
desert_sailing
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2020
- Messages
- 1,058
- Reaction score
- 29
Great question and so timely too given the rising numbers of people pushed into difficult situations.
Really important to have tow money/policy. I think there relatively inexpensive ways to do that.... maybe triple A? Folks would probably want to ask about the size of vehicle rules.
Really sucks to not be able to secure ones possessions especially a "home".
I imagine that on gov lands.. city, county, etc that funds are already in place to deal with abandoned homes and buildings. Places that pose a hazard are torn down so on and so forth. Disposal of an rv is far cheaper than tearing down buildings. No doubt they have a junk yard to deal with "scrap" buses etc.
For many businesses that have to dispose of someones home or vehicle... boo hoo.
most of them waste massive amounts of food every day... what is the extra 500 bux they have to fork out... which is likey covered under some insurance or tax write-off.
I hope I never am forced to abandon ship.
Just an observation in posts around this forum there has been noticable sneering and jeering regarding someone abandoning their vessel.
I can tell you this though. When out on the sea and you encounter an abandoned vessel floating about... the NORMAL thought is regarding the safety of the crew... where are they... were they rescued... are the onboard dead??
NOBODY is critiquing the quality of the vessel. Or how inconvenient it is.
Just a simple observation of mindset.
Really important to have tow money/policy. I think there relatively inexpensive ways to do that.... maybe triple A? Folks would probably want to ask about the size of vehicle rules.
Really sucks to not be able to secure ones possessions especially a "home".
I imagine that on gov lands.. city, county, etc that funds are already in place to deal with abandoned homes and buildings. Places that pose a hazard are torn down so on and so forth. Disposal of an rv is far cheaper than tearing down buildings. No doubt they have a junk yard to deal with "scrap" buses etc.
For many businesses that have to dispose of someones home or vehicle... boo hoo.
most of them waste massive amounts of food every day... what is the extra 500 bux they have to fork out... which is likey covered under some insurance or tax write-off.
I hope I never am forced to abandon ship.
Just an observation in posts around this forum there has been noticable sneering and jeering regarding someone abandoning their vessel.
I can tell you this though. When out on the sea and you encounter an abandoned vessel floating about... the NORMAL thought is regarding the safety of the crew... where are they... were they rescued... are the onboard dead??
NOBODY is critiquing the quality of the vessel. Or how inconvenient it is.
Just a simple observation of mindset.
Yes there is one but don’t know if they are willing to come get or accept junk. They were in RV Dave’s video on YouTube. I would think the tow bill might be more than they would bring plus many would require a low boy or heavy duty tow truck to transport.
I tried to donate an older RV once, the charitable donation places do not want . You are likely to end up having to pay a scrapper to come and get it. The junk yards charge to take them.
If you do manage to give it away or sell it make absolutely sure the title is changed into their name or you could still end up with towing and disposal bills for it.
If you do manage to give it away or sell it make absolutely sure the title is changed into their name or you could still end up with towing and disposal bills for it.
Van Man Dave
Well-known member
We visited an RV salvage in Phoenix a couple days ago:
azrvsalvage.com
Cool place!
azrvsalvage.com
Cool place!
Spaceman Spiff
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2014
- Messages
- 2,650
- Reaction score
- 650
desert_sailing said:
Different situation.
I doubt you would give a thought to the safety of the crew of a broken down vessel parked in a marina.
If there is some usable parts(worth anything) a scrapper will haul them off. It gets tough when you are away from a city or town, scrappers have to pay for the gas and time.
I priced taking a old camp trailer to the dump they told me $40. a ton, I have to haul it down there. I don't think the dump takes stuff with oil and gas in it.
Around these parts meth heads keep abandoning old RVs in the desert, I would imagine the county has to deal with it. Not sure how they dispose of them ? Obviously they can't get any money for them or a desperate tweaker would of cashed in already.
I priced taking a old camp trailer to the dump they told me $40. a ton, I have to haul it down there. I don't think the dump takes stuff with oil and gas in it.
Around these parts meth heads keep abandoning old RVs in the desert, I would imagine the county has to deal with it. Not sure how they dispose of them ? Obviously they can't get any money for them or a desperate tweaker would of cashed in already.
We aren’t talking about the whys of how RVs get abandoned, we are talking about the mechanisms to dispose of them. I guess you could roll it down a boat ramp but that might turn into more of a problem for you. I guess you could rent a marina slot and float it there but again not going to work for many people. Maybe donate it to the local fire department for a practice drill, but then again I usually see them run away when they realize it has propane tanks and might be insured. There just seems to be no really simple, cheap or easy way to do this if you cannot donate it and it makes you wonder what they do with them! Turns out it is the same with houseboats! One suggestion I got was to abandon it in a storage facility which is what happens with a lot of old houseboats! Want an old cheap houseboat, check with a boat storage facility! I know of one that got cut up and hauled away in 55 gallon drums! I really wouldn’t want to do that with an old motorhome, last time I scrapped a car it barely covered the fuel to get it there. There was one individual that was making an AirBnb motel out of them but I haven’t heard how that worked out yet.
There was a salvage yard in N.Dakota that was overwhelmed with 100's of abandoned RVs left behind by oil field workers who lost their jobs in the Great Recession.
Some RVs were in pretty good condition others were total trash. I had planned a trip up there to see if there were any good deals to be had but never made it.
Maybe someday the RV industry will be made to provide a program for disposal of old RVs. And of course pass the costs on to consumers.
Some RVs were in pretty good condition others were total trash. I had planned a trip up there to see if there were any good deals to be had but never made it.
Maybe someday the RV industry will be made to provide a program for disposal of old RVs. And of course pass the costs on to consumers.
blars
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2011
- Messages
- 1,116
- Reaction score
- 0
AAA for Motorhomes has a bad reputation where you can get it, not available everywhere. Stories of sending car tow trucks, etc.
Coachnet is what I used, they did a good job with my motorhome.
I'm sure disposal depends a lot on what and where it is.
Coachnet is what I used, they did a good job with my motorhome.
I'm sure disposal depends a lot on what and where it is.
I have know a few people that took the license plates off vehicles when they died. When the State, county or city officials called they said they had sold it. ? Personally I think this could be a can of worms or a potential for some tickets.
When I was younger we used to baja junk cars in the forest and abandon them where they died. The last registered owner would gets calls from the police and get mad at us. Then we found a junk yard owner that liked a good drive out to the forest and enjoyed collecting our cars. It made for a lot less problems.
When I was younger we used to baja junk cars in the forest and abandon them where they died. The last registered owner would gets calls from the police and get mad at us. Then we found a junk yard owner that liked a good drive out to the forest and enjoyed collecting our cars. It made for a lot less problems.
Similar threads
