Cruise America Motorhome Rental & Sales

THE SPOILER
Cruise America sucks, and you’ve made a mistake if you rent from them before reading this review.
We rented a Cruise America RV for approximately three weeks, which gave us plenty of time to discover and experience the nuanced problems of our dilapidated motor dumpster. We left with the feeling that we would have kept finding pre-​existing problems if we kept it for longer.
THE BACKGROUND
Carson is one of the few Cruise America locations that offers «Intermediate» sized RVs. The Intermediate RVs are marketed as being the size of «Standard» RVs, but built with more lightweight material and aerodynamic, thereby saving fuel. For that reason, they are more expensive to rent. We figured that even if the our fuel economy improved by only 1 mpg, it would more than pay for itself.
We were wrong. More on that later.
FIRST SATURDAY
The first warning sign was that our vehicle had 120,000 miles on it. No matter how well you maintain a vehicle, an engine carrying that kind of weight for that long isn’t going to run efficiently.
We pulled out of the rental location at approximately 3:30 pm on Saturday. That was our first mistake, because the location closed at 4:00 pm, and wouldn’t open again until Monday, leaving us with no way to timely return the vehicle when we immediate began experiencing problems. We pulled out of the location into LA traffic. Approximately an hour later, as our speed increased and traffic began to lighten up, we noticed that the vehicle was pulling hard to the right. Worse yet, when the vehicle approached 60 mph, it began to shake like a space shuttle reentering the atmosphere. We limped the vehicle 40 miles to our home and called their 800 roadside assistance number. They wouldn’t be able to examine it until the following Monday. Unfortunately, having wrongly anticipated that our rental would be functional, we were scheduled to be Tuscan, AZ on Sunday, so we made the decision to push to Tuscan at 55 mph on the following day and get it serviced there on Monday.
FIRST SUNDAY
With two small children that will touch and taste anything they can reach, I opted to clean the vehicle’s interior prior to loading it. I’m glad that I did. The floors has basically been swept and it appeared generally clean if you were only taking a glance, but there were parts of that thing that had literally never been cleaned. I mean, I don’t know if you can understand what that means… Imagine a public restroom with areas that had not been cleaned in five years… It was that. It was so gross in those spots, I ended up wiping down literally everything – walls, floors, nooks– «just in case». I was getting heavy dirt, soot, and God knows what else off of about half the surfaces. It was educational.
During the course of this cleaning, I also opted to run the restroom sink, only to discover that it was completely clogged. Awesome. So we had a screwed up drive, a filthy cabin, and a clogged sink, and we hadn’t even packed yet.
I called their 800 number to tell them that the sink didn’t drain, and they added that to the list of problems to be repaired. We packed up and limped to Tuscan at 55 mph.
FIRST MONDAY
Cruise America’s 800 roadside assistance called us Monday morning to tell us that their repair guy in the city was sick, so we would have to get the tires serviced through an outside repair shop in Tuscan. Notice that I didn’t say we would have to get the tires and sink services through an outside repair shop… If we wanted our sink serviced, we would have to wait until their sick repairman returned to work, or backtrack to Phoenix and get the sink serviced there (no thanks).
The outside repair shop identified the problem – the tire had a bubble in it. Cruise America, not caring about fuel efficiency, had the shop replace only the damaged tire, with no balancing or alignment to be performed. It fixed the pulling and shaking, so we at least we’re able to drive at a safe and normal speed, but I was starting to get use to the idea that their business model doesn’t allow for regular maintenance or customer satisfaction. We continued our drive East.
FIRST TUESDAY
Now driving through New Mexico, we started experiencing rain. As one would do while driving through these conditions, I turned on the «windshield wipers.» I say it in quotes because, as one would expect from blades that haven’t been replaced in five years and 120,000 miles, they didn’t really wipe the windshield. The rubber blades just kind of dangled and sloshed about like old shoelaces, not having any impact on my ability to see. It was also at this time that we discovered that the cabin leaked.
OUT OF SPACE
Due to space limitations, I have to summarize the rest. We averaged 7.8 mpg, burning approximate 440 gallons of fuel, and having to refill our 55 gallon tank approximately once every 400 miles. When we returned the vehicle, they didn’t ask if we experienced any problems. Why would they?

Dirty shower, when I put the table leg into its place on the side of the bench and took it out later a bunch of rotten crackers came out. And the cushions smelled like wet dog. I don’t know what they consider «clean» I’m glad I never have to see their house. I asked if they would do a military discount they said that they are already cheap… When you make request the lady at the desk just says no. She doesn’t even give you a «let me see what I can do» nothing… She talks back to customers like she wouldn’t give two shits if we never used their service again. To her who cares she’s getting paid anyway. Oh and dog hair everywhere I had to rent a vacuum to get it out. My in laws have rented with them before and the 3^rd time they did they begged for a discount for coming back again and because my in laws knew they would have to spend a day cleaning it but a straight NO… They don’t care about customer just about your wallets.

I’m not sure what everyone is talking about. The service here is awesome. Yes, the woman at the counter is a bit sassy, but not in a bad way: it’s definitely in good humor and she makes things interesting. For example, when I picked up my vehicle, another gentleman was picking up as well. She asked him if he had watched the instructional video and he said yes. Then with a wink/​smirk she asked how long it was and he said «about 4 minutes»…I knew what she was getting at. When you book your reservation, the confirmation comes with two videos — one that’s 4 min, and another that is about 30 minutes long, and in my opinion and Cruise America’s, 100% necessary as a new driver. She said «I’m going to take you into this room so you can watch the whole thing». He should have watched the damn video, and she gave him a little good humored flack for it. She could have just been a biatch, since she probably does that 10 times a day, but she wasn’t.
Anyway, as a first time RV driver, they were super helpful and answered all of my questions. Omar toured me through the different models and in the end I got a large vehicle for my move from LA to Vancouver BC (had to one way drop near Seattle after dropping my belongings in Van). He had to special request the one way trip given it was in the dead of winter, but he got back to me in a super timely fashion with the approval. When I went to pick it up, it was nice and very clean. No issues on the entire drive and it was easy to drive once we got a hang of it. He told me I didn’t need to winterize it and he was right — temps were fine along my route.
People that work here are great, and the vehicle was great. Upfront about costs and no hidden fees. Zero complaints.

I purchased two Motor homes from Frank and Farhad– the first one i purchased was in 2012 and then traded it in for a bigger RV in September of 2015. They go above and beyond on trying to finance me with a good lender, making sure I had no issues with the RV after purchase. I would recommend anyone who is looking to purchase an RV to talk to Frank at the Carson location. I had a small issue with the Parking breaks — and they told me to take the RV to the Ford Dealer and was fixed, pretty easy! I will be a returning customer in the future.

Nearly three years and more than 30K miles have past since we bought our Majestic 19G. The little rig has performed flawlessly and still rates five stars. We average 10 – 12 mpg (depending if headwind or tailwind). The only out of pocket expenses were routine service every 3K miles, a set of tires, a few interior lamps, and a toilet flush valve. I tried to upgrade to a key fob door lock, but the computer module is not installed… oh well.
All good things come to pass. We now travel with two little dogs and also find climbing up into the sleeping berth overhead is getting more difficult, we felt that it was time for an upgrade with a little more floorspace.
This week we traded our faithful little rig in for it’s bigger brother, a 27G. We drove to the corporate office in Mesa, AZ (where they refurbish all their rigs) and were greeted by Dave Jones. He gave us a fair trade in, did the paperwork, and helped us transfer all of our «stuff» into the new rig. In and out in less than one day. We did go back the next morning to get an armrest fixed and tighten up the passenger side outside mirror.
Leaving Mesa/​Phoenix after filling up with 43 gallons of gas, we checked the fuel consumption in Yuma, AZ and figure we got 10 mpg. Not bad for a nearly 30 foot rig with a Triton V-​10. The Magestic 27G is a «right-​size» rig for us now. This will probably be our last rig, but if we ever decide to get another one in the future… we will choose Cruise America.

Folks at this location are less than friendly. They do the job but nobody bothers to smile. Our RV was in pretty good condition. Drawers and fridge kept popping open so we had to duct tape them closed. Side exit and bathroom doors were difficult to open/​close. Otherwise it was decent.
My biggest problem, and this is the deal breaker, after we dropped off the rig and left, we realized we had left some items in the side closet. Because they had closed I was unable to contact them until Monday. I spoke with Natalie and she went and checked the cupboard and found every item we had named except the stained glass candle holder we had purchased along the way. All items were in the same cabinet and the candle holder was wrapped in a sweater. We got the sweater back but not the glass piece. It’s unfortunate that the honesty and integrity of the staff is equal to theft.
My fault for leaving it behind in the first place for sure but this theft was obvious and therefore I can not recommend this business location to anyone.
BTW, we were considering making a purchase on a used RV from them but now that will never happen. I hope whoever stole from us gets everything that a thief deserves. Corporate, I hope you are seeing this review.

I just had The WORST customer service from Cruise America’s Lindsay. She was completely rude and under qualified to speak to people for a living. I was trying to get a very expensive rental and she was no at all interested in making that happen. No problem. I will spend my $$$$$ elsewhere. Customer service is so important and they blew it.

We rented our first RV from these guys, for 7 nights.
Overall a positive experience, no major problems.
As cons, the RV was showing signs of wear and tear, the gas tank was empty, and the water tank only lasts about 2 days without hook-​ups.
Also no miles are included.
They did not have anything available at the Burbank location which was closer to us, so I had to go to Carson which is 45 miles away, for which I had to pay.
Next time I’ll try to rent from a closer location /​company.

Just picked up our RV for a 10 day trip and its dirty and pretty banged up. Blood stains on dining couch, rust and dirt everywhere. Paying a lot of money for this trip. Fridge doesnt work, at all. Very disappointed. I have my father in law traveling with us for his 70^th bday and ‘Im embarrassed.
Staff was VERY grumpy. Where is your money going Cruise America. Not to RVs and obviously not to your employees.

ppace is great to rent from when your family wants to go camping but you really feel like not ruffing it, then you have to get and rent a rv, less bugs and back ache are less when ur in a comfy rv

No problems, staff friendly and flexible on both sides of trip. Enjoyed the large RV for our party of 6 non-​campers. $ 1300 for 7 night 1500 mile trip a good value.

I would use this company again.
I did a one way RV rental with this company during off season and returned it here. Check-​in took about 30 minutes. The place was easy to find. There were no surprise charges. Calls to customer service were promptly answered and taken care of (I easily modified my dates twice)
The camper itself was a decent value; decent condition and adequately equipped.
My only gripe was all of the advertising on the sides of the vehicle. I would prefer more incognito, at least fewer/​smaller logos.

Really bad experience with these guys. If you have any problem with the RV, you are in your own!
It was our second time picking up a RV from Cruise America. First one was closer to San Diego and everything was fine. RV was ok, trip was perfect, no extra charges or fees.
This time was absolutely horrible. We picked it up for 4 days to go see the Joshua Tree Park. First night we parked in a camp with hookups and it was fine. Second night we didn’t and in the middle of the night the propane alarm started, we turned it off and thought it might be just a false alarm, 10 minutes later it started again and then once again, at that point we turned off the fridge and the propane valve everything was ok. We knew we would lose some of the food in the fridge, but it was late at night, so we thought that we would just call in the morning and they will come take a look, if there is a leak then just give us another. We were so naïve.
We call the next day, first they try to convince us to turn on the propane valve again and keep on checking if the alarm starts. We don’t want to do that, because we have a baby with us and we don’t want to waste more time, they said they can’t send anyone and he tries to threaten me that If he sends me to a place to repair and there is no leak I would have to pay for everything. I was really frustrated, How is it my fault that either there is a leak or the sensors don’t work properly??. He says is going to look for a repair facility. One hour later calls saying that there is none. So we have no other option that to go back and return the RV to where we picked it up which was a 4 hour drive, the whole trip was ruined. We give it back and they refuse to give us a refund, the person in the counter tells me I have to call a number, I call it at that exact moment and in the phone they tell me it the store responsibility, plain horrible. Of course I can’t talk to the manager because apparently he is out for the day. Finally they just give us an email to ask for a refund.
So I really don’t recommend this service. If you are lucky and you have no problems with the RV is ok, if not your vacation is ruined and they won’t give your money back.

We rent from here every year… and love it.
Get here early though… these guys are wiped out by the end of the day and it shows!!! …and the lines are long when everyone gets out of work and comes to get their RV.
Other than that, you get a fairly clean RV for a decent price (believe me, I have checked around and the prices here are the best). They have a couple of choices of sizes that you can rent and I believe that you can even buy an RV here if you want. To get this price, you do have to be willing to skip the pretense that this may be your own RV — they plaster the sides, back, and front of those suckers with advertisements that can no way be hidden or covered up… so…everyone will know that you are a ‘renter’ and not a ‘serious’ camper. But, if you can get over it (and, really, who cares when you are saving hundreds of dollars on a weekly rental), then this is the place for you!
You can also rent everything from these guys when you pick up your RV. Don’t have a bike? sleeping bag? camp chair? easy up? mess kits? emergency kit? propane delivery? You can get ALL of that from them!
The one down side — there is no on-​site long term parking so bring someone with you that can take your car back home (or to a nearby park and ride) and there is no after hours drop off or pick up.
BUT they do open early for pre-​holiday pick up and drop off.

This was my first time RV ing and that is what we chose to do for our honeymoon. We rented from cruise due to there courteous service and availability as well as pricing competitiveness. Although I read the bad reviews I always need to check myself since customers use this online review game to threaten revolt against a company for not getting their overly demanding ways at least that what I’ve experienced at my place of work.
So i rented a 27 footer great space it was delivered clean the agent was thorough in the delivery and release process.
I called back in after I drove off to comment on 2 items I didn’t catch the first time it was noted. I don’t want to be blamed for damage due to an oversight.
We landed at the sequioas had a great time there then drove to Pismo beach had some more fun unfortunately it started to rain. Here is where the importance of service comes to play. The roof started leaking, I get it it never rains in CA it did last week. I call the 800 number for on the road assistance and they promptly answer and explain that they will get a service out the next morning if I still need it at that time (if it’s raining or not). It stopped raining didn’t need it. I called the agent whom we rented from they said they will do something to try to help me out for the roof leak inconvenience. When I returned the vehicle the manager Robert great kid with a bright business future ahead of him. Gave me white glove red carpet service apologized and gave me a credit for the inconvenience and future rental.
That means a lot to me things go wrong and that is why I rate my experience a 4 because the product failed at that moment. It is important to me and should be to future renters that people like this gentlemen care and make N effort to make you happy.
Thanks for the great service I will be back for the 30 footer in a few months. Keep it up.

Update…
I am so incredibly impressed with the service and professionalism of the leadership at the Carson California location that I am prompted to provide this update. Their service is second to none! Their care and true compassion for their customers is a model for service organizations, they are amazing!!!

AWFUL EXPERIENCE. DO NOT RENT OR BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!
if i could give this 0 stars i would. their sales team was very misleading and the only reason we rented was because of what we were told by their sales team. nothing of what they said was accurate. i made the mistake of trusting that they would be honest.
ultimately our vacation was ruined and cut short. we ended up having to leave and return the hunk of crap 2 days early and of course was charged for the entire time. to make matters worse, the extremely incompetent manager not only was completely unhelpful, he also wanted to check to see if there was going to be a fee for an early return!
if you have any issues with billing or questions regarding charges, there is no one at this company that will talk to you. they just give you an email address.
hopefully you’ll read this before actually renting or buying from this place. they do a good job at selling, but once they have your credit card information you’re screwed.
this is by far one of the worst run companies and employed by people who are suck at their jobs and just don’t care. the experience i’ve had with company has made me never want to rent another rv from any company ever again.

I had the most incredible experience at the Carson cruise america location. The employees were very thorough in explaining everything from our first inquiry down to all the details of the vehicle and how it operates.
They were so friendly and made sure we understood that we were taken care of.
The quality of our RV was in mint condition!!! It purred like a kitten.
Thank you so much for the smooth transaction and vacation guys! We’ll be back!
Alison

I have to give this place 5 stars.
We had rented our RV in Everett WA and driven down to Carson. We’d experienced a leak which meant we had to take the RV in for repairs in OR. Luckily, the repair took less than an hour and we were on our way. We were told it was a problem with when the bus had frozen over the winter and not been detected before we were given the RV. When we took the RV to Carson, they were most helpful and the manager gave us a discount for the inconvenience.
Furthermore, my husband left his iPhone on the RV once we had returned it. The manager, Farhad, was most helpful and said he would send it to us if we emailed a prepaid shipping label. After much trouble from a well-​known website (UPS — may as well name them, it’s the worst website to navigate around and the online staff are next-​to-​useless but that’s another story!) I managed to get the label to Farhad and the iPhone is now en route. Phew!
So, all in all a great experience.
Just don’t get the metro from Carson to downtown LA, it’s the most scared I’ve been and the ride through the ghettos is not one I wish to repeat. Just pay the $ 70 cab ride and don’t fear for your life.

Today I experienced a traumatic and harassing treatment by the manager of the Carson Cruise America.
I had returned from a weekend trip to Glamis, California (a sandy area), and the group had decided to pay the $ 50 cleaning fee for the sand that was on the floor of the RV. We left the RV clean other than the sand and some miscellaneous water bottles and a couple dishes.
The attendant at the Carson return area told me he was going to charge $ 75 to clean. I told him that we were told $ 50. This is the basis for the whole decision for the group to return the RV in its present state. The attendant explained that it is $ 50/​hour and it will take an hour and a half, which I think is bullshit. There is no way this RV will take an hour and a half to clean. So he asked if I wanted to speak to the manager, (who will rename nameless via this Unilocal review according to Unilocal’s Guidelines), which I agreed.
The manager came out, went in the RV and said usually he would charge $ 100 for this and that the attendant was being easy on us. I told him there is NO WAY that this would take 2 hours to clean and felt very upset. He immediately told the attendant, in a retaliatory tone, to go ahead and charge us the full $ 100. Instead of respecting me as a customer, The manager treated me like shit and acted like a child with a temper tantrum. So for asking to speak to the manager, he charged me even more than the attendant quoted (which was already ridiculous) simply as a punishment. I’ve never in my life felt so harassed as a customer.
On top of all of this, when I went inside to get my refund for returning the RV with the full propane tank which I was eligible for. The manager didn’t want to give me the refund I was owed after I had mentioned doing a chargeback on my credit card for the cleaning fee.
I have no idea how this guy has made it to manager. He is a hot head, abusive, threatening, and overall leaves me with a very negative impression of Carson Cruise America and Cruise America as company in general. I was with a friend who witnessed this whole event and he agreed that he’s never experienced such an abusive manager.
I highly recommend finding another company for RV rentals as Cruise America should change their name to Crude America with the manager leading the troops, who appears to find tremendous joy in making his customers as unhappy as possible.