What an RV rental costs in Salt Lake City

Reviewed by Ben Kiser, RV rental operator and fleet consultant.

A week in a Class C, the class most first-time renters book, comes to about $1,808 once Utah has taken its share. The nightly rate on the card is $219. That is the whole problem with pricing a trip from a search result, and it is 18%.

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Seven nights, every class, with the tax on

Median published day rates from one pull of every listing in this market, run through Utah's rates: 2.5% state motor vehicle rental tax, 7% Salt Lake County, and 8.45% sales and use tax on top. The two towable classes pay no motor vehicle rental tax, which is why their totals sit lower than the day rate alone suggests. Cleaning, mileage beyond the included allowance, generator hours and any delivery fee are set by the owner and are not in this table, because no rate card for them is published anywhere.

Seven nights at each class median near Salt Lake City, with Utah tax applied
ClassA night7 nightsTaxTotal
Travel Trailer$119$833$70$903
Fifth Wheel$181$1,267$107$1,374
Camper Van$186.50$1,305.50$234$1,540
Class C RV$219$1,533$275$1,808
Class B RV$249$1,743$313$2,056
Class A RV$286$2,002$359$2,361

A median is what this market published on one day. It is not a quote, and the listing you book will not be the median. Run your own dates and rate through the calculator to price the booking in front of you.

The deposit is not in that table

Every one of the 610 listings measured holds a security deposit. The median is $500, and the range runs $350 to $3,000. It is not a fee and you usually get it back, but it is money that leaves your available balance for the length of the trip and comes back on the marketplace's timetable.

Add it to the total above before you decide what you can afford. A Class C week at about $1,808 with a $500 hold behind it needs roughly $2,308 of headroom on the card, not $1,533.

Questions people ask about the price

The median published day rate across all 610 listings measured was $165, with a range of $30 to $1,795. Class decides most of it: a travel trailer sits at a $119 median and a Class A at $286. None of those figures is what you pay. Utah adds 9.5 percent rental tax and 8.45 percent sales tax on top, and the owner adds cleaning, mileage and any delivery fee at checkout.
A travel trailer, at a $119 median, and it is the largest class in this market at 244 of 610 listings. The saving is real only if a vehicle that can tow it is already on your driveway, because no listing in this market rents you one and the marketplace checks neither your tow rating nor your hitch class. If you have to solve the tow vehicle, the honest comparison is against a Class C at $219, which tows nothing.
No, and budgeting it as though it were is the common mistake. All 610 listings publish a security deposit: the median is $500, and the range runs $350 to $3,000. It is held against your card for the trip and released afterwards on the marketplace's timetable rather than the owner's. Treat it as cash you cannot spend while you are away, because a $3,000 hold on the card you also meant to eat from is how a trip runs short.
At thirty consecutive days, and it is a definition rather than a discount. Utah Code 59-12-102(135) defines a short-term rental as one of less than 30 consecutive days, so the 9.5 points stop applying at 30. Separately, Utah Code 59-12-1201(5)(a) exempts a motor vehicle rated at 14,001 lbs GVWR or more at any length of rental, and 100 of the 515 listings that publish a GVWR clear it. Ask for the door plate before you assume yours does.

Price the listing you actually want

The owner sets the rate, the fees and the deposit, and they differ listing by listing. Start from the class that suits the trip, then put your dates into the one you like.

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