If you’re wondering how to move an RV without a truck, you have several realistic options. You can borrow a properly equipped tow vehicle, rent a truck capable of towing your RV, arrange delivery through an RV dealer, or hire a professional RV transport company.
Not owning a truck doesn’t necessarily mean you need to buy or rent one just to move an RV. The right solution depends largely on the RV, the distance it needs to travel, your towing experience, and the total cost and time involved in moving it yourself.
This guide focuses primarily on transporting towable RVs from one location to another—especially over longer distances. If you simply need to reposition a small trailer around a driveway, campground, or storage facility, specialized trailer-moving equipment may be sufficient. Moving an RV hundreds or thousands of miles is a very different problem.
How to Move an RV Without a Truck
Not owning a tow vehicle doesn’t prevent you from owning or purchasing a travel trailer.
Before deciding how to transport it, consider:
- The type, size, and loaded weight of the RV
- How far it needs to travel
- Whether you have access to an appropriately equipped tow vehicle
- Your experience towing a trailer of that size
- How much time you have available for the trip
- The complete cost of moving it yourself compared with professional transport
For a relatively short move, borrowing or renting a suitable truck may be perfectly reasonable. As the distance increases, however, the cost and logistics of doing it yourself can change considerably.
Borrow a Properly Equipped Tow Vehicle
If you have access to an appropriate truck and you’re comfortable towing your RV, borrowing a tow vehicle can be one of the least expensive ways to move a travel trailer without owning a truck.
The important word is appropriate.
A truck having a receiver hitch doesn’t automatically mean it is properly equipped to tow a particular travel trailer. The vehicle needs sufficient towing and payload capacity, along with the appropriate hitch setup, trailer wiring, braking equipment, and other equipment required for the trailer being moved.
Vehicle manufacturers publish towing specifications and equipment requirements for this reason. Ford, for example, provides an RV and trailer towing resource explaining towing capacity, vehicle ratings, equipment, and other considerations owners should understand before towing.
For an experienced RV owner making a manageable trip, borrowing the right truck can make a lot of sense.
For someone who rarely tows—or who would be borrowing an unfamiliar vehicle for a long-distance trip—the decision deserves more consideration.
Rent a Truck to Tow Your RV
Renting a tow-capable truck is another possibility, particularly if you don’t own a truck because you only move your RV occasionally.
Before making a reservation, verify that the rental company permits the specific vehicle to be used for towing your particular trailer. Rental policies and available equipment vary.
A pickup being physically capable of towing your RV does not necessarily mean the rental agreement permits you to tow with it.
You’ll also need to determine whether the truck has the appropriate hitch and electrical connections, whether a trailer brake controller is available, and whether its towing and payload ratings are appropriate for your RV.
Then there is the cost.
The advertised daily or weekly rental rate is only one part of what a long-distance retrieval trip may cost. Depending on the rental agreement and trip, you could also encounter mileage charges, fuel expenses, insurance considerations, hotels, meals, tolls, airfare or other transportation to reach the RV, and return-trip logistics.
That doesn’t mean renting is a bad option. It means the comparison should be based on the entire trip, not simply the truck’s rental rate.
Ask the RV Dealer About Delivery
If you’re purchasing an RV from a dealership, ask whether delivery is available.
Some dealers can arrange transportation directly or connect buyers with a transportation provider. This can be particularly convenient when you’ve found the RV you want at a dealership several states away.
Dealer-arranged transportation isn’t automatically the least expensive option, however. It can still be worthwhile to compare the dealer’s delivery arrangement with an independent RV transport quote.
You may also want to understand who will actually transport the RV, how pickup and delivery will be documented, how scheduling works, and how you’ll receive updates during the trip.
Hire Someone to Move Your RV
Professional RV transport is another option when you don’t own an appropriate tow vehicle—and it becomes increasingly attractive as the distance and complexity of the move increase.
Instead of acquiring or renting a truck and making the trip yourself, you arrange for the RV to be picked up at one location and delivered to another.
Professional RV transportation can be especially useful when:
- The RV is hundreds or thousands of miles away
- You don’t regularly tow large trailers
- You would need to rent a tow vehicle
- Retrieving the RV would require airfare or substantial travel
- The trip would require multiple hotel nights
- You purchased or sold the RV remotely
- Work, family, or other obligations make a multi-day trip difficult
- You simply don’t want to make a long-distance towing trip yourself
The tradeoff is straightforward: you’re paying someone else to provide the equipment, time, driving, and logistics necessary to complete the move.
Whether that’s more expensive than doing it yourself depends on what doing it yourself would actually cost.
Is Renting a Truck Cheaper Than Hiring RV Transport?
Sometimes.
This is where comparing only two numbers can produce the wrong answer.
Suppose a truck rental appears to cost substantially less than a professional RV transport quote. At first glance, renting the truck may seem like the obvious choice.
But the truck isn’t the trip.
Calculate the Real Cost of Moving It Yourself
A more accurate DIY comparison may include:
- Truck rental
- Mileage or overage charges
- Fuel
- Hotels
- Meals
- Tolls
- Airfare or transportation to the RV
- Return-trip logistics
- The value of your time
Consider a 1,200-mile RV retrieval. The trip isn’t necessarily just 1,200 loaded miles. You first have to reach the RV, potentially obtain a rental vehicle, inspect and connect the trailer, drive it home, stay overnight along the way, and then deal with whatever return requirements apply to the rental vehicle.
Fuel consumption while towing can also be significantly different from normal unloaded highway driving.
By the time the entire retrieval trip is considered, the comparison may look very different from simply placing an advertised truck rental rate next to an RV transport quote.
Professional transportation should be evaluated the same way. Rather than looking only at the total quote, it helps to understand how RV transport pricing works and what is included.
Our guide to RV transport rates per mile explains the factors that typically affect professional transportation pricing.
There will absolutely be trips where moving the RV yourself costs less. The purpose of the comparison isn’t to make professional transportation win every time. It’s to make sure you’re comparing the actual cost of both choices.
When Moving an RV Yourself Makes Sense
Hiring someone isn’t automatically the best answer simply because you don’t currently own a truck.
Moving the RV yourself may make good financial and practical sense when:
- You can borrow or inexpensively rent an appropriate tow vehicle
- You have substantial experience towing similar trailers
- The trip is relatively short or manageable
- You have enough time to complete the trip comfortably
- The truck and trailer can be properly matched and equipped
- Travel expenses are limited
- You actually want to make the trip
For an experienced RV owner who can borrow a capable truck and move a trailer a few hundred miles, professional transportation may provide convenience without providing enough financial benefit to justify the additional expense.
The calculation can look very different when you need to move an RV long distance and the trailer is 1,000 or 1,500 miles away.
When Professional RV Transport Makes More Sense
As transportation distance increases, the decision often becomes less about simply finding a truck and more about the logistics surrounding the trip.
Consider someone who purchases a travel trailer 1,400 miles from home.
Retrieving it personally might require traveling to the seller, obtaining or bringing an appropriate tow vehicle, inspecting and connecting the trailer, driving for multiple days, paying for fuel and lodging, and rearranging work or family obligations.
For an experienced RVer who enjoys the trip, that may be completely reasonable.
For someone who simply wants the RV delivered, the convenience and time saved may justify the difference between the two options.
This is particularly true for owners of premium travel trailers who may move their RV only occasionally. Owning a large tow vehicle year-round solely because the trailer needs to be relocated once or twice annually isn’t necessarily the most economical solution.
Your RV Still Needs to Be Ready for the Road
Hiring a professional transporter doesn’t eliminate the need for the RV itself to be roadworthy.
Before a towable RV begins a long-distance trip, its tires, wheels, lights, braking and breakaway systems where applicable, hitch components, and other transportation-related equipment should be in suitable condition for the trip.
An RV that has been parked for an extended period may deserve additional attention before traveling hundreds or thousands of miles.
Owners should also discuss any personal belongings or cargo inside the RV with the transporter before pickup. Additional weight and unsecured contents can affect transportation, and expectations about what may remain inside the RV should be established before the trip begins.
The same roadworthiness principle applies whether you’re towing the RV yourself or hiring someone else: the trailer needs to be ready for the road.
A professional transporter may identify visible concerns during the pre-trip inspection, but that inspection should not be treated as a mechanical certification of the RV’s roadworthiness. Any roadworthiness concerns should be addressed before pickup rather than waiting until the transporter arrives.
What If You Bought an RV in Another State?
Shopping beyond your local market can dramatically increase the number of RVs available to you.
That can be especially valuable when you’re looking for a specific manufacturer, floor plan, model year, condition, or combination of options.
But finding the right RV several states away creates another question:
How are you going to get it home?
Generally, you can travel there with your own tow vehicle, arrange access to an appropriate vehicle at the RV’s location, ask the dealer or seller about transportation, or hire an independent RV transport company.
Before deciding, calculate the cost and time involved in retrieving it yourself.
A lower purchase price hundreds of miles away can still be a great deal, but airfare, hotels, fuel, vehicle rental, meals, and several days of travel should be considered part of the transaction.
Professional transport can effectively turn a remote RV purchase into a pickup-and-delivery transaction: the RV is collected from the seller or dealership and transported to the agreed destination.
Questions to Ask Before Hiring Someone to Move Your RV
If professional transportation appears to be the better option, don’t select a provider based exclusively on the lowest quote.
For this type of move, four particularly useful questions are:
- Does the transporter regularly handle your type and size of RV?
- What condition does the RV need to be in before pickup?
- How will the RV’s condition at pickup and delivery be documented?
- How will scheduling and communication be handled throughout the move?
For a more comprehensive look at evaluating transportation providers, see our guide to RV transport services and choosing the right company for your RV.
Price matters, but so do planning, communication, equipment, experience, and knowing what to expect before the RV starts moving.
Moving an RV Without Owning a Truck Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
You don’t necessarily need to own a heavy-duty pickup just because you own a towable RV.
For RV owners who travel frequently, having a properly equipped tow vehicle may be essential. But other owners use their trailers differently.
A travel trailer might spend months at a seasonal destination. Someone might purchase an RV for use on private property. Another owner may relocate a premium trailer only once or twice per year.
In situations like these, purchasing, maintaining, insuring, and storing a large tow vehicle solely for occasional moves may not make financial sense.
Borrowing the right truck, renting a tow-capable vehicle, arranging dealer delivery, and hiring professional RV transport are all legitimate solutions.
The best choice depends on your RV, the distance, your experience, your available time, and what each option actually costs once the entire trip is considered.
If you need to move a travel trailer but don’t own the right tow vehicle—or the time and expense of retrieving it yourself no longer make sense—Orange Gator RV Transport can handle the long-distance move for you. We provide professional transportation for privately owned travel trailers and other qualifying towable RVs.
Request a quote for your upcoming RV move.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Hire Someone to Move an RV?
Yes. Professional RV transport companies can pick up qualifying RVs and transport them to another location. This is commonly used for long-distance relocations, remote purchases and sales, seasonal moves, and situations where the owner doesn’t have an appropriate tow vehicle.
Can I Rent a Truck to Tow My Travel Trailer?
Potentially, but you need to verify both that the rental company permits towing and that the specific vehicle is appropriately rated and equipped for your trailer. A rental pickup having sufficient towing capacity doesn’t necessarily mean the rental agreement allows it to be used for towing.
How Much Does It Cost to Have an RV Transported?
RV transport pricing depends on factors such as distance, RV size and weight, pickup and delivery locations, scheduling, equipment requirements, and current operating costs. Long-distance transportation is often priced using mileage as an important component, although the lowest per-mile price isn’t necessarily the lowest-risk or best-value option. For a more detailed explanation, see our RV transport rates per mile guide.
Can an RV Dealer Ship a Travel Trailer to My Home?
Some dealerships offer or arrange RV delivery, particularly for customers purchasing from outside the local area. Availability, pricing, service area, and the company actually performing the transportation vary by dealer, so it’s worth comparing dealer-arranged delivery with independent professional transport.
Is It Cheaper to Move an RV Yourself or Hire a Transporter?
It depends on the trip. If you already have access to an appropriate tow vehicle and have the experience and time to make the drive, moving the RV yourself may cost less. If you need to rent a truck, travel to the RV, purchase fuel, stay in hotels, and spend several days completing the trip, professional transportation may become much more competitive when the total costs are compared.