Basecamper Vans

This van was great for my week long trip w/​a friend through Southern Utah. Matt picked us up at the airport, hooked us up with an AWD van (the White Van) because it was snowing down south, and dropped me off at a friends house after I returned the van. Matt makes everything easy and we appreciated his laid back attitude.
The van itself had everything we needed during our trip (anytime we realized we needed something, we looked in the storage container and there it was). The van also kept us just warm enough to sleep comfortably during our one night of 0 degree temps.
Basecamper is a little more expensive than competitors, but in our experience, the vans are nicer and more capable, and Matt is more flexible than other van rental companies. The vans are also fairly conspicuous.
Thanks Matt!

Matt made this transaction so easy! Our T@B trailer was perfect for our family. Will definitely rent it again.

I’ve used Basecamper twice: to do a climbing trip to St. George and Vegas and a MTB trip to Moab. On both occasions, service was top-​notch. The vans were clean and ready to go, with kitchen kit, bedding, water, and various accessories. All kinds of thoughtful stuff we didn’t have to pick up on the road. Vans are much better to drive than an RV, and the right balance of cozy and roomy for us.
The dual-​fuel CNG van to Vegas was better than expected. I have no previous experience with CNG vehicles, but it was easy enough to use, and fueling stations are plentiful, so long as you know where to look (get an app or check the web). Paying $ 1.65 /​gal equivalent cut our fuel cost nearly in half for a long drive, and we never dipped into the gasoline tank until the home stretch — which to be honest was more due to laziness than anything else.
Nice touches: the solar charging on the red van. Maybe not truly necessary (we drove the van every day, and the aux batteries could have been charged off the alternator) but I think it’s a cool feature. The space heater in the light blue van was AWESOME — I’m keeping this in mind for a SKI TRIP to Silverton for this winter. Van life is way better than motels. ;)

First of all, I would tell you that it was easy to deal with Matt and his company as far as setting up a rental. The pick up/​drop off from the airport was SO nice! Matt has really thought about the needs of a camper/​traveler and has put a lot of thought into the needs of someone camping/​traveling on an excursion. We rented the black van for a week long fishing trip through Utah, Idaho, and into Montana. We constantly said to ourselves «this guy has thought about all the little things that you would forget, or have to go spend $ 50 at a store to get !» The van was just as described and the sleeping bags were amazingly warm, clean, and lightweight. Matt was willing to get, or provide, any little extra request that we made. The solar panel cooled cooler kept 1 bag of ice for 4 days, not to mention being able to plug in electronics such as a phone or a go-​pro was plus ! I would highly recommend using this company and if I wasnt in Virginia, I would use them more often !
the CNG is definitely nice and saves you a lot of money ! Thanks for such a great trip Matt !!!

Quick background info, I am a frequent SLC traveler for outdoor trips, and also used SLC as my base for burning man many times, normally renting from different local RV shops. This year I saw basecampervan and thought the offer looked pretty amazing and went with it, despite next to now reviews from «active» Unilocalers, I thought I’d take a little risk here
Let’s compare it against local RV chains that I used in the past…
Short version:
Rent elsewhere, you might get better value (you really do!) and less frustration. Don’t fall for the shiny webpage.
Long version:
The Good:
The guy did airport pickup. That’s cool, other Van/​RV rental paces I used in the past, don’t do that. Then again we drove off to a backyard of some apartment complex to do the handover.
The camping equipment in the van is simple but pretty complete, especially if you don’t have sleeping bag or don’t want to borrow utensils.
Basic insurance is included, I didn’t get to see policy document thought, so who knows…
The Bad:
The vehicles was a pretty old converted transporter (ours with ~90k miles) and not as neat as we are used to on pickup. The bed is a simple wooden board.
They sell the CNG tank, that is supposed to save costs, that one got us around 200 miles far, since there is no CNG station west of SLC you are out of luck if you happen to go that direction…
… and after that the van ran guzzled up a 30 gallon tank in just 300 miles (at a constant 75 – 80 m/​h on freeway). That is comparable or worse than the full sized RVs we normally rent.
Extra 100 miles (beyond 125 miles /​day) are charged at 35 USD, seems steep given these are just simple transporters and given that local outlets for full sized RVs just charge 25 — 35 USD.
The electric cooler does not really cool, vegetables in there turned bad after 2 – 3 days, despite constant «cooling»
Lastly right from the onset the guy renting came across as rather unfriendly… normally people in SLC are super nice.
And now for the ugly:
When we arrived the guy asked us where we go and as we said burning man, he said he now has to charge us 1k USD deposit. Obviously this sort of info can not be found on the webpage at the time of writing (and comparing that to 400 USD for a full RV at a local chain that should have raised some red flags, but what are you going to do when you are that far… again worth keeping in mind that this is just an old transporter with some slight mods)
Upon return he checked vehicle in multiple places swiping finger on different places (ceiling, inside compartments etc) until he found some dust somewhere. As usual we properly cleaned the vehicles inside-​out prior to returning and took good care, local RV shops have always fully refunded all deposits. Not here, here we were told cleaning this up normally takes 6 hours and he would fully charge us. And another. 150 USD.
After returning home we got the bill stating that on top of it all he would also keep the initial 200 USD as he said we had been driving on a dry lake bed and that is not allowed (btw. we never received a copy of the contract we signed, could this be any more shady?)
Finally to round things up we were charged am additional «fuel service fee». Story here is, that we were in SLC ahead of return time, close by CNG station was closed so we asked him if he could recommend a close one. He said we shouldn’t worry, he would just refill, provide us with a receipt and charge just for that (which we also never received)
Summary
I’d give this place 1 stars if you are a burner, 2 stars if your a simple outdoorsy person.
I highly recommend checking out some of the local RV places first though, you might even save money. All in we were charged around 1.2k USD including all fees. Incidentally our normal go to place for RVs quoted us 1.125k USD for the same 5 days (for a full sized RV that sleeps 5, not including insurance and additional miles though)
All in all, if you don’t care about shower, toilet, fridge, air con etc. and everything else is already booked, and if you simply want to travel as cheap as possible… well maybe then you should check out some local moving van shops first (like many do anyway).
If you have questions feel free to ping me. Happy to share my past SLC burner/​camping experiences.

We recently rented the «Tan Van» and were, overall, pleased. The van is very new (only 15,000 miles), clean, and equipped for most things car camping related. It has a stereo with an aux. cord and Bluetooth capability, and a couple of speakers up front.
The check out and check in process were streamlined and smooth, Matt was very easy to deal with and knowledgeable.
My criticisms of this particular van are mainly with the «bed». It measures 5′ x 4’8″. This might work for one small adult to sleep diagonally on or a kid or two, but should not by any means, be considered a bed for an adult. My girlfriend slept diagonally on the bed and I slept on the floor, after buying bedding on the road to accommodate this arrangement. Not quite the romantic birthday weekend we had planned for her, but we made do and had a great time anyway.
This van could also benefit from some leveling blocks. Unless you’re in a very well developed camp ground, you’re going to need them.
All in all, we enjoyed the vehicle and the experience, but would CERTAINLY make sure we get one with an actual bed next time.

Super easy online booking. P/​U and drop off at the airport. Van was immaculate and ready to go. Water supplied, cooking utensils, table and chairs, even threw in some sleeping bags since it was so cold outside. Van drove great. We had a wonderful visit to Arches/​Moab. Matt had a GPS available as well as maps of the area and jotted down some camping ideas for me along the way. The van got quite a lot of attention from others who thought it was a GREAT idea!
Only con… if you’re really tall, the bed might be a bit short for you. For my friend and I 5’4″ and under… we were easily comfortable. Despite 23 – 36 degree weather, we never even needed the heater. Bed was cozy!

Used these guys last summer on a trip to Telluride. Matt and Jen were great, they picked me up at the airport. It was quick and easy, and I got on the road in a jif. Vans are clean, the lining and blankets smelled like they had just been washed. It came fully packed with a stove and dishware :-), which made it easier for me, I didn’t have to pack as much. They even gave me the inside scoop on some places to camp at on my way down. All in all, it was a great trip, using awesome vans that had a solar panel on the roof was a nice touch as well. I would absolutely rent on my next trip into SLC.