Camp West

The campervan rental company Roadsurfer ventures into the USA. It is the preliminary culmination of rapid growth. What the Munich-based company hopes to gain from the move.

Americans have a special relationship with nature. This is demonstrated by the fact that in a country that is otherwise critical of any government intervention, the concept of a national park is largely uncontroversial. Everything may be privatized, but the most beautiful stretches of land in the USA are owned by the state and accessible to everyone.

It is a country to Markus Dickhardt's taste. He himself went on several camping vacations in the USA as a student. "What other country is so synonymous with freedom and the outdoors," he says. Now the co-founder and managing director of camping rental company Roadsurfer wants to gain a foothold in the world's largest economy with his start-up. On June 1, Roadsurfer will open a station in Los Angeles, initially with 30 vehicles. If things go well, more will follow soon.

The company was founded in 2016 and is now the largest campervan rental company in Europe, according to its own information. Nature enthusiasts can use the platform to rent vans from most major manufacturers, such as Volkswagen and Ford. That doesn't sound revolutionary, but Roadsurfer has actually filled a gap since it was founded. This is because traditional car rental companies are staying away from the market, as Dickhardt himself discovered when he wanted to rent a bus for a vacation with some friends in 2016. "The car rental companies had nothing on offer, and there was no specialist yet," he recalls. So the trained social media specialist quickly created his own service.

Since then, things have only gone upwards. Because camping vacations are in vogue. Overnight stays at campsites have been increasing almost every year since the beginning of the millennium. According to the Caravanning Industry Association, the number of new camper van registrations is also constantly reaching new record levels. The latter means that manufacturers can barely keep up with production, which in turn makes rental models such as Roadsurfer attractive - not to mention the fact that buying a campervan is also expensive. The coronavirus pandemic has also provided a recent boost, as a quiet vacation in the countryside is more attractive than a trip to a crowded metropolis in times of the virus.

Roadsurfer has used all of this to expand across Europe. The Munich-based company now covers twelve markets, with 36 locations by the end of 2021. The next step will now be the USA. "The situation there is roughly the same as it was for us five years ago," says Dickhardt. He estimates the market potential to be correspondingly high.

However, the first target group is not the Americans themselves, even if no one at Roadsurfer would object to them as customers; the initial aim is to appeal primarily to Europeans who are vacationing on the West Coast, for example. "That's why we chose Los Angeles as our location, because it's a hub for European tourists," says Dickhardt.

Even if the route to the USA is initially a test balloon, they at Roadsurfer are optimistic that the location will quickly become self-sustaining. "We have already shown in Europe that we can grow and be profitable," says the founder. Although the costs for personnel and operations are higher in the USA, "this is offset by the US tariffs".

In addition to the move across the Atlantic, Roadsurfer is also planning to open up other European markets. England, Scotland, Switzerland and Sweden are on the agenda, with a total of 50 stations planned this year and the fleet set to grow from 2,500 to 5,000 campers. Dickhardt hopes that more stations will be added in the USA in the medium term. And in the north, Canada is another natural paradise that could become interesting. Dickhardt himself is already going there on vacation this year. Perhaps it will also be a scouting trip.