A/T for personal use and as a Rental???

[jgolden]

Thinking out load here...

I'd like to purchase a new A/T, either Chaser or Horizon but I'm having a hard time spending that kind of money for a toy that'll sit most of the year. I was thinking to offer it as a Rental to help pay for it??? I have plenty of indoor storage at my office which is located in Orange County, CA. Seems the idea could be beneficial for everyone.

What are your thoughts?
I think A/T had a rental in their fleet awhile back, maybe Martyn can comment?

thanks

 

[spressomon]

Thinking out load here...

I'd like to purchase a new A/T, either Chaser or Horizon but I'm having a hard time spending that kind of money for a toy that'll sit most of the year. I was thinking to offer it as a Rental to help pay for it??? I have plenty of indoor storage at my office which is located in Orange County, CA. Seems the idea could be beneficial for everyone.

What are your thoughts?
I think A/T had a rental in their fleet awhile back, maybe Martyn can comment?

thanks

As long as the renters bring it back at the end of the rental period it might work :coffeedrink:

 

[Martyn]

There are a lot of pros to having a commercial rental fleet, depreciation, income, and re sale.

On the personal rental side the big negatives are:
People never treat your trailer in the same manner you do.
Off Road trailers.... well they go off road and come back with the occasional ding.
Wear and tear on the accessories, tent, fridge, stove, etc can be high.

 

[jgolden]

Thanks for insight.
Why did A/T discontinue your rental program?

 

[Martyn]

Thanks for insight.
Why did A/T discontinue your rental program?

A renter "borrowed" a trailer, took it to Florida and left it there. We made the return of the trailer a funds raiser for Disabled Explorers.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I'de be interested to see what you decide to do. Not to come across as competition but I have a customer that owns an AT. He has been proposing the same thing, just hates the idea of it sitting so much and if could re-coup even a small amount of the purchase price he'd be happy.

The issues I see are exactly those Martyn brought up, and who would know better than he as they used to offer rentals.

My thing with a typical 'rental' is the orientation one must get before they leave with the unit. A car is easy, a dirt bike pretty much the same, in fact all of the common things we rent are pretty intuitive. An off road trailer combined with a fridge, stove, tent, awning, etc could easily take a couple of hours to walk them through all the nuances of setting it up, stowing it, using it, etc. These items are not exactly self-explanatory nor common devices. So could your schedule and budget incur the costs of doing an orientation for customers picking it up? Insurance would be issue# 2 in my mind though equally important. Repair/replacement as well as liability resulting from use.

 

[jcbrandon]

You might consider the lease-to-a-rental-fleet model. This is very common with airplanes and boats. An owner leases his vehicle to a company that rents it out. The rental company is responsible for maintenance and for all the operations and risks of the rental operation. The owner takes his vehicle out of the rental fleet whenever he wants to use it. The rest of the time it is available to rent and to generate revenue for the owner. The rental fleet operator benefits in that he doesn't have to buy all the vehicles he has available to rent.

 

[1leglance]

I have gone back and forth on the idea of Disabled Explorers someday having rigs or trailers for rental...
Insurance...
You are running a biz so check the local laws for rental equipment operations...
Can you charge enough to make the hassle worthwhile?
Think through the worst case..which isn't that your trailer gets destroyed but that your trailer drags someone off the side of a mountain.
How far will you let folks go? Out of state changes many things...ask Martyn & Mario about that trailer return from Florida (side note, super cool of them to help DE with the fund raiser).
What happens when you have petty theft of the gear? Will you go through the kitchen kit with the person when they return it?
Remember people will want it the same holiday times you want to travel.

Not saying you shouldn't do this...just saying I have tossed around the same idea for someday in the future and there is alot, a ton, a bunch of things to work through.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

After owning three brands of Off Road trailers (Tentrax, Adventure Trailers and a Kimberly Kamper) I can tell you there is no way I'd want to rent out my personal trailer. Martyn hit the nail on the head.

People usually don't care about rented "Things." It takes a lot of work to keep them nice when they are used off road and you do care about them. I can only imagine how thrashed they would get when a person with very little vested interest has it off road.

I say buy your A/T and keep it yours. Writing the check only hurts until you use it the first night.

 

[cnynrat]

I've got similar views as the OP. It would be really nice to have an AT, but the truth is it probably wouldn't get used even once a month over the course of a year. Too many other obligations and hobbies. :elkgrin:

Not looking to derail the original thought about buying a trailer and then renting it a portion of the time, but another alternative I've given a little thought to is the possibility of joint ownership. There are a bunch of obvious potential pitfalls, but I wonder if anyone out there has done something like this, or has considered it. Could be as simple as a small number of people going in on the purchase, or as complex as a business sort of like the fractional ownership model used in business jets.

 

[AlexJet]

I might give an alternative option.

Find a good friend/collegue who might be interested as well (it can be a neigbour also) and buy trailer together. In this case you share the price and as you knowing each other it help to keep it maintain well. We use the same idea in Canada. I have bought some stuff together with my next door neighbour for our front and backyard, when he moved out and took the equipment with him, he just gave me his half of the money we paid. With my other friend we have some shop equipment bought together and we using it when each one needs it. knowing that you own portion of it and it relyies on your care, you maintain it in a similar way you do for your own stuff.

Just an idea which might work....

 

[bmonday]

A renter "borrowed" a trailer, took it to Florida and left it there. We made the return of the trailer a funds raiser for Disabled Explorers.

I don't think I ever heard the followup on that story. Did you guys end up prosecuting that guy, or what? Grand Theft + Transporting Stolen Goods across state lines seems a significant crime.

BMonday

 

[XJINTX]

Just a thought... how about a shared purchase with some good buds or realatives? As already mentioned with an involvement they would be more responsible.

I know I'd be responsive to that sort of arrangement here in TX. I want one too but with a 5th wheel already the wife is not responsive to me buying one outright.

 

[Martyn]

I don't think I ever heard the followup on that story. Did you guys end up prosecuting that guy, or what? Grand Theft + Transporting Stolen Goods across state lines seems a significant crime.

BMonday

It's legally complicated, and "borrowing" the trailer and not returning it was the least of the worries this guy had. We just moved on.

 

[cruisertoy]

I actually have some experience with this topic:wings:

Years ago I used to manage the service department at one of the top Motorhome rental companies. Our fleet of rigs were a little different from say CruiseAmerica. Each rig was privately owned. Most of our owners were just looking for tax deductions and never used thier motorhomes. My father owned 4 differenent ones over the years in our fleet. We would rent them out and that would pay the loan payments. I have to agree that renters do not take near as good of care of your rig as you would. Orientation on a motorhome rental was a 2 hr process. Just like any other rental business, you have insurance available or they can waive it. We had very high deposits as well.

We rented quite often to European customers who were used to driving very small cars and were now taking a 30+ foot long rig out on the road. Often they would come back having made too sharp a turn leaving a gas station pump--You know the damage. We never really had a problem with getting private people or the insurance companies to pay up for the damage. I would think you would want to secure a good rental policy if you went into this sort of business. Might not be worth it with just one trailer, but who knows. If you do go into the rental business you need to be able to disconect yourself and your personal feelings from your trailer. It becomes a business item that you get to use as a perk. If you are going to worry about every little scratch or stove that quites working you will never make it. Price the rental to cover the eventual replacement of the stove, water system..... well before thier normal lifespans. The trailer itself will need more frequent service that if you were the only user. It's all going to take time and money so change accordingly. Also keep in mind that once a product is put into a commercial/rental environment, the warranty on that product generally goes out the window so you will be on your own dime.

If I haven't scared you off, I have thought about doing something similar with about 3 trailers for several years but need another project like I need another hole in my head.