Offroad Trailer Rental- Would you rent?
- Thread starter Donsfast
- Start date
cnynrat
Expedition Leader
As a trailer owner, I would tell you that one of the big advantages is having all my camping gear in the trailer ready to go. Load up some food, beverages, and other consumables and we're ready to go. So my answer is that renting is not the best idea.
I do understand the difficulty in justifying the cost for a toy that may only get used relatively infrequently. I counter that by anticipating that we're going to keep it for a very long time. We also have a slide in camper, and we've had that since 1999 and still don't see the day coming when we'll sell it. So, figure we might keep that for 20 years, and over that time period the memories and experiences we've had easily justify the initial cost and cost of upkeep.
I do understand the difficulty in justifying the cost for a toy that may only get used relatively infrequently. I counter that by anticipating that we're going to keep it for a very long time. We also have a slide in camper, and we've had that since 1999 and still don't see the day coming when we'll sell it. So, figure we might keep that for 20 years, and over that time period the memories and experiences we've had easily justify the initial cost and cost of upkeep.
I have a line of trailers in my yard as well and it seems I have friends using them more than I. The utility trailers get used as expected, for furniture, etc but they all do a huge amount of vacations since a few are set up for camping. I have a small offroad camping trailer that is very popular as well. I do wonder if those that dont have the ability to keep one would still like the use of one for their adventure. Share your thoughts people.
What Cnynrat failed to mention, is that we rented a trailer before buying our camper. I think most people would like to "try before they buy." Also, there are lots of people who typically go on shorter trips, or solo trips, so they might not need the extra space, but when planning a longer trip or a trip with the whole family, may find that having the ability to rent a trailer might make the trip more comfortable. On the other hand, off-road trailers do require some special handling skills…
98roamer
Explorer
I would love to rent one also for our West trip. But after The Stolen One, I understand the rarity of the rentals. The other thing is that I would still have to haul our junk out west before getting the rental, so the hassle factor is still there. I borrow my parents Pop-up and it's still a lot of work swapping out his camping gear with ours.
rajin cajun
Adventurer
I would really like to rent an Adventure Trailer. Seriously interested in purchasing one so I called Mario last year and was disappointed that they no longer rent.
Uncle Roger
Observer
I definitely wouldn't mind being able to rent one. To be perfectly honest, we'd probably only use one a couple of times a year, for the next few years anyway. We'll probably buy one, but renting could be an option for us. If renting didn't cost as much as buying, that is.
cruiseroutfit
Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
I did some business scoping and market research for an enthusiast that wanted to enter the off-road trailer rental market. At the time he had a fully equipped AT and was ready to pull the trigger on a couple additional models. While it seemed like a great idea on the outside, we quickly found several hangups, one of which being the amount of 'orientation' time needed to safely and consciously send various user segments out on a multi-day trip with a trailer that has not just one complex feature but often many. I rent a variety of 4x4 gear (fridges, welders, pull-pals, etc) as part of my business... even a fridge can take 10-15 minutes to give them a quick once over of the controls, caveats and features. Now try that with the stove, the tent, towing a trailer in general, the landing jack, the battery system, the water system, etc and it could easily take several hours start to finish to send a rental out the door. Now, consider the 'check-in' which again could take an hour or more for you to hurry and pop the tent to verify its ready for the next renter, verify the fridge is clean and working, batteries are charged, etc. This isn't a Ford Focus you are renting to folks that will be traveling around town... this is a product(s) that they will be dragging out into the remote wilds and relying on not only for convenience but really for safety too. They can't get the stove working and its rough weekend. Time = money and judging on what others are or were renting for, it would be hard to form a viable business plan that could accommodate insurance, overhead, maintenance, upgrades, etc.
Now, why does it work for some? Well like in my case with the fridges we rent... I'm not in the business to rent gear but if I can generate sales leads by renting (in fact we credit the majority of the rental fee to a new fridge purchase) and at the same time educate customers on products I sale... its a win-win. I think AT had a good thing going with their rentals as they were selling the trailer by renting it, make sense? I can't blame them one bit for focusing on their sales after the theft situation, I mean really even for a retailer of said product its likely only going to be a customer service feature rather than a monetary income deal.
That said, we identified some ways to mitigate this and other issues in the '4x4 gear rental business', its still something our client may do, time shall tell. If your retired, looking for something to generate a little bit of fun money and buy some neat toys you can use in the meantime... it could work very well. Try it full-time and I think it could prove to be a doomed experience. There is a gentleman (here on ExPo I believe) that was working on
Now, why does it work for some? Well like in my case with the fridges we rent... I'm not in the business to rent gear but if I can generate sales leads by renting (in fact we credit the majority of the rental fee to a new fridge purchase) and at the same time educate customers on products I sale... its a win-win. I think AT had a good thing going with their rentals as they were selling the trailer by renting it, make sense? I can't blame them one bit for focusing on their sales after the theft situation, I mean really even for a retailer of said product its likely only going to be a customer service feature rather than a monetary income deal.
That said, we identified some ways to mitigate this and other issues in the '4x4 gear rental business', its still something our client may do, time shall tell. If your retired, looking for something to generate a little bit of fun money and buy some neat toys you can use in the meantime... it could work very well. Try it full-time and I think it could prove to be a doomed experience. There is a gentleman (here on ExPo I believe) that was working on
grimbo
Explorer
There are numerous businesses here in Australia that rent out camper trailers from weekends away to multi month outback trips. Some come as basic campers where all camping gear needs to provided by the renter through to fully equipped.
Haven't heard if theft being a major issue. Wear and tear is obviously the biggest cost to the owners
Haven't heard if theft being a major issue. Wear and tear is obviously the biggest cost to the owners
nwoods
Expedition Leader
I'd rent mine. It's a simple unit, but performs well for our needs.
http://nwoods.smugmug.com/Jeep-Adventures/Modifications/Trailer/15244407_FjX4pJ#1140563131_bTGfr
Currently riding on 35's, but plan to drop down to 32's in the near future. Any money I made on rental would go straight back into the trailer.... until I added enough features that would make me unwilling to rent it out
http://nwoods.smugmug.com/Jeep-Adventures/Modifications/Trailer/15244407_FjX4pJ#1140563131_bTGfr
Currently riding on 35's, but plan to drop down to 32's in the near future. Any money I made on rental would go straight back into the trailer.... until I added enough features that would make me unwilling to rent it out
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if it came fully equipped kind of like a beach condo with everything but groceries, beverages etc that might work for folks.
On the renter side there is a lot of risk like renting anything out that it gets beat up, stuff gets broken or lost etc but if it had what was needed outside of the food I could see folks wanting to rent them if they were reasonable.
On the renter side there is a lot of risk like renting anything out that it gets beat up, stuff gets broken or lost etc but if it had what was needed outside of the food I could see folks wanting to rent them if they were reasonable.
brianwj
Observer
I would rent one setup for base camp use but I'm thinking of something that I would pickup near the trails. I'm in the Northeast so I think if I could pack less gear and drive out West rent the trailer then go wheeling and camping it would make the trip easier. I lose almost 3 mpg towing my trailer add extra tolls and the lower travel speeds renting looks like a good idea.
elcoyote
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0004
Having rented out trailers in the past and gone through the painful experience of repairing trailers when they were returned damaged due to renter inexperience and dealing with a stolen unit, the core reason we stopped were the costs and the lack of demand to justify those costs.
While Kurt pointed out that in his case, the rental sometimes leads to the sale, we had a very low level of conversion.
Rental costs consist of the trailer, a typical feature rich trailer is about $14-16K. Of course people want the option to choose different models so now a substantial investment has to be made to create a rental fleet. Comprehensive insurance is another substantial cost. A standard new trailer orientation with our clients is 2 hours. When a trailer was rented out, additional inspection time is spent when it was returned. There are all sorts of other behind the scene costs: administrative, marketing, maintenance, etc This all starts to add up.
At $125 a day, a trailer would have to be rented out 3 days a week, 40 + weeks a year to even make sense as a business venture. We simply did not see the demand we required to continue with the rental program.
I guess this begs the question, how much do folks think is a fair price to rent a capable off road trailer per day?
While Kurt pointed out that in his case, the rental sometimes leads to the sale, we had a very low level of conversion.
Rental costs consist of the trailer, a typical feature rich trailer is about $14-16K. Of course people want the option to choose different models so now a substantial investment has to be made to create a rental fleet. Comprehensive insurance is another substantial cost. A standard new trailer orientation with our clients is 2 hours. When a trailer was rented out, additional inspection time is spent when it was returned. There are all sorts of other behind the scene costs: administrative, marketing, maintenance, etc This all starts to add up.
At $125 a day, a trailer would have to be rented out 3 days a week, 40 + weeks a year to even make sense as a business venture. We simply did not see the demand we required to continue with the rental program.
I guess this begs the question, how much do folks think is a fair price to rent a capable off road trailer per day?