klr Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Hi, I have recently received some very interesting information in respect of a "Buy-to-Let" opportunity, where you can hire out your Motorhome. Does anybody have any experience of this, please? Positive and negative feedback would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I don't have any expereince of hiring our motorhome out but would urge caution if you are thinking of doing so - in particular, check with your insurers first. The one, very considerable, stumbling block for me would be just letting someone (especialy strangers) loose with my pride and joy and just the thought of anyone abusing it - even unintentionally - sends shivers down my spine!! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandyAndy Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Hi, I think most of your replies will be : don't do it, won't do it, wouldn't do it or can't do it. We have friends who bought with the idea of hiring out to help cover cost so they could have the use of a new and larger van than they would be able to afford. Have to say it has worked for them but if could see the catalogue of accidents that have happened to it over the last 12 months I wouldn't like to do it, you have to be able to be very detached from your van and see it as a business not as a personal item. They always take £1000 deposit before it leaves them, and they have had to use some of it on a number of occasions, and claimed off the insurance a time or two. They would like to buy another to have as their own and just rent this one out as the more they use it themselves the more fond of it they get. Loads of info on hiring on various forums around. Good luck, Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klr Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Hi David, I'm very new to this and I hadn't considered the "emotional" attachment that I may form with my motorhome. I have taken note!!!! Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klr Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Hi Mandy, Thanks for your response. Will definitely have to try to stay emotionally unattached for it to work, I think, which is something I hadn't considered. Thanks for your advice!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Sounds like you are looking at buying a van just for hire a bit different from hiring out your pride & joy. I would urge caution others that have tried it have had much lower returns than expected. You usually end up with far less than ½ the rental fee after the arranging company has taken their fees, insurance, servicing etc. You also end up with a high mileage & probably tatty van with a low resale value. Also in the rental market the norm is for vans to be under 2 years old. We hired a couple of times in Germany before buying both times the van were virtually new with only a few thousand Km on the clock, the dealers there usually hire them from April to September then sell them at 6 months old. Probably the only way to make a living is to buy at trade prices & run a hire fleet of several vans & replace them at the end of the season and do all your own marketing, probably not feasible unless you are a Motorhome dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamworthkamper Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 We looked into this afew months ago and contacted a few people on the net we also spoke to the dealer I bought the camper from and almost everyone apart from those who wanted us to sign up to hire the camper told us not to mainly because other people would nt look after the motorhome like you would think very carefully you could never use the van in peak season and if you come home after hard week at work and want to get away from it all you have to check web sites dairys etc before you can turn the key .This wasn t for us also how many people realy hire them the firms will tell you they can hire it every week but look at your local van hire company how often do the cars and vans move .If your buying van just for renting out then I guess you wouldn t have the attachment that private owners have if you go for it I wish you good luck . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 There is not a cats in hells chance that we would hire our pride and joy to all and sundry. Its just too personal. Motorhomes for the hire market tend to be basic machines assembled in sutch a way that they are easy to keep going, easy to keep clean with a very fast turn round and are devoid of knick knacks. Just a basic house on wheels. Our own motorhomes are much more than that! Crumbs, it took us nearly a week to empty out and remove personal bits from our last one before it was traded in! C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Talk to any Hotel owner, they will tell you its hell to let Jo Public use your personal equipment. Regardless of the users status in life many don't care, its as simple as that. You hired it to make money they will tell you, any damage is your problem. We hired in the USA and the M/H was ridiculed with damage. Although it was supposed to be "clean". I made a long list of damage and the rental company gave me a large discount for informing them. It seemed that's the way it was, everyone using it just added more damage. You will never, ever, know how they drive your M/H. Imagine the FIAT's with the gearbox problems, you would likely need a new clutch for every user!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan3956 Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Your Motor Home will spend a lot of its life in a body repair shop having all the dents and damage removed. They that is the novice driver does not realise they have a bigger vehicle than their family saloon and do not drive accordingly. Most collisions occur on the rear and rear corners where they hit non moveable objects, so if you want a vehicle full of filler go ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyH Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 No body has mentioned the TAX MAN. He'll (Or She'll) be after you for large amounts of your income. You'll be running a business don't forget. Hardly worth the hassle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Another area you should think about is the hassle you will have to sort out if the person you hire it out to gets caught speeding. the vehicle is registered to you so it will be you that get's the ticket. Of course you will have a hire agreement (won't you ?) so you could prove that it wasn't you who was driving, but it will be you that has the stress of sorting it all out ! Might be something you can live with on a one off occasion but what if it happens on a regular basis (!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tof Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Hi klr We hired our first motorhome out for approx 2 years. It wasn't something we did by choice, we couldn't afford the repayments on the 'van so resorted to this out of desperation. We were very attached to our 'van and it was extremely upsetting each time we had to hire it out. Just about every time it came back there was some damage, sometimes serious. eg on one occasion the bathroom window had been torn off due to being left open. In these instances you need to consider where you can source replacements especially door and window catches etc etc and how quickly in order that it doesn't prevent your next hiring. When this happened to us we had an hour to prepare the van and refit the new window before the next hirers arrived. As it was the window we refitted was a different colour to the rest of the windows in the 'van as it was the only one we could source in the time available. The best company to offer these money making hirings are probably Motorholme who pay ahead of the hiring and deal with insurance claims yet still give a reasonable rate. Even though the compny arrange just about everything for you, I would highly recommend that you have lots of your own paperwork and procedures in order to further protect yourselves and you 'van eg we took photos of every member of the party to use the 'van and at least two mobile phone numbers. We would always ring half way through their holiday and check that no damage had occurred and they were managing the facilities in the 'van ok. We would also ring the day before their return to check once more for damages in case we needed to order spare parts. We still have a lot of the paperwork which we produced ourselves, if you are serious about this we could pm it to you for your own use or create your own similar documents. We found that with regard to finance we averaged around 12 months hp payments for around 6 months hire. We usually did all repairs at the end of the season eg resprays and dents etc. One thing I would say though is that damage to the interior panels and flooring such as scrapes and dents are virtually impossible to put right. When doing a handback check you would have to be extremely thorough even if the hoiday makers are in a rush to get home. We used matress protectors and seat covers all through our van and would remove them all systematically to check for damage. You need to open and shut all windows to check for damage to catches. There is a lot to think about, too much to write here so if you are really serious pm us and we will email you more advice and ideas along with the paperwork we used. ;-) good luck Maria and Tof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Big Momma - 2009-10-30 7:47 PM Another area you should think about is the hassle you will have to sort out if the person you hire it out to gets caught speeding. the vehicle is registered to you so it will be you that get's the ticket. Of course you will have a hire agreement (won't you ?) so you could prove that it wasn't you who was driving, but it will be you that has the stress of sorting it all out ! Might be something you can live with on a one off occasion but what if it happens on a regular basis (!) ........and the congestion charge if they stray into London centre - maybe even the £100 per day Low Emission Zone charge too if the vehicle doesn't comply with the regs.............. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 The legal implications of the van not been returned by the hirer I believe can be problamatic........ As the police won't want to know because you gave them the keys and permission to take the van in the first place? *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klr Posted November 1, 2009 Author Share Posted November 1, 2009 Hi Everybody. Thanks for all of your responses - they've been very helpful. Food for thought, indeed. (^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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