Thoughts on hiring out your own caravan..

[Jonathan Roberts]

Hi All,
I'm keen to get everyone's advice and feedback on the topic of hiring out your own caravan. If there was a legitimate and safe way to earn approximately $100/day to rent out your caravan via website would you be interested? If not why not?

Yes I know some people already do it via eBay etc which tells me there is demand for the vans. But imagine a site that aggregated 100' of vans from around Australia and had plenty of pre-qualifies hirers...

I sold my Expanda a couple of years ago due to lack of use and capital being tied up and have since hired a van from a company in Geelong. It all went well but I would have loved to have been able to simply list my van on a site and pick up, maybe a couple of grand a year in hiring out my Expanda.

Anywho, feel free to send me you thoughts.

Cheers
Jon

 

[davemc]

Hi Jon,

There are a few private caravan hire websites around.
I think you can just change your insurance the days its hired out.
Main problem for me would be damage to inside of van or outside you have to really look over the van when it came back.

I also be worried if they can tow, if they have a brake controller, does their car have the tow capacity.
If all of this was for $1k a year is it worth it?

Also if you do start hiring out a bit, then as my friend with a holiday home does she takes the scraps no one else wants.
Hates to book prime time as looses $. Has canceled her leave as got a last minute booking in.
Although she has a loan paying of the place I would say you might get that way with the van as well.

 

[achjimmy]

There was a member on here that was doing it and soliciting van owners. Don't know where they went. Think it'd be alright if you had a "vanilla" van and wasn't fussy. For me our van is customed to our requirements and I think twice about letting my own kids in it never mind other people's, lol.

 

[DRW]

The member who hires his out has a 20' - 21' Expanda and it would only be a year or so old, he told us all about it, takes a huge deposit and in the case of a broken tail light he had a quote from Jayco in writing and took it from the bond, I couldnt do it but I'm sure plenty can and if you can make a quid why not?

 

[Tricky]

It's a big step to take I think, particularly if you have a new van. I would want to be 100% sure of insurance and damage cover before I went ahead.

Some sort of proof off towing capability would also be good (although not sure how to get it).

 

[AzHaych]

Hi Jon

The guy that bought my 17.56.1 has a very successful business doing exactly what you have explained here. He has over a 100 vans signed up right around the country now, he has over 10,000 followers on Facebook. Would I hire my van out? No I am too fussy and I wouldnt cope with someone else putting a mark on it.

Az

https://www.facebook.com/caravanandcampinghire?fref=ts

 

[Bellbirdweb]

We originally hired a van from http://www.privatecaravanhire.com.au/ to test drive before we decided to buy.

They had all of the insuranced and a comprehensive contract all sorted, so it looked pretty good, especially if you don't use the van all that much.

No I own a new van however, I couldnt hire it out, but it all depends on your circumstances. There is always some risk, but it could also be lucrative.

 

[Crusty181]

There was a member on here that was doing it and soliciting van owners. Don't know where they went. Think it'd be alright if you had a "vanilla" van and wasn't fussy. For me our van is customed to our requirements and I think twice about letting my own kids in it never mind other people's, lol.

Im with you @achjimmy. I sometimes look sideways at Princess Crusty too.

 

[JBTZ14]

After just doing 125 days on the road and seeing how some of the hire vans are treated, no way would I hire my one out.... Just my opinion but not worth the extra cash.

 

[Dobbie]

Before buying new we looked at some vans that were ex-hire.

Not impressed but don't know how often or how long they were hired. We decided to factor in the annual costs of rego, insurance and maintenance before making decision to buy.

Would rather wear the costs and know it was looked after than trust our pride and joy to others...it's not just attitude to using a hired one exhibited by some but also the inexperience and gung ho approach that can certainly lead to problems.

 

[Delano]

I've gotta agree with most on here , there's no way I could
Trust my van to anyone else.

I would have to purposefully buy one to hire only,
One that I was not attached to.

 

[Dobbie]

If going to hire it out agree that you buy and set it up for this purpose and treat as a business proposition only.

Too much emotion involved if you hired out your carefully individualised van and got it back in a state where you felt disappointment when you want to use it yourself.....or find unexpected problems on the road which could have been avoided.

We are aware of some hirers who hoped like mad some things weren't discovered when they returned the vehicles.

There is a market for potential buyers to hire before they buy so it might be worth looking at tapping into that.