Renting out your Motorhome: would you??
Discussion
I would not even consider renting out ours, would not want strangers in our "home".....because that's what it is.
Also, you would have to undercut the "professional" rental firms, by the time you have added advertising, wear and tear and insurance, is it going to be worth it?
If it was an "old banger" and you don't mind a few knocks and scrapes maybe.
Also, you would have to undercut the "professional" rental firms, by the time you have added advertising, wear and tear and insurance, is it going to be worth it?
If it was an "old banger" and you don't mind a few knocks and scrapes maybe.
Hmmmm, responses I felt would come down the line and also echoing my concerns.
I've looked at several Hymers, all around the £25-30k mark with average of 35k on the clock.
The idea of renting out for say, 10 weeks a year for a return of 6k - ish gross appeals but appreciate they aren't like renting out my holiday cottage either.
Insurance isn't too bad from preliminary enquiries I made but repairing complex custom built parts does worry me.
I've looked at several Hymers, all around the £25-30k mark with average of 35k on the clock.
The idea of renting out for say, 10 weeks a year for a return of 6k - ish gross appeals but appreciate they aren't like renting out my holiday cottage either.
Insurance isn't too bad from preliminary enquiries I made but repairing complex custom built parts does worry me.
Senarios of :
crashing it and the Insurance claim on your policy
minor damages that prevent/cancel future rental,
all the parts I have needed in the Last year (minor) have been
special order from Hymer Direct.
Even a new screen is a week-ten days to get a genuine one to repair after stone chips and crack.
The Water system parts are not Hotel standard they are lightweight and can be fragile to heavy handed people.
I guess also renting a vehicle with Gas on board will require saftey check/certificates?
The local dealer to me rents out older models but has a few has facilities to repair/replace and sell on once off the rental fleet.
crashing it and the Insurance claim on your policy
minor damages that prevent/cancel future rental,
all the parts I have needed in the Last year (minor) have been
special order from Hymer Direct.
Even a new screen is a week-ten days to get a genuine one to repair after stone chips and crack.
The Water system parts are not Hotel standard they are lightweight and can be fragile to heavy handed people.
I guess also renting a vehicle with Gas on board will require saftey check/certificates?
The local dealer to me rents out older models but has a few has facilities to repair/replace and sell on once off the rental fleet.
I think the bigger problem is the possible compensation you'd be liable for in the event of a cancellation.
Let's say hirer A has a breakdown, his fault or not is irrelvant, but it's going to take couple of weeks to get repairs done, notwithstanding that they could be in abroad or in a remote location. You're now liable to get them home and provide a replacement M/H.
But hirer B is due to pick up your M/H in a few days so you'll have to cancel their booking or again, provide a replacement. How popular are you going to be? Imagine if you were hirer B and you go a phone call telling you the booking's cancelled for whatever reason. How happy would you be? Your kids are all geared up for their hols, you've got campsites and maybe ferries booked and paid for, all non refundable. All of a sudden your money making venture has hit the blocks and you'r up s
t creek without a paddle.
Unless of course you've got a back up in place,
Let's say hirer A has a breakdown, his fault or not is irrelvant, but it's going to take couple of weeks to get repairs done, notwithstanding that they could be in abroad or in a remote location. You're now liable to get them home and provide a replacement M/H.
But hirer B is due to pick up your M/H in a few days so you'll have to cancel their booking or again, provide a replacement. How popular are you going to be? Imagine if you were hirer B and you go a phone call telling you the booking's cancelled for whatever reason. How happy would you be? Your kids are all geared up for their hols, you've got campsites and maybe ferries booked and paid for, all non refundable. All of a sudden your money making venture has hit the blocks and you'r up s
t creek without a paddle.Unless of course you've got a back up in place,
I think all very valid points. It's interesting to see how the Family Travel Centre is acting as a broker for hiring out private vehicles and people with as large a set up as Just Go have all their own in-house engineers and technical staff in order to deal with what must be niggles, damage and repairs which we all know as motorhomers as required pretty much constantly. My Uncle has had new vans and had no less issues than I have with 12yr old ones. There's always something which Needs doing whether you're careful or not and I'm not sure how much of that non-motorhomers understand (or would be willing to accept). Certainly when I selling the Hymer, plenty of people were put off by the amount of work I had done - not because what I had done was bad, but just un-accepting of the fact there's a constant trickle of funds and time required to keep the vehicles tip top.
In terms of the very basic element of the question - would I? Absolutely no way. Even before I moved into the van fulltime, I always considered it my home and I wouldn't even lend it out to family or friends as it felt too personal a space. Last thing I would want is strangers living it - whether that be because I didn't want to know what they got up to in it, or because I know that they wouldn't care about it in the same way as me.
I personally think this only works if you go into as a full on business and know what you're taking on and prepared to also spend money running it as a Business. If all you can see is the income side of it and none of the expenditure then I think you're on a hiding to nothing.
FWIW - I actually don't think owning a motorhome is too expensive anyway. If you buy right, depreciation is almost zero. Insurance compared with cars is dirt cheap and almost comically so. VED is also negligible. If you're handy, or have time, you can do a lot of repairs yourself. And tyres are realistically only a 1 x 5-6yr event given how few miles most people do. So realistically, your biggest cost is fuel which is offset by accomodation costs saved when you're on the move and is entirely within your control (i.e. you can budget fuel based on destination choice and when you want/Need to go away). On a pence per mile basis, my Hymer was comfortably cheaper than a good few of my cars have been and in line with the cost of 2yrs in a BMW X5. And that was just on the basis of keeping it on the road and driving it - that's without taking into account the vast amount of money saved on hotel rooms and priceless experiences had.
My point being - aside from initial outlay - they're cheap and I don't see the costs as something I need to offset against a risky business proposition.
In terms of the very basic element of the question - would I? Absolutely no way. Even before I moved into the van fulltime, I always considered it my home and I wouldn't even lend it out to family or friends as it felt too personal a space. Last thing I would want is strangers living it - whether that be because I didn't want to know what they got up to in it, or because I know that they wouldn't care about it in the same way as me.
I personally think this only works if you go into as a full on business and know what you're taking on and prepared to also spend money running it as a Business. If all you can see is the income side of it and none of the expenditure then I think you're on a hiding to nothing.
FWIW - I actually don't think owning a motorhome is too expensive anyway. If you buy right, depreciation is almost zero. Insurance compared with cars is dirt cheap and almost comically so. VED is also negligible. If you're handy, or have time, you can do a lot of repairs yourself. And tyres are realistically only a 1 x 5-6yr event given how few miles most people do. So realistically, your biggest cost is fuel which is offset by accomodation costs saved when you're on the move and is entirely within your control (i.e. you can budget fuel based on destination choice and when you want/Need to go away). On a pence per mile basis, my Hymer was comfortably cheaper than a good few of my cars have been and in line with the cost of 2yrs in a BMW X5. And that was just on the basis of keeping it on the road and driving it - that's without taking into account the vast amount of money saved on hotel rooms and priceless experiences had.
My point being - aside from initial outlay - they're cheap and I don't see the costs as something I need to offset against a risky business proposition.
Edited by Spuffington on Wednesday 8th November 11:48
I rent mine out. In fact, I have rented all the 3 I have owned over the last 5 years out.
However, it doesn't make money. We do it because it makes the MH self-supporting - particularly as I do it through a local company who store, insure it, fix it, deal with the punters etc etc.
It is not a low effort business!
However, it doesn't make money. We do it because it makes the MH self-supporting - particularly as I do it through a local company who store, insure it, fix it, deal with the punters etc etc.
It is not a low effort business!
GlenMH said:
I rent mine out. In fact, I have rented all the 3 I have owned over the last 5 years out.
However, it doesn't make money. We do it because it makes the MH self-supporting - particularly as I do it through a local company who store, insure it, fix it, deal with the punters etc etc.
It is not a low effort business!
is this a common thing or just something this particular company does?However, it doesn't make money. We do it because it makes the MH self-supporting - particularly as I do it through a local company who store, insure it, fix it, deal with the punters etc etc.
It is not a low effort business!
kurt535 said:
is this a common thing or just something this particular company does?
Some hire companies do this - it is a good way of not funding the capital whilst increasing the fleet. Profit scales roughly linearly with fleet size.From my point of view, I don't need to store it (I can't even get it to my front door as the road is too narrow....) and it covers its costs. I just need to be organised and supply dates for 2018 this month so the diary can be blanked out.
I have just gone in to partnership with the owner of the company to launch a timeshare service so we can give people access to £50k+ motorhomes without them having to pay the capital cost of the van.
GlenMH said:
I rent mine out. In fact, I have rented all the 3 I have owned over the last 5 years out.
However, it doesn't make money. We do it because it makes the MH self-supporting - particularly as I do it through a local company who store, insure it, fix it, deal with the punters etc etc.
It is not a low effort business!
This is an interesting thread. However, it doesn't make money. We do it because it makes the MH self-supporting - particularly as I do it through a local company who store, insure it, fix it, deal with the punters etc etc.
It is not a low effort business!
Presumably Glen, the company underwrite any damage etc so that it is kept immaculate? Have you had any issues with punters damaging it at all?
What about general wear and tear like tyres, clutch, brakes etc? ...,and also general 'tiredness' if the MH gets used frequently?
Also what do you leave in the MH for others to use? Bedding? Towels? Toolkit? etc
Do you have a link to the company that does the renting?
ta
Bill said:
+1 We've even stopped lending to friends because we cba with the hassle. (And now we're going skiing in it the savings on that one holiday pay for the van. Travel and accommodation for 5 is <£1k. 
)
Our plumber has an older model MH and he lent it out to family and the scrotes didn't even bother to empty the toilet cassette before giving it back let alone cleaning it...)Lesson learned by him
oblio said:
Presumably Glen, the company underwrite any damage etc so that it is kept immaculate? Have you had any issues with punters damaging it at all?
They do - covered by a trade policy held by the hire company and a large deposit taken as a bond from the punter.Yes, there have been a few accidents - mostly minor dings and one clout of a bus stop (HOW did they do that...?) that have been sorted out seamlessly without my involvement. The hire company have a good team of technicians and a local caravan/MH body shop that sorts things quickly and at high quality.
oblio said:
What about general wear and tear like tyres, clutch, brakes etc?
Tyres last 20,000 miles and I pay for them. So that is one set every 18 months or so.
Brakes last 30,000 so get changed once during my ownership, which I also pay for.
Touch wood: haven't had a clutch go despite my 4 year old MH having nearly 50k miles on it when it was sold.
oblio said:
...,and also general 'tiredness' if the MH gets used frequently?
This is the reason we spend extra to buy new Adria MHs - they are well built. We spent a couple of hundred on new seating foam and the covers getting cleaned properly and the MH looked like new after 4 years hire activity and 50k miles on the road.oblio said:
Also what do you leave in the MH for others to use? Bedding? Towels? Toolkit? etc
Nothing of mine, at all.The hire company supplies all crockery, cutlery, kettle, toaster, cafetière etc etc for the kitchen. Outside table and chairs. power lead, hose for filling, levelling ramps, toilet chemicals, loo roll and kitchen roll, TV and that is about it.
The customers supply bedding, towels etc. We also don't fit awnings: too easily damaged and v expensive to fix.
The timeshare vans will be completely different: satellite TV and awnings, bedding & towels supplied and refreshed as standard when the MH goes out.
oblio said:
Do you have a link to the company that does the renting?
ta
No problem: https://www.motorhomeholidaycompany.com/ta
Take a look at the Coral Plus in the 5 berth section and that is my latest MH....
Toyed with the idea of renting out our Bongo thingy with this mob but didn't go any further
https://www.goboony.co.uk
https://www.goboony.co.uk
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