Hiring out your home on wheels...

MartianTom

Guest
I know that a few people make an income from their camper or motorhome when they're not using it by hiring it out. I kind of had that idea in mind when I finally took the plunge, thinking that it would offset some of the cost.

Anyway, I'd only had the thing two days when the couple next door saw me out in the street and invited me in for coffee. I no sooner had the mug in my hand than she asked me outright: 'Can we borrow it for a weekend? It wouldn't be until after Christmas, and we'd pay you for it.' You'll notice, as I did, the absence of the word 'please' in there. I was too stunned to offer much more than 'Erm, well, possibly... but can I just see what I want to do with it first?' Yes, I know... I should have said 'Fer gawd's sake, give us a bloody chance to try the thing out first!'

Well... 10 weeks down the line, I'm certain of one thing. No one else is going to use it unless they nick it! It's like an extension of my own home. I've cleaned it up, completely recarpetted it, spent money having a few jobs done. I don't WANT anyone else using it. I don't think that's selfish. I wouldn't rent my home to anyone else, so not my motorhome, either.

From what I've observed of these neighbours, they aren't the tidiest of people. I shudder to think what mess they'd make in my Li'l Darlin'. Personally, in retrospect, I think they had a bloody cheek!

Am I just being too possessive, do you think?
 
I was getting emails & phone calls from a company that arranges to hire your motorhome out for you, it was due to me entering a competition on their website, they did eventually stop after a few emails. I wouldn't like to hire out my van to anybody, not saying any extra income wouldn't be nice but don't really need it, also I want to be able to use my van any time I want not when it's not being rented out.
 
Know what you mean. Yes the extra money would be great, but wouldnt want anybody using it. It is my pride and joy, and has all our own personal things in it. Also we want to be able to use it as and when we want.

Angela.
 
Insurance implication too ? you are not normally covered for hire and reward

Not to mention the hassle of speeding tickets Parking fines etc ...... Motorhoming in my mind is about tranquility not grief.

All this before considering peeps show a total lack of respect to your property

Channa
 
MartianTom said:
I know that a few people make an income from their camper or motorhome when they're not using it by hiring it out. I kind of had that idea in mind when I finally took the plunge, thinking that it would offset some of the cost.

Anyway, I'd only had the thing two days when the couple next door saw me out in the street and invited me in for coffee. I no sooner had the mug in my hand than she asked me outright: 'Can we borrow it for a weekend? It wouldn't be until after Christmas, and we'd pay you for it.' You'll notice, as I did, the absence of the word 'please' in there. I was too stunned to offer much more than 'Erm, well, possibly... but can I just see what I want to do with it first?' Yes, I know... I should have said 'Fer gawd's sake, give us a bloody chance to try the thing out first!'

Well... 10 weeks down the line, I'm certain of one thing. No one else is going to use it unless they nick it! It's like an extension of my own home. I've cleaned it up, completely recarpetted it, spent money having a few jobs done. I don't WANT anyone else using it. I don't think that's selfish. I wouldn't rent my home to anyone else, so not my motorhome, either.

From what I've observed of these neighbours, they aren't the tidiest of people. I shudder to think what mess they'd make in my Li'l Darlin'. Personally, in retrospect, I think they had a bloody cheek!

Am I just being too possessive, do you think?
Click to expand...

DONT DO IT i hired mine out to my cousin, they gave me £350 but burnt out the clutch, cost me £500 for repair, its soooo not worth it

jen xx
 
Hi, a few years ago (2002) I bought a six berth motorhome from an auction nearly completed. The van was snatched back from a hire firm, which also sold new ones as well. The firm's owner done so well hiring out them for the football final abroad, that he borrowed heavely to expand the buisness, which unfortunatly didn't have a world cup final the next year. First nail in the coffin, when I quizzed his manager he said nearly every one came back with a dent in, and this was sending the company bust. They did however find a company on the net which insured the hirer for £65 a week. That made the difference between profit or loss. Knowing how we look after our own vans, I don't think there are that many out there which would do the same. The last point is having looked at a firm that hires out your vans, they also have their own hire fleet. Now if somone looked a bit iffi, which would you rent them, they win either way. Plus who would have first call on the rental? So you couldn't plan many trips yourself, if rental income was your objective. The words last resort springs to mind, hope these points help.
Rgds Graham.
 
Hire my motorhome !!! Not a hope in hell. Steal it !!!! Over my dead body. Where I go, my motorhome goes and vice versa.
 
I won't even let my parents use my baby, let alone a stranger!!!:scared:
We did "hire" one off a friend of a friend before we purchased and if we hadn't, who knows we might never have purchased one, but i could never rent ours out!
We have a friend who has asked a couple of times but the old man just says " sorry the Mrs wont do it" as his excuse! :p
Lotty
x
 
Hire our motor home !!!! NOT in a million years !!!
Walking around Treco bay ( Big caravan site ) last year we saw a family who were not the cleanest or best behaved walking back towards a hire van on site. Sometime later we approached this van brand new van from the other direction and could see inside, My comment was to my wife a bomb must have gone off in there as they walked out fag in hand spilling beer !!
Your pride and joy remember

Rob
 
Hmm. How good are you at dealing with an irate / agressive / violent family waiting at your home for a motorhome you have contracted to hire to them for their holidays, but you have broken your promise and let them down because the previous hirer brought it back late / damaged / dirty. :mad2: :eek:
Maybe trying to get your share of the money from an agency who has been paid by the customer in advance but may not so quick at passing on your meagre share to you :mad2:
On the other hand imagine a business hiring out other people's motorhomes. All you need is a phone and PC. Someone else puts up all the capital, does all the work, and takes all the risk. Great idea :)
 
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Bernard Jones said:
Hmm. How good are you at dealing with an irate / agressive / violent family waiting at your home for a motorhome you have contracted to hire to them for their holidays, but you have broken your promise and let them down because the previous hirer brought it back late / damaged / dirty. :mad2: :eek:
Maybe trying to get your share of the money from an agency who has been paid by the customer in advance but may not so quick at passing on your meagre share to you :mad2:
On the other hand imagine a business hiring out other people's motorhomes. All you need is a phone and PC. Someone else puts up all the capital, does all the work, and takes all the risk. Great idea :)
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A cautionary tale and a funny read about this sort of thing here http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/...e-camper-van-motorhome-hire-anyone-used-them/




As for my motorhome as I tell many people, it goes nowhere without me in it.
 
I would have heat palpataions lending my Hymer to anyone i would be inspecting every inch of it before i relesed them from my dungen,,,,, not evan my partner can drive my baby,,,, i clean it every week with a paint brush im realy that anal,,,, i worry about leaving it on a street to go to a shop or the MOT guy driving it:lol-053::lol-053::lol-05

Mothman,
 
Get asked quite often but there is no chance of me hiring them out. Two problems. First is the high level of minor damage I see in rental motorhomes and the need to have every part of it working perfectly when it was driven away. Second is difficulty in ensuring that it was winterised and put to bed correctly.

#1 Son keeps hinting that he would like to borrow my 4WD expedition vehicle but trouble is his vehicle of choice is a Triumph Daytona racing bike and my vehicle wouldn't like revving out to 10,000RPM in first gear.
Luckily it is classified as a heavy goods vehicle and he doesn't have the right license endorsement. Phew!!!

Rental companies can sometimes survive because they have enough vehicles and clients that statistics comes into play - enabling them to cover a lot of their own damage insurance (with assistance from $1000 deductibles that the happless customer has to pay)

With a fleet of just one, any significant breakdown or damage can literally put you out of business simply because having insurance that would cover all of those possibilities would cost a fortune.
 
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A thousand no's. Not a cat in hell's chance. It's our home on wheels. Don't want any old scruffs using it.
 
I would rather hire out my wife.

At least she is self cleaning and self repairing.
 
Kontiki said:
I was getting emails & phone calls from a company that arranges to hire your motorhome out for you, it was due to me entering a competition on their website, they did eventually stop after a few emails. I wouldn't like to hire out my van to anybody, not saying any extra income wouldn't be nice but don't really need it, also I want to be able to use my van any time I want not when it's not being rented out.
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Know what you mean, did the same, but they haven't stopped!! Dare not tell my BH about this cos he might start seeing £ signs when he looks at Grenville!! No way could I let someone else have it, I'd be worried to death what they might do to it, irrespective of what they paid. It's our second home and NO-ONE's getting their paws on it!!
 
The link to the Sundrive Hire story is hugely entertaining if not exceptionally cautionary when you Google
sundrive hire scam to read the search results about the outcome.

The thread contains the first posts of a suspicion something is wrong and then there are allegations of fake
posts and staged photographs etc. I'm still reading it as post this.

No, not a chance after spending the money on my vehicle would I let anyone drive it unless I was onboard.

(I refer to JustJane's earlier post as this reads disjointed from the posts inbetween...also this is the link
to the interview concerned when the journalists got involved..http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011vh4w#p00hm4f3 )
 
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Very slightly of course but the situation being the same. As we live 300 metres from the sea, we have had many, many offers of £800 a week for our 3 bed house when we are not here during the summer. Amazing how people find out you are not at home. Anyway, we always politely turn them down as we would like to return to our home in the manner we had left it.
 
David & Ann said:
Very slightly of course but the situation being the same. As we live 300 metres from the sea, we have had many, many offers of £800 a week for our 3 bed house when we are not here during the summer. Amazing how people find out you are not at home. Anyway, we always politely turn them down as we would like to return to our home in the manner we had left it.
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Yeah, I can quite understand.

I rent now, and my principle is that I treat someone else's property better than I'd treat my own. In fact, since I've been in this flat, I've made improvements that the landlord has never bothered about. If and when I move out, he'll find it in a far better state than it was when I moved in.

I've always been the same whenever I rent a car. I wonder if I'm one of the only mugs who vacuums the vehicle out and puts it through the car wash before taking it back!

Unfortunately, a lot of other people don't seem to share that principle. The sister of a friend of mine has a £1million house in London. She rented it out to a professional couple when she had to go to France for a year to work. When she came back, it was trashed.
 
Swaping weeks

I was jsut talking someone yesterday about trying to find a "swap" ours for two weeks in exchange for someone elses in california for two weeks.

I was told a tail of horror-someone got a hymer for 6 months to tour around europe and in exchange the hymer owners got a toyota hiace van for 6 months in New Zealand. Now I would want proof of what I was swapping and I'd want to be in the country while people are using mine and woudl expect the same from them.
 
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