Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

martinamc

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Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 08.04.2019 · #1

Hello all. We are dabbling with the idea of purchasing a motorhome/camper for rental and wondering if anyone has experience of doing that. We'd be doing it as a business venture mianly (though we'd hope to get a few weeks away in it too) - so aware that things could get broken etc. Also aware that things could be difficult if only one van on the road - but still, I'm considering it!

We're only in mulling stage and it's very possible that we'll decide not to do it this year - but still interested in feedback if folks have time to give it. We have discussed what might work best and go between a panel van - mainly suiting a couple but with a few 1 or 2 additional berths to accommodate smaller families OR a larger motorhome with 6/7 berths.

Advantage with panel van would be easier to drive for people not accustomed to driving larger vehicles. The 6/7 berth will be better for families but bulkier and smaller families less likely to rent. Not sure what would be best as a first step....

Thanks for any help and wisdom!

Martina

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 08.04.2019 · #2

Your question focuses on the vehicle specification. But shouldn’t the primary discussion be on insurance? How do you propose to offer insurance to your clients? I’m not saying it can’t be done, I’m saying that surely that is what you have to work out. Vehicle specifications are easy to come up with.

martinamc

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 08.04.2019 · #3

Happy to take any and all advice - insurance definitely does seem a bit of a conundrum so if anyone has experience then would be grateful to hear thoughts. Current thought process is that I'm trying to work through what will work best for the market....I figure that the insurance question will apply whatever way we go....

I've searched a bit online and see that there are specialist insurance brokers out there that specialize in this and also that the folks who rent motorhomes offer some degree of flexibility in terms of insurance - some will allow customers to self insure and others seem to allow customers to only insure through their broker.

AliPhatCamper

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 08.04.2019 · #4

From only looking briefly at hired Motorhomes they seem a bit basic. Probably of necessity.

A hole to put your finger in to pull the door open off its basic catch.

Easy clean rubber mats.

Nothing fancy to scratch or break.

Gavster

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 08.04.2019 · #5

I spoke to a dealer recently who said a lot of second hand Weinsberg Motorhomes are ex rental. Must be something about that type of Motorhome when bought new that suits renting out. Not saying you should buy new but look at 5-6 year old Weinsbergs and see why they might be popular with larger scale renters.

martinamc

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 08.04.2019 · #6

Thanks AliphatCamper and Gavster. Solid advice! Yes...had looked a wee bit at weinsburg....they do seem to be popular for rentals and they offer full range of layouts. I think that I also read a while back that they are part of knaus. Will nosey a bit more!

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #7

A big consideration is can you do repairs yourself, dealer costs can be astronomical.
Typical renters are not used to driving such large vehicles and can misjudge the height and run into low obstacles resulting in roof damage, width can also be an issue resulting in damage to the sides.
Furnishings and fittings can also be lightweight and break easily when used by a person unfamiliar with a motorhome.
As for insurance, I'd expect it to be many multiples of the €360 or thereabouts paid by owners with a car as their main vehicle.

If you do get insurance at an acceptable price a few claims in year one could result in no quote the following year.

If I was thinking of embarking on such a business venture the first thing I would sort is insurance costs and terms, finding the right vehicle(s) is the easy part.

nilrac

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #8

Dont forget to include paying Tax as the Revenue takes a very dim view of extra income without a declaration.

The Rambler

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #9

I would think that without the insurance pinned down, there is no business model. Would you need to be working with third party insurers who will cover short term rentals on a client by client basis? Or would the insurer offer you a long term policy on the camper with unlimited drivers i.e. your clients? Either way it sounds expensive. Maybe it could only work at scale, as in a fleet of vans. Fine if you can pass the cost on in the rental price but surely you need to work that out before you start thinking about what kind of upholstery you want.

martinamc

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #10

Thanks all. Yes - baguette - you are right and that is a concern regarding repairs. My husband is a mechanic and generally very handy, so that would cover some aspects but definitely not all. - e.g. body damage. Your point about renters not being used to larger vehicles is something that we're mindful of too - and one main reason that panel van might be better?

Regarding the insurance comments - just to be clear - I'm not discounting or minimising the need for insurance, but the fact is that other people are doing this so that would suggest that it isn't a conundrum that can't be solved. I didn't mention anything about "upholstery" Rambler - so I think that it's taking a bit far to put forward that I'd be thinking about that before insurance!!

I expect that one of the first questions that an insurer would have is what type of vehicle we'd want to cover.

There are services out there that allow you to rent out your personal motorhome and they cover the insurance etc for the rented period, but that isn't the model that I was pursuing (at least not at the minute)

Nilac - we'd be declaring the tax etc - everything would be above board!

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #11

If you do go down the road of renting out make sure you give the renters a good overview of the etiquette of using motorhomes - disposing of waste, parking etc! Also the App of course

The Rambler

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #12

Well good luck Martinamc. I added in the upholstery bit just for effect.

. Keep us posted

nilrac

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #13

Martinmac,I mentioned that because if you are unfortunate to have a claim on insurance ,they will want to know everything to give them a chance to wriggle out.

Thorn123

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #14

I am familiar with a mh dealer near me who previously rented out mh.
They scaled back on the rental side because it was impossible to ensure that the client would drop back the mh on time.
In reality a weeks hire is only 6 days because there's a half day lost on either side of the hire.
Their problem was depending on the mh being returned at 11am and allowing a couple of hours for valleting, general check over and maybe running repairs before the mh is picked up by a new client at 2 or 3 pm.
If this was a holiday home, you can physically show up to move on the old clients on time.
Malcolm

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Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #15

There was a couple in Dun Laoghaire were trying that out for a year with one van but their website ( www.camperhire.ie ) is now suspended, I can only presume it did not work out for them.

The Rambler

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #16

If only Airbnb did campers.

martinamc

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Re: Purchasing a motorhome for renting out

· Posted: 09.04.2019 · #17

I typed a reply but somehow lost it - so I will try again. apologies if I am repeating myself.

thanks all so much for the feedback - really appreciated. We'll mull it over a bit - definitely isn't without complexities and risks - so not to be undertaken lightly!

Rambler - your reply above about the upholstery made me laugh alot. from now on i'll think of you as the upholstery fella!!

A few sites out there would claim to be airbnb for campers e.g. camplify!! Haven't met anyone who has directly used them though!

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