Looking to rent out your motorhome but not sure where to start? Part 2

This week is part 2 of whether you would like to rent out your motorhome or whether you would like to start a motorhome hire business.

Last week we looked at the models and a little bit of information on how to go about planning and getting to your first hire.

Firstly, lets look at insuring your motorhome.  I use a company called Alan Boswell which seems to be quite well known within the industry for providing motorhome insurance cover, breakdown cover with the RAC and legal cover which I would absolutely recommend.

Motorhome hire insurance is not cheap, you can look at anything upto and beyond £1500 per vehicle as well as the extras. But you are insuring it against all incidents that may occur.

We will come to forms and terms and conditions a little later which will help cover you against anything that may go wrong.

Next thing to look at is storage. Where will you keep your motorhome, how will you rent it out, will there be a number of motorhomes in your fleet, what is access like, what’s the security like.  All these things are of great consideration.  If you are running it from home, is this viable, what will your neighbours think, how will you ensure the safety of your motorhomes if they are parked on a driveway, do you really want customers coming to your home address?

When I initially started renting motorhomes I based myself on a farm with land that I rented from the owner.  There was an agreed structure of what was included such as electric and water as well as a specific space.  The farm was slightly secure but I wouldn’t say it was secure enough.  After they had a theft from there I moved to a secure location with perimeter alarms and 24 hour CCTV coverage and a locked gated entry.

Advertising

So, you have organised your premises and your motorhome has arrived what next? Well lets look at advertising.
There are a number of platforms that you can use to rent out your vehicle. Lots of them offer varying rates of commission or up front fees etc..  They also all have their own terms and conditions which I absolutely recommend you read up on.
Over the years (as well as our own website and own forms of advertising such as Facebook and Instagram) I used a number of companies such as Goboony, Leisure Rentals, Camplify, Campanda and a few others.
I will not sit here and advise on which ones to use but lets just say some of the terms and conditions on some of them have forced me to delete my listings with them.

The best form of advertising is your own.  This is a competitive market but also a niche one. There are companies with 100+ motorhomes for rent and there are some with just a few.  Each one of us has to put the same effort into advertising as the other as you will spend time and money on doing so.
Personally, I stick to our own website as well as 2 third party suppliers which seems to do enough for us.

Building your website and social media platforms are essential in showing that you are a professional outfit.  People do like a family run company or someone with a one motorhome they can rent from as they could feel that its more personal.  However if something goes wrong, the bigger companies may be able to deal with it easier.

Depending on how you proceed with your motorhome hire my personal opinion is this. Get advice on advertising if you haven’t been there and done it before. Ask questions, look for other people in the industry that may be willing to help you start up and give advice.  And if all that fails, email me. I may be able to help! Learning how to build your own website and manage your own social media will cut costs immensely, however its time consuming, so be prepared!

Terms and conditions and hire forms

So, you have now mastered your brand and where you are going to advertise. Whats next?
Lets look at the final part of this part 2 of my blog for this week.

Terms and Conditions and protecting yourself

Terms and conditions on any hire are there to protect you and your £35,000+ investment. They have to be absolutely solid. Why? Well insurance is likely to cover you for all eventualities however keep claiming on that insurance and you will soon find yourself in a position where you can’t pay it anymore or they just wont insure you anymore.

How would I proceed here? Well I looked at other peoples terms and conditions of hire. I saw how they worded the hire and I used it to create my own. This was not an overnight task and although I recommend looking at other peoples terms, don’t just copy them outright as it may not stand up if you had to take someone to court.

Think about the worst case scenario and plan for it.  I will write about some of my experiences in another part of our blog.

What other forms will you need to be signed. I would suggest having a front sheet for all your hires. This will include customer details, out and return dates, fuel levels, gas levels, agreed time to return your motorhome and signature.

Finally, I suggest you have the all important outgoing forms and incoming forms. Try to find a template which can be available to purchase or even make one yourself. Just ensure you have all the correct information on there.

Now that you have your forms, terms and conditions, advertising and storage sorted, its now time to think about what is next.  We will cover this in part 3 next week.

This concludes part 2 of renting out a motorhome.  Luna Motorhome Hire provides a rental program for motorhomes owners to rent out their motorhome to may money on.  The company also offers a fantastic motorhome investment programme with a 10% return on your investment.
For more information on renting out your motorhome with Luna Motorhome Hire or investing, why not check out the website to find out more at www.lunamotorhomehire.co.uk