Thinking of hiring out our T6 camper

[missteesix]

Hi all

Hope someone can help?

Does anyone rent out their van when they are not using it?

We bought ours at the end of 2018 and got away in it lots in our first year, last year. But now with the Covid situation, even though it sounds like sites might open back up again from July onwards, hubby and I are thinking that we'll still probably avoid getting away for at least the rest of this year.

So we have a lovely T6 conversion sitting on our drive which is not getting used and could bring us a small income if the rules of renting it out suited us. Not sure if they will but don't know where to start looking.

Any views out there on whether to or to not rent it out would be useful, and for those who do recommend it, do you have any hints and tips or guidance on how to get started please?

Thanks in advance

 

[rover220]

Do you have gas on board? If so you'll need real certs doing if you want to be legal when hiring out.

 

[Ads_Essex]

And you’ll need to learn to not ‘love’ the van, anymore... because the first person to bring it back WILL have left some marks, irrespective of how careful they’ve been.

When we hired one, the bloke told me he had his own Cali in addition to the one we were renting, and that he would never rent his own one out because he didn’t want it being used (and abused) by strangers.

 

[DaveD]

You'd need to check with your insurance company first, they will either raise your premium or refuse to cover you.
I'm with Ads_Essex, I think you'd have to accept it is likely to be returned with minor damage, or worse.
I couldn't let anyone else use my T6. The other night I hit a suicidal deer at low speed, (the deer ran away immediately after) The impact pushed a fog light in and broken a retaining clip on the fog light. While I'm waiting for a new one I've carried out a quick temporary repair. Looking at the van you'd never know.
If I'd hired your van and this had happenned you wouldn't know either. Not everybody is honest.
Sorry for being negative, just my view. Good luck anyway!

 

[cgtmiles]

You could try lending it to someone you know first to see how you feel about it, a close friend or family maybe.

I guess it’s needs to be someone that you are prepared to cut loose should things go badly though

 

[DXX]

I assume you’re considering making a profit so like any other business you would need to price it competitively.
If that price doesn‘t cover the cost of the added insurance, repairs, cleaning and general admin AND leave a worthwhile profit it isn’t worth doing.
Like others have said there will be damage, it’s just a case of treating it as a machine that is repairable.
IMO we can easily become a slave to the Machine when it should be the complete opposite. I’ve had some pretty fancy bikes in the past that never went out in the rain, never went of gravel roads, etc. Looking back with a bit more wisdom I now realise that I had more fun on my ’rat’ bikes.

 

[Phil_G]

Attached a few photos of a car my lad recently hired for his work, from one of the top car hire companies.
This car was three months old. Campervan equipment is necessarily lightweight and needs to be handled with care.
The first customer to break the rib or the fridge will cost you a grand. You will find people who hire solely to swap their
mechanical parts (DPF or whatever) with yours. Dont let strangers wreck your pride & joy!

 

[Jollyvan]

Have a look at camplify.co.uk they offer a service that might interest you.

 

[Village]

Yeah, if you have any attachment to your van at all, and you’re thinking of renting it out, you might want to think about selling it instead

 

[dubber36]

A friend of mine has a 7 or 8 year old 6 berth motorhome. He is not particularly attached to it any more, so was looking at renting it out. In different circumstances the rental profit would pay the finance on a really nice new one for him to use.

 

[Paul Holmes]

I run a hire company my advice to you would be don't bother!!

 

[missteesix]

Do you have gas on board? If so you'll need real certs doing if you want to be legal when hiring out.

Yes we do, thanks for the heads up

 

[missteesix]

And you’ll need to learn to not ‘love’ the van, anymore... because the first person to bring it back WILL have left some marks, irrespective of how careful they’ve been.

When we hired one, the bloke told me he had his own Cali in addition to the one we were renting, and that he would never rent his own one out because he didn’t want it being used (and abused) by strangers.

Mmm yes that's the tricky bit. It's our first and we're really attached to her. Not sure how well we'd get our head around that.

 

[missteesix]

Hi all

Hope someone can help?

Does anyone rent out their van when they are not using it?

We bought ours at the end of 2018 and got away in it lots in our first year, last year. But now with the Covid situation, even though it sounds like sites might open back up again from July onwards, hubby and I are thinking that we'll still probably avoid getting away for at least the rest of this year.

So we have a lovely T6 conversion sitting on our drive which is not getting used and could bring us a small income if the rules of renting it out suited us. Not sure if they will but don't know where to start looking.

Any views out there on whether to or to not rent it out would be useful, and for those who do recommend it, do you have any hints and tips or guidance on how to get started please?

Thanks in advance

Thanks to everyone who has responded on this. This is a great community to get everyone's thoughts on something.
Having considered everything, I think we're going to give it a miss. Our T6 is our baby and I don't think our heads are in the place just to treat it as an asset to make money. We've got too much invested in it and I don't think would cope well if it came back with knocks and scrapes, even if the insurance did cover it.
Hopefully we'll get out in her now later in the year once the whole covid situation improves.
Thanks again all

 

[Spaghetti]

I’d be the same. I couldn’t rent mine out as one bit of damage would erode any income. Just get out and enjoy it.