First Motorhome Purchase - For Rental and Family Use

[otis_b]

Hello All,

I'm looking to make my first motor home purchase. The vehicle that I'm searching for ideally needs to tick a few boxes as i'm hoping to hire it out when its not in use by my family.

1. My budget is £15k - £22k (Not set in stone - I'm keen to compromise between a decent enough vehicle to hire out, and not too expensive as im new to this and there's no guarantee we will like the lifestyle, or that the business will take off)
2. I'm thinking 4 Berth
3. Ideally not anything huge. Although i'll be the main driver, my wife isn't confident about driving such a big vehicle, but also as i'm planning on hiring it out it needs to be a size potential customers feel comfortable with
4. I'd like it to have front facing seats in the back so under 12's can travel safely
5. Any configuration/layout suggestions

If anyone can offer me any guidance and help me to put together a list of 4/5 motor home models that may be suitable that would be very helpful. I have a lot of experience in the car motor trade, so im comfortable with hunting for the correct vehicle once i'd identified a shortlist of suitable vehicles. I appreciate this is very different from a car purchase though so i'm seeking assistance from experienced owners.

Also, if anyone has any experience (good/bad) of the motor home hire business I'd be keen to speak with you.

Thanks in advance

Otis

 

[Southdowners]

I have seen rental motorhomes often on our travels. They tend to be models by Sunlight or similar makes.

I think you will need a new vehicle to attract renters and feel that your budget might be too low. You’ll also need to kit the vehicle out, insure it adequately for renters and take into account high wear and tear.

I’d suggest going on a rental website and see what vehicles they have on offer to their rental customers to help you decide on which to buy.

 

[Mikey RV]

Remember the peaple that normally rent out motorhomes have never driven anything that big before.
you say-you want four berth, another problem arises with payload.
There are so many things to take into account, do a lot of research before going for it.
Good luck

 

[Campervan_man]

If it's for hire a Habitation LPG check needs to be done by a Gas Safe Engineer as ACOPS doesn't suffice.

 

[Jenben]

Our friends had a small motorhome hire business with 2 vehicles but have since closed it as they found the vehicles were often returned with damage (sometimes minor or user error) which then needed fixing before they were able to hire again.

Getting hold of spares and bits for repairs was an issue on turnaround of the hire vehicles and they ran the business for a couple of years, whilst they broke even it was quite a lot of hassle (people returning vehicles late etc), plus the grief of hirers not being happy to lose their deposit due to vehicle damage.

Motorhomes are often complex vehicles, the number of questions and queries on this forum about error codes, things that have stopped working, how to repair things etc shows how tricky a vehicle handover to someone hiring one of these things might be.

if I was to go down the Motorhome hire business I would hire out VW campers with nothing in them

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[Gaston aires]

I looked in hiring in New Zealand a couple of years ago. Decided aginnit.
Glad I did because most of what I saw there was pretty basic, the rest were junk. You should carefully consider this idea.
Phil

 

[wiljoy]

If motorhome hire was a money maker all the dealers would be doing it.
My friend went down the same road as you are exploring. He couldn't obtain any insurance for hire as the vehicle was over 6 years old. Something to do with H&S.

 

[Rapido925M]

If motorhome hire was a money maker all the dealers would be doing it.

Our local dealership started doing it last year.

Account Suspended

Gordon

 

[mikebeaches]

Our friends had a small motorhome hire business with 2 vehicles but have since closed it as they found the vehicles were often returned with damage (sometimes minor or user error) which then needed fixing before they were able to hire again.

Getting hold of spares and bits for repairs was an issue on turnaround of the hire vehicles and they ran the business for a couple of years, whilst they broke even it was quite a lot of hassle (people returning vehicles late etc), plus the grief of hirers not being happy to lose their deposit due to vehicle damage.

Motorhomes are often complex vehicles, the number of questions and queries on this forum about error codes, things that have stopped working, how to repair things etc shows how tricky a vehicle handover to someone hiring one of these things might be.

if I was to go down the Motorhome hire business I would hire out VW campers with nothing in them

I think Jenben's post pretty much sums up the situation.

A decade ago Mrs mikebeaches and I helped a friend who purchased a brand new 6 berth van to rent out.

We stored the van, cleaned it, and checked hirers in and out for a season.

To be honest, it was quite stressful, for all the reasons Jenben has highlighted. The van never came back without some sort of damage, either internally or externally. And trying to get spares was a nightmare!

 

[Two on Tour]

Friends of ours have hired a motorhome three times and three times they took it back damage.
First time they knocked off a spotlight fitting in the bedroom, the second time motorhoming friends of ours in the van for a drink broke an overhead locker handle because she forgot it did not open the same as their lockers and the third time he smashed a very expensive wing mirror while travelling through France.

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[fullfat]

Unbeatable Motorhome hire has gone into administration

 

[GMLS]

Agree with all the above. We considered this option when purchasing our first motorhome.
We both work and when you consider the time spend checking people in and out, cleaning, going through how everything works and repairing the inevitable damage, just not worth it. If you use an agency, they also take a sizeable cut

We also thought that if we were contemplating hiring it out for a good part of the year, that would suggest we don't want one enough or have a need for one, to use it often enough.

We are now on our 3rd and use it all year round. Hire yourself first

 

[peterc10]

As others have said people who hire rarely look after what they hire. You will be for ever repairing things when they come back. And with only one van that means you will have to leave at least a couple of weeks between each hire for repairs and in case it is late back. Otherwise you will get a bad reputation for letting the next hirers down.

And, of course, there is the problem of having to pay a small fortune for the insurance.