Making money from your motorhome

mikebeaches

mikebeaches

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Periodically, the subject of 'Can I rent my motorhome out when not using it?' crops up on the forum.

And perceived wisdom from the vast majority on here is 'Don't even think about it!'

I've always been strongly in that camp. And I'm not considering changing my mind.

But I just received a link from the Motorhome Holiday Company, with a 15-minute podcast about just that subject. It is of course something of an advertorial, but it's professionally produced and I found it fascinating, particularly some of the financial points.

In my opinion, the content is balanced and provides a fair picture. Here's the link if anybody is interested to find out more, even if it isn't something you are planning.

www.motorhomematt.co.uk

How to make money from your motorhome - Motorhome Matt

The huge demand for motorhomes is continuing to grow this year, and with prices going through the roof, many people are looking to hire rather than buy. There has also been a big boom in the number of motorhomes available for hire in the UK. So how can you go about generating an income from your...
www.motorhomematt.co.uk www.motorhomematt.co.uk

Disclosure - the business is local to me and I know the boss, Matt, who talks about the subject in the podcast.

Obviously, post any of your own thoughts.
 
My opinion;


No one on this forum will take the bait , that you are obviously thinking about!
 
3 cabbages said:
My opinion;


No one on this forum will take the bait , that you are obviously thinking about!
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Not suggesting they will and I'm not thinking about it personally.

But I did find some of the facts and figures interesting, especially as I once - more than a decade ago - managed the hire function for a friend who owned a motorhome to rent out, and know all of the pitfalls only too well.
 
Our friends set up a motorhome rental business with two vans , they thought financially it was a good idea.

Dealing with late returns, damage to the vans, ( and trying to source replacement bits), turned out to be a much bigger issue that they envisaged .

They subsequently closed the business as they didn’t make the profit they expected and it was a lot of work.

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Some folk might want (or need might drive them) to realise an income from their MH. I suppose it’s similar to those who have holiday property that they might rent out to help it pay its way.

However, our MH is our own private holiday accommodation, containing our own possessions, fettled just the way we like it, kept clean and maintained the way we like it. We’re very lucky to have it and appreciate it every time we see it (which is daily as it’s parked at home). I fear all this would be lost if we ever rented it out. Luckily, we don’t have to. I’d imagine that the majority of members here would feel the same.
 
I tried and failed.
Not renting my mh but listening to a pod cast, 1st and last one ever.
Just leaned why I don't like the like of Jeremy vine etc. Radio etc is for music not yacking on about stuff. May be I have fou d out why I am not that intelligent, dont like listening to people, without being able to interject.
Thanks my lesson learnt for today, i can go back to bed now.
 
Tombola said:
How much commission did Matt sort you Mike ;)
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If only... ;)

Matt has no idea I've posted the podcast on here.

I did it for two reasons - one: it is a question that is posed from time to time and, secondly: personally I found some of the financial content of the podcast informative. (y)

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Podney said:
Is she still “in business”? And…how do you know???;):LOL:
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Yes and we ( the Beauty Terrorist and I ) parked quite close to her about 2 months ago near Westgate Cross…. The BT disappeared to get some bits and bobs, and as I sat in the car I witnessed the comings and goings to the Moho. I was parked there for 45mins and the lady had 2 separate visitors….( and no.. I am not a peeking perv…). I can report that the Moho was not on ramps and did seem to rock at times.

When the BT returned, I told her about the Moho..she didn’t believe me until another chap turned up and was welcomed in…. :LOL:. Then I got the daft question… “ how much does she charge”? Thankfully, I don’t know!:LOL::LOL:

BT was all for reporting to the police, but live and live I say…

Now every time I have to go to Westgate Cross on my own, I get warned to stay away from parked up Moho’s! :rofl:
 
Jenben said:
Our friends set up a motorhome rental business with two vans , they thought financially it was a good idea.

Dealing with late returns, damage to the vans, ( and trying to source replacement bits), turned out to be a much bigger issue that they envisaged .

They subsequently closed the business as they didn’t make the profit they expected and it was a lot of work.
Click to expand...

I think anyone setting up a MH hire business would need 6-10 MHs minimum, to have one on standby, for those reasons above, and the rest out on rental.

Conversely if you are renting out your own single MH one would need to leave gaps between rental periods to cover such events. Having said that if one is foregoing so much of the usable time and only gets a few weeks for oneself would it be better not to own and to just rent for a few weeks?

Geoff
 
or - stock up with LPG, water, tea / coffee milk etc and paper cups. Drive on to just about any motorway until you find a traffic jam, open the side window and start selling snacks to the queueing travellers ::bigsmile:
 
jdk62 said:
with her Motorhome entertaining “customers”……
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Hi.
Certain.... Lay Bys i have parked in the lorry of a night,i have had " Ladies " ( Who DID not have mo/ho's....) knocking on the door. ( Middlesborough Transporter bridge in its day,it made the National news papers ) Seeking........................................................ Shelter......for the night......... Thanet ?. A load down to Kent ?.............. :ROFLMAO:
Tea Bag.
 
Lenny HB said:
I stopped listening after a minute anyone who suggests using a pressure washer on a Motorhome knows absolutely nothing about Motorhomes and IMO is a flecking idiot.
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Ouch, I use a pressure washer on ours and nothing wrong with that, if anybody has a problem it's operator error rather than the equipment per se.

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funflair said:
Ouch, I use a pressure washer on ours and nothing wrong with that, if anybody has a problem it's operator error rather than the equipment per se.
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Useful for finding leaks - how many so far Martin? :LOL:

[If there were any it would give you an excuse for 'another factory visit' - Jen you would not have to go ;) :LOL:

Where you going to take the Palace when you can?

Geoff
 
ManTheVan said:
Some folk might want (or need might drive them) to realise an income from their MH. I suppose it’s similar to those who have holiday property that they might rent out to help it pay its way.

However, our MH is our own private holiday accommodation, containing our own possessions, fettled just the way we like it, kept clean and maintained the way we like it. We’re very lucky to have it and appreciate it every time we see it (which is daily as it’s parked at home). I fear all this would be lost if we ever rented it out. Luckily, we don’t have to. I’d imagine that the majority of members here would feel the same.
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My feelings exactly, I have a Villa as well as my brand new MoHo it took me the best part of two days to unwrap all the new stuff including the mattress in my MoHo, including the shrink wrap off the carpets and to make it rattle free everywhere including putting draw liners in every drawer and cupboard, it hardly makes a rattle as I drive over our pothole ridden roads..

family come to my Villa & they sleep in the spare bedrooms and use the spare bathrooms, although we have had the wife’s Brother and wife in the MoHo two nights we won’t be doing this again. So there’s no way I would rent out a £100k MoHo to total strangers, not for love or money. It’s also on my drive looking as new as when we collected it 4th April 3 months ago..
If I did it as a business it would exclude my own MoHo anyway.

I find that after working a lifetime then finding a hobby you love and treasuring your pride and joy from the cheapest unit on the road to the most expensive Monaco coach money can buy, it’s your personal space and it’s yours, renters will never respect that, it’s not theirs…
 
Mikeco said:
Don’t even think about it.😀
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Well said,
I read the pod cast, you buy a £50-60k MoHo, you hand it to them, they hire it out you get £3k. over what a month?, a year?, or the 3 -5 years it’s rented out?, as they don’t want it after 5 years old. They said it works out at about 10% of the value.. well let’s say you paid £60k in 5 years at 15 k miles a year 75,000 miles in the clock, your 60k unit is now worth 30k tops, you made £6k tops, it’s had a new set of tyres and 5 services and habitation checks, you may need new mattresses and cushions and the drivers seats will be well worn, that’s cost you 3k.
So yes you made £3k and lost £30k value it’s just cost you £27k to let other people wear out your MoHo…the business model is great for them, they don’t have to outlay a penny and get you suckers to lay it all out instead while they coin in half of the rental money. Talk about money for old rope..
you would be mad to even think about it..
 
funflair said:
Ouch, I use a pressure washer on ours and nothing wrong with that, if anybody has a problem it's operator error rather than the equipment per se.
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If you read your owners manual it tells you not to use a pressure washer on GRP with decals, it can cause damage to: the decals, cause the silicon seals to separate from the joints, cause water to ingress through the window seals, it is recommended to use a soft brush with soapy water and to dry off with a soft fibre cloth.

I bought a 47 cms long x 10 cms wide swiffer mop and a B&Q wide bucket, using the bucket I dip the mop and wash the roof while on a sturdy ladder, then rinse with a hose, I then use the swiffer on the extended pole to do the sides back and front and again rinse with a hose, if I was to use a pressure washer, I would stand at least 2 metres away and would avoid joints and windows using it to wash away the soap. I use a sponge to do the joints and windows and any openings and the front grill and windows. It takes me 30 mins to wash the whole MH.
 
our poppy lll said:
If you read your owners manual it tells you not to use a pressure washer on GRP with decals, it can cause damage to: the decals, cause the silicon seals to separate from the joints, cause water to ingress through the window seals, it is recommended to use a soft brush with soapy water and to dry off with a soft fibre cloth.

I bought a 47 cms long x 10 cms wide swiffer mop and a B&Q wide bucket, using the bucket I dip the mop and wash the roof while on a sturdy ladder, then rinse with a hose, I then use the swiffer on the extended pole to do the sides back and front and again rinse with a hose, if I was to use a pressure washer, I would stand at least 2 metres away and would avoid joints and windows using it to wash away the soap. I use a sponge to do the joints and windows and any openings and the front grill and windows. It takes me 30 mins to wash the whole MH.
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Well we don't have any GRP with decals ;) using snow foam and a pressure washer (at a sensible distance) avoids rubbing dirt and grit into the surface, and the manual says,





"Clean the exterior of the motorhome on a similar basis as you would a car:"

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our poppy lll said:
Well said,
I read the pod cast, you buy a £50-60k MoHo, you hand it to them, they hire it out you get £3k. over what a month?, a year?, or the 3 -5 years it’s rented out?, as they don’t want it after 5 years old. They said it works out at about 10% of the value.. well let’s say you paid £60k in 5 years at 15 k miles a year 75,000 miles in the clock, your 60k unit is now worth 30k tops, you made £6k tops, it’s had a new set of tyres and 5 services and habitation checks, you may need new mattresses and cushions and the drivers seats will be well worn, that’s cost you 3k.
So yes you made £3k and lost £30k value it’s just cost you £27k to let other people wear out your MoHo…the business model is great for them, they don’t have to outlay a penny and get you suckers to lay it all out instead while they coin in half of the rental money. Talk about money for old rope..
you would be mad to even think about it..
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I understand what you are saying - up to a point. However, given current trends, a MH purchased today for £60k will still be worth a lot more than £30k in five years time. Our van is just 7 years old and I think we might well get back more or less every penny we spent buying it new, if we decided to sell it now. Admittedly, it has relatively low mileage; is quite a popular and well specified model; and which are like hens teeth to find. :giggle:

But in any case, MHs do not depreciate at anything like the rate cars do, for example. :unsure:
 
A friend of mine with a lot more money I might add, bought 4 motorhomes with the intention of a rental business. The costs of the business wiped out any chance of profit. Not least the insurance to cover them fully comprehensive, for hire or reward to cover any driver. I bet you think full timing insurance is expensive at a couple of grand a year. The prices he was quoted were ridiculously high. All 4 vans virtually new had warranty work needed and parts that took months. Within a few months he had gone off the idea and sold all the vans on (at a profit)
 
TheBig1 said:
A friend of mine with a lot more money I might add, bought 4 motorhomes with the intention of a rental business. The costs of the business wiped out any chance of profit. Not least the insurance to cover them fully comprehensive, for hire or reward to cover any driver. I bet you think full timing insurance is expensive at a couple of grand a year. The prices he was quoted were ridiculously high. All 4 vans virtually new had warranty work needed and parts that took months. Within a few months he had gone off the idea and sold all the vans on (at a profit)
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It's an idea so many people have, which they think will be a sure fire money spinner and fun to rent out MH's

But as your friend soon discovered, it doesn't usually work out quite like that.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, well over a decade ago, we acted as a 'MH Manager', looking after a friend's rental van, dealing with all aspects of prepping it, meeting & briefing clients and handing over to them; and then dealing with the return of the vehicle (usually with either internal or external damage!). Nightmare! :rolleyes:

Upside was supposed to be we could use it anytime it wasn't out on rental. Downside, it was popular and there was little downtime! :cry:

Glad your friend made a profit when selling the vans, and all was not lost! (y)
 
our poppy lll said:
If you read your owners manual it tells you not to use a pressure washer on GRP with decals, it can cause damage to: the decals, cause the silicon seals to separate from the joints, cause water to ingress through the window seals, it is recommended to use a soft brush with soapy water and to dry off with a soft fibre cloth.

I bought a 47 cms long x 10 cms wide swiffer mop and a B&Q wide bucket, using the bucket I dip the mop and wash the roof while on a sturdy ladder, then rinse with a hose, I then use the swiffer on the extended pole to do the sides back and front and again rinse with a hose, if I was to use a pressure washer, I would stand at least 2 metres away and would avoid joints and windows using it to wash away the soap. I use a sponge to do the joints and windows and any openings and the front grill and windows. It takes me 30 mins to wash the whole MH.
Click to expand...

It depends on the pressure. If you use a pressure washer close up it will damage stuff. Use it a couple of metres distance its not a lot of difference to using a hose pipe. Like all things in life it just requires a little bit of intelligence and thought. And of course different pressure washers work at different pressures depending on model/cost.
 
I'm surprised at how 'cheap' motorhomes are to hire. A lot cheaper than hiring a canal boat! And not a massive amount more than hiring a decent car.

There clearly is money to be made by big hire companies though. You see loads at big events like Le Mans and F1 races and there is a big motorhome hire place in Inverness just for the NC500 trade. I imagine these companies get very good deals from motorhome manufacturers though and sell them on in a few years.

A fairly typical 4 berth motorhome form Just Go is £875 for 7 days mid September. I imagine most motorhome owners with a typical use of 4000 miles a year would save a lot of money by hiring instead of owning!

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