anyone thought of starting a van hire company

[becky]

over the last 4 weeks, i`ve hired a luton every weekend. ( yes i`m on the lookout to buy one)

and every week i`ve tried a different company, to see what models are out there etc.

and each week i`ve been told, i`m lucky, i`ve just got the last one.
bullsh1t i thought...
this week missed monday as it was the neigbours sons funneral, so phoned around tuesday after a luton... could n`t get one to save my life.

by the skni of my teeth, drove past a new hire place, and managed to get one.


which leads me to my thoughts..... is there a lack of van hire firms?

this week i`ve hired it on fri, sat & sunday, take it back by monday morning... £210.......... for 3 **ing days.

now thats not a bad litle earner, these motors are not mint, in fact the last one was a mess, both inside and outside...


does anyone hire motors out?

whats the crack with the insurance etc?

one place i got 1 from, had that many terms and conditions, i recon anything happened to the motor i`d be liable for the costs.

i just thought, 3 lutons costing 5K each, could easily bring in £1000 a week.

any comments?

kev

[motorwise]

I used to work briefly for a hire company in the early nineties and the transit lutons were always out as were the cargos - the only vans ever left unhired at weekends would be SWB transits and escorts - even them I could get out by doing two SWB's for the price of a luton (if they had two drivers) - tippers (3.5 and 7.5) were out on council hire the whole time so we never ever saw them (I had to go out and service them on site)

lots of money to be made but a high intial outlay and overheads (our insurance bill was in the region of £25,000 a year for instance) - you'll also need a yard with an office of some sort and lots of vehicles, it's no good having old rubbish because no one will hire - you'll need two or three year old vans at least

do you fancy it then?

[sc_BK]

it's no good having old rubbish because no one will hire - you'll need two or three year old vans at least

There's a small hire company up here that has some tatty looking mk5's , seen them about on hire a good few times!

[devilsquest]

we just had new double glazin fitted and the guys were askin if i knew of any vans for sale(i gave them this site address )and they were in a hired mk 4 as rough as hell and they were paying £450 per week????

[motorwise]

there's a place near to me renting old stuff but it reflects in the price

http://www.cars4rent.co.uk/

[BigNeil]

probably would bring in revenue

BUT

you have got Insurnace to think about,
you have drivers thrashing your motor within an inch of its life
you have people smoking and allowing their pets in the van
you have servicing to look at
you have the risk that someone may either steal the van
run up parking fines
run up sppeding fines
you should have some sort of capabilty for using a credit card so it is easier to charge people (deposits)
you have to make yourself available for hiring and returns.
you also have to handle the constant enquiries from wasters. (and ppl looking for charity vans!!!!!)

I have not thought about it.


As up here we do not have a local van hire the closest is a rnold c lark!
drawing up a terms and conditions is fairly easy as you just plagarise someone elses.

[transitgeoff]

i had a self drive co, vans and 7.5 tonners, dont bother, insurance is a fortune for one,the punters are a nightmare, not back on time, no fuel, damage they didnt do and then the clever ones that swap the gearbox or engine and EVERYONE wants a van for the weekend and they sit about during the week,i had 17 vans mk6 transits and merc atego 7.5s oh and 2 smilies for the suspicious punters my advice.....stay clear

[becky]

it's no good having old rubbish because no one will hire - you'll need two or three year old vans at least

i hired a y reg, cost £140 for sat and sunday.... just think how much that vans earned...





you have got Insurnace to think about, customer pays for it.
you have drivers thrashing your motor within an inch of its life. can you thrash a 90psi?
you have people smoking and allowing their pets in the van, so what, i won`t be driving it.
you have servicing to look at, you build in servicing costs into the hire price.
you have the risk that someone may either steal the van. you are insured.
run up parking fines
run up sppeding fines. customer pays, you have his name and the time he hired the van, they pay.
you should have some sort of capabilty for using a credit card so it is easier to charge people (deposits) we have a pdq machine in our shop, no big deal, it costs about £20 amonth to hire and you pay a %age of transactions, again you build that figure in the hire cost.
you have to make yourself available for hiring and returns. i pick the van up at 4pm and return it at 9am... normal working hours
you also have to handle the constant enquiries from wasters. (and ppl looking for charity vans!!!!!) what do you do when the engery people call you.... put the phone down. i must put the phone down on at least 10 people per day, who are trying to sell me crap i don`t need.

[transitgeoff]

if the hirer steals the van your noy insured, no insurer will cover for that they call it conversion by hirer, your not covered because you handed them the keys !! sounds like your trying to convince yourself its good, beleive me its not

[BigNeil]

it's no good having old rubbish because no one will hire - you'll need two or three year old vans at least

i hired a y reg, cost £140 for sat and sunday.... just think how much that vans earned...





you have got Insurnace to think about, customer pays for it.
you have drivers thrashing your motor within an inch of its life. can you thrash a 90psi?
you have people smoking and allowing their pets in the van, so what, i won`t be driving it.
you have servicing to look at, you build in servicing costs into the hire price.
you have the risk that someone may either steal the van. you are insured.
run up parking fines
run up sppeding fines. customer pays, you have his name and the time he hired the van, they pay.
you should have some sort of capabilty for using a credit card so it is easier to charge people (deposits) we have a pdq machine in our shop, no big deal, it costs about £20 amonth to hire and you pay a %age of transactions, again you build that figure in the hire cost.
you have to make yourself available for hiring and returns. i pick the van up at 4pm and return it at 9am... normal working hours
you also have to handle the constant enquiries from wasters. (and ppl looking for charity vans!!!!!) what do you do when the engery people call you.... put the phone down. i must put the phone down on at least 10 people per day, who are trying to sell me crap i don`t need.

okay now work out your cost and work out how much to hire out for ?

Are you competitive?

[rabbidabbidoo]

probably would bring in revenue

BUT

you have got Insurnace to think about,
you have drivers thrashing your motor within an inch of its life
you have people smoking and allowing their pets in the van
you have servicing to look at
you have the risk that someone may either steal the van
run up parking fines
run up sppeding fines
you should have some sort of capabilty for using a credit card so it is easier to charge people (deposits)
you have to make yourself available for hiring and returns.
you also have to handle the constant enquiries from wasters. (and ppl looking for charity vans!!!!!)

I have not thought about it.


As up here we do not have a local van hire the closest is a rnold c lark!
drawing up a terms and conditions is fairly easy as you just plagarise someone elses.

we use a lwb semi high for our flooring company need to put her off the road for a week or so to get some body wrk done priced hireing similar looking at nearly £400 a week so just bought a second hand one run her for a few wekks sell it and if i lose a ton well 300 cheaper than hiring also can get the body wrk done without any preassure definetally money to be made in hiring out

ps there is a luton for sale in my town guy has had it fae new if remember right think its a 1999 (bakers van) well looked after

[becky]

okay now work out your cost and work out how much to hire out for ?

Are you competitive?

you can`t possibly work that out till you have all the figures to hand.

but why wouldn`t you be competive as the next guy if you had similer overheads.

instead of trying to beat the next guys price... why not be £20 more, per weekend, when all the other vans have been hired, they`ll have to hire yours if they want one.
i know i`d pay £20 more to get me out of the sh1t.

[654vans]

I also run a hire company (yes - ALL Transits other than 3 lorries) and believe me it all seems like a good idea, and the Lutons and Lorries are out nearly every weekend, but in general people hire them to move house etc and are used to driving a little Fiesta or similar and put them in something big and you end up with loads of damaged sides, damage to other vehicles etc etc!!!

For information, we charge £115 inc VAT for a Luton with a tail-lift for the weekend.

[654vans]

BigNeil - £400 a week is a bit steep!!!
We charge £200 a week inc VAT, Insurance and 1500 miles for a 350 LWB Medium Roof!!

[BigNeil]

BigNeil - £400 a week is a bit steep!!!
We charge £200 a week inc VAT, Insurance and 1500 miles for a 350 LWB Medium Roof!!

I never said that it was rabbidabbidoo