Message Forums

I am thinking of starting a campervan hire business in the North west of England. I would be really pleased to hear from anyone who has done it and survived! My aim would be to start small (one van) doing this part time and then buy more vans when the demand increases.

Any tips very welcome.

Cheers

Haven't had a motorhome hire business, but I can tell you what we learned with a hire boat company on the canal.

One boat or motorhome will never make you money.  What are you going to do when it comes back from a hire totally unusable, and it's due out again in a couple of hours?  You do need to start with a small fleet.  We had 6 hire boats on the Leeds Liverpool, and that was OK, apart from the vandalism.

Due to licence conditions, we were anly allowed to operate one narrowboat on the Lancaster canal, and that was a disaster.  There was no leeway in the event of late return or breakdown.  Hirers will cause breakdowns.  I'm talking about a new £50,000 boat here.

It's just not one of those things where you can start small.  A lot of your costs, such as sales and marketing, will be the same for one as half a dozen.  

I would say four would be the minimum you could start with, and expect to succeed.  Do work out a good honest business plan before you go any further.  The cashflow forecast should tell you what you need to know.  It's a very expensive thing to get into.

Not something I would do again.

Jim

Never done it but agree with much of what Jim says above. If someone books you van for an annual holiday or overseas trip and your one van is not ready to go because the last hirer returned it in a state your costs are going to be huge. Your hirer may miss ferries etc - you will be liable for compensation.

4 vans and you need to be looking at premises to work from.

If you are able to finance the startup costs then go for it but its going to be big ££. if you are buying your own vans.

There are quite a few companies operating in the NW already. Have a look here.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/directory2/arearesults.asp?region=North+West&type=23

Jules

Quote: Originally posted by daveOM on 03/9/2010

---

I am thinking of starting a campervan hire business in the North west of England. I would be really pleased to hear from anyone who has done it and survived! My aim would be to start small (one van) doing this part time and then buy more vans when the demand increases.

Any tips very welcome.

Cheers

 

---