Is there demand for caravan/trailer weighing service that comes to you

Thanks for the idea, just joking. I reckon if your prepared to travel it's a very good idea.

I'd have to say that judging by three quarters of the Caravans I see coming through on the Bruce Highway is that the owners either don't care or don't want to know what they weigh and how much over they are.

Until the RTA start doing blitz's I don't think anything is going to change.

Same goes for overweight 4WD's as well.

Next time you’re going past a Traffic Authority weighbridge, if it’s not to busy and there are RTA vehicles present, ask if they’ll let you have a look at their Porta-weigh equipment. These are light enough to carry in the vehicles and they generally carry one or two sets moving them down the length of the truck weighing each axle in turn.

I knew an RTA inspector so he came past one day and weighed up the tuck truck for me in the driveway. Excellent pieces of equipment.

Be aware that the machines would have to be tested and certified in accordance with the rules and regs for each state. I don’t know how often or expensive that is but it would result in down time and cost. Without that certification, you run the risk of litigation should you provide inaccurate information to a client.

Like your thinking though.

Cheers Mick

Just a few comments......

The cost of the equipment is quite expensive, you can only use it on dead flat ground, it has the be certified every 12 months and you have to have a license to use it.

The cost associated in running a business including insurance, vehicle costs and travelling would in my opinion make it uneconomical and expensive...... caravaner are tight arses in most cases and have all the time in the world..... you would have to base it on about $70+GST per hour working on a fully chargeable 40 hours per week minimum just to pull a below average wage.

Plus there are many licensed weigh bridges around who charge anywhere from $25 for a verbal weigh up to $70 for a certified weigh.

First off, I have not read the other replies. I did glance over them.

If I understand your question. It is a business survey. I think it has merit.

If you have the means to fund it and the desire to see it through...Then I for one, think it has enough merit to investigate further.

Road Warrior - You'd have to do surveys to find out what the market would be like and what people are willing to pay.
In my opinion, as someone who has been in business for himself all his life, there's not the money in what you propose, to make a decent return.

1. I'd guess few people would be prepared to pay any more than about $50 to get a vehicle/trailer/van weighed - particularly when there are a quite a number of weighbridges around.

2. Your biggest cost is the driving out to people properties - in time, and in vehicle running costs. The scales are now fairly cheap, you can buy pretty good Chinese sets for around $3000-$4000. However, you wouldn't want to drive any more than about 20-30kms to be able to keep your charges down. Thus, you're limited to a pretty smallish area of clients.

3. You might be able to make it a goer, if you supplied an additional service as well, such as maintenance or repair, to reduce the travelling cost to a minimum in relation to the job size. Try and find out what people might want most, when it comes to demand associated with vans, trailers and campers, and see if you can find a niche market there.

Cheers, Ron.

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/portable-axle-weighing-scales.html

Hi all i have found the best and easy way is to just drop into your local tip and they will put it over the scales free of charge.

Wouldn't be viable as a commercial venture. There would have to be a minimum call-out fee. Remembering back to all the discussions about finding the cheapest place to buy the cheapest kit I would say the greater majority would not even contemplate paying just a measly call-out fee of $50. Let alone something to make it worthwhile like $100. Even the cheapest tradesman charges more than that.

And I bet that wouldn't even cover the cost of the equipment.

As someone who runs their own business I can say with reasonable confidence that what you are proposing is not viable. You can't charge enough and I doubt you would get enough calls in your coverage area anyway. It may be viable as an add on service you provide as part of something else. It's frightening how much you have to turn over to make a profit these days. It keeps a lot of small business owners awake at night dreaming of escaping to the desert....

I think the question is – Is there a demand for this service?

I suspect not in isolation, if you did it as part of an overall package of say cleaning and servicing vans. There are already many public weighbridges that can be accessed for a nominal fee.

The intent is good, and I feel there are far too many rigs that are being driven with those involved not having any real clue as to the weight of them and whether they are compliant with GVM limitations. In fact, I suspect many don’t want to know…

Is it viable ?
As others have said, from a 'local to you' perspective, probably not.
But look at it from a distance.
Could you pack the scales into your own vehicle and do a run up and down the highways on your own trips calling into caravan parks and the like offering your services to those in the park.
Rather than travel from your house to mine, perhaps 50klms away to do one job, why not find a park and perhaps do 5 jobs ?
Then move on to the next park...................

Why not ask your question to a large number of vanners at Caravaners Forum ?

Thanks for the responses and constructive input everyone. I will sit on this one for a while. Like a chook sitting on an egg. lol

In this day and age, there are public weigh bridges everywhere.

Every tip, every major transport depot, gravel yard and scrap metal dealer has a wegh bridge......hell most of these places you have to drive over it to get in and or out.

Most times they will not charge you to simply drive over and get a figure without a certificate.

Not a viable business prospect by a long way.

cheers