Caravan hire business

Hooroo, just a few words generally.
Are you sure that with the economy being the way it is, that a hire business is the way to go ?
One would think that people will hire rather than buy ?
Most hires tend to be short term (weekends etc) but they take as much work for you as long term hires.
Don't scrimp on insurance. One problem hire and you're kerstuffled. (luckily it doesn't happen too often).
The hire game isn't all it's cracked up to be. e.g. Are you prepared for a season that starts and finishes with the weather? And when others are madly hiring, that's exactly when you'll want to get away also.
I'll be interested in hearing how you go on.

I wish you well and hope all succeeds.

Rules 1,2 and 3. Have sufficient dough behind you to ride out losses for the first year or two. It is a real possibility.

Having started two businesses from scratch I can assure you that it takes time to establish. First time nearly sent us broke but we got on top and did well eventually. Second time around we budgeted for it, knowing what to expect.

The caravan hire business is not unlike our first business, a motel. You are dependent upon the business coming to you. You have a limited capacity ie the number of vans you have to hire; in busy times you will never have enough and during quiet times you will curse the capital outlay you have gathering dust.

I could go on for ages. I'm not sure what your business background is, nor your understanding of how businesses operate. Try to find yourself a good Accountant, NOT a Tax Agent, but an Accountant who handles business clients. The underlying costs are immense.

Good luck, be wary, and budget properly. It is not for the faint hearted but it can be very rewarding and financially beneficial. The satisfaction of working for yourself has a value that is hard to describe, you bust your arse but at times it doesn't even feel like work.

Also consider related business opportunities that your investment can use to compliment your income. Our primary business is Cargo Drawers, but we have plant and equipment that can manufacture totally unrelated products that we have diversified into. In your prospective venture you will need land to hold your "stock". Consider other avenues to maximise the use. Perhaps renting out box trailers for casual hire. Perhaps Caravan storage. This can lead to sub hiring of vans that are stored on your property.

Don't get tunnel vision. When we had our Motel, it had an attached Restaurant which did little more than cater for guests. It was a losing proposution in its own right. We assessed the market in the town, noted a lack of a Steak Restaurant and promoted it as such. It became a significant business in its own right.

Marketing is another issue. You have to bring the business to you. No Golden Rule here. Research, trial and error and find what works. It does cost money, a lot will be wasted, but without it you may fail. "Word of Mouth" is great, but takes a very long time.

All the Best,

Jim.

I have started a business from scratch and found a couple things in regard to advertising.I tried advertising in news letters,on beer coasters,and even in a rival to the Yellow Pages. I found by far the Yellow Pages was the best,I used to ask any new customer how they found out about me and thats how I worked out what was working.This was on the Gold Coast 15 years ago, so it may be different now with the web.I just purchased another CT about a month ago, and the bloke that sold it said he was going to hire one for the couple of time a year he took the kids away. All the best in your venture.

Cheers
Giffo

Hooroo

My ex brother in law started a caravan hire co. in Victoria a couple
of years ago if you would like to send me an email address I will
forward his contact nos. to you he will be able to help you with
any thing that you want to know.

Cheers

Julie

Can I offer you some advice, this coming from a my best mate who runs a camping hire business in Darwin.

He had requests to hire camper trailers, so he looked into it, the end result was most wanted to hire it for a couple of days, or to take across the Kimberley.

He researched even more and found that a recovery from the Kimberley if broken down was about $7000 return to Darwin, you would have to put a minimum hire rate as well, reason being is it would take the best part of 2 days to clean a CT if taken on a dirt road, and all this just for a 3 day hire.

There was a camper trailer hire in Darwin, he had really good gear, but no one heard from him the second year.

The end result for Mal even with his very well established business, was to put it in the to hard basket ( his words).

My advice is do your research well, take a look at Jims advice, if you consider you have what it takes, then good luck with your venture.

Cheers Steve

Sorry for the dely but I have been caught up with that thing called work.

I would like to thank everybody for your advice and the time out you have taken.

I will take on board all your advice and let you all know how we go.

Hooroo!