Outdoorsy: Anyone Renting Out Their Rig?

[Nathandeuel]

We love our van but it's hard to ignore the fact that it's sitting there a lot of the time. Anyone have a good experience renting theirs on Outdoorsy? We've rented out our house for years whenever we leave town and have had great experiences. Everyone seems to win: A nice family gets to enjoy our cool pad and we make some dough. Seems similar with a van?

My main concerns are, I suppose:
1. The wear and tear on the engine, but I think you can limit the miles they drive and make it punitive if they go over
2. Abusing the systems, like poptop, etc. But I'm imagining meeting with the renter first, showing them the ropes
3. Reckless driving/crashes: My plan is similar to the way I rent the house. Only families, older couples. And Outdoorsy touts its required insurance policy...

Love to hear other people's thoughts on this!

[ScrapIron]

I know nothing about renting out vehicles or houses. I do know i just put insurance on my Chinook, i put fulltimers with $300,000 per incident coverage on it. I can tell you they expressly prohibit my renting the vehicle out. We spoke about the coverage for probably 45 minutes on the phone and this was mentioned by the lady at least twice that i recall.

I just mention it in case you might wanna check with your insurance to see if its even allowed under your policy.

[JWA]

Personally if I had a ton of money invested in an SMB-like vehicle I'd be damned to let someone else drive or use it, pretty much regardless how short-term profitable it might seem to be. I would guess potential renters would have zero to small experience with that type experience which would not fare well on a specialty vehicle like these I see described here.

If you didn't require a deposit equal to full replacement cost of the existing SMB in cash beforehand you'd expose yourself to a huge liability and loss that should scare the hell out of an owner. I just can't see the upside to this, wouldn't even load it out to close friends or family either.

Just IMHO mind you, YMMV.

[b. rock]

There was a guy on here doing it, Gramps48 I think? But they seemed to be dedicated rental vans.

[soloalpinist]

Had a friend rent out her RV (non-SMB) on Outdoorsy. Came back everytime with something broken or missing. Eventhough they had user credit card on file, 90%+ users refused to pay for damage (torn off awning) saying it deployed while driving. No clue what happened to pan, pillow, etc...With SMB, thinking you would need iron clad agreement and minimum $5K deposit for any damages already in your bank account.

[N147JK]

I don't even like lending my car out to a relative. Too many times they have come back damaged, or worse. After all the time and sweat I put into my van, there is no way I'd ever rent it out.

[clicker44]

All of the "apps" out there designed to allow you to rent your things come down to credit card disputes.

An app can allow you to turn your home into an illegal motel with a few clicks, but at the end of the day if you need to charge somebody for damage, all the customer needs to do is dispute the charge and you will have slim to no chance of getting your money.

CC companies almost always will side with their customer, especially in these economic times. All of the promises the apps make about "X coverage guaranteed" etc...are all just silicon valley hogwash.

[Twoxentrix]

Fueled by so many reports of creative scammers, I always wondered why more unscrupulous individuals don't just rent something neat like a Sportsmobile for a week - In that amount of time I could easily be in Canada or Mexico...or dismantled and sold all the crucial parts of the van for a good profit (before you've even realized I'm not returning). If that doesn't irritate any concerns you already have, I'd like to be the first renter

[JWA]

So what's the score on for or against this practice?

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by JWA

So what's the score on for or against this practice?

Good question. I would like to see it as a poll.