Make money from your motorhome

Do you have a motorhome that you would like to use to generate income?
One potential way of doing so is to let it out to others for a rental price.  Yes, this is perfectly possible and it might also be lucrative but there are some things to be aware of and advance preparation is critically important.

The law
Legally speaking, there is nothing to stop you from setting up a small business renting out a vehicle you own.  The law will place certain requirements upon you, including the need for appropriate insurance and safety provisions.
Providing you do your research and comply with the requirements of the law, you should not encounter any fundamental roadblocks in this respect.
Insurance
You should be very clear that simply handing over the keys to your motorhome to someone for a fortnight, in return for a big cheque, is likely to immediately put at risk any standard motorhome insurance you might have.  That’s because typical road insurance for private use vehicles will usually specifically exclude the use of said vehicles for commercial purposes.
So, you’re going to need to obtain appropriate rental vehicle insurance that covers such use and other risks you will incur as a business. You should anticipate this being a fairly significant increase over what you have been paying previously.
Service and maintenance
This is no longer going to be something you can put off or simply have a go at doing yourself when you feel like it!
In all probability, your insurance will require you to strictly adhere to more frequent servicing intervals and formal safety checks than you might have previously been used to.
From a purely commercial viewpoint, you’re probably also going to have to accept that your vehicle will need to be professionally valeted after every rental.  Your next clients won’t want to find physical evidence of your previous clients still lying around inside when they arrive to collect your motorhome.
Motorhome finance
One of the big obstacles you may have to overcome is in a situation where the vehicle concerned is being purchased under an HP or lease purchase deal.  That’s because it won’t be yours to legally rent out! If you tried to do so, you could be in breach of contract and potentially committing a serious legal offence.
If you are purchasing a vehicle with the intention of renting it out, you may be able to find special motorhome finance deals designed to help.  If your existing agreement is already in place and you wish to change how you use your vehicle to include rentals, you should speak to your finance provider well in advance.
Security
Waving a fond farewell to that happy family of renters as they depart in your motorhome is fine. However, if you’d actually like to ever see your vehicle again, you’ll need to be sure that they are not thieves and crooks.
There are professional ways of doing that. Research the methods!
Remember, thieves regularly deploy young children, aged people, the disabled and people with charming personalities, in order to deceive their victims. Take this area are seriously and don’t take chances based solely upon your perception that the renters seemed like “nice people”.
Marketing
You could put your vehicle in the hands of a rental company and let them do much of the above for you.  If you do, be prepared to see them take the lion’s share of the profits.  That’s not unjust – it’s simply a reflection of commercial reality.
Alternatively, you can go directly to the end customer but this assumes that you know something about marketing and these days, social media marketing.
It’s not as complicated as it sounds and with a bit of effort, you should be able to master it!
Good luck!